Comparison of Swift, Indica and Palio

It’s funny that I’m trying to follow the Swift 1.3 DDiS ahead of me on these uphill serpentine roads in an Indica. Just a month ago, I would been laughed upon for trying to do something like this. Not anymore. The wonderful four-pot common rail diesel mill sourced from Fiat, along with an all-new body, transmission and suspension has propelled the Indica back into the present. With a little extra effort, it’s just about managing to not let the Maruti lose me. The size of the Palio 1.3 Multijet following me doesn’t seem to be getting any smaller in the RVM either. In an ideal world, that should hardly be surprising. With exactly (almost) the same power and torque on tap, exactly (almost) the same weight and a similar FWD configuration, these three cars shouldn’t be very different from each other. But wonderful as the world of automobiles always has been, they actually are! You’ll probably say ‘chuck gas’ nearly the same number of times before these cars hit 100km/h on the clock and go almost the same distance before running out of fuel. Nonetheless, in character and feel, the three machines are anything but similar. The experience behind the wheel of the three cars around these curvy roads leaves me with no doubt. The Swift is the reigning king of the big hatch market. All you have to do is rest your bum on the supportive driver’s seat, buckle up and grasp the three-spoke steering wheel to begin getting impressed. The driving position is so naturally spot-on that the next step in the sequence cannot be anything but a twist of the ignition key. There’s no looking back from there on. You would hardly be concerned about the quality of materials inside or the neatness of the panels’ assembly. You won’t bother to know if the knee room for the backbenchers comes at a premium or if the suspension isn’t too stiff for comfort. Devil, if there’s one, may care for the comfort of the backseat passengers. You’d be so busy marvelling at the urgent power delivery, the addictive surge of those 190 Newton meters, the perfect positioning, action and throw of the gear stick and the immaculately spaced out ratios that you won’t have time for anything but to simply enjoy driving. True, the Swift doesn’t qualify as a hot hatch by definition. It doesn’t have that kind of power or the running gear. Yet the slight lack of outright power somehow works for this car. It makes you shift when you should and keeps you engaged in an entertaining manner. For the segment it belongs to, the Swift is beautifully balanced and amazingly easy to play around with. The steering is almost like a video conference between you and the road and any input will get you exactly where you want to be. A drive around the bends with the Swift will make it your best buddy – inviting, affable and game for fun every time the two of you get together. On the other hand, the Indica is colder, more clinical and true to its purpose in its approach. If the Swift is your pal you share all your emotions with; the Indica is the tight lipped butler who’ll do everything in his capacity to keep you happy and comfortable, though you’d never be able to connect emotionally with him. The Indica truly pampers its occupants, especially the ones on the second row of seats. The cabin space, for one, is so liberal you are likely to feel claustrophobic once you get back into the Swift. The all-around visibility is amazing. The car doesn’t have to stress upon its superiority through those glossy paper adverts. It’s a playground in there; just a peek into the cabin will make the difference evident. After the Swift, the vision of the dashboard from the backseat of the Indica almost calls for a pair of binoculars. The backseat comfort and generous space in this car is unparalleled by not just its peers but cars that cost a lot more. And then there is the suspension. Soft and supple, it feasts on undulations. At slow speeds it simply glides over vicious defects on the tar surface. However, as the speedo needle climbs up the arc, the bearings of the comfort oriented suspension on dynamics become evident. The tautness of the Swift is missing. While Tata engineers still say the tilt degrees per ‘g’ for the Indica is similar to the Suzuki, we find the body behaviour of the two cars around corners vastly different. There is pronounced understeer while cornering hard and you won’t want to enter a bend too fast and correct later. The car’s body feels bulky and responds coldly to steering corrections. My advice here would be to not try too many antics with the Indica. Treat her as an attendant and she’ll delight with her service. Don’t expect her to play soccer though. The Palio, even after being around for so many years, manages to look handsome and stands out among the trinity. The car, even after all the sore memories associated with Fiat in India manages to make the youngsters drool over its shape. Once bitten, twice shy! The customers, even with all their love for the hatch, are just too scared to touch it. That shouldn’t, however, take anything away from this beautiful looking car that introduced the genre of big, fast and sexy hatches to us Indians. Muscular and athletic from the outside, the Palio refuses to age even after witnessing the onslaught of a flurry of new designs in the market. Very honestly, the car could still do without a facelift for some time to come. The story begins to take a turn once you step in though. An archaic looking dashboard, visibly painted metal panels on the insides of the door (most, no, all such cars will have fabric there), analogue odo and trip meters (when even the Alto offers a digital one) plus the rather staid looking steering wheel will immediately put you off. The image is further smudged by the disappointing long throw, rubbery and imprecise gearshifts and a clutch that has a play longer than your toe! Well, almost. It’s strange why Fiat India can’t see the obvious. The car’s basics are fantastic. Just jazz up the interiors, fit in a short throw stick that shifts slickly, make the driving position better and see how many more of these Italian steeds they sell. The quality of materials aside, cabin space and comfort of the Palio is phenomenal. There is liberal seating space, the inside ambience is airy and the suspension simply rocks. While the Swift is a tad too stiff for comfort and the Indica too soft for tautness, the Palio has the best suspension of the three. It just irons its way out and offers an excellent ride quality both at high and low speeds. The noteworthy point here is that the Palio suspension isn’t overly soft as the Indica to facilitate occupantcomfort. It’s stiff enough to keep the car pliant when hurled around bends, while still dampened well enough to endure any atrocities it may be subjected to. The steering isn’t as precise as the Swift nor is the body as well behaved, but the Palio still is a reasonably good driver’s car. It cannot quite boogie as adroitly as the Swift, however, ask it to shake a leg and it will manage to not look out of place unlike the Indica which looks somewhat clumsy when asked to perform. The Indica’s engine, its gear ratios and suspension have been tuned to make it an able cruiser. And it excels at the job it is assigned. The 1.3-litre turbo diesel mill under Quadrajet badging produces some more torque at lower engine speeds, allowing tractability in higher gears at low speeds, facilitating lesser shifts and enhancing efficiency. The top speed suffers a bit, but no one in his right mind would ever want to race an Indica. As I said earlier, the newest hatch from Tata is clear in its focus. It has its vision riveted on the guy who wants to lug his family with luggage in comfort with the least owning and running costs. Those who want the kicks may look elsewhere. With about Rs 40K advantage over the Swift, more cabin space, plusher rider and instant delivery (the Swift makes you wait for three friggin’ months), the family man is surely going to consider the Indica Vista very seriously. that gets eliminated first. More photos: