Suzuki Swace review: Comfort, functionality, and a familiar feel

The all-new Suzuki Swace shares a lot of the same qualities as its sister car, the Toyota Corolla. It is understated and comfortable, with ample room

The all new Suzuki Swace

SUZUKI SWACE
Rating	★★★☆☆
Price	from €31,495 - €32,120 as tested
Engine	a 1.8 hybrid powertrain with 120bhp
The Spec	very good and surprisingly generous
Verdict	it’s a Toyota

We all know the type – that merciless put-the-fear-of-God-in-you beast: The Man Who Knows It All.

Such men – they are more of a rarity among women, for some strange reason – are the fountains of all knowledge and you would have to be very brave to contradict them. On Anything. Anything at all.

You could be discussing such immersive topics as the war in Ukraine or the lack of a solid centre-back partnership at Old Trafford, it does not matter. Our man has the knowledge to solve the problem or – help us, please – why it would never have happened in the first place if he’d been in charge. He has answers for everything.

And his knowledge of the great world around us doesn’t stop at political upheaval or great sporting conundrums. It stretches to every field of endeavour you could imagine – and several you’d never thought to contemplate in the first place.

As the new Suzuki Swace – terrible name, I have to admit – wheeled into chez Colley recently, one such man shouted to me: “Nice new Toyota Corolla you have this week.” 

Instead of just nodding appreciatively and keeping my big gob shut, I blurted: “No, no, it’s a Suzuki Swace.” 

Big mistake.

Half-an-hour later, having been berated for my ignorance and stupidity and having received a formidable lecture on modern car design principles, he finally trotted off satisfied that the smug motoring writer guy had been firmly put in his box.

I tried to utter the feeble “but it is actually a Suzuki” line as he receded into the near distance, but my larynx refused to function – shut down by my brain, perhaps, in a vain bid to save me from further ignominy. 

Thankfully, I didn’t utter those fateful words, as I’d probably have been there for another hour.

I did have to admit that the Mastodon in question was right. Or, as is usual in such cases, partly right. Unfortunately, however, it is the ‘partly’ bit that gets everyone. 

Although the benefactor of such wisdom usually only has a small bit of the facts together in these matters, it is that modicum of truth that makes them dangerous.

OK, so the Swace is very closely related to the Corolla because of an industrial partnership existing between Toyota and Suzuki since 2019. The term ‘badge engineering’ has emerged as a result of such co-operative deals and there’s been loads of examples down the years of such vehicles.

You might think I’m taking the mick here, but there has been such as the Baojun 630 which was – and continues to be – made in China since 2011. 

In another life it was also as the Chevrolet Lacetti until 2013 and it was also known in some markets as the Daewoo Lacetti.

More familiar might be stuff like the Peugeot 107/8 which also turned up in the guise of a Citroen C1 or a Toyota Aygo; or the Toyota GR86 which was also sold as the Subaru BRZ; or the Volkswagen Up!, which also ran around as either the SEAT Mii, or the Skoda Citigo. There are loads of examples.

The latest Toyota/Suzuki tie-up first resulted in the former’s RAV4 turning into the Suzuki Across (not seen here) and the latest saw Suzuki magic the Toyota Corolla Sports Tourer into the – you guessed it – the Suzuki Swace.

So what rolled into my driveway that fateful afternoon was indeed a Toyota Corolla, but badged as a Suzuki Swace. And to think – I never knew that. I’ll forever be grateful for his fortuitous intervention.

So we are actually testing a Suzuki this week, although it will be better known to some – and one in particular – as a Toyota. But there are a couple of crucial things to consider here. Firstly, why is this car being sold in Ireland (and across Europe) by Suzuki? And, secondly, why is it dearer here than the Toyota it is based upon?

Well, first up, as we know Toyota has been making hybrids for some time now and, despite what anyone might say about them, they do reduce CO2 emissions and for that reason, Suzuki needs one in Europe. That’s because they don’t have many hybrids of their own and they need to reduce their corporate CO2 footprint in Europe.

Secondly, and although I am obviously not party to the details of the agreement between the two companies, there may be some clause that Suzuki cannot undersell Toyota, or have to add spec to their models to differentiate them. Who knows?

Whatever the specifics, this is something we will get more and more used to in terms of either collaborative projects or simple badge engineering as development costs spiral and profits thin. 

We will be seeing a lot of this sort of thing and, indeed, next year’s new Mazda2 will be based on the Toyota Yaris Hybrid.

All of the above considered, it is fair to say that a lot of drivers will already know a considerable amount about this car, given it is based on one of the world’s most popular buying choices. In comparison with the Corolla, however, it is nearly devoid of ostentation and does without a lot of the design tweaks of its sister car.

On the driving front the trick here is not to expect too much and the Swace will deliver in spades. Imagine you’re getting into something really smart and you’re in for a shock. 

On the ride and handling front the car is just ok and will wallow around quite a bit and can be a tad floaty, but on a decent B-Road it has enough chops to make it a mildly exciting drive.

On the engine front there’s only one on offer and it’s a fairly familiar thing – a Toyota 1.8 hybrid powertrain which outputs some 120 bhp and is allied to a CVT gearbox, which is something of an Achilles’ Heel.

You won’t be looking for performance here and it’s just as well. The 0-100 km/h time is 11.1 seconds and top speed is 180 km/h, but the trouble is that the CVT makes proceedings – and particularly so if you’re in a hurry anywhere – particularly screechy. Long inclines too raise the decibel levels to near-excruciating proportions.

On the plus side it has decent economy and we found a return of 4.8 l/100 km (58 mpg) to be easily attainable and there’s also the benefit that, if you’re tootling around doing school runs, the shopping a such like, you’ll find that much of your trip has been achieved using electric power only.

The interior décor is decent enough and the spec is not as rudimentary as you might have expected and the plastics are largely soft-touch and high grade. As it is an estate, there’s good passenger space in the rear and a decent boot too.

In many ways this is an excellent example of the ‘car-as-tool’ school of thinking whereby owners will love it more for its functionality rather than any great show of ability or beauty. It is an understated and comfortable thing and many will enjoy it simply for that and forget the powertrain niggles.

But, if you do buy one and are also blessed with a know-it-all from hell, for the sake of your own sanity, humour him and tell him you wanted to buy a Corolla Sports Tourer, but got lost on the way to the dealership and ended up in a Suzuki garage instead. 

“And look what I found…”