My All-New Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire ZDi (AGS): Ownership Review

[Kumar_CarFreak]

Religiously following this thread as I am a potential owner of an AMT diesel in near future, as my daily usage will leap to 50 kms a day, @ 20-22 days per month for office commutes alone, which is 1100 kms per month = 13200 kms a year. On top of which , I would have outstation trips and other outings, say a 6000 kms per year which comes 19200+ kms per year, which will no more fit into my Petrol Santro, cost wise. As of now I am on two wheelers to and fro my office, but with age and wear & tear of back and shoulder bones, I have to upgrade to four wheels soon and that should be a diesel. My knees have already started demanding comfort in B2B in my manual Santro, so an automatic comes into picture.
I basically can't afford a 3 lac + automatic transmission (in case of failure leading to replacement) and a significant hit on my fuel efficiency and so AMT is the choice.

So an AMT + Diesel is for sure.

Just to decide whether Ignis / Swift Diesel AMT (Hatchback) or Zest / Dzire Diesel AMT (compact sub-sedan).

Please do keep updating your experiences with AMT diesels.

Regards
Kumar

It downshifts to lower gear when you tap hard for e.g. when overtaking, so no problem. When in 1st gear the torque is at its peak so it does not matter if the turbo has kicked in or not.

Awesome. Then no issues, whether city or highway drive !!

 

[Volksjäger]

Religiously following this thread as I am a potential owner of an AMT diesel in near future, as my daily usage will leap to 50 kms a day, @ 20-22 days per month for office commutes alone, which is 1100 kms per month = 13200 kms a year. On top of which , I would have outstation trips and other outings, say a 6000 kms per year which comes 19200+ kms per year, which will no more fit into my Petrol Santro, cost wise. As of now I am on two wheelers to and fro my office, but with age and wear & tear of back and shoulder bones, I have to upgrade to four wheels soon and that should be a diesel. My knees have already started demanding comfort in B2B in my manual Santro, so an automatic comes into picture.
I basically can't afford a 3 lac + automatic transmission (in case of failure leading to replacement) and a significant hit on my fuel efficiency and so AMT is the choice.

So an AMT + Diesel is for sure.

Just to decide whether Ignis / Swift Diesel AMT (Hatchback) or Zest / Dzire Diesel AMT (compact sub-sedan).

Please do keep updating your experiences with AMT diesels.

Regards
Kumar

I am an early adopter of AMT tech and AMTs today are way more smoother than the one I own. I have driven Ignis, Swift and Dzire Diesel AMTs and all three are almost the same to drive. Dzire and Swift with slightly higher kerb weight feel better with the AMT. I will gladly suggest Dzire Diesel AMT due to its space, rear ac and well integrated Diesel AMT and I myself is considering one.

 

[fusion_defusion]

First, let me thank you for the update. As per my experience goes, it is the issue with clutch plates. I guess clutch plates have got woren out. The juddering is more related to the clutch than the AMT actuator functioning. During cold conditions the only thing which I observed is that amt takes some time to shift and once it gets warm it becomes normal.

They will mostly change the clutch plates to solve your issue. I suggest that you also change CLUTCH COVER along with your clutch plates which is very important. Because hydraulic clutch actuator exerts pressure on the clutch cover fins to push the clutch plate in place to transfer the torque. So by now, the clutch cover has got exposed to a lot of wear and tear.

Second get the gearbox oil changed.

Get the AMT oil checked and top up if needed.

I was suspecting the same and I will be going in for the clutch and pressure plate replacement excluding the release bearing, as the release bearing lasts for about 1 lac KM. At least it lasted that long on my Ritz diesel. My clutch on the Ritz lasted for 75k kms , at that time the SA said don't get the release bearing changed we will do it at 1 lac kms. So going by that law ony 2 items for now and the transmission oil+AMT oil as well(top up if required). One more important thing i forgot to mention is, my AMT system is now up-shifting before 1900 RPM on 4th and 5th gear and due to that the transmission gets stressed and now I can hear a loud humming noise from the transmission when the AMT changes the gear to 4th at 55kph and around 1800-1850RPM similarly the same sound comes when it shifts to 5th gear at 60 kph at 1800-1850 rpm, so i make sure that i press hard on the accelerator now a days to let the AMT know that I dont want your sluggish shift, i want you to cross 2k mark on the RPM before up-shifting. Well all of this and others will be shown on my visit to Sehgal auto(bavdhan) this saturday. Lets see what they suggest fingers crossed!.

