Maruti Swift VDi ABS (old)

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Published on Sep 10, 2009 07:00:00 AM

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While fuel efficiency is the Swift Diesel’s trump card, it has other aces tucked away under its hood like refinement and performance, to name a few.Fire the engine and the car shakes slightly but immediately settles down to a smooth idle. Vibrations are extremely well-controlled and at idle, this is the most refined diesel this side of Rs 10 lakh.

However, as the revs rise, the engine becomes more vocal and it loses the refinement edge to the Fiesta diesel, but only just. Cruising or at low revs, the engine sound won’t bother you in the least and in fact you will marvel how quiet it is. What bothers you is the assortment of body rattles, which seems to be an inherent problem with the Swift and a transmission that whines like a lost pup. Fiat’s famed 1248cc 16-valve, twin-cam diesel which powers the Swift is remarkably free-revving. Power doesn’t tail off suddenly and the engine spins happily to 5300rpm.

The downside is that the power band doesn’t really start till 2000rpm, below which the Swift lacks a sense of urgency. There’s a slight hesitation and the fixed geometry turbo takes time to spool up; this is especially noticeable especially when you drive up inclines. The Swift is nowhere near as responsive as the Fiesta which pulls strongly from 1500rpm. This means using the Swift’s gearbox more frequently and that’s no bad thing because it is one of the best around. Double synchro rings on first and second gear allow you to downshift to those cogs effortlessly. The throw is short and snappy and the overall feel far better than the ‘shift on the petrol Swift.

Performance is pretty impressive as well with the dash to 100kph arriving in 13.87 seconds. To put that figure in perspective, the Indica is around a second slower and the Ford three seconds behind. It’s only the Hyundai Verna with its 35bhp advantage which is faster. Top speed is 160kph but what really matters is the relaxed way in which the Swift Diesel cruises.

At 100kph in fifth gear, the engine turns over at a very stress-free 2500rpm. The Fiat diesel weighs 115kg, approximately 30kg more than the petrol engine, but that’s still quite light for a diesel. To handle this extra weight over the front wheels, Maruti engineers have stiffened the springs at the front. The extra weight isn’t really noticeable and steering effort is a touch more at parking speeds while at speed there is slack around the straight-ahead position of this electrically- powered steering system that is so typical of the Swift.

In our gruelling city cycle which involves navigating through several of Mumbai’s rush-hours, the Swift notched a miserly 14.4kpl. During our highway cycle, which includes sections of the super-smooth Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the Swift returned a stupendous 19.1kpl. To put these figures in perspective, the Fiesta diesel returns 13.9kpl and 18.3kpl for the same city and highway cycles respectively.