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Swift in showroom has funny gearbox behaviour


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#1
gregy

Posted 08 December 2006 - 09:38 PM

gregy

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Dear Swift owners,

Am helping my friend look around for a new car to replace her old Kelisa.
Was test driving the Swift today at a showroom and found it quite a good
ride. However one little problem I encountered was when I shifted the
gear out of P and into D, sometimes there was a noticeable resistance,
and the moment it goes into R there is a loud clunking sound followed by
slight jerking of the whole car.

Is this normal especially for a brand new Japanese CBU? Quite frankly I
was quite surprised by it. I tested two different units at the showroom
and I could quite easily replicate the scenario.

Any help is greatly appreciated as my friend really needs to change car
soon.

Cheers.

Btw, anyone compared this car to the Yaris? Any comments?

#2
titanium

Posted 09 December 2006 - 11:59 AM

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been driving this model for 1.5 years, yet i havent encountered any
problem as mentioned. anyway, i might need to get some feedback from
other swift drivers.

#3
gregy

Posted 09 December 2006 - 04:42 PM

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Yes, I'd like to hear some other feedback as well. The strange thing is
that it happened to two Swifts (different colour) in the same showroom.
Just to share further, this is the scenario in detail:

Car is idling, aircond and all other electronic and electric gadgets off.
The gear is in P. I step on the brake pedal to release the shift lock,
and subsequently move the gearstick from P to D. As the stick is
travelling through R, there is a clunking sound coming from the gearbox
followed by a slight jerk of the whole car.

Thinking it may have been a defective test car, I then requested to start
another car at the showroom. Same thing happened. I asked the showroom
personnel what could be the problem, and it was obvious he too didn't
know what the problem was. All he said was not to worry since I'll be
getting 3 years warranty, but c'mon! I don't want to buy a lemon and
suffer later, right?

Anyway, I'm going to another showroom and test out the cars there. If I
can replicate the scenario there as well, then evidently this could be an
inherent characteristic of the gearbox. I have no concerns if this is the
case, but since you said you've never come across such a problem even
after 1.5 yrs of driving this model, I definitely want to do more
research.

Apart from this issue and the other known issues like windscreen breakage
etc, are there any other things to look out for?

Thanks again.

#4
livermore

Posted 10 December 2006 - 02:07 PM

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this is normal...don't worry!!!

#5
nazirmz

Posted 13 December 2006 - 10:11 PM

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err.... I test drove a few swift last week but I haven't encountered any
those behaviour? I hope it's an isolated cases.

#6
titanium

Posted 14 December 2006 - 12:40 AM

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the behavior of an auto box may degrade under abusive use. i'm not making
a point that the swift auto box cant sustain the robust use but again, i
sense that the test cars were driven in the manner it shouldn't. For
instance, the potential customers may have pushed the car to the limit
and make fun of shifting the auto box to extract the power of the M15A.
FYI, the vanilla swift that we have here is not a performance car. It's
more for city driving. The performance version is the swift sports that
equipped with M16A that currently not available in our market.

gregy, other known issues with swift are:-
1) suspension system (this only can be found on the first batch and has
been ractified)
2) rear toe tends to misaligned. This is covered under the warranty

anyway, dont expect too much for a small car like swift. Anyway, i love
the way this car behave on corners....

#7
gregy

Posted 14 December 2006 - 01:24 PM

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Well, I thought it was an isolated case with the test car, however I've
managed to replicate the scenario on other units within the same showroom.

Anyway, since then I've gone to the showroom in Sg Penchala and haven't
been able to recreate the problem with their test car, however the same
issue prevailed when I tried another unit in the showroom that was not
even registered. This however was an intermittent problem as I could
only "clunk" the autobox occasionally and not all the time.

Thanks again for all the responses :) I must admit, the swift is a darn
good looking car and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's out
shopping.

Cheers.

#8
nazirmz

Posted 14 December 2006 - 08:00 PM

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yeah, it so gorgeous,that I placed a booking for it last weekend. Hopefully
will get the car next week. Big Smile

#9
Opositive

Posted 16 December 2006 - 03:25 AM

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Mine has done 20k. Gearbox is good and runs well. Suspension feels like
it's softening but that could just be the way i feel. Windscreen replaced
after it got chipped by a stone, no fault of the car. Door lock replaced
under warranty and brakes tend to make some noise at times. I find it
impossible to listen to the radio whenever it rains as the roof insulation
is thin. (learnt to live with it). Wheels and tyres are stock, progressing
well. It hugs corners like a dream, love it, love the way it looks
absolutely no regrets.

Plans: will change front bumper and fog lights to sport version. Slightly
bigger wheels and rubbers. Upgrade suspension and finally drop in a 1.6
manual.

#10
gregy

Posted 19 December 2006 - 02:02 AM

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My friend already signed the papers for a spanking new grey Swift. Before
signing I asked the showroom manager about the known issues. His
responses were:

1) Windscreen cracking = Can't do anything about it, but if it cracks,
send it in

2) Rear toe problem = They will change the faulty part (can't remember
what it was) before delivering the car

3) Noisy roof = He claims that all current batch cars come with added
roof insulation, will only be able to tell when it rains I suppose :)

4) Higher FC after 1st service = If satisfied with the car's current FC,
ask the SC not to touch any electronic settings. Dunno how true, this
statement

Cheers.