Did you know that the Suzuki Swift Sport will get from 0-62 quicker than a Mini Cooper? No, nor did I. Changes how you perceive the cute little Swift doesn’t it? Road-testing it was a revelation too –a modern car, that is not especially expensive, really can be fun.
Whilst people make suitably sycophantic coohing noises when you say you drive Mini Cooper, telling them you drive a Suzuki Swift will leave them speechless. Which is good practice for them. They will be pretty speechless when you beat them away from the lights too.
The sport chassis benefits from stiffer springs and dampers than the standard car and ESP® (Electronic Stability Control). Right on each corner you find a 17-inch alloy shod with Goodyear Eagle F1 195/45R17 tyres.
It is such a lot of fun. When you start up it growls like a playful baby lion. The small sports steering wheel is covered in soft leather and red stitching. The pedals are drilled steel, the unusually upright ‘bucket-type’ seats clamp your hips. All in all, you know that you are in a supermini that wants to be lugged around. It wants to hear its wheels squeal a little.
Inevitably this makes it very slightly noisy at high motorway speeds. But it is not overwhelming or exhausting and the little car’s stability in cross-winds and on long motorway runs is excellent.
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Then as soon as you are off the motorway, wherever and whenever it is safe to do so, you short shift up through the gears and don’t back off for the corners. On tighter corners the car’s ‘turn-in’ is instant. It handles as a go-kart would if a go-kart had good mechanical grip. But it also deals with long sweeping bends beautifully: the steering has just the right weight, encouraging a slow, steady increase in steering lock as the car points confidently through the corner.
I don’t do a lot of overtaking, but the Swift makes overtaking very compelling. Click up one or two gears, hear the growl and nip around whatever you want. You are back on your side of the road in a jiffy.
That same power-steering system can get briefly confused when doing a 3-point turn in town. As you knock the car from 1st to reverse to make a quick move back, the steering loads up momentarily as if the power steering has failed. This may give some problems to owners later in the car’s life. I would not worry about it with a car that has a long warranty, but if buying one of the earlier cars, you should do a three-point turn during the pre-purchase road test.
Undertaking a 3-point turn will highlight why this car handles so well out on the open road. Its not very impressive at spinning around in car parks or small city side streets. You will want the conventional Swift or another Supermini for that.
It seems almost pointless to discuss boot capacities because it is what it is. You can get a small weekly shop in, which is about what you should expect from a car like this.
It is however worth discussing the surprising build quality of Suzukis; it is first-rate. The air conditioning and radio controls are elegantly designed and well built. The cabin is a genuinely pleasant place to hang out. Standard equipment includes automatic air conditioning, curtain airbags, MP3-audio compatibility, front fog lamps, steering wheel audio controls and Keyless entry and start. Which is a pretty impressive kit list for a little car. Although I remain with the luddites over keyless entry - I nearly walked off with key fob when the car was collected.
Happily, all this technology has not pushed prices up. A new Suzuki Swift Sport is available for just £11,915 on the road. A nearly new one will be up to £1,000 less if you shop around and after 24 months it drops into the £9,000 bracket. So depreciation is not heavy for owners, but it becomes a very affordable used car for buyers too.
Summary
The action-man’s Mini Cooper. Quicker, cheaper and just as much fun. Great value, well made and enjoyable to drive.
Real car in the classifieds:
2007 Reg SUZUKI Swift 1.6 VVT Sport
1,000 miles £11,499
Road test car details:
Suzuki Swift 1.6 Sport
OTR: £11,915
MPG: 39.8
0-62: 8.9 secs
Co2 per KM: 171
Words: Matthew Tumbridge