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At last count, there were a dozen small cars sold in the country with a petrol engine under 1200cc. And nearly another half a dozen are set to enter the market in the next 18 months or so. Everyone is scrambling to engineer cars that conform to excise duty benefits, while also making a beeline to get their Euro-IV cars ready before the April 1 deadline. Surely, the one manufacturer who has a lot riding on it is Maruti Suzuki. With nearly all their small cars ready to meet the new emission norms, they turned their attention to one of the last — the Swift.
For all these years, Maruti Suzuki has found ways of making the G13BB unit work for them. Since its introduction in 1994 in the Esteem, it has found home in practically everything, from the Gypsy to the Versa and then adapted for application in the Swift and Swift Dzire. Ask tuners and they will tell you how brilliant an engine it is to work on and engines producing northwards of 120 bhp aren’t unheard of. But like they say, every good run has to have an end, and this was the G13BB’s last gasp with the Swift before it made way for the K12M.
You are probably thinking what’s with all this nomenclature, but let me rephrase it to you in a simple manner. The Swift and Swift Dzire now get a 1200cc, K-series engine from the Ritz, instead of the 1300cc engine that powered it before. Meeting emission norms is one thing, but there’s more to it. The K12 is one of the strongest reasons why the Ritz was crowned our Car Of The Year 2010. It’s frugal, powerful and yet refined throughout the rev range. It's flexible in both the city and out on the highway. In fact, it is probably the best 1.2-litre engine in a car on sale in the country today, such is its impact. But does it make an impact on the Swift and the Dzire? Well, on paper there is some effect. The 1.3-litre engine that used to make 87 bhp@6000 rpm is now replaced by one that makes 84 bhp at the same peak rpm. Torque is near identical at 11.5 kgm at 4500 rpm. There is no impact on the car’s kerb weight though, so you are staring at a slightly lower power-to-weight ratio. The gearbox too, has been borrowed from the Ritz. Externally, there are no visual indicators to tell you that a new engine now resides in the car(s), but once you do open the bonnet, you realise that the engine is neatly packed in and there’s a bit more empty space than before.
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