New Swift Dzire: First Drive
Owning a car has always been a decision taken by the heart. Although practicality, function and logic do play a part but it has always been the looks of a vehicle which have ruled over any other attraction. But there are cars in the market which have met success solely based on practicality. These vehicles are not very good looking, but they have proved themselves and are among the best selling cars in the market. One such car is the Maruti Suzuki Dzire. The Dzire made its debut four years back and for all purposes it was Swift with a boot attached to its back and looked odd from whichever angle you looked at it. But, there aren’t many people out there who don’t like the car. Maruti Suzuki sells 10,000 Dzires in a month and till now it has sold more 3,30,000 units of the popular mid-sizer in the Indian market.
Photo Credit: Suzukifan.com/2012/01/17/test-drive-review-of-the-new-swift-dzire
The new Swift was introduced in 2011 and it was being watched with interest how the designers at Maruti Suzuki would render the boot on the new Dzire. But Maruti Suzuki has done a completely different rethink and instead of trying to build and more beautiful rear, they did what Tata has done with the Indigo CS. The new Maruti Suzuki Dzire has been designed to fit within the 4-metre length Indian Government has defined for a small car and as a result benefit from excise cuts.
New Swift Dzire Features
Design
Now, a car, already measuring 3.85m in length, has to be fitted with a boot while the overall length doesn’t exceed 4 metres was not an easy task given that the engineers didn’t have much room to play with. The result of this surgery has made the new Dzire look like a notchback but in reality it is a proper three-box saloon with a tiny boot.
When you look at the car from the side, it is very hard to digest that this is a three-box saloon. The design of the boot is boxy and it sticks out prominently and doesn’t gel well with the round and sporty looks of the new Swift.
Photo Credit: Autoplugged.com/photos/new-maruti-swift-dzire-to-be-launched-in-february
The one thing which makes the rear look slightly digestible are the new-shape tail lights but overall the design isn’t very pleasing on the eyes.
The new Maruti Suzuki Dzire now has a length of 3.99m and offers more space than the hatchback on which it is based. The trunk space is 316litres, which is 100litres less than what the outgoing model offered. Though it isn’t as practical as the outgoing Dzire it will attract buyers who want a basic entry level three-box car.
As the Swift serves as the base for the Dzire, the internal space is quite comfortable. Maruti Suzuki has packed the new Dzire comprehensively with lots of features and these include an dual-colour dashboard, automatic climate control, integrated music system and lots of safety features like anti-lock braking system (ABS), Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) system, side air bags for the front seats, brake assist etc.
Photo Credit: Goaonwheels.com/upcoming-models/a-look-at-the-new-swift-dzire-versus-competition
Powerplant & Performance
The Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire will have petrol as well as diesel powerplants. The petrol engine will be the K12M VVT which has an output of 87bhp at 6000rpm and 114Nm of torque at 4000rpm.
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The Dzire petrol is capable of good mileage and at the same time decent performance. The car can go from 0-100kmph in only 12.6 seconds and a claimed fuel efficiency figure of 19.1 km per litre.
The diesel engine is the same 1300cc DdiS which does duty on other Maruti Suzuki models and the power it generates is 75bhp at 4000 rpm and a strong torque of 190Nm at 2000rpm. The engine is known to be very frugal and it delivers 23.4 km per litre while still managing to endow the car with brisk acceleration (0-100kmh in less than 15 seconds). What is astounding is that the Swift hatchback and the Swift Dzire weigh exactly the same, despite the later being longer.
The Dzire will also be offered with a 4-speed automatic gearbox though it will be seen first on the petrol model and later the diesel Dzire may also get it.
The automatic gearbox is a smooth shifting unit and well suited to the rigours of city driving. However, the model with the automatic gearbox will not have a climate control system and instead have a conventional air conditioning system.
Sum Up
The new Maruti Suzuki Dzire may not be the best looking car out there but by making it less than 4 metres long, the benefits from the excise cuts will be passed on to the buyers and this will make purchasing it cheaper than the outgoing car.
The car also has lots of features, which were not there in the outgoing car and are usually found on sedans which are one segment higher. Like the old Dzire, the new one is all about being practical, though it might have lost a little in the way of trunk space, but it still is more practical than its hatchback sibling.
Price Of New Swift Dzire
The Price of New Swift Dzire has not yet been announced.
