There really are far too many cars these days that pretend to be something they aren’t. Mostly, it’s SUVs pretending to be coupes, sports cars or practical family vehicles. So it’s hugely refreshing to drive a car that’s not only received the brief, but read that brief and stuck to it. The new Suzuki Swift is just such a car.
This perhaps is not surprising. After all, Suzuki is this year celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Swift badge, but it’s fair to say that some of those early Swift efforts were a bit sub-par, and certainly not cars that lived up to their name in any sense. Actually, it was only 20 years ago, in 2004, that Suzuki came up with a Swift that was truly worth sitting up and taking notice.
Ever since then, you could perhaps describe the Swift as Suzuki’s answer to the Porsche 911 – the car in its range that has undergone careful, thoughtful evolution rather than constant revolution. Even the overall shape and styling is much the same as it was in 2004 – the differences are little more than details.
There’s no denying the latest Swift’s cuteness. It has a body that looks like an upturned bathtub and headlights and grille that put you more in mind of a Beanie Boo, which is surely preferable to all the needlessly glowering and aggressive-looking cars out there?
Our test car came in a somewhat lurid shade called Cool Yellow, even though in some light it looks more like a deeply unnatural, possibly genetically modified pistachio. I rather warmed to it, shade-wise, but for those unconvinced there are rather more conventional silvers, reds and a deeply impressive triple-coat metallic blue.
The latest Swift carries over the same chassis and platform as that of the previous model, but where the previous version had a rather depressingly cheap black plastic interior, this new Swift actually excels when it comes to cabin design.
Oh it’s still cheap, don’t get me wrong, but Suzuki has boxed clever by adding some contrast-coloured and textured panels to relieve the grey-black-plasticness of it, and the fundamental quality of assembly is not in doubt.
There’s a nine-inch touchscreen, including satellite-navigation, that sits proud of the top of the dash, which is a massive improvement on the old Swift’s clunky system. It’s still not cutting-edge, but it’s better and at least you can hook up Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. There are – praise be – physical controls for heating and air conditioning, and neat analogue main instruments supplemented by a small colour digital display between them.
The Swift might be cheap, but Suzuki has given it comfy front seats, a sensible driving position, and a three-spoke steering wheel that feels anything but cheap to hold. It’s all rather nicely done.
The back is slightly short on space, but I am just about able to fit in behind a front seat set for my own legs. Don’t bother trying to get a fifth passenger in the centre rear seat, as there’s a hefty transmission tunnel (left over from a four-wheel drive Swift model Suzuki does not sell in Ireland) and the centre rear seat is too narrow anyway. That said, for four – even four relatively tall people – it’s adequate. Which is more than can be said for the boot, which offers only 265-litres.
Up front, there’s a new engine. Out goes the 1.2-litre four-cylinder unit, and in comes a new 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine. It produces more or less the same power as the old one – 82hp and 112Nm of torque – but this time Suzuki is really bigging-up the idea that the Swift is now a hybrid.
Which it isn’t. Not really anyway, despite what the badge on the boot lid says. In fact it’s a mild-hybrid, and it’s the mildest of mild-hybrids, with only 12-volts of power. Still, that’s enough to boost the engine’s performance by 60Nm for tiny bursts, and it can keep the engine powered off for longer when trickling in traffic. There’s no Toyota-style electric-only running, however.
Even so, this Swift is impressively economical, boasting 99g/km of CO2 emissions, and 4.4-litres per 100km fuel consumption – an entirely believable figure from our experience. There’s a five-speed manual gearbox as standard, and a CVT automatic as a pricey option.
Nothing much else about the Swift is pricey, though. For a base price of €21,945 you get pretty much everything you could need – the touchscreen, air conditioning, heated front seats, three USB sockets, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring and more.
Which would mean very little, to be honest, if the Swift hadn’t so carefully read its brief. That brief was to be an affordable and small car (just 3.8m long) that is economical and fun to drive. And it pulls off all that with aplomb.
Okay, so it’s no hot-hatch powerhouse, but the torque-additive effect of the hybrid system means that the engine feels stronger than you would expect, and while the Swift certainly isn’t quick (12.5 seconds to 100km/h) it never feels especially sluggish. It also has the benefit of being light, just 949kg at the kerb, so building speed and maintaining momentum are easy.
Better still is the handling. The ride quality can be a bit restless and jumpy at times, but the Swift sure can tackle a corner. The steering is light, possibly slightly over-light, but it’s quick and with that lack of mass, the nose darts rapidly into an apex.
When you want to set the Swift up for a longer corner, there’s a bit of body roll at first, but then you feel the car settle on to the outside springs and dampers and it adopts a really lovely cornering poise, which allows you to exploit the grip offered by the modest 16in alloy wheels.
It doesn’t quite have the deftness and precision of the Mini Cooper nor the lamented Ford Fiesta, and indeed no Swift (not even the old Swift Sport) ever did. But then the Swift never had the price tags of either of those cars, and now that the Mini is at minimum a €31,095 car, the fact that we can even vaguely mention the Swift in the same breath is really quite the accolade.
The Swift is as the Swift was – small, cute, solidly made, fun to drive, affordable and cheap to run. It knows what kind of car it is, and that kind is good.
Lowdown: Suzuki Swift Motion Hybrid
Power 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with 2.3kW integrated starter/motor and producing 82hp and 112Nm (engine) + 60Nm (e-motor) of torque and powering the front wheels via a five-speed manual transmission.
CO2 emissions (annual motor tax) 99g/km (€170).
Fuel consumption 4.54/100km (WLTP)
0-100km/h 12.5 secs.
Price €21,945 as tested. Swift starts from €21,945
Our rating 4/5
Verdict The new Swift is cheap to buy and run, but feels not at all cheap to drive.
