Maruti Suzuki Swift Facelift Review, Road Test

The 2021 Maruti Suzuki Swift. The hatchback from the manufacturer is finally here with us in its facelifted avatar promising more of everything. Maruti has an aggressive strategy ahead by bringing out new models to make sure they stand out and grab sales numbers as it lost market share in the last three years. This hatchback is going to do so for them as it has always done the same. Be it on the inside and outside, it has what it takes to impress a set of consumers. Like always there are core strengths and weaknesses of any product that comes from the Maruti stable. We find out what the 2021 Maruti Suzuki Swift facelift offers and doesn’t to its prospective buyers. The road test is a bit late as we tried to arrange the manual version on our despite waiting for Maruti to provide to us.

On the outside, the 3.9-meter hatchback has the silhouette of the previous Swift but the different elements on the car make that quite clear such as the head and tail lamps. The front grille, bonnet and alloy wheels are entirely new. The large grille and LED DRL make it stand out at the front. The build quality on the outside seems good enough as always but could be better. The overall departure from the clean and crisp lines of the old Swift is long gone and has given way to a curvy and more funky design. The rear design continues to be a hit or a miss with prospective customers. The colors also signify it is targetting a slightly younger audience, especially the Red and black scheme on our car.

On the inside, the build and quality are good, not great. The stowage is good, charging points are in plenty, and overall a very practical cabin. The feature list, we have explained time and again in our launch reports. You get every Smarplay touch screen with Android Auto, and Apple Car Play. The sound system is good too considering the segment. The A/c control dials with screens on them inside look very futuristic.

Power windows, a Start-stop button, and a digital and analog speedometer inspired by the previous SWift is a welcome move. The steering mounted controls are on offer and the steering also looks good in its new avatar. Space is quite good too. The shoulder, head, leg, and knee rooms are segment standard and are good enough for this segment. The boot space is good by segment standards at 300 liters plus. Road and wind noise inside the cabin is not so well controlled as the road noise can get intrusive and wind noise also does, but only after 90 km/hr. The safety kit includes ABS and EBD with two airbags that come as standard.

The only option is a petrol 1.2-liter engine making 83 PS and 113 Nm of torque is a free-revving and low on NVH unit. Be it in any part of the rev range. Be it automatic or manual either it is easy to drive. Also, the clutch is light and so is the gearbox to operate. Automatic, only a 5-speed, is the highly optimized AMT which is now in its second generation within the Maruti gearbox universe and it is pretty good. It shifts smoothly, almost seamlessly at all speeds making the best AMT after the Mahindra AMT unit which is now the best there is in the market right now. It delivers spectacular fuel economy on the highway and city.

We saw 20 km/l on the Mumbai-Pune highway. Really gunning it we saw 14 km/l and i think that is a great number to have in today’s time! Low and mid-range are good thanks to low curb weight and the top-end is good enough as well and it cruises at legal speeds easily thanks to the slightly higher focus of the power in the top end. This ends up making good enough for city and highway duties.

Like most Maruti cars, the low to medium ride quality is good, yet slightly stiff this time around. The high-speed ride can be a bit floaty but much better than smaller models such as Celerio and Alto. Body roll increases as speeds get higher while taking a corner or changing lanes at high speeds. Confidence is good enough to do so but could have been better at it. Steering is light and precise and has good feedback on offer which makes the car fun enough to push harder. Brakes are good with a well-done pedal bite. Overall, very easy and quite fun to drive by far compared to all its rivals.

Maruti Suzuki Swift Facelift Review, Verdict

There is no denying people will buy the Swift whether they like it or not. The price which the Swift comes at fits most first-time car buyers nowadays easily. Sure, the bulk of the concentration is at RS 20 lakh cars. However, it is the car like Swift still are aspirational cars and for a reason. It has a modern look inside-out, it is fuel efficient, fun to drive, and has Maruti’s peace of mind when it comes to sales and service. Swift does lack a diesel now, it lacks some safety kit, for now, but it has everything else that people look for in affordable commuting and it fits the bill just right, even over its rivals, rather easily.