Liked your review, Rippergeo, and I enjoyed driving the Swift VDi (phamilyman's car, currently undergoing huge repairs after a big shunt) and agree with many of the points.

My car has the same engine but some differences which are:

1. Uncleji gear box on the Palio instead of boy racer gearbox on the Swift. Gearshift is positive and no false shifting or any other trouble, except as defined in point no 2 below. It's not the snappy shifter of the Swift. (I loved the ANHC gearbox)

2. Truck Driver clutch pedal. It's that hard, and unlike Tata trucks, you can't manage shifting until your shoe is touching the floor. Anything less and your gearbox will protest. Many people have complained of gear shift problems after some time or distance in bumper-to-bumper traffic and the FNTASC (Friendly Neighbourhood Tata Auth. Service Centre) simply changes the rubber bracket under warranty and you're set to go. I haven't had my turn yet, but it seems likely soon.

3. Power is more linear and there is no whoosh. But it's 80-90% there as compared to Swift.

4. And yes, revving beyond 3500 RPM is pointless as I have realised.

5. First and Second gears are short. The painful difference between 1st and 2nd described by Rippergeo is between 2nd and 3rd on the Palio cousin.

6. Bash me if you please, but the Swift EPS is like driving a video-game car after driving the Palio HPS. I love the Palio steering and don't think any other small car has got it that right.

Do you want me to write a review of my own car instead of hijacking this thread?

A separate review please architect . I love the Palio MJD reviews I almost bought the Palio had it not been for the hard clutch - would've been a sore in B'lore traffic. Later went for the Punto instead.

Separate Review coming up, I am still trying to write a travelogue for a trip undertaken 2 months ago, so you can guess how long this will take.

Come to think of it, the only thing that I hate in this car is the hard clutch. Every other flaw one can live with (in fact, I am living with the clutch as well).

I just got my Vdi delivered on the 5th. In 2 days, twice I felt that the car is running in NA mode. There is no turbo kick. I parked it for sometime and then started to move...the turbo kicks (simply superb ). Rahul has posted this issue before.

Any idea why this happens?

kvk » Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:23 pm wrote:

rippergeo wrote:@kvk- didnt get you. What do you mean something with the box?
The box is off. Now, a remap takes care of the fuelling

Earlier I was in the assumption that you had a pete's tune box

exactly.thats what i thought too.

@ripper, awesome review man.
We need to get more such reviews soon.

@avinash- thanks.
@aditya- you should be following the running in procedure, and not violently spooling the turbo up on the 1st few days. I know its irresistible, but go easy.
Try and prevent the kick by modulating the accelerator. Its also very important to avoid flooring the car when its in lag. Gradually increase A pedal input as you feel the car responding. Thats better than flooring it and waiting for the whoosh, which i admit is a lot more fun, but unhealthy

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Aditya

Thank you Ripper. I have been driving petrols for 12 years and this is my first diesel. I will keep this in mind. When you say "prevent the kick by modulating the accelerator", you mean I can drive in turbo without violently spooling it right?

Yes, Use the boost, but dont let it come on all at once. So if you are at 1500rpm in 3rd, and you'd like to accelerate, gradually increase pressure on the accelererator, increasing pressure only if you find that every little movement of your right foot is resulting in increasing acceleration from the car.

You will see, that beyond a certain point on the accelerator, especially when you are in lag zone, the car will not rev any faster or accelerate any better. any excess accelerator input at that point is
1. slightly increasing fuel consumption
2. making more smoke
3. I sometimes feel that it actually makes the lag worse.
Here's a link
Driving a Diesel- Things to remember : Diesel Talk

rippergeo » Fri Jan 08, 2010 4:26 pm wrote:Yes, Use the boost, but dont let it come on all at once. So if you are at 1500rpm in 3rd, and you'd like to accelerate, gradually increase pressure on the accelererator, increasing pressure only if you find that every little movement of your right foot is resulting in increasing acceleration from the car.

You will see, that beyond a certain point on the accelerator, especially when you are in lag zone, the car will not rev any faster or accelerate any better.

Just loved this post, you have said it all . This is something I learned to follow after driving diesel for a while.

Thank you again Ripper! It was very very useful info.

After one month, after the first service, I took my ddis on highway. Covered 425 kms in 6 hrs. Man, what a performer this is. Climbing ghats is so easy. Just accelerate in turbo range and you can see all the cars in your RVMs. From Hassan to Blore, I overtook every car/bus/truck ahead of me, it was so so fun. Reached 150 km/hr and still the car was hungry for more, I didnt try though nor I will again. End of the day - I am very happy with the performance.

Just one question - In 5th gear at 120 km/hr, the engine noise is high and I felt like there should have been one more gear (6th) . Is this normal or is it bcos this car is new?

Engine noise will reduce as you get more miles under your belt. If the car is revved regularly in its full powerband, the engine does become more free. atleast, thats what's happening in my car.
You will see some swift Ds that make a racket when crossing 3000rpm in 2nd or 3rd even after 50k kms on the odo. thats because those engines are not used daily in that rpm range.

use the entire effective powerband, from 2000 to 3500rpm in every gearshift, traffic and passenger comfort permitting, and the car will keep getting better and better. just dont try and take it to 5k rpm everyday. that will just wreck everything

use the entire effective powerband, from 2000 to 3500rpm in every gearshift, traffic and passenger comfort permitting, and the car will keep getting better and better

@rippergeo Confusing! will it affect FE

I'm not saying weld the accelerator to the floor. That will kill FE.
All i'm saying is upshift at 3500rpm whenever you are on the highway. If you do that in the city you might end up rear ending someone.
It is quite possible to progressively accelerate to 3.5k without flooring. Wont affect your FE much. I get 17 to 18 with that kind of shifting. If i upshift at 2500 or 2700, i'll get 20 to 22kmpl.
I'm happy with 18

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