Folks,

I went to Bimal, Bangalore and saw the car first hand. Here are my impressions of the diesel version Zdi:

1. Engine:
a. The engine is the same as used in other swift versions. With 30kgs-50kgs more (depending on the model), the power/weight ratio largely remains unchanged.
b. The modeling of the car has been done w.r.t extended boot so that the car does not sway/swing uncontrollably.
c. Swifts have been driven to 50,000 kms + and have not been reported to have any major issues so far. The extended warranty (<7000Rs for additional 2 years) will cover the life of the engine along with ECM (electronic control module). Therefore, i believe driving the car for 100000+ kms should yield no problems

2. Cost & Ease of Maintainence:
a. No of service centres: Maruti dots the country - Mahindras and Tatas also, but try their service centres. You will see the difference. Hyundai is ofcourse good, but I shall comment more below.
b. Service Cost: Verna Crdi costs a base amt of 3820Rs + Tax for the second free paid service. Most of my friends who own the car love it for its looks, power and possibly space. However, the service cost is more like 1000Rs per 1000kms! Maruti’s is more like 300-500Rs per 1000kms if driven in similar fashion. Please enquire if you want to verify.
Logan is the probably the only other great car out here in terms of maintainence cost. However in terms of availability of service, it is not great. Tatas cost more than Maruti, because you will have lots of nagging problems (quality control issues)

3. Mileage: Without doubt Dzire’s trump card is the mileage. Verna, Indigo come a distant second and only competition is from Logan. However, in terms of power, the Maruti is higher and economical since it uses a 5-point injection (unlike 3-point in other Common Rails).
Also the weight of Dzire is not significant to affect the mileage in comparison to its sister Swift.

4. Comfort: This is matter of money. At 1.5Ls more, Verna offers you only little more rear seating comfort. In terms of driver comfort, both feel the same.

5. Transmission & Gear box: Tatas sore point, but Logan, Verna and Dzire do well here. I would still opt for Maruti since cost of replacement of clutch plate and bearing is lighter on the pocket.

6. Boot space, paint quality, music system etc - these are matters of perception and are intangible. I would think, good quality is all that is to be there (for high boot space, buying a pick-up truck will be an option, for great music - replace w/your music system costs 30k)

Finally:
The NUMBERS GAME: Maruti outsells all other cars and therefore you will have a better chance of reselling your car at a higher value than a Verna or a Logan. People percieve popularity more than tech specs!

Purchase Price (INR):	755000
Dealer Name and City:	Bimal, Bangalore
Model Year:	No Comment