Maruti Suzuki Swift CNG Review: Most Efficient Car?

Maruti Suzuki Swift CNG Review: Offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox the Swift in CNG mode develops 70 bhp and 101Nm

Maruti Suzuki Swift CNG Review: The CNG tank is a single cylinder placed in the boot and nearly takes up all of the space there.

Source : Somnath Chatterjee

For many it is not the performance but how much a litre of fuel can be stretched or even how much toll the monthly commute takes on the wallet. Add in the fact that diesel is not an option anymore at around the sub Rs 10 lakh price and the choices are quite limited. CNG has become more popular off late with more choices and finally you are getting the option of buying a better equipped car.

 Maruti Suzuki has a big range of CNG equipped cars and the latest one is the Swift CNG. This time there are more variants and it costs Rs 90,000 more than petrol. The Swift CNG comes with VXi, VXi (O), and ZXi variants with a starting price of Rs 8.19 lakh. With the Swift CNG the Z series three cylinder engine gets the CNG option for the first time.

Visually there is no change even there isn't a CNG badge. What you will notice is the separate CNG filling nozzle which continues and isn't placed inside the fuel filling cap while being placed at the opposite side. You have to manually open it with a key when filling it at the CNG station.

Inside you start it in petrol while then you switch to CNG mode with the central display showing. Offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox the Swift in CNG mode develops 70 bhp and 101Nm. The CNG tank is a single cylinder placed in the boot and nearly takes up all of the space there. To drive, the CNG version is refined and surprisingly easy to drive with plenty of power. 

It does not feel slow in CNG mode and neither do you need to downshift a lot. It has enough power and the 5-speed manual is very easy to use with a light clutch/gearshift. Infact it is quite responsive and does not feel so different from the petrol version. There is also not much different with the way it drives and retains the easy to drive character while being one of the more fun to drive Maruti cars. The Swift CNG has a 55l capacity and it will do 32.85 km/kg.

That is the most frugal cng hatchback with a higher mileage than others. The real world mileage would be a bit less than others but still amongst the highest. If you want to save on fuel costs then CNG is the best option at this price and now you get an option of a more feature packed version too while performance isn't having any big drop. Hence, for its sheer cost effectiveness the Swift CNG makes sense but boot space is indeed compromised but that aside it is a sensible package.