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2017 Maruti Suzuki Swift ownership experience after 7 years / 40,000 km

15th April 2024, 16:00 by Brij Gawde

The car is very easy to drive, even though I had never driven a car earlier, it was very easy for me to get used to Swift and I could easily maneuver it in city traffic.

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Our family's Swift(Petrol) completed 40,000 km this week and coincidently it also completed 7 years a couple of days ago.

After having an unpleasant buying experience with Maruti in 2017, our car became one of the most important members of our family as it was the first car for us.

On the 2nd day of delivery, I had to take my car to SBI as I had taken a car loan and my father was not comfortable letting me drive in Pune's traffic as I had just learned to drive, and that too from driving school, people know how driving school teaches us to drive plus the Pune traffic which was going to create trouble for me. I still convinced him and took our swift to the SBI branch near Swargate and came back home without any scratches. When we reached home, my father told my mother that our son drives well; that day he realized I could handle Pune traffic.

But destiny had something else written for our car as on one of the Mondays my friends and I visited Theur Ganpati temple and came back to Magarpatta city and while parking the car in office parking, I scratched it by trying to park straight next to Pillar. I regretted my decision but the damage was done. The new car, the first car of the family, and the entire left side were scratched and the rear left door got bent. Unfortunately, we had team dinner that day and everyone wanted to go in my car I had to inform them that the car cant go as it was in bad condition. I skipped dinner and took the car to the Maruti showroom, claimed insurance, and got it fixed. They took one week to return the car but the car came in perfect condition. The rear door was replaced and the front door scratches were removed.

After 5 years, on a very important day, the car keys did not work and I had my spare key at my other home. I could not do anything as it was 6 am in the morning and I had to urgently go somewhere and had to take my Apache and ride for 150 kms to reach the destination. After 15 days, came back home, opened the key, cleaned it, it had some oil and grease inside, the key started working again. On the funnier side, I think it had to make me ride a bike for 150 kms on a winter morning and that's why car keys didn't work.

After almost 6 years, another incident happened when I took a left turn and a bike came from behind and hit my car. The rider was not injured and it was my mistake as I could not see him in the rearview mirror properly. It scratched my car's left back door but no one got injured and I was thankful to God for that.

I have experienced just 2 major issues and one minor key issue in the last 7 years that too because of my driving faults, otherwise, the Swift is running perfectly fine.

If I have to list down pros for my swift then I would say:

The car is very easy to drive, even though I had never driven a car earlier, it was very easy for me to get used to Swift and I could easily maneuver it in city traffic. It passes through tight spaces easily.
The Maruti engine is very good and has never given me any issues until now.
Hassle-free ownership
Good dealer network, have tried servicing with multiple ASCs in Pune.
Good fuel economy

Cons:

Build quality - The AC knob broke a few days ago, plastic quality is bad.
On highways, I have felt too much cabin noise.
Boot space is very poor.
5 adults cannot sit in the car for long distances and it is meant for 4 adults max. according to me.
A car packed with luggage and 5 people have sometimes made me feel that power is lacking on highways - I felt this rarely but it did happen.

Notable Points:

I am still getting a mileage of around 17kmpl - 80% city and 20% highway run with AC always on.
I did all my services with Maruti ASC until the car was under warranty and then started going to a nearby car care garage. There is surely a big price difference between Maruti ASC and the garage cost so I have decided to continue with the garage as I also know the owner there.

Swift during one of the servicing

I am not a fan of modifications so I have not done any on my Swift. I just have door edge guards and door seal guards installed.
I have a Sony infotainment system installed and it does the job well, I am not a big fan of loud music and it mostly plays 90's songs by Kumar Sanu or
Sonu Nigam.
Headlights are stock head lights and they do not provide adequate lighting on highways but I am still considering the replacement options. Any suggestions would be welcome.
MRF tyres are good but I think they are one of the reasons there is too much cabin noise and I anyway need to change those in the next 5k kms as
they might worn out by then.

Swift has given us countless memories. Be it a trip to our hometown or nearby places like Mahabaleshwar, Lavasa, Kolhapur, or a road trip with friends to Statue of Unity it has seen everything and has also helped us during multiple emergency situations.

At our Pune apartment