Religiously following this thread as I am a potential owner of an AMT diesel in near future, as my daily usage will leap to 50 kms a day, @ 20-22 days per month for office commutes alone, which is 1100 kms per month = 13200 kms a year. On top of which , I would have outstation trips and other outings, say a 6000 kms per year which comes 19200+ kms per year, which will no more fit into my Petrol Santro, cost wise. As of now I am on two wheelers to and fro my office, but with age and wear & tear of back and shoulder bones, I have to upgrade to four wheels soon and that should be a diesel. My knees have already started demanding comfort in B2B in my manual Santro, so an automatic comes into picture.
I basically can't afford a 3 lac + automatic transmission (in case of failure leading to replacement) and a significant hit on my fuel efficiency and so AMT is the choice.

So an AMT + Diesel is for sure.

Just to decide whether Ignis / Swift Diesel AMT (Hatchback) or Zest / Dzire Diesel AMT (compact sub-sedan).

Please do keep updating your experiences with AMT diesels.

Regards
Kumar




Awesome. Then no issues, whether city or highway drive !!

Thanks for following this thread, AMT is a great choice for entry level automatic. I personally feel that AMT's should be driven in manual mode most of the times, use it on auto only on highways, in the B2B situation it up-shifts or downshifts unnecessarily, the constant hunt for higher/lower gear stresses the clutch assy is what I feel. If you can wait I would say wait another year or 2. AMT's are still evolving on passenger car segment and for it to be completely stress free will take some more time IMO.

 

[anshuman8]

Thanks for following this thread, AMT is a great choice for entry level automatic. I personally feel that AMT's should be driven in manual mode most of the times, use it on auto only on highways, in the B2B situation it up-shifts or downshifts unnecessarily, the constant hunt for higher/lower gear stresses the clutch assy is what I feel. If you can wait I would say wait another year or 2. AMT's are still evolving on passenger car segment and for it to be completely stress free will take some more time IMO.

Yes you are so correct, that is how I drive my new AMT Tigor and its boon in the city. See my thread for more details.

 

[Volksjäger]

I was suspecting the same and I will be going in for the clutch and pressure plate replacement excluding the release bearing, as the release bearing lasts for about 1 lac KM. At least it lasted that long on my Ritz diesel. My clutch on the Ritz lasted for 75k kms , at that time the SA said don't get the release bearing changed we will do it at 1 lac kms. So going by that law ony 2 items for now and the transmission oil+AMT oil as well(top up if required). One more important thing i forgot to mention is, my AMT system is now up-shifting before 1900 RPM on 4th and 5th gear and due to that the transmission gets stressed and now I can hear a loud humming noise from the transmission when the AMT changes the gear to 4th at 55kph and around 1800-1850RPM similarly the same sound comes when it shifts to 5th gear at 60 kph at 1800-1850 rpm, so i make sure that i press hard on the accelerator now a days to let the AMT know that I dont want your sluggish shift, i want you to cross 2k mark on the RPM before up-shifting. Well all of this and others will be shown on my visit to Sehgal auto(bavdhan) this saturday. Lets see what they suggest fingers crossed!.

I am sure that all these problems will get sorted out once you give it for the clutch replacement and a nice tune up of the AMT. I haven't changed the release bearing of my swift mk-I until 1.20 lac Kms. Coming to the clutch, the stress exerted in an AMT is much more when compared to MT as you already know and the traffic back then is different and today it is comparatively more and not to mention the quality of parts have also taken a hit over the years. So I feel that the clutch coming this far is a great thing. 50k is a lot of Kms my friend :-). And the humming noise that you are talking about, I too get that while going down hill and my transmission doesn't change the gear when I have my foot on the break and the speed of the car is around 40 kmph but the transmission wouldn't change the gear from 1st to 2nd as the car picks up pace on a decline and I just keep the foot on the break to control the speed. so I immediately put in manual up a gear and then put it back in D. AMT gets confused here.

But in your case the humming noise could also be due to the bad transmission oil. I change transmission oil in my AMT every 2 years irrespective of Kms. Because a bad transmission oil can damage the synchromesh which is a common problem in all Maruti DDIS GBs. I have seen many transmission synchromesh issues due to owner not giving importance to transmission oil changes and some broken down naturally over time. Anyways with Maruti and AMT everything is cheap, one could replace the synchromesh in 11k rupees. All in all kindly update once it is fixed. I wish you many more happy and safe miles to come.

Coming to my purchase I postponed it to 2019 as I heard that the Baleno is coming with 1.5 DDIS in Q1. If the Baleno comes with 1.5 DDIS AMT then that would be my immediate choice else Dzire ZDI AMT would be my immediate next choice.

 

[fusion_defusion]

I am sure that all these problems will get sorted out once you give it for the clutch replacement and a nice tune up of the AMT. I haven't changed the release bearing of my swift mk-I until 1.20 lac Kms. Coming to the clutch, the stress exerted in an AMT is much more when compared to MT as you already know and the traffic back then is different and today it is comparatively more and not to mention the quality of parts have also taken a hit over the years. So I feel that the clutch coming this far is a great thing. 50k is a lot of Kms my friend :-). And the humming noise that you are talking about, I too get that while going down hill and my transmission doesn't change the gear when I have my foot on the break and the speed of the car is around 40 kmph but the transmission wouldn't change the gear from 1st to 2nd as the car picks up pace on a decline and I just keep the foot on the break to control the speed. so I immediately put in manual up a gear and then put it back in D. AMT gets confused here.

