Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire 2012 LDi - Design Review

There are some vehicle-segments that are born because of the market needs – like the premium hatchback segment for example, which came into being because the cosmopolitan crowd wanted more space and creature comforts from a hatchback while maintaining the convenience of a small car. Then there are some segments that spawn because the economy and the stringent rules demand it – like the compact SUVs which are now coming into the forefront for their ability to give their owners a commanding driving position while returning the fuel economy of an economical sedan.

However, now there is a new segment that has taken birth – that of the compact sedan – thanks to the Government’s tax rebate that is given to cars that are less than four meters in length. Until recently, it was only the hatchbacks that largely took advantage of this law. But the bright engineers at Tata managed to make the Indigo CS (now eCS), that was not only less than four meters in length, but also managed to pass on the cost advantage to the consumers to become of the cheapest sedans that you could buy in the country.

Now, Maruti Suzuki has gone the same way and the car that’s got an axe on the boot is the highly popular, Swift Dzire. We got behind the wheel of the 2012 Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire in its new avatar to see if the chop job has worked well. More importantly, since it’s based on the new Swift, we even wanted to find out how well it handles – for the last Dzire made me throw up when it ferried me from the airport to an event on the top of a hill. Read on to know what we feel about the new Swift Dzire.

Design

At first glance, the new Swift Dzire looks very appealing – thanks to the smart front end that it borrows largely from the new Swift. I say largely, because Maruti Suzuki has given the front end some distinguishing factors. While the headlights and fog lights come from the new Swift, the grille gets a prominent re-design, trading in the honeycomb mesh for two rows of vertical slats. The front bumper differentiates itself from the Swift’s, with a flared crease running around the fog-lamps. The fog-lamp shrouds are smaller on the Dzire, making the bumper look bigger and more muscular than that of the Swift. Overall, this design makes the front end of the new Dzire look smarter and more up-to-date than the older Swift Dzire.

At the back, the taillights too are a big departure not only from the earlier Dzire’s design, but also from the design philosophy of the new Swift. Let me make it simpler. The old Dzire’s taillights looked out of place and overdone since their overall shape was too similar to the headlights. On this Dzire though, the taillights look great with their compact design and look distinctive as compared to the new Swift. In fact, the exclusion of a radical, overtly swept-back styling design makes the taillights look classy, instead of sporty.

The top end model retains a chrome appliqué on the boot lid to add further premium character to the car. Unlike the artistic, shapely chrome appliqués on the Toyota Etios, Mahindra Logan or even the old Dzire for that matter, this one has a simple design.

The lower bumper has rather drab design with no creases like its frontal counterpart. The only saving grace is the trademark, centrally mounted fog-light. A blacked-out lower section could have given the rear bumper a better look overall.

The side view of the new Swift Dzire is the bad angle though. One glance at it and you know it looks imbalanced. On one end you have the long, curvaceous bonnet and on the other end you have the stubby boot which sticks out like the tail of a Doberman. Maruti Suzuki has gotten rid of the ‘Bangle-butt’ and in turn, have given the boot lid a protrusion that appears like a lip-spoiler. In short, the side profile tries hard to look like an arrowhead, but a blunt one at that. The doors too tend to look imbalanced since the front one looks too wide as compared to the rear one. The receding -roofline further highlights this fact. Speaking of the roofline, the blacked out A and B pillars retain the ‘floating roof’ appearance on the car’s side profile.

Overall, the design of the new Dzire makes it look more of notchback than a regular three-box sedan. But the design is not an eye-sore as long as you don’t view it plainly from the side profile. The reduced boot has brought the Dzire’s length down to 3995mm as compared to the earlier model’s 4160mm.

Also Read:

- 2012 Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire User Experience Review

- 2012 Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire Performance Review