Nobody expected this, and that's why I doff my hat to Maruti Suzuki for finally jumping onto the safety bandwagon. Say hello to the new fourth-generation Maruti Suzuki Dzire that has received five stars in the GNCAP safety crash tests, making it not only the first Maruti product to achieve this feat but also one of the safest cars to be sold in the country—period. And because it's based on the fifth-generation Heartect platform, the new Swift and future Maruti products should also score top marks in crash tests. The new Dzire gets major cosmetic changes with a sharper design and many segment first features too. So, with all these updates and the safety question finally out of the way, what makes the new Dzire more… erm… desirable, and is it better than the Hyundai Aura, Tata Tigor and Honda Amaze? We got behind the ’wheel to find out.
Yes, in essence, the Dzire is a sub 4-metre sedan variant of the Swift, but unlike its more youthful hatchback sibling, it always looked a bit underwhelming due to its more conservative design. Well, not anymore. Unlike its predecessors, the fourth-generation Dzire doesn’t share its looks with the Swift at all. It deploys sharper styling, with a host of bespoke elements that give it a character of its own. Up front, there are more aggressive LED headlights with a gloss black plastic piece connecting the two, a larger grille with six horizontal slats, smaller LED fog lights, more pronounced bonnet lines and a sportier lip on the front bumper. In profile, it gets new design for the 15-inch alloys (lower models ride on 14-inch steel wheels), a revised roofline that improves aerodynamics by 6 per cent, and a new waistline that looks neat. At the rear, it has new, wrap-around 3D LED tail lights with a chrome strip connecting the two, a boot lip spoiler, and a cleaner bumper. Styling is personal, but with these updates, it’s safe to say that this is the best-looking Dzire ever.
Step inside the new Dzire, and you’ll notice the interior layout is similar to the new Swift’s, with some unique touches. The most apparent of which is the four-colour treatment and a faux wooden panel on the dashboard. It also comes with a range of new segment-first features, such as an electric sunroof, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, automatic air-conditioning, cruise control, a 360-degree camera, and a tyre pressure monitoring system. The 9-inch infotainment touchscreen and analogue dials with a digital centre display for the driver are borrowed from the Swift. At the back, there’s a Type-A and Type-C charging port above the new air-con vents, three-point seatbelts, and ISOFIX mounts. The fabric seats are comfortable, but I think that if the quality of plastics were made slightly better, it would elevate the Dzire to a 10/10 package—especially when you consider the fact that it has an edge over rivals in terms of features, space, and safety with ABS, ESP, and hill-hold as standard.
One odd quirk on the new Dzire is that its boot doesn’t open if you unlock the car from the inside. To open the boot from the interior, you need to pull the manual release in the driver’s footwell. While this might seem a little strange, Maruti claims it’s a safety feature to prevent someone from opening the boot from the outside when the car is stationary and unlocked. To open the boot from the outside, you can either press the release button on the key fob or simply have the key in your pocket and open it via the button, thanks to a proximity sensor. Strange, but it is what it is.Shot by Avdhoot A Kolhe for evo India
Powering the new Dzire is the Z12E 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine borrowed from the, you guessed it, new Swift, and it even makes the same amount of power—80.5bhp and 111.7Nm. It has been tuned to provide a stronger low-end and mid-range than the outgoing four-cylinder, and that's evident right from the starter blocks. For a three-pot, it's impressively refined and only becomes vocal at the other end of the tacho. Because of the higher torque availability low down, it's very tractable and picks up pace surprisingly well. For quick overtakes it doesn't demand a downshift and can sit at 100 kmph all day long, at 3000rpm, without feeling stressed whatsoever. The five-speed manual, as expected from a Maruti gearbox, is slick and effortless, making it a joy to row through. The five-speed AMT, although not as dynamic, doesn't feel slow. In fact, it is a big step up from the AMTs of the past and almost negates the head-toss effect if driven sensibly. Paddle shifters would have been nice, but they’re not a major miss considering you can take manual control from the gear selector.
Claimed fuel efficiency for the new Dzire stands at 24.79kmpl in manual guise and 25.71kmpl if you choose the AMT, making it the most efficient sedan on sale today. Maruti is also offering the option of CNG on the Dzire, but only in manual avatar. In CNG mode the engine churns out 69bhp at 5700rpm and 101.8Nm at 2900rpm. The CNG tank has a water equivalent capacity of 55-litres and increases the kerb weight of the car from 1375 to 1435kg. Maruti claims that the CNG variant will return 33.75km/kg.
I always cross my fingers and hope for a Dzire when I book a Mini Ola or Uber because it's always been a very comfortable car to be driven in. The new Dzire improves on that front with better damping. It has more suspension travel and better low-speed ride quality than before. No longer does it feel crashy through potholes and bumps, instead feeling more composed and robust. It also does a better job of ironing out high speed undulations on the highway and feels stable even at triple digit speeds.
Forgive me for the cliché, but the new Dzire is definitely the most desirable car in its class. At ₹6.79 lakh (introductory, ex-showroom), the new Dzire demands ₹22,000 more than its predecessor, but rightfully so. It looks far better than before, has a long list of features that we Indians go gaga over, and drives and rides really well. Plus, boasting the tag of one of the safest cars available in the Indian market now, I won’t be surprised if it becomes the best-selling Dzire of all time just a few months from now.