But in your case the humming noise could also be due to the bad transmission oil. I change transmission oil in my AMT every 2 years irrespective of Kms. Because a bad transmission oil can damage the synchromesh which is a common problem in all Maruti DDIS GBs. I have seen many transmission synchromesh issues due to owner not giving importance to transmission oil changes and some broken down naturally over time. Anyways with Maruti and AMT everything is cheap, one could replace the synchromesh in 11k rupees. All in all kindly update once it is fixed. I wish you many more happy and safe miles to come.

Coming to my purchase I postponed it to 2019 as I heard that the Baleno is coming with 1.5 DDIS in Q1. If the Baleno comes with 1.5 DDIS AMT then that would be my immediate choice else Dzire ZDI AMT would be my immediate next choice.

I am hoping the same that everything will get sorted, I will insist on a gb oil change. Do you know the apprx the cost of replacing the clutch and pressure plate? I am thinking it will be to the tune of 10k including the gb oil. Also does anyone have idea how to replace the keyfob battery? I am getting this symbol on my instrument cluster(refer the pic red box) after searching the owners manual, found this to be key fob battery low. If it can be done as a DIY, would like to explore that option or else will get this done at MASS. If the cost is too high will user the spare key fob

 

[Volksjäger]

I am hoping the same that everything will get sorted, I will insist on a gb oil change. Do you know the apprx the cost of replacing the clutch and pressure plate? I am thinking it will be to the tune of 10k including the gb oil. Also does anyone have idea how to replace the keyfob battery? I am getting this symbol on my instrument cluster(refer the pic red box) after searching the owners manual, found this to be key fob battery low. If it can be done as a DIY, would like to explore that option or else will get this done at MASS. If the cost is too high will user the spare key fob

As far as I know it will cost you around 12k incl of labour and taxes. It is very important to change clutch cover also, make sure that it gets replaced. Do you remember as we discussed earlier, AMT clutches cost almost 2k more when compared to manual ones.

Actually it is very easy to change the battery, you just need to remove the auxiliary key from the fob and gently pry open the fob from all sides and you can order the battery cells from Amazon. It is actually a good practice to rotate keys every 2-3 years as it keeps the keys in good shape from damage happening from regular usage. There are many videos on YouTube about changing the battery in a key fob.

 

[fusion_defusion]

As far as I know it will cost you around 12k incl of labour and taxes. It is very important to change clutch cover also, make sure that it gets replaced. Do you remember as we discussed earlier, AMT clutches cost almost 2k more when compared to manual ones.

Yes I do remember, thanks! I will keep in mind to have them change the cover as well.

Actually it is very easy to change the battery, you just need to remove the auxiliary key from the fob and gently pry open the fob from all sides and you can order the battery cells from Amazon. It is actually a good practice to rotate keys every 2-3 years as it keeps the keys in good shape from damage happening from regular usage. There are many videos on YouTube about changing the battery in a key fob.

Yes how could I not think about YouTube. Thanks for pointing.

 

[Volksjäger]

This is how the clutch cover looks like

and it costs 1156/- on boodmo.


Link:https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-cover_assy_clutch-6788934/?_ga=2.261542285.1290417109.1528801382-12654618.1521556381

In the below video you can see the importance of the clutch cover. This is the AMT transmission from Renault, but the application is the same. The AMT used in the Renault-Nissan is comparatively more advanced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbwFRfB7L84

Originally Quoted By VolksjägerAs far as I know it will cost you around 12k incl of labour and taxes.

I was actually wrong, the prices for the clutch set is damn cheap. I was actually shocked looking at the price, my celerio's AMT clutch costed me around 1500/- incl.of taxes. and the DDIS AMT clutch costs 1,832/- . So the whole clutch job including transmission oil change should cost you under 5k!

 

[fusion_defusion]

This is how the clutch cover looks like
View attachment 246506
and it costs 1156/- on boodmo.
View attachment 246507

Link:https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-cov...285.1290417109.1528801382-12654618.1521556381

In the below video you can see the importance of the clutch cover. This is the AMT transmission from Renault, but the application is the same. The AMT used in the Renault-Nissan is comparatively more advanced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbwFRfB7L84


I was actually wrong, the prices for the clutch set is damn cheap. I was actually shocked looking at the price, my celerio's AMT clutch costed me around 1500/- incl.of taxes. and the DDIS AMT clutch costs 1,832/- . So the whole clutch job including transmission oil change should cost you under 5k!
View attachment 246509

Thanks for the screenprints!!!! i will definitely go for the clutch overhaul this saturday!!

