Maruti Suzuki Swift Long Term Report: July 2018

‘Swift’ in every sense

We’ve had horrible weather this June in the NCR. With clouds of dust looming over, it was like being trapped in an air tight dust box. So, there was only one thing to it – head to better climes. 

So, I headed to the hills. And considering that driving on twisty roads is always fun, Arup was kind enough to hand me the keys to his Long-Term Swift. And boy was I impressed by the car! Its amazing how Maruti has managed to tune this MultiJet engine to have such liner power delivery. There’s decent linear acceleration initially, but once the turbo spools, there is a linear surge that makes it very tractable. Keep your foot in it, and the Swift is very quick, thanks to its ‘Swift’ nature. You can go in and out of tight gaps on the highway seamlessly. Changing directions is an absolute breeze, thanks to the well-balanced chassis. My only complaint is with the brakes and tyres. The brakes desperately need more bite, and the ABS calibration is way off, it kicks in just halfway down the pedal’s travel. The problem is also partly down to the Bridgestone Ecopia tyres that are great for efficiency but have terrible grip and aquaplane ever so easily. So, I suggest all Swift buyers to fit better tyres right away. Otherwise, the Swift is a proper enthusiast’s car, especially in petrol manual guise.