(From top): the Maruti Suzuki Swift that’s currently the talk of the town; the very competent Hyundai Getz; the Fiat Palio, an all-rounder car

Hatchbacks are a very popular form of transport and why not? They’re easy to park, smooth at tricky traffic manoeuvres, and some are really easy on the eye too. What’s more, many manufacturers have two or three variants of the same car ? there is the ‘I’ll have that some day’ variant and then there is the ‘This is what I can afford right now’ variant. Usually the latter is a car with a smaller engine. It is these that I’m putting under the scanner here together with three other manufacturers who make cars in a similar engine category ? 1.3litres, give or take a hundred cc or so.

The five manufacturers are Opel, Fiat, Suzuki (Maruti), Hyundai, and our very own, Tata. Opel has the Corsa Sail 1.4, Fiat the Palio NV 1.2 and Hyundai, the Getz 1.3 while Tata has the Indica 1.4 and Maruti, the Suzuki Swift 1.3. All the cars come clubbed in the same price bracket ? between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 5 lakh (we’re talking petrol versions here).

‘Yer pays yer money and yer gets what yer want’ is a very old adage. However, the question of the moment is: ‘What does yer get for yer money?’ Let’s take a look. The newer cars first then.

The Suzuki Swift from Maruti is currently the talk of the town and there are several reasons for that as well as the full order book and consequent delays in car deliveries. Yes, the Swift is a very important car for Maruti. It certainly has very dramatic styling, and a fair number of interested buyers are women. It’s very sporty looking, courtesy the wide air dam. The car also has a solid look to it when viewed in profile, thanks to the slab-sides, high belt-line and bold wheel arches.

The Indian Swift uses a thoroughly revised 1298cc Esteem engine that develops 87bhp of power at 6000rpm and 113Nm of torque at 4500 rpm. Moving within, the interiors are very spiffy ? something this smart has not been seen in the Indian market for a long time. Depending upon how much one is willing to fork out, one gets power steering, a heater, halogen headlamps and a headlamp leveller as well as twin front airbags, ABS brakes with EBD support and brake assist, and a climate control system in the upper model.

Built on a completely new platform, the Swift is 3695mm long, 1690mm wide and 1530mm tall. The wheelbase is 2390mm while the ground clearance is 170mm. Who is it targeted at? Anybody who is into performance driving and likes a car that lets him or her take it to the limit and that includes the young at heart.

I don’t know why Hyundai refuses to allow comparisons with the Swift because in its own way, the Getz is a very competent car indeed. Another truly European looking car, the Getz comes loaded with features like power steering with tilt function, central door locking, an AC with a 4-speed Blower, front & rear power windows, a rear windscreen defogger, rear windscreen wash and wipe, as well as alloy wheels and ABS brakes on the top model. The 1.3litre engine is not the peppiest but is adequate. In fact, it’s quite smooth and the power delivery is almost seamless. The interior however, is a bit garish what with all that shiny chrome.

The Getz has a length of 3810mm, width of 1665mm and a height of 1515mm. The wheelbase is 2455mm. The Getz is currently powered by a four-cylinder, 1.3litre SOHC (Single Over Head Camshaft) engine developing just over 80bhp of power and 115Nm of torque. In Europe, the Getz goes up against the (new) Opel Corsa, the Ford Fiesta and the Peugeot 206. Other features that are standard in the Getz include body-coloured bumpers, prismatic mirrors, gas-pressured dampers, disc brakes (ventilated) at front and drums at the rear, and central locking too.

Now on to the old guard. The Fiat Palio 1.2 NV has been around for a long time and hasn’t really made that much of an impression. But that isn’t really the fault of the car ? European cars are perceived to be solid and the Palio is no exception. If one looks at the car itself, it is a very good package. It has a 72bhp, 1242cc engine that develops 101.9Nm of torque. The engine is peppy, but one needs to work the gears to get the Palio going at a decent speed. Also, the Palio is an all-rounder ? it’s blessed with good looks, is very spacious, and well-built to boot. The performance is adequate and the ride and handling of the car is up there with the best.

Yet ? and it pains me to say this, as I’m a Fiat fan ? all this counts for nothing without proper backup, service, parts or otherwise from the company. Given Fiat’s past reputation in India, it is difficult to recommend the car to someone. The word is that Fiat has decided to address the problem but the company has had a lot of chances to redeem itself and Indians are a hard lot to convince. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Opel Corsa Sail is the other old horse that’s still around. In fact, GM is not really interested in pushing this model. Otherwise, India would not be stuck with a two-generation old car whereas the rest of the world (Europe essentially) has a very different and modern vehicle. In fact GM is preparing to launch the Chevrolet Aveo, a Korean car, which should basically take the Corsa out of this comparison but as that is still some time away, and the Corsa is still around, it’s been included. The Sail 1.4 is powered by a 1389cc engine developing 88bhp. Pitched as an upmarket car, it comes with several features like power steering, power windows, central locking and rear window defogger. It also features a crash sensor that drops and automatically unlocks the doors, pedals that drop-away on impact and a collapsible steering wheel.

Technology and features-wise, the car has a lot going for it but the look is a tad dated. However, given the possibility that GM may stop selling this car, it is difficult to recommend it, especially as it commands quite a high price.

Finally, we come to the Tata Indica. Flying the Indian flag proudly (not withstanding the overseas design), this is a very smart looking car. The Indica comes with a 1.4litre petrol engine developing 75bhp of power and 109.8Nm of torque. It’s a good value-for-money car, is spacious, and offers pretty good performance.

So which car would one recommend out of this lot? That’s a tricky one. The top three would have to be the Swift, the Getz and the Indica though on a personal level, I’d love to put the Palio at the top of the heap. But then again, that’s just me!

My favourite long drive

CAPTION

Purab Kohli
veejay/actor

My longest drive was a three-and-a-half month one around the country where I covered almost 26,000 km, driving a Maruti Versa. It was basically for a TV show, so I was travelling with other people as well and we enjoyed every minute. We covered every place in the country right from the South, to the North-East and the Himalayas.

If you enjoy driving, as I do, the entire experience couldn’t have been better. The open roads beckon you. We stopped only where we felt it was very necessary, and then at times we spent nights in hotels on the road. Once we even slept in our car. You’ve got to be able to do that when you are on the roads without any agenda. This happened at the Indira Gandhi National Park in Tamil Nadu where we were initially supposed to sleep in a treehouse. But it was so noisy that we decided to spend the night in our car. It felt more safe.