The Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire is at times the top selling car in India, outselling even the company's entry-level Alto hatchback. MotorBeam finds out what makes this compact sedan a favourite of Indian buyers by living with the vehicle.
The Maruti Swift DZire is one of the best selling cars in India and the big reason behind its high volumes is the Maruti badge with excellent after sales and service network. The first generation DZire also made a big contribution in building the brand amongst private buyers and fleet operators.
The compact sedan came at the right time in the market with a sub-4 metre length to cut down on tax duties. Now these are some of the reasons for its success but how is the product itself? To examine how it fares on a daily basis, MotorBeam got the Maruti DZire in our long term fleet.
The styling of the DZire is very simple and neutral derived from the Swift hatchback but has a boot stuck on its tail, which looks okay from some angles but a bit out of shape from the side profile. However, the new facelift comes with some smart elements that makes it shine with the new chrome elements.
The nose gets a new grille with smoked headlamps and sharper bumpers both at the front and rear. The sleek alloy wheel design also adds to the presence of this car but the new blue shade really stands out getting good attention from people who are familiar with the DZire.
Maruti is now offering keyless entry and go feature with the DZire. The smart key looks great and you just have to keep it in your pocket and press the button on the door handle to lock/unlock the car. Get inside the cabin and you won't notice many changes in the first glance.
However, Maruti Suzuki has added a good dose of convenience features that were sorely missing in the pre-facelift model. You now have power foldable mirrors which is a very useful feature while driving through congested streets. Bluetooth connectivity makes it a breeze to attend calls and stream music without touching your phone.
The Bluetooth setup is easy but sometimes music streaming doesn't happen and for that you have to reconnect the phone. There are new steering mounted controls to toggle between tracks and answer phone calls without getting distracted.
The rear parking sensors further add to the convenience of reversing into tight spots. The black and beige combination is pleasant and gives you an airy feeling inside the cabin. We felt some shortage of cupholders and stowage bins and the door pockets are a tad small in size.
The quality, fit and finish is good but our test car had some squeaking noise near the glovebox. Rear seat legroom in comparison to some of the new rivals is limited but seats are very comfortable and the boot space is also quite practical.
The Maruti Swift DZire has always been praised for its diesel engine performance and fuel efficiency. The oil burner is actually very potent when it comes to both city and highway duties. There is some turbo lag to deal with under 2000 RPM but the motor provides substantial grunt to surge forward effortlessly. The NVH levels are smooth and not too intrusive until you rev it hard.
The slick shifting gearbox along with the light clutch makes it an easy car to drive. The enthusiasts love the feeling when the turbo kicks in hard and the DZire accelerates strongly. We managed to get a healthy 19.25 km/l of fuel efficiency on the highways and 17 km/l in the city.
Maruti knows the Indian road conditions very well and tunes the suspension accordingly. The DZire gets a sweet setup of comfortable ride quality and brisk handling. Be it high speed undulations or low speed bumps, the DZire tackles it all with ease.
The handling is quite engaging too and the nose is quite responsive to steering inputs so it is quite fun pushing around corners. Stopping performance is strong but the brake pedal bite on our tester was on the softer side.
The Maruti Swift DZire now comes with ABS and airbags at least as an option on the lower variants and standard on the range topping ZXi/ZDi variants. This is a fantastic move towards safety by Maruti and the after sales is as always the best. It is very cheap to run as we calculated Rs. 2.58/- per km.
The service centres are very accessible to tier-II and tier-III cities. All in all, the highest selling compact sedan justifies its numbers because it is a very reliable car to live with. The DZire is a car which needs the least attention from you and the resale value is very strong having a great demand in the second hand car market.
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