Ride and handling
It is not the looks nor the tarmac-shredding performance that you appreciate more on a daily basis. Instead, it is the ability of a car to soak up our roads. The Hyundai offers good ride and decent handling on clean terrain. It glides through well-paved city roads and smooth highways very well, but loses its poise the moment broken tarmac enters the fray. On rough roads, the Getz can rival small boats when it comes to body roll and it gets distinctly uncomfortable in no-road situations. The Swift, on the other hand, is better tuned for our road conditions – whether it be ride quality or handling. Like the Getz, the Swift also sports ‘over-square’ dimensions, but it does not have the eagerness to shake you up every time the going gets tough.
The Swift’s weakness is its (electric) power steering that tightens a bit too much at high speeds and is a tad too loose when you’re taking it easy – which is not the case with the Getz. As far as spirited cornering antics and high speed driving go, you feel a bit more secure with the Swift, while the Getz makes you feel like a boy who was caught doing something naughty. It is not that the Getz is bad, but just that anything related to performance-oriented driving, it is the Swift that says ‘yes ma’am’ and jumps from the seat.
Getz: ***
Swift: *****
Verdict
So which is a better buy? As you have seen, the Suzuki Swift has character, better performance and ride and handling more suited to Indian roads. The Hyundai Getz, on the other hand, is understated, better put together, has more space and is more refined. If you have made your pick from the above two lines, well and good. Unfortunately, we know that most of you consider two other factors before deciding to buy a car and those are price and fuel efficiency, right? The Swift is cheaper (though we hear whispers of a price correction/value addition from Hyundai) and the top-end model with safety goodies like ABS and airbags is about Rs 30,000 less than the similarly-speced GLS version of the Getz. And the fuel efficiency of the cars during our comparison test was too close to be a differentiator – with both cars returning 12-13 kpl in city traffic with intermittent use of the airconditioner and 14 kpl on rather ‘active’ highway driving which saw three-digit speeds on a regular basis. So we do have a clear winner in the Swift here. And yes, are glad that it is not just the ‘sticker price’ that wins the case for the newest Suzuki.
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