Suzuki keeps up the pace with new Swift
A MAN of my acquaintance once came to me with a look of deep shock in his eyes.
This person, it has to be said, never set foot in anything less than a BMW or something equally ritzy in his entire life. His was a heavily sequined motoring life.
His shock had come about because he had recently driven his girlfriend’s Suzuki Swift and even though he would absolutely never have considered driving such a thing, unless he found himself car-less in Phnom Penh or some such, he thought it was great.
“I seriously couldn’t get over it,” he whispered — just in case anyone overheard he had actually driven a Suzuki. “It’s a fantastic little thing; handles like a kart, goes like the devil and it uses less petrol than the lawnmower.”
This from someone who had never driven anything less than an Escort Cosworth — when he was five.
The mere idea that Suzuki could produce anything worthwhile at all, is something that many people do not actually appreciate.
In fact, Suzuki produce very many worthy things and have done for more than one hundred years, when Michio Suzuki founded a plant making weaving looms for the Japanese silk industry.
From their base in Hamamatsu in Japan the company expanded greatly and moved into the small car business in the late 1930s and motorbikes in the 1950s. The company has been at this game ever since and has been remarkably successful at it and has even eschewed making big cars during times when such a thing might be deemed feasible.
The bikes can be extreme, admittedly, but small cars can be too, amazingly.
So bikes and small cars have been at the centre of all things Suzuki — not to mention out-board engines, ATVs, chainsaws, karaoke machines and a whole host of other successful stuff — for quite sometime now and while, on the car front alone, it has made a few dogs down the years, the majority of the vehicles it makes are very estimable indeed.
And the Swift is one of them. It has not always been a looker, in fairness. Sometimes it looked like a sardine can on wheels, sometimes a bean can. But even the sardines and the beans went a lot further than the tinned lobster bisque or the runny beef stew with dodgy roasted chillies most of the Europeans were offering.
The Swift was not always a thing of beauty, but resilient in the sense of a lady in stout shoes.
Indeed those same stout-shoed ladies — pragmatic to a fault — were largely the Swift’s biggest fans in its initial guises, because much to their husbands’ chagrin, they actually knew best.
WHEN, however, the Japanese had the cheek to rip a damn good British (German revivalist idea, actually) notion to sketch a Swift that actually looked, erm, sexy, all of sudden they were out of the stout shoes brigade — although they took them along for the ride too — and into a whole new ball-game.
And so they make a new one and as is always when you’re stirring the pot on an old favourite dish, you worry you’ll over-cook it or add too much red wine infused oregano. You do worry.
It still is quite a driving prospect and even though I tested the automatic version — this car remains a cracker.
Simplicity is the order of the day. The seating is perfunctory rather than luxurious and the plasticky layout too. But then, even a tech dolt like me could connect to the world and play songs! It is very easy to engage with this car.
The dinky engine will surprise you with its vehement strength and maybe that is why the wiser and fairer sex realised many moons ago that Suzuki was not just a method.
A (gasp) small capacity petrol three-cylinder turbo unit throbs beautifully when tickled, although the auto ’box did take the edge of the enjoyment. It has to be a manual for me.
And the handling? Spot on — karty, even. And the ride? Not bad at all.
We’re basically talking here about some sort of Mini replica — costing considerably less gelt. You can still give it the full tan, hair and nails job and make it your own, if you wish.
And even if you’re not bothered by the individualisation stuff, just buy it in a nice — they do a good blue — colour and enjoy the hell out of it.
Some might cavil that the new Swift is not enough of a leap forward in terms of design or the quality of the interior materials, but this is to miss the fact that the car has a better and quicker engine, is considerably lighter yet stronger and has a heap more standard kit — including stuff you would not expect, like adaptive cruise control and sat nav.
The fact the new Swift is a massive value for money prospect — one which should rightly embarrass many of its opponents — should not be overlooked either. In fact, I defy you to find fault with it.
And, if you need further persuasion, I can put you in touch with BMW-man. He will confirm the naked truth.
COLLEY'S VERDICT: ****
The Cost: From €20,995 (OTR), €21,365 as tested.
The Engine: Brilliant three pot turbo petrol unit.
The Specification: Loads of gear — a lot
of which you would not expect in this class.
The Overall Verdict: Looking for a Supermini? Then don’t overlook this car.