 

[fusion_defusion]

So I visited the MASS this Saturday. To my surprise, I could not replicate any of my issues there. For the juddering issue I know this happens when the system is cold and the MASS from my home is about 3 kms. I dont think that is enough for the system to warm up. But still I could not reproduce that, even on a sharp incline, the car just picked up and moved forward effortlessly. The transmission grunt/hum noise could not be reproduced as well. Although I insisted to have them check the clutch assy to which he said the AMT system sits over the GB and just to disassemble everything will take a lot of time and costs too much labor, they said if clutch would have really gone kaput you would feel the judder irrespective of ambient weather conditions. They assured me the clutch is still good and will not need replacement. To the humming noise they say that since it could not be reproduced they cant help with that. I am thinking to take it to another MASS next week as I feel that the one i visited (Sehgal Auto Riders bavdhan) are not competent enough to catch it. Anyone from Pune know another reliable MASS ?

 

[Volksjäger]

Thanks for the update fusion_defusion, as far as I understand they did not diagnose the issue properly. The need to take it for good long test drive with the owner of the car at the side so that he can point out the issue. I have got a nice response from my MAS centre in this scenario.

They simply cannot rule out the clutch issue as far as I am concerned. And your car is showing the same symptoms which my celerio had and it was due to the clutch. And I know that it cannot be replicated if the vehicle is not warm, so I explained the same to them and they took it very well. And they found out the juddering issue. I too revved a little extra before getting it to the service station knowing that it works normally when the vehicle is cool. I still suspect the clutch and clutch cover. Seriously what’s there to go wrong in an AMT, a clutch actuator, gear actuator, solenoids and TCU and as far as I know everything is working fine. Clutch actuator takes control of the hydraulic actuator of the clutch. If the clutch wears off in any manual car then the clutch becomes hard and when the same amount of pressure is exerted by the AMT’s clutch actuator during half clutch the woren out clutch cannot transfer the power properly hence the judder. Anyways I would like to be proven wrong and if the solution is much cheaper then I would be delighted to know.

 

[fusion_defusion]

Thanks for the update fusion_defusion, as far as I understand they did not diagnose the issue properly. The need to take it for good long test drive with the owner of the car at the side so that he can point out the issue. I have got a nice response from my MAS centre in this scenario.

They simply cannot rule out the clutch issue as far as I am concerned. And your car is showing the same symptoms which my celerio had and it was due to the clutch. And I know that it cannot be replicated if the vehicle is not warm, so I explained the same to them and they took it very well. And they found out the juddering issue. I too revved a little extra before getting it to the service station knowing that it works normally when the vehicle is cool. I still suspect the clutch and clutch cover. Seriously what’s there to go wrong in an AMT, a clutch actuator, gear actuator, solenoids and TCU and as far as I know everything is working fine. Clutch actuator takes control of the hydraulic actuator of the clutch. If the clutch wears off in any manual car then the clutch becomes hard and when the same amount of pressure is exerted by the AMT’s clutch actuator during half clutch the woren out clutch cannot transfer the power properly hence the judder. Anyways I would like to be proven wrong and if the solution is much cheaper then I would be delighted to know.

I second to whatever you have said. Surprisingly the juddering has vanished completely all thanks to the ambient temp which now hover over 25 deg c these days. But the transmission hum/grind noise is still there and this happens when the system has warmed up sufficiently. So the judder happens when the system is cold and transmission hum/grind noise comes when the system is hot what an irony. I will need to visit another MAS next week and get it rectified as I will be on a long drive this independence day weekend and I don't want it go bad when I am on trip. BTW thanks for your key fob links I did the battery replacement and the light does not comes on now on the instrument cluster.

 

[fusion_defusion]

Hi All,
Another issue. The driver side key sensor/button has stopped working, planning to visit MASS this weekend, anyone has idea what is the cost to repair that? I do not want to get it repaired if it is too costly, will resort to using the keyfob to lock/unlock. Or if it can be done ,replace the RHS with LHS sensor, the passenger side button is never used anyway.


On the judder issue, it still happens on a cold morning.

 

[Volksjäger]

Not to worry, it is Maruti and it’s definitely cheaper than other brands. You can find any part for your Maruti FRONT DOOR LOCK for MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT DZIRE 3rd GEN (03.2017-NOW) ZDI AT 4DR 1.3L (DIESEL) (03.2017-NOW)on boodmo. Here are the parts for Dzire’s front door. It is costing 1330/- for the entire door latch assembly. It is only a convenience feature so get it changed in the next service.

And I also think that you must be aware of the new theft. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/200512-new-theft-town-door-lock-sensors.html