Vrooooom.... test driving the B segment!

This post is gonna be a bit different - well, actually, it's inherently different, not because blogspot helped me with addition of maggi hot and sweet tomato chilly sauce to this post! - It's about test drives of a couple of cars - essentially based on 5-10 minutes of test drive and nothing more. Infact, I am told, Auto India recently did come up with an edition with test drives. I will probably read that up once I am done with this post - to cross check how true Auto India is :-))

Indian automobile market has changed a lot over the years. It started with automobile industry being made open to MNCs - pre-IT boom days (pre-Y2K), auto boom was the only thing that went on positive side of analysis of Indian industry. Things have changed since then. The result is a wide range of models to choose from and the satisfaction that Indian models are launched in parallel with worldwide launch - sign of things to come for our country that aims to become a global small car manufacturing hub.

We were looking to change the Santro, so were essentially looking for a replacement in almost the same segment. Santro has done wonderfully well over the last 6.5 years, however seems to lack the punch on new highways. Although the car would mostly be driven in city, I thought that the new car should probably be a fraction better on highways. So, before I got down to test drives, understanding specs on the ground, talking to dealers, in some ways, the choice was narrowed down to Swift, Getz on one side vs. Santro and Indica on the other. Santro I have driven a lot, have tried the 1.1L version too, so in some ways knew enough about the car.

The first car that I test drove was Hyundai Getz. Internally, it looked impressive, though externally, I am yet to find any major distinguishing element in Getz - was just about okay in terms of looks. It felt like Santro - yeah yeah I know there is a light year of difference, but that's what my initial reaction was. However, as I slipped into the driver's seat, the impression started to change. The engine start was smooth and the gear shift to first was impressive - the gears were real smooth. The real difference was when I managed to get some acceleration going - it was quick! - relative statistics of 0-60 pickup would prove that, but it was real impressive. The engine was very smooth and easy! Driving the car was a pleasure, smooth gear shifts, a highly responsive engine that didn't crib with any high decibel sounds did sound perfect. Road handling was decent. I for one, did not find suspensions to be any better than Santro - though the dealer did tell that there it is supposed to be superior. Space inside was just about okay. Overall verdict - Santro + great engine, great gear shift. However, I thought it was an over priced car and at some stage Hyundai will need to cut prices to compete with Swift and friends.

I did take a round of new Santro - had driven new Santro before, so knew exactly how it would be. The 1.1L engine provides sufficient power, the suspension system felt almost the same. There was not much to know further about Santro, so I kept the observations down to minimum basic - and it therefore takes a smaller proportion of this post! There is one comment that I need to make - 7-8 years in India and I am still not sure if Hyundai has ironed out the air-conditioning system. Getz and Santro didn't feel at any stage sufficiently in tune with cooling requirements in India, more so in Chennai. Its probably a trade off with fuel efficiency, but driving comfort is a lot dependent on the effectiveness of the air con and being a Hyundai fan, I would like to see that corrected at some point in time.

Now over to the next car - the car that I had in some ways decided to go ahead with. It's Maruti Sukuzi Swift. Everything about the car looked perfect till then. The sports shape of the car is obviously a big big plus. In addition to that, it looks overall neat, with certain special design elements that had made Swift the car of the year internationally - launched in India almost in parallel with it's global launch, Swift based on all reviews was the car here to stay for sometime. I have been impressed with other factors that have gone in branding of the car - the fully devoted marutiswift website was a great place to get a perfect overview to the car and the relative comparison of different models. With VX model priced at 4.8L, Maruti, I think has positioned the car perfectly well in India.

With this background, I started the test drive of the car. The interiors of the car looked just right with more than sufficient leg room and head room - did feel a bigger car than Santro and Getz - I might be wrong here, as this perception is based on the design whereas actual dimensions sometimes work out to be different. Into gear 1 and the car did have some pick-up! That was impressive, really was! I am inherently a low rpm driver, but didn't mind pressing the throttle on this car. I was test driving the top end model of the car with automatic climate control - the air conditioning did look very effective and the ride comfort was good. I will look at the stats at some stage, but I think Swift is a bit heavier than Getz. I would feel that as it did glide through the potholes and the suspension response was reasonably good. However, I was not entirely convinced on two factors: 1) The engine smoothness - didn't feel that smooth as the Getz that I test drove 2) In-cabin sound level. Again, this finally comes down to refinement and build quality. This is what my top of the mind judgement was, however reality could be a bit different - it all depends on how old the demo cars where - the dealer told me that it was 6 months old, with every day some auto freak like me trying to push the car to it's limits! Overall I was more of less satisfied with the car. At same price point, would have chosen Swift over Getz for superior design, though engine ride was a fraction better with Getz. However, with the corresponding model of Getz being a good 40K more than Swift, there was hardly any decision to be made here.

This was day 1 of test drives - infact day half to be exact as I spent the first half of the day in travel to Chennai. By evening, I was much convinced that it is Swift. The plan for day-2 was to reach some level of comfort with the car, may be test drive once more and then look to hunt for the dealer that could give maximum discount.

Day-2, I take my Santro out with a list of all Maruti dealers in town - to get the best possible deal. On the way, I happened to visit Tata motors showroom. I wanted to have some understanding of Indica and a bit of Indigo. Actually, I haven't kept pace with changes in Indica since it's early days. Those were times when I used to follow Indica very closely - as it was one car developed from scratch in India and I felt proud that it was just about there in terms of product features and quality with the international competition. Way back in 2001 or 2002, I had gone to Delhi for Auto Expo from Bits with a couple of car crazy friends. We did see Indica v2 and another variant then and it did sound impressive. Now, Indica had changed - the new version XETA was like 'wow'. At 3.6L for the fully loaded version, it was attractive. I took a test drive and the 1.4L engine felt a bit better than Santro. After the test drive, I could suddenly see the price difference between Indica and Swift and the impressive XETA was almost there at the top in my books. However, 2 factors again went against this. 1) Indica till now has a lower resale value - probably due to build quality of earlier models 2) It is somehow associated with taxis, as Indicab has been a huge success.

Confused as I was, thought it was best to visit a Swift dealer again. I test drove Swift again, the 87bhp power, the sports car design and the stamp of international car of the year were reasons enough to pay the premium over Indica. So, it was SWIFT again - now it was down to getting the colours, etc right. Swift comes in with some real cool colours! - I actually like the black Swift as much as the other variants like silver, blue, dark grey, etc. One special feature in Swift that enhances the sports car image is the black A and B columns (or is it B and columns?) - well these are actually the metal panels that front doors close to - this black did go so well with silver that it made the decision a lot easier for us.

Rest of the time in Chennai, I spent on the process part - negotiating with the dealer, booking the car, dealing with finance companies to get the best EMI per lakh, etc, etc. Next morning (day-3), I went to the accessory showroom to get a few extra fittings. I am actually not a big fan of accessories - i so much like the original look of the car and like to preserve it for as long as possible - to the extent that I am a bit against the concept of sun films in cars - I like the original marginally tinted glasses that cars come in with. However, I wanted to fit the SWIFT with a music system that would be in line with the engine power!

SWIFT, as per estimates, should be delivered tomorrow. I am in Singapore now, so will probably have to wait a while before I can get behind the wheels of the new car. A long drive is surely on cards next time I get an opportunity!