Suzuki Dzire review (By Nitesh Kumar) Home
Maruti Dzire >> Review
This is Maruti’s 3rd generation Dzire which has been launched. The car has been built on a completely new platform from Maruti and has got many noticeable features. First & foremost, Maruti has done away with the middle name ‘Swift’ from the car’s name and made the car stand independent & competent with the name as Maruti Dzire without the backing of the Swift badge as was the case with the 1st & 2nd generation cars. The car gets many features – ABS & driver and passenger airbags as standard in all car models, AGS (auto gear shift) option, LED projector headlamps, LED daytime running lamps, rear AC vents & infotainment system with Apple carplay & Android Auto compatibility.
Dzire has been segment leader in the entry level compact mid size sedan segment but now faces stiff competition in the form of re-launched Hyundai Xcent, Tata Tigor, Ford Aspire and Volkswagen Ameo. Maruti engineers had to do something dramatically different in order to fight competition and I believe that they have been more than successful. A completely new chassis has helped in increasing the wheelbase to 2450 mm giving respectable leg room at the rear. The smooth flowing design means that the boot gets blended with the front and doesn’t look like a protruded force fitting as was there in the earlier models. Also the boot size increases to a respectable 378 litres.
Design & Features
Dzire gets a completely new design with almond shaped headlamps, a more upmarket sober front grille accentuated by chrome all around with the Suzuki housed in the middle. The chrome fascination of Maruti designers doesn’t end here as the fog lamps and rear boot also get the chrome treatment. In fact the front design will be shared with the new generation swift which will be launched next year. The side doors are broad making ingress and egress quite easy. Both the front and back get LED headlamps and tail lamps with additional features of day light running headlamps available on the top trim.
Coming to interiors, the dashboard has a black-beige combination with the noticeable flat bottom steering wheel and well positioned and good quality control switches in the steering wheel column. The instrument panel looks clean & crisp with needles at zero degree position, same as that in Ignis. The footwell at the front eats into the space leading to constrained leg room for the front passengers.
With increased wheelbase, the legroom at the rear as improved dramatically creating enough space for two adults to be easily accommodated, but with the reduced height, the headroom seems bit of a squeeze for the rear passengers. The rear ac vents and 12V socket at the back are carefully thought off adding to the passenger comfort at the rear.
The skinny 165/R14 tyres do not go down well as the car deserves atleast 175 mm tyres to do justice to the overall dimensions.
Performance
Dzire gets the familiar 1.2 L four cylinder petrol delivering 83 BHP power and the 1.3 L DDiS four cylinder diesel engine delivering 83 BHP of power.
Petrol engine has a smooth power delivery starting from 1200 rpm going upto 3500 rpm. Maximum torque of 113 Nm is delivered at 4200 rpm. The 5 speed manual gear box is smooth to drive with short gear ratios adding to the easy drive.
The petrol AMT or the AGS (Auto Gear Shift) which the Maruti has coined as the term, is not that agile as the manual transmission, but the transition between gears is quite noticeable due to the slight ‘tick’ sound made on each shift. The AGS version also offers the option of manually changing the gears through the tiptronic mode.
The diesel engine has the peculiar lag in power delivery, but once the revs builds up to 2000 rpm , then the engine gets rolling delivering optimum power for pulling the car smoothly.
Both the engines are quite fuel efficient with claims of 22 kmpl in petrol and 28.4 kmpl in diesel by Maruti. This has been made possible due to low kerb weight in the range of 860 kg to 990 kg across petrol & diesel models.
Ride & Handling
The new Dzire has a softened suspension leading to better ride quality than its predecessor. The low ground clearance of 163 mm means very less body roll and car is able to negotiate the corners with ease. The undulations on the road are tackled with ease, though low ground clearance can lead to occasional bottom grazing on bumpy roads.
The sharp turning radius of 4.8 m makes the car easy to manoeuvre in the city, but on the contrary a light steering makes you feel less connected with the road while driving.
Conclusion
There is no other car manufacturer in India which knows the pulse of the customer as much as Suzuki does. With such a long presence dating back to 1983, it has been very rare that Maruti has failed in understanding the customer needs. With Dzire, I believe Maruti again has an ace up its sleeve which is going to create ripples in the market and will help Maruti maintain its numero uno position in this segment.
The new Dzire is available in 8 trims (4 each in petrol & Diesel) LXi/LDi, VXi/VDi,ZXi/ZDi & ZXi+/ZDi+ and two engine options both in Manual transmission and AMT. The car is going to be sold at the regular Maruti Suzuki dealerships and not through the Nexa showrooms.