2018 Maruti Swift Long Term Review
The Maruti Swift has become a hit with everyone in the MotorBeam team
My daily driver for the last few months was the Maruti Ignis diesel MT and while I liked the car in general, I started feeling some of its shortcomings like the bouncy ride quality which really gets to you when you drive for long distances. Maruti recently launched the third generation of one of its most popular cars and shortly thereafter we welcomed a Swift ZDi+ in our long term fleet. Having covered more than 3000 kms with the Swift in barely 2 months, I have a lot to write about my experience with the car.
The driving position complements its fun to drive nature
The Maruti Swift, since its first generation, has known to be a fun to drive car with a lot of praise coming in for its steering and body control. That got me excited and I was longing to drive this car for an extended duration to get to know it better. I still remember the first time I drove the new Swift, the seating position is so good and felt so much better than the Ignis. The front seats, while a bit soft, offer very good support and hug you from the sides. The steering is positioned at just the perfect angle and the large windshield gives a clear view ahead.
Driving the Swift in traffic doesn’t tire you out
Ignition on, I got going with the familiar 1248cc, DDiS engine purring under the hood. The steering feels very light at city speeds, the clutch is again very light and driving the car in city traffic is as easy as it can be. The ORVMs offer a clear field of view but visibility at the rear does get a bit limited due to the door handles on the C-pillars and the smallish rear windscreen. The air conditioning works brilliantly and I like how quickly it chills the cabin.
The driving dynamics are extremely good on the Swift
The Maruti Swift shows its engaging nature when you’re driving it on the highways. While the steering provides good enough feedback, it doesn’t weigh up as much as you’d want it to at high speeds. However, it feels very direct and that instills confidence. Body control is very good and Maruti engineers have definitely got the ride and handling balance spot on. Sudden lane changes, corners, straight line stability, the Swift takes everything in its stride. It even feels very chuckable but the only let down are the tyres which even though are sufficient for day-to-day usage, don’t offer exceptional levels of grip and I personally would recommend a tyre upgrade to all those who tend to drive hard.
The suspension doesn’t cause discomfort to passengers
The third gen Maruti Swift has proven itself to be a well-rounded hatchback
The ride quality is also much better than the Ignis. At low speeds, the Swift doesn’t bounce around while encountering potholes or broken roads and remains flat for most part. At high speeds, the ride feels supple and it tackles undulations very nicely. Braking, though, is a bit of a concern because the car seems to have a longer stopping distance especially in the wet. The brake pedal has decent initial bite on our test car but later tends to feel very light and the bite doesn’t really feel very sharp.
The same diesel engine is shared with its siblings
Not much needs to be said about the engine because there are no changes over the second generation car and the Swift continues with the same engine in the same 75 PS and 190 Nm tune with a 5-speed manual transmission. The new car also gets a 5-speed AMT with both petrol and diesel engines but our test car is a manual variant so we’ll discuss the AMT later on. The manual transmission is quite slick and as I mentioned earlier, the clutch is light. The engine has good mid-range performance but turbo lag makes itself felt in traffic when you need to change gears more often. Fuel efficiency has been very good with our test car returning as much as 20 km/l on the highways and about 16-17 km/l in city driving.
The all-black dashboard with silver inserts looks sporty
Coming to the bits that I don’t like about the Swift, the first is the poor plastic quality in the cabin. The door pads, switches and certain panels feel a bit flimsy and certainly not like they belong to a hatchback that costs almost Rs. 10 lakhs. While the projector headlamps have very good throw, the white light isn’t very effective during heavy rains. I still haven’t taken the Swift out of town so haven’t really got a chance to experience the boot and rear seat comfort but in the following reports, you’ll definitely get to know about these aspects.
I plan to drive down the Swift to Goa very soon
What’s Cool
* Fun to drive and chuckable
* Styling is nice, dark blue shade looks striking
* Loaded with good equipment
* Excellent fuel efficiency
What’s Not So Cool
* Brakes and tyres have just about satisfactory performance
* Some interior bits feel low rent
What do you guys think about the new Swift?
Further Reading –
Maruti Swift vs Hyundai Grand i10 Shootout
Maruti Swift vs Hyundai Grand i10 Video
2018 Maruti Swift Review
2018 Maruti Swift Video Review