New Maruti Suzuki Swift, Is it Better Than Before?
The Swift name stands for peppy performance and a sporty hot hatch, the first generation Swift was launched 19 years ago, at that time the sales were a little rocky at the start, but soon the numbers picked up. The third generation which was the previous generation almost sold 15000 units a month and the total Swift sold in India is around 3 million. The 3rd Generation was launched in 2018, with minor tweaks in 2021. But this new 4th Gen Maruti Suzuki Swift looks quite different when compared to its predecessors. Let’s dig deep into the New Maruti Suzuki Swift, and see what new you get, and whether is it more interesting than before or not.
Exterior Design
The First thing you notice is the clamshell body which is quite noticeable in the Hood, it either makes the vehicle look good or bad, depending on your taste, for me this design makes the car stand apart. The new headlight design gets DRLs, the new black grille and bumper design make the front end look sporty. Apart from that there are no significant changes. The side looks very similar to the outgoing Swift but with one difference the line from the clamshell design continues. You get 15-inch wheels with good-looking alloys and a request sensor for both front doors. Talking about doors, the rear door opening has come down to the usual position on the door, which is a better position.
Now talking about the rear end, you get a slightly different design of taillamps, you get 4 parking sensors, a reverse parking camera, a rear defogger and a washer. You can notice the clamshell line from the front to the side to the back, which makes the car look like it can be split into two halves. Overall the exterior design makes the car stand out, If you like the design let us know in the comments.
Interior Features
Let’s see what changes you get in the cabin of the new Maruti Suzuki Swift. The interior is where you will see the major changes, that is compared to the old Swift. The interior is similar to new-age Maruti cars, Baleno, and Fronx. Here is the list of features you get
| 9-inch touchscreen |
| Wireless Andriod Auto & Apple Car Play |
| Cruise Control |
| Wireless Phone Charger |
| Automatic AC |
| Automatic Headlights |
| Rear AC Vents |
| 60:40 Split Rear Seat |
The Seats are Fabric, but they have good bolstering offer good support and are comfortable. The interior is all black, with hard plastic all over the Dash. Overall the Interior design is similar to other New Gen Maruti Cars.
Safety Features
The new Gen Swift is heavier than the old Gen Swift, this might be because of the additional reinforcement done to the chassis to make the vehicle more strong, though this is not confirmed. In the JNCAP (Japanese Test), swift has scored 4-star Rating. Though it has not been tested in Bharat Ncap yet, we have to wait to see whether it is tested.
Though quite a few safety features are standard across the variants
| 6 Airbags |
| ABS with EBD |
| ESP |
| ISOFIX Child Seat Mounts |
| Hill Assist |
| Rear Camera |
Engine and performance
Now let’s talk about the most important part of the engine, the 4th Gen Swift engine is replaced with a Z series 1.2 Litre 3 Cylinder Engine, which was earlier a 1.2 Litre 4 Cylinder K series engine. This new Engine makes 81 HP and 112 NM of torque, which is 8HP and 1NM lower than before. The New Swift has less power and more weight.
So is the new Swift really “Swift” to drive, sadly you do feel the power reduced when you drive, the new Z series engine is not a free-reviving engine like the old K series. Though you would notice a better low-end torque than before, there is not much power at higher revs. Also, the engine makes noise as you get high in the rev range. Apart from that the ride and handling of the chassis and the car are good, this new Swift has upgraded suspension, so it rides more maturely than before.
This has been done to add the Hybrid tech, this new Z series engine can be hybridised when needed, but there is no word if the New Swift will get a Hybrid option, Nor there be a turbo petrol option. This I think is done to keep the price down, because the new Swift is priced higher than before, and a Hybrid or Turbo engine option would increase the price further. Anyway, I think they could have given us a Turbo Petrol as an option, that would have made the Swift name legit.
The New engine has Manual and AMT transmissions, the manual transmission is smooth, and a better option, because the AMT though is calibrated better but still it doesn’t feel as good as the Manual. I would prefer the Manual over AMT.
Fuel efficiency
The Fuel efficiency has improved, this was the main reason for the 3-cylinder engine, the ARAI fuel efficiency figures are 24.8kmpl on the MT and 25.75kmpl on the AMT. You can expect around 20 Kmpl in real life. So you sacrifice a bit of power and get a noisier engine for better fuel economy.
Price and Variants
| Variants | Price |
| LXi | Rs 6.49 lakh |
| VXi | Rs 7.29 lakh |
| VXi AMT | Rs 7.79 lakh |
| VXi (O) | Rs 7.56 lakh |
| VXi (O) AMT | Rs 8.06 lakh |
| ZXi | Rs 8.29 lakh |
| ZXi AMT | Rs 8.79 lakh |
| ZXi + | Rs 8.99 lakh |
| ZXi + AMT | Rs 9.49 lakh |
Verdict
The New Maruti Suzuki Swift is still a good car and will appeal to a lot of people, the same as the last Gen Swift. One thing that I felt was the car lacks power, the new engine is good at low RPM but that is it, when you push it, it runs out of breath. That is the only complaint I have, rest the vehicle is good for a lot of people. It is a good city car which now rides much better than before.
So Book a test ride and drive the new Swift, and let us know if would you buy the new Maruti Swift let us know in the comments.
