Evoking Desire

Maruti’s Dzire, spawned off the Swift sold 27 lakh vehicles in the 16 years of its existence since it was launched in 2008. While fleet sales also handsomely contributed to this figure, the Dzire was also quite well accepted in the personal space as a family car. Now Maruti has totally upgraded the car with new features, especially in the top ZXi and ZXi+ trims to make the vehicle more alluring as a family car. Of course fleet sales will continue to be top priority and hence the ‘Tour’ version will be launched soon with CNG, but one of the main focuses now is the family car. To this end, some of the new features have worked quite well. The styling is much better now, with crystalline LED front headlamps and fog lamps. A nice dark satin surface covers the length of the grille, and the lower air dam looks quite sporty. The alloys have a new dual-tone satin finish, and the new design of the trifecta type LED tail lamps look quite cool. The rear has been cleaned up as well and looks quite sophisticated. Step into the interiors and the surprises continue. You get a large 9-inch infotainment screen, one of the biggest in the segment with wireless Apple CarPlay and AndroidAuto. There is a wireless charger too, though the cavity is very big and smaller phones slide around, losing their contact.

The instrumentation happily enough has analogue clocks for the speedo and the tachometer, with a coloured screen in between for display of vital information. The climate control is also quite intuitive and the AC blows cold enough. Rear passengers get their own vents and a USB-A and C fast charging port. ISOFIX connectors and a proper ELR seatbelt for the middle passenger are a step in the right direction. The party trick however has to be the sunroof, which now makes its presence felt in the new car. The new three-pot is 1197cc petrol engine puts out 81 horses in petrol mode 69 horses in CNG. The petrol can be had with either a 5-speed manual or an AMT. Maruti claims best in class fuel efficiency figures of 25.71 km/l for the AMT. While we cannot claim to test the veracity of that, we can definitely tell you that the best part of the Dzire is that it is now 5-star Global NCAP rated for driver protection. 6 airbags are standard, along with a plethora of features like Electronic Stability Control (ESP) Hill-hold etc. To drive, the new Dzire gives adequate performance, and it is tuned more towards fuel efficiency. This vehicle is a massive upgrade over its predecessors and would make a worthy addition to anyone looking for a compact sedan.

Priced INR 6.79 - 10.14 lakhs, ex-showroom.