The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Maruti Swift.
CarDekho.com

The Maruti Swift 2011 was recently voted the safest supermini in the UK and it flaunts a 4-star NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme) rating.

The Maruti Swift 2011 is built with tough but light high tensile steel and comes with adequate airbags including driver airbags, passenger airbags and even curtain airbags.

The car is designed in a way that the bonnet, front bumper, wings and wipers absorb the impact in case a pedestrian is hit.

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Rear view of Swift.

But the Indian version might not get a few of these features due to pricing issues.

The new Swift 2011 is more spacious and comes with a bigger wheelbase as compared to its existing model.

Under the hood the car remains the same and will be powered by the existing 1.2 K-series petrol and the 1.3 Fiat diesel engines.

The car flaunts its typical but fresh looking larger swept-back headlights, new grille, a prominent intake and better bumpers.

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Dashboard of Swift.

The rear gets a new tailgate and the boot gets a higher loading lip.

Interior are spacious and built quality is very good.

The car has a new V-shaped console which is a Kizashi look-alike and it gets red backlight and the swankier dials.

Other features include keyless stop-start system, USB input and Bluetooth connectivity.

Let's take a look at some of the other cars in this category...

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Fiat Punto.

Fiat Punto

The Fiat Punto 1.3 liter multijet diesel engine comes only with an ordinary turbocharger and produces 76 hp.

But with the alterations on the new Fiat Punto the 1.3 litre multi-jet engine, which will have a VGT (Variable Geometry Turbocharger) from the Fiat Linea, will generate 90bhp as against 76 bhp of the other version.

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Dashboard of Fiat Punto.

However this version is not in the 'under Rs 500,000' category.

Some models of the car are priced between Rs 430,430 - 4,91,924 (ex-showroom, New Delhi).

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Volkswagen Polo.

Volkswagen Polo

Volkswagen Polo is available in both petrol and diesel options.

It has a three-cylinder 1.2L (1198 cc) petrol engine that offers 74 BHP (5,400 rpms) and 110 NM of torque (3,750 rpms).

The 1.2L 3-cylinder diesel engine offers 74 BHP (4,200 rpms) and 180 NM of torque (2,000 rpms).

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Dashboard of Polo.

Polo has features like remote keyless central locking that includes remote window up/down on the highline.

The Volkswagen Polo is available between Rs 434,000 and 700,000 and Skoda Fabia comes for Rs 502,037 and Rs 784,202 (prices ex-showroom, Delhi).

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Hyundai i20.

Hyundai i20

Hyundai i20 comes in both petrol and diesel options with a 5 and 6 Speed Manual Transmission Gearbox.

It has a 1.4 L CRDI engine producing 90 PS, the 1.2 L Kappa engine produces 80 PS and the 1.4 L Gamma engine with 4-Speed automatic transmission gearbox offers a power of 100 PS.

The car is a premium product and is priced between Rs 460,863 and Rs 800,978 (ex-showroom, New Delhi).

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Honda Jazz.

Honda Jazz

The car is available with three variants and all its three variants are powered by the same 1.2L, 1198cc, 4-cylinder, i-VTEC petrol engine with 5-speed manual gearbox.

Its 1.2L, 1198cc power-plant produces 90bhp power at 6200rpm and 110Nm torque at 4800rpm.

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Interior view of Honda Jazz.

The car's new version was spotted on Indian roads and the spy shots were published by an auto magazine.

The face-lifted Jazz is likely to have new bumpers, grille and headlamps.

The rear might get new tail-lamps with LED bulbs thought the car in the spy shots has the same rear as the existing Jazz.

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Rear view of Jazz.

The car is likely to have the same 1.2-liter unit tweaked to be more fuel efficient.

Honda is likely to retune the suspension and introduce a new steering set up to improve the ride and handling.

Jazz comes with a CVT transmission in other markets. It is likely that Honda might think of bringing the CVT-equipped Jazz to the country.

The new face lifted Jazz might come to Indian shores later next year.

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Chevrolet Aveo UVA.

Chevrolet Aveo UVA

The car is equipped with 1.2 L, 1150 cc petrol engine that come with Sequential Electronic Fuel Injection System, which makes the car very economical to run.

The engine of Chevrolet Aveo U-Va is packed with 5-Speed manual transmission gearbox teamed to an in-line 4 cylinders SOCH valve configuration capable of delivering 76 PS power at 5,500 rpm and a maximum torque of 110 Nm at 4,400 rpm.

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Interior view of Aveo UVA.

It offers an impressive mileage of 11.9 kmpl in the urban city roads and 14.7 kmpl on the highways.

The car comes with a price tag of Rs 407,579 - Rs 501,768 (ex-showroom, New Delhi).

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Indica Vista.

Indica Vista

A fine example of new age Tata products the car comes in a 1.3L, Quadra Jet, Common Rail direct Injection diesel engine capable of producing 71PS of power at 4500rpm and 190Nm of torque at 1750rpm and a 1.2L, Safire MPFI VVT petrol engine that generates 65PS power at 5500rpm and 96Nm torque at 3000rpm.

The Tata Indica Vista also comes in a 1.4L, TDI Turbo diesel engine that produces 71PS of power at 4500rpm.

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The new Maruti Swift and its six rivals

Image: Interior of Tata Vista.

This family car has a new grille with new striking pedal shaped headlamps, body coloured ORVMs, body coloured rub rails and body coloured bumpers with strong bonnet.

The Tata Indica Vista is available in eight variants in both petrol and diesel engines.

The car is priced in the range of Rs 339,000 - Rs 476,000 (ex-showroom, New Delhi).

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