The Swift VDi has been in for some minor modifications this month which has rewarded us with big results. We stuck in a Pete's Tuning Box and that has helped us considerably bump up the performance. We conducted a back to back test with and without the Pete's Tuning Box. In the runs without the tuning box, the Swift took 17.29 seconds to get to 100kmph, 20.4 seconds to the quarter mile and 38.1 seconds past the kilometre. With the tuning box these figures reduced considerably, the 100kmph mark was reached in 15.04 seconds, the quarter mile in 19.43 seconds and the kilometre in 36.33 seconds. Of course there will those among who will have noticed that these figures still do not compare to the ones posted during our road test. The explanation for that lies with the tyres we are using. In fact the Swift is hibernating at the moment since the tyres are completely shot and have little or no traction whatsoever. This has greatly reduced the performance figures since in the initial bursts the engine induces tremendous wheelspin and this happens in the second gear as well.

So the tyres will have to go, braking too is greatly affected as the tyres simply refuse to bite. We are currently trying to procure better tyres that will be gripper than before. You should be reading the report on that in the following issue.

Currently the tuning box is also set on stage two performance which upsets the air fuel ratio at high revs. The fuelling is more than the air being sucked in to balance the mixture and as a result the engine gets flooded and loses power. We will reduce the capability of the tuning box by a notch to enhance the performance and will have a report following up on that in the next issue.