The new Maruti Suzuki DZire comes as a breath of fresh air in the current sea of SUVs! SUVs may tick more boxes than sedans for most buyers, but there’s always something about sedans that makes them so… ahem… desirable! I’ve always liked my sedans and to see Maruti Suzuki put in the efforts it has to create the fourth generation DZire you see here, is worth taking notice of. Of course, the DZire has been a best-seller across generations and helped Maruti Suzuki add serious numbers to its sales figures consistently. Heck, the past year alone had Maruti Suzuki move over a lakh and half units of the DZire!
When launched originally in 2008, the DZire was pretty much a Swift with a boot slapped on. But while the second and third generation DZires did have a better integration of the boot, they still looked identical to the Swift from the front. However, this fourth generation DZire has ditched any similarity to the hatchback. What’s also worth noting that it has been styled to look a lot more premium than ever before. The idea is to make it more enticing to buyers who have been dissuaded by the DZire’s immense popularity with fleet buyers. And boy, the new DZire does look enticing. More importantly, the brief has been clear, to ensure the DZire looks more expensive than it is.
The new DZire thus looks sleek, with the kind of stance you expect from a sedan developed from the ground up. Okay, its length is a bit of a spanner in the works on this front in the sense that Maruti had to ensure the car still measures under four metres in length, but apart from that the new DZire has the typical appeal of a sedan. The headlamps are sleek-looking horizontal units with segmented LEDs and look very classy. The front end seems to have some inspiration from the Audi A6, but what’s more important is that the grille design, headlamps, subtler use of chrome, fog lamp design and flatter hood all come together to help the new DZire look striking and very appealing.
Length, width and wheelbase are identical to the outgoing DZire at 3,995mm, 1,735mm and 2,450mm respectively, but the silhouette from the sides has the new car appear longer. The 15-inch alloy wheels wear a new design and the car also gets a shark-fin antenna now, besides a boot-integrated lip spoiler, and these help the DZire look sportier. The taillights are tri-arrow shaped units and while there’s a thick strip of chrome connecting them from end to end, I would have liked to see a strip of LED lights instead. I’m certain, there will be one available soon as an aftermarket accessory! Overall, this a very chic-looking DZire and Maruti’s designers have done an excellent job in terms of elevating its appeal.
Interestingly, while there’s no resemblance to the Swift from outside, the interiors look identical, except for the different surface finishes. The dashboard, steering wheel, centre console and even the seats are the same as the Swift but look different. There’s an abundance of beige finishes all around, including the dashboard, besides which the central rib of the dash gets a faux wood finish. The analogue instrument cluster is the same as the Swift’s and looks nice. Seats are soft and let you sink in to offer a comfortable feel. While overall height is up by 5mm as compared to the Swift, rear headroom is a little constrained. On the other hand, rear legroom and kneeroom are better, and surprisingly good for a sub-4 metre sedan!
The DZire is also big on features and a lot of features from the Swift have been carried over, including the 9.0-inch touchscreen with Maruti Suzuki’s SmartPlay Pro+ infotainment system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but additionally, you get an excellent 360-degree viewing system here. The 3-dimensional views are sharp and finally – unlike the Swift – you get dynamic parking lines at the rear too. There’s wireless charging, connected technology and cruise control as well, but a big draw will be the electric sunroof, a segment first. The feature list is long. but I would have liked a few more additions like the Baleno’s head-up display, the XL6’s cooled seats and perhaps ambient lighting too.
But the new DZire’s biggest highlight is its safety rating. The car has aced the Global NCAP safety tests by scoring full five stars, making it the first Maruti Suzuki ever to be able to do so and thus the safest Maruti Suzuki product yet. This is a huge boost to Maruti Suzuki’s image and will help in giving the new DZire’s sales a further boost. There’s a list of safety features onboard which have helped in making this happen including six airbags, 3-point seat belts for all, ABS, ESP and hill-hold and also ISOFIX mounts as standard across variants.
Under the hood is the same 1.2-litre, three cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine as the Swift, delivering an identical 82PS and 112Nm. Transmission options are the same too including a five-speed manual gearbox and five-speed AMT. The engine sounds and feels identical too – there’s a hint of the three-cylinder thrum at idle and low speeds but the motor sounds good at revs, also offering good grunt as you rev harder. Performance is brisk despite the drop in power as compared to the older car, thanks to Maruti’s clever engineering and the new DZire feels sprightly when driving enthusiastically. I enjoyed the manual version more given the slick-shifting gearbox with short throws, though there’s no denying the AMT’s convenience. The AMT version is also more fuel efficient, given its ARAI-certified number of 25.71kmpl.
Performance is thus likeable and there’s also a familiar feel to the way the DZire puts its power down and this helps from behind the wheel. The new DZire also borrows the Swift’s suspension, using the same McPherson struts at the front and torsion beams at the rear, but with tweaks given the sedan’s heavier weight. The DZire thus impresses with its handling too – it is light on its feet and eager to change direction while the steering offers good feedback and overall, there’s a very confident feel to the dynamics with a hint of sportiness. The ride quality is very impressive too as the DZire soaks up undulations and ruts with aplomb, perfectly in line with its positioning as a family car.
In a nutshell, the new DZire feels more than a generation ahead of the car it replaces. It looks premium, gets more features, is comfortable and more spacious and boasts top-notch safety ratings too. It’s also excellent to drive in traffic given the dimensions and overall dynamics, besides the impeccable ride quality. Prices begin from Rs 6.79 lakh ex-showroom, which feels almost unreal given the car’s packaging and clearly, this new DZire is sure to continue the bull run its predecessors have enjoyed.
