NEW DELHI: The Maruti Suzuki Swift has been one of India’s most popular cars ever since it was first launched in the country back in 2005. In fact, in the last few months its success has scaled new heights as it has become the highest selling car in the country, beating many other popular cars even from within the Maruti brand. Three years ago, the country’s leading car maker had launched a brand-new generation of the Swift in the market and now the hot hatch has been given a facelift that apart from exterior and interior changes also gets an updated and cleaner engine.
LOOKS
The most significant change on the car is the new mesh grille that comes with a horizontal chrome slat running across it. This has definitely made the car look sportier than earlier. All other elements remain the same on the car, including the projector headlamps, bumpers and alloy wheels. But yes, the front wheels now come with bigger brakes. Maruti has now introduced 3 dual tone colour options on the car but they are available only on the top Zxi+ variant of the car. These are pearl arctic white with pearl midnight black roof, solid fire red with pearl midnight black roof and pearl metallic midnight blue with pearl arctic white roof.
INTERIORS
The big change inside the cabin is the revised twin-pod instrument cluster which gets 4.2 a coloured TFT display. It provides a lot of useful information that aids the driver in many ways. But once again the feature is available only on the top variant. The car now also gets features like cruise control and key synchronized auto foldable ORVMs. The 7-inch touchscreen system gets the updated Smartplay studio and is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It also gets voice recognition and can be controlled via an app which also gets the navigation feature. The second row provides good space, and the seat comes with a 60:40 split on the higher variants.
ENGINE
It might be a facelift but there are changes on the heart as well. The new Swift is equipped with ‘Next Gen K-Series dual jet dual VVT Petrol engine that now churns out 88 bhp and 113 Nm. This has made the hot hatch more powerful than before. The company had discontinued the diesel version of the car before the BS6 emissions kicked in last year. Like earlier the car is available in both Manual and Automatic Gear Shift (AGS) variants. The latter offers easy drivability in the urban chaos at a slightly higher cost. All but the base LXi variant of the car get this Automated Manual transmission option.
FUEL EFFICIENCY AND SAFETY
One of the fortes of Maruti cars has always been good fuel efficiency. The Swift now comes with the brand’s Idle Start Stop (ISS) technology that promises higher fuel efficiency with lower emissions. According to Maruti, the Swift now gives a best-in-class fuel efficiency of 23.20 km/l in MT and an even better 23.76 km/l in AGS variants. The latter also gets Electronic Stability Program (ESP) with hill-hold which detects vehicle skid movement and restrains the same. It does not allow the vehicle to roll-back on inclined slopes in stop-start traffic condition, ensuring better control and peace of mind. The car also comes with safety features like dual airbags, ABS with EBD, Pre-tensioner and force limiter seat belts, driver, and co-driver seat belt reminder, ISOFIXchild seat mounts and reverse parking sensors with a rear-view camera.
PRICES
Owing to the new additions the Swift has become pricier than before. The manual variants now start at Rs 5.73 lakh (ex-showroom) and go up to Rs 7.91 lakh for the dual tone model. The AGS variants are priced between Rs 6.86 and Rs 8.41 lakh (ex-showroom). The difference between similar Manual and AGS variants is Rs 50,000. Maruti has made India’s bestselling car even more attractive with some worthy changes and the despite the increased prices there is little that might keep the buyers away from lapping up this hot hatch.