If it has been the season for facelifts for a number of car makers, can the market leader be far behind. With less than a week to go for the union budget, Maruti Suzuki has joined the facelift bandwagon and launched the 2015 Swift DZire with changes to the exterior design, interior features and with a new price tag.

Struck by market claims that Marutis are not necessarily the most fuel-efficient cars any more, company engineers have also reworked the DZire’s engine to enable it to offer a double-digit jump in fuel-efficiency numbers. The new DZire is also now available in four new colours.

The compact sedan in its face-lifted avatar is still about as ungainly as it always looked, though its package was all about practicality and space right from when it was first launched in 2008. The changes to the exterior of the new 2015 DZire include the new headlamp combination with its blackened fringes and dual projectors. The bonnet grille is a more modern, single, broad chrome slat unit with the Suzuki ‘S’ logo in the middle. Recessed fog lamps inside a new housing, new body coloured bumpers, foldable door mirrors, reverse parking sensors and a new ‘motion-themed’ 10-spoke alloy wheels form part of the facelift package.

For interior package, Maruti Suzuki engineers have chosen to add quite a few chrome and wood-grain trim elements, the audio system gets Bluetooth connectivity, including controls on the steering wheel and there is a new engine start/ stop button. A couple of new convenience features have also been added including map lamps and a rear charging socket. The DZire also gets new upholstery options.

The engine has also been tweaked and the new DZire is now rated to offer a 13 per cent jump in fuel efficiency. The 1.3-litre DDiS diesel engine now offers 26.59 kmpl with the 5-speed manual transmission. The previous model offered 23.4 kmpl. The petrol engine with manual gearbox now offers a rated mileage of 20.85 kmpl (a nine per cent improvement) and the petrol automatic is claimed to offer 18.5 kmpl.

Essentially, the changes to the engines have focused on three aspects – friction reduction, improvement in calibration and reduction in pumping losses. In the diesel engine, the changes include a new high pressure pump and a new thermostat that improves thermal efficiency thanks to a quicker warm up from idle.

The engine oil has also been changed from 5W40 to 5W30 for lowering friction. Many of these changes had already been done in the Swift before this and have now been carried forward.

Light weighting of engine components had already been done in the DZire too. The two engines continue to offer the same peak power and peak torque performance as the previous models.

The DZire has traditionally had a 70:30 split in sales between the diesel and petrol models respectively. The new DZire is being offered in eight trim variants – five in petrol including the automatic and three in diesel.

Though it has dominated the segment for years, the new DZire is now trying to retaliate and fend off competition from some of the newcomers who have managed to offer better feature packages and new design. Introductory prices for the new 2015 DZire start at ₹ 5.08 lakh.

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