It’s a sad day. I’ve had to wave goodbye to my Suzuki Swift Sport after four months of enjoyable ownership.
The little Japanese ‘warm hatch’ replaced a ‘normal’ version of the Swift and immediately began making friends both with my fellow staff members and even with my Fiancé. It even got named, although I still refuse to acknowledge that fact.
So what did I like about the Suzuki Swift Sport? First and foremost I love what it represents. It’s a low-cost car which is also rather a lot of fun.
The handling is excellent, the steering sharp and direct, the engine peppy and eager, the gearbox beautifully slick and of course who could forget those seriously comfortable sports seats?
It’s got bags of character, too. The way it corners and accelerates never fails to bring a smile to your face. It looks the part as well, perhaps not in a fire-breathing supercar kind of a way but there are definite sporting intentions to its low stance, larger alloys and big twin exhaust pipes.
Also of note was the car’s superior comfort compared to rivals like the Renaultsport Twingo. The 17-inch wheels wear comparatively fat tyres and the suspension is more forgiving too. This means it’s an agreeable place to spend time.
Although it has just a little 1.6-litre petrol engine, it sounds good too. The only real difficulty with the engine was trying not to rev it too much – it’s a car which really wants to be driven hard but that’s simply not conducive to decent MPG figures.
Talking about fuel economy, the Sport has once again impressed. Complete a long journey and an average 40mpg is possible if you REALLY concentrate. The trip computer is likely to say something like 50mpg if you do that, but since we’ve been running it we’ve been monitoring exactly how much fuel the little Suzuki has been sipping and it is slightly more than the car claims.
Following a bout of epic maths I found the Swift Sport would even work as a company car. A 20% tax payer like me would only have to pay £45 per month in company car tax, which isn't exactly going to break the bank.
There were a few niggles which showed up over the course of my ownership. The boot is not only small but difficult to access, particularly when dealing with larger items, due to its high lip and strange shape. There’s also no indicator for when you’ve run out of washer fluid, which means you only ever find out when you really need it - usually at 70mph on a motorway somewhere a long way from a service station.
Range was another issue for me. I spend a lot of time driving and found the range of around 280 miles just didn’t cut it for my 230-mile round trip commute. I became uncomfortably friendly with petrol station attendants as a result.
So overall, unless you need to carry big loads or regularly travel long distances, there isn’t a lot to dislike about the Suzuki Swift Sport. I know I’ll smile whenever I see one, fondly remembering my period of ownership.
There should be more cars like that in the world.
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/living-with-it/suzuki-swift-16-litre-sport-3dr/oct---goodbye/
