One of the best cars in our long-term fleet has finally come to the end of its tenure. The journey with the Swift VDi which began in April 2007 has run its course. We have had some memorable cars and while the diesel Swift is certainly not the most memorable, it has certainly been one of the most rewarding.
For one it has given us a whole new view to the effects of a diesel engine in a small car. There was a perception that a diesel engine was least required in a small car and that it could hardly make a small car more cost effective to own. Then the Tata Indica came along and changed all perceptions. It showed that diesels could make a small car purchase a very wise choice indeed, no matter if it was noisy, clattery and sooty. The Swift diesel went one step further and actually introduced the concept of a performance diesel in a hatchback. It not just revived flagging interest in the diesel hatch market but created quite a storm. The small 1.3-litre JTD engine, sourced from Fiat was further tuned by the Suzuki engineers and dished out in the Swift hatch. The result was one of the most engaging, vibrant and scintillating diesel hatches. It set a new benchmark in terms of small car performance and efficiency.
The 1.3 engine churns out 76PS of max power but has a whopping 190Nm of max torque that gives it double edged capability. It has the performance to excite yet is frugal enough to ensure the fuels bills are kept in check. There is hardly a car in the Indian automotive firmament that can offer such holistic appeal, balancing outright performance with frugality. Over the course of a whole year the Swift VDi has been pretty consistent with her fuel efficiency figures, constantly returning around 14.5kmpl to 15kmpl. And not once have I had a dull moment with her.
Sharp throttle responses, a delicately balanced chassis, superb suspension, slick gearbox and precise steering attribute her with a nifty road character. On a recent comparison test we conducted between the Skoda Fabia and the Swift, the Swift was a far more competent car when it came to performance. Except for the more contemporary look and feel that the Fabia exudes, there was little else where the Fabia could score a point over the Swift. The lack of body roll, pitch and a confident footprint round any and every corner coupled with a superbly responsive engine provides an incredible driving experience, which the Fabia found hard to emulate. But over a whole year of living with it, the Swift is also one of the cars where we came across several structural flaws that need improvement. Build quality is a critical area that needs to be addressed. In fact several problems that we encountered in our long-term petrol Swift, repeated themselves in the diesel variant as well.
Chiefly the window-winder switch which kept coming off. Then there were the issues with the rear dampers whose ability to sustain a decent ride quality after a few months of service raised several doubts. Yet another aspect in the diesel Swift that raised concern were the quality of tyres, which in just a few months of use began losing the tread faster than the general lifespan. Of course in the one year that she has been in our fleet she has covered twice more than the average distance covered by any privately owned car. She came to us with around 10,000km on the odometer, which has now gone past the 26,000km mark. With over 16,000km logged in one year over a variety of terrain and climatic conditions, I can certainly expect certain issues to crop up, however build quality would certainly not figure in there.
Nevertheless we still had some incredible fun driving the Swift diesel and it remained one of the most preferred and most widely used set of wheels in the OVERDRIVE garage. Recently we also strapped in the Pete’s tuning box to understand how much of an improvement could be wheedled out. In its present state of tune we re-tested our long-term VDi both in stock guise and with the tuning box strapped on. In stock tune she did a 100kmph in 14.51 seconds and the quarter mile in 20.18 seconds both figures which are less by a second as compared to the car we had for a road test. The blame lies with us for improperly maintaining her service schedules. Nevertheless with the tuning box doing its thing in just stage one, the VDi did the same 100kmph in 13.5 seconds while the quarter mile was dismissed in 19.17 seconds. So with the tuning box, the Swift VDi was a whole second quicker than in stock form. So if our road test Swift is taken into consideration (0-100kmph in 13.2 and ¼ mile in 18.7 seconds) with the Pete’s tuning box she would be a second quicker. Which only means she would be quicker than her petrol sibling.
Of course the bigger gain is that there was hardly any decipherable change reflected in her efficiency, which dropped by just 0.3kmpl. I am indeed going to be sorry to see her being driven away back to where she came from, as are the other guys in OVERDRIVE who have enjoyed her company.
-Bertrand D'Souza
