THE one word that always springs to mind when I think of Suzuki, isn’t “Value” or “Budget”, it’s simply “Honest”. And that’s because Suzuki motors are exactly that; you get everything you were promised, and often more than you expected.
Take this latest, 4th generation Swift, for instance; priced from £19,199 for a 5-seat, 5-door hatchback with Japanese reliability, it’s certainly value for money. But what you might not be expecting is just how well equipped it is or just how pleasant it is to drive.
It’s not bad looking either, with a pleasant, friendly face and eight snazzy metallic colour options. There are a further four dual-tone colour options which provide either a Black Pearl or Grey metallic roof, depending on the chosen body colour.
Overall, it’s not a great deal different to look at than the outgoing Swift but there are some differences that make it stand out. The LED headlamps have been revised to an inner lens plus light rod that give them a wider appearance when illuminated.
At the rear, the car has a new sculpted tailgate with a wide rear bumper design and an integrated rear hatch spoiler. The rear lamps are also a similar design type as the front and provide a 3D effect when illuminated.
Suzuki provides just the 2 trim levels to choose from: ‘Motion’ and ‘Ultra’. Both get 16-inch alloy wheels but the Ultra gets flashier, polished rims.
But it’s the tech inside the cabin and under the bonnet that makes a strong argument for the Swift.
The entry-level Motion model (from £19,199) gets the likes of Adaptive Cruise Control, Rear View Camera and Parking Sensors, Heated Front Seats, Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Traffic Sign Recognition, Keyless Entry and Start, Electric Windows front and rear, 9-inch Infotainment Display with DAB radio and Sat Nav.
There’s a 6-speaker audio system, Auto Lights with High Beam Assist, Air conditioning, Blind Spot Monitor, Hill Hold, Lane Keep Assist, Lane Departure prevention/warning and Rear Cross Traffic Alert. Try to spec all that on some rivals and the price would go through the roof.
The Ultra model is available from £20,299 and adds the likes of Auto Air Conditioning, Rear Heater Outlet and Electrically Folding Door Mirrors with integrated indicator.
Add £1,250 for the auto CVT gearbox. If you want the confidence of all-wheel-drive, you can spec your Swift Ultra with Suzuki’s ALLGRIP system for an extra £1,250 – but it’s 5-speed manual gearbox only.
Inside the Swift is where you’ll find evidence of cost saving with some hard plastics scattered about the cabin. However, the overall impression is, again, beyond expectations with enough variety of textures, colour and chrome insert to lift the cabin above anything from the Ford stable in this price bracket.
It’s a pleasant place to be sat and the leather-bound, multi-function steering wheel is of good quality. It’s even sportily flat-bottomed. If you’ve opted for the CVT gearbox you’ll get flappy-paddles behind the wheel.
The 9-inch infotainment screen monopolizes the dash and while it is looks like an afterthought, it works well with clear, sharp icons and is responsive enough in use. I used wireless Apple CarPlay on an extended road trip and it worked very well indeed with a decent sound coming from the 6-speaker system.
The climate controls on my Ultra model were simplicity itself to use, thanks to not having to faff around on the screen for the settings. Both Swift models get a bank of physical buttons for the likes of temperature, air-circulation, heated rear screen, etc. Hallelujah!
The central controls are all slightly angled toward the driver, which works very well, while the main display has clear, round, traditional dials with a configurable colour LED display between.
All the knobs and buttons feel of decent quality and the steering wheel mounted controls are easy and intuitive to operate, without being overly fussy like on some rivals.
The driving position is excellent with the pedals being positioned just right and the seat being slightly raised so you almost feel like you’re sat in a cross-over. Actually, the ALLGRIP version is slightly higher, if that’s your thing . . .
Suzuki is up to date with its connectivity with a USB and two USB-C ports in the front, with another for rear passengers. Ye olde 12v socket is also present in the front, too.
Storage space is above average with plenty of cubby spaces, large door bins and a couple of decent sized cup holders, to boot. Again, everything you need.
Rear passengers don’t get limousine amounts of room but it’s better than you might expect with even taller passengers (I had a 6-footer in there on a long journey) being able to get comfortable with plenty of headroom thanks to the Swift’s tall roof that doesn’t slope backwards to a sharp point.
That also means you don’t crack your head getting in the rear either, as the door aperture is sensibly shaped and sized with the doors themselves, opening very wide. Great, if you’ll be reaching in to get kids strapped. The ISOFIX anchor points are also very easy to find.
The boot space doesn’t break any records but you can fit a large suitcase in the 265-litre space. Drop the rear seats and you get 589-litres.
The 1.2 mild-hybrid, three-cylinder engine gives an 8% fuel efficiency improvement versus the previous offering and promises fuel consumption figures of 64 mpg (combined) for the manual, 5-speed version, which is class-leading.
It isn’t all pie-in-the-sky either. I was astonished by the little Swift’s fuel-sipping ability when I took a 2-day road trip with Mrs. B and friends up to Pitlochry and onto Inverness, returning to Fife via the Cairngorms. Testing roads for a car with just 82 PS on tap. Add in the fact that I had 3 adult passengers and you’ll be as surprised as I was to average 67 mpg for the whole trip.
But it must have been a struggle up those mountains, right? Holding up traffic and being passed by everyone and their dog as soon as I hit an incline? Absolutely not. The sweet little Swift trapped along beautifully, no matter what the road. A change from 5th to 4th was necessary a few times, but that was about it. That 82 PS felt more like 100 PS.
At the end of the trip, everyone agreed that the Suzuki had delivered above and beyond what was expected. Apart from the excellent economy and driving experience, the 5-door Swift proved to be comfortable enough even for those in the rear, with decent head and leg room, along with generous-sized windows for gazing out at the incredible scenery. And not a numb-bum between us.
It was interesting to reflect that our honeymoon, back in 1991, was a trip from England up to Pitlochry and then onto Inverness and finally Oban on the West coast. It was all done in our beloved Suzuki Swift GTi which was a 1986 model with a 1.3 twin-cam, 16-valve engine and 100 bhp. The new model is just as much fun, has a similar charm, but is so much more refined. I don’t think the 1986 model even had ABS brakes . . .
The new Swift was a pleasure to drive – whether it was twisting mountain passes or around the busy Inverness back-streets – it breezed its way through everything and never felt like it was underpowered or lacking dynamically. Yes, the ride is a little firmer than you may find on say, the Citroen C3, but the payoff is that the Suzuki handles very sweetly around the twistier stuff – with a smooth gearchange which adds to the fun.
Of course I wasn’t racing around but neither was I holding back. At 70mph, on the dual-carriageways, the Swift easily kept up with traffic and the adaptive cruise control came into its own on the longer stretches. Noise levels were muted enough to allow easy conversation between front and rear passengers.
Was there anything not to like about the little Suzuki during our Highland road trip? Well, no, not really – and that’s the honest truth.
AT A GLANCE:
Suzuki Swift 1.2 Mild Hybrid Ultra
OTR Price: £20,299
Engine: 1.2 mild hybrid
Power: 81 bhp
Transmission: 5-speed manual
0-62mph: 12.5 secs
Top Speed: 103 mph
Combined Economy: 64.2 mpg
C02: 151 g/km
