The Swift Dzire is now the Dzire. The name is just one of many changes this generation has seen. Maruti has already launched the car in India and is going by the initial response they’ve managed to shell out yet another winner. Built afresh on the fifth generation HEARTECT platform, the new Dzire According to Maruti is able to offer more space, superior safety and better fuel efficiency. The good part about driving in a place like Goa is that it provides a good mix of roads that narrow or wide, curvy or straight and with or without traffic. The Dzire went through all of that.
Looks
Designing a sub-4 meter sedan that ticks all the boxes is a huge challenge. The car should look good from the outside and yet offer decent space on the inside. The designers at Maruti seem to have cracked it this time. The car is so well proportioned that it looks like a full-fledged sedan. The way the A and C pillars merge into the body make for a pretty picture. Diamond cut alloys and chrome strips make the profile attractive. The front is vastly different from the earlier Dzire and very similar to the upcoming Swift. The increased width though makes the car truly stand out. The trapezoidal grille and the LED projector headlamps are good to look at. The presence of LED tail lamps adds to the novelty factor though unlike the recently launched facelift of the Hyundai Xcent it doesn’t get tail lamps that are integrated into the boot lid. A chrome bar is a good addition and overall the rear does complete justice to this Compact sedan.
Interiors
The highlight here is the 7-inch touch screen infotainment system that works with both Apple car play and Android auto. The quality of touch is very good and the system also has a rear parking camera. Dual tone colour scheme of black and beige is predictable but Maruti has thrown in some wooden inserts to make the interiors more premium. The AC vents in the centre are in black colour while the ones near the door are beige which is a nice thought. Also It’s commendable how the company has given a car that does well ergonomically as there are a lot of small and practical storage spaces to for things like bottles, mobiles and wallets. The best part is that because the car is now wider by 40 mm it translates into much better space for the occupants on both the rows. Shoulder room has gone up on both the rows and the rear seat gets an additional 55 mm of leg room. The second row also gets Ac vents and a centre arm rest. Boot space also has gone up by 62 litres and now stands at 378 liters’.
Engines
Just like it was on the recently launched Ignis the Dzire also gets both Petrol & Diesel variants and both get manual and Auto gearshift options. The 1.2 liter 82bhp Petrol and the 1.3 liter 74 bhp Diesel mills remain the same. Maruti has a good reason to continue with them as they are refined and responsive at the same time. Even the NVH levels are pretty acceptable on both the Petrol and Diesel cars. There were speculations that Maruti would have put the CVT gearbox here but that didn’t happen as the AMT gave them the flexibility of making the car more affordable and fuel efficient. The AMT variants are offering the same fuel efficiency as the manual variants. In fact Maruti says because it is the car that decides when to shift gears it sometimes gets even efficiency than a manual as it negates any possible human error. For the record Maruti is claiming 22.0 kmpl for Petrol and 28.4 kmpl for Diesel which makes the Dzire India’s most fuel efficient car.
Handling & Ride
A major difference when compared to the Predecessor is that this new Dzire is lighter by almost 100 Kgs. Therefore the drive becomes peppier and the car handles better. Ride quality is a highlight here as the car is able to successfully negotiate the potholes and bumps that come in its way. Safety has also been taken care of with all variants of the Dzire getting ABS and Airbags as standard. ISOFIX child seat restraint system has also been provided in the Dzire.
It’s commendable how the company has given a car that does well ergonomically as there are a lot of small and practical storage spaces to for things like bottles, mobiles and wallets.
Verdict
The prices for the new Dzire start at Rs. 5.45 lakh (ex-Delhi) for the base Petrol variant and go up to Rs. 9.41 lakh for the top Diesel AMT variant. Maruti is going all out with the Dzire with as many as 14 variants on offer and already the waiting period on the car has reached one month. The AMT option is being offered with all the variants apart from the base variant which just gives the consumer a lot more flexibility to pick and choose. The Dzire is offering everything a consumer wants in the compact sedan segment and it looks like it will be very hard for any competitor to challenge its supremacy in the near future.
Shams Naqvi is an anchor/producer for the News X motor show Living Cars