Suzuki Swift review: Not fast, but a cracker of a supermini — and cheap too

Much as certain manufacturers are making hay selling diesels before they are banned completely in a few years, other car makers are using the collapse of the small car or supermini segment as an incentive to lure people into their cars.

A case in point is the Suzuki Swift which, following the demise of such as the Ford Fiesta, the Nissan Micra and the Kia Rio, is aiming to corner a big share of an increasingly shrinking market. As small SUVs accelerate in popularity – the Ford Puma, Nissan Juke and the Toyota Yaris X, being examples – the supermini concept has become almost a footnote.

The Swift nameplate first appeared back in 1984 as a foreign market handle for Japan’s Suzuki Cultus, but in 2004 it became a standalone car in its own right and a great little car it was; now into its fourth generation, it is a phenomenon which has gained widespread support for being a cute, practical and bombproof driving prospect.

What’s most notable about the newest Swift is that it has become quite the sophisticate, burdened as it is with a raft of specification which make it almost unrecognizable from the ‘poor man’s supermini’ it once was.

The 2004 Swift was immediately recognisable as a sort of sub-Mini wannabe, but it was also a fantastic drivers’ car with startling handling and grip levels and a great little petrol engine that was as willing as it was reliable and efficient.

The 2024 Swift continues in the same vein, but Suzuki has now added mild hybrid technology under the hood (which you can reasonably expect to be equally reliable and is now even more economic than its predecessors) and a raft of high-tech additions including adaptive cruise control, rear camera, heated front seats, parking sensors, a very acceptable infotainment system, sat. nav. and LED lights.

In truth – and being used to the more utilitarian side of the Swift’s character – it was a little dazzling to sit into this latest model and be surrounded by all this gadgetry. When you’re used to acres of black or grey no-frills plastics and feeling lucky enough to have electric front windows, the classiness that’s on offer here is a touch bewildering.

And that all of this package is on offer for just shy of €22,000 seems quite amazing in this day and age and that makes this package quite a thing, all told.

So, what of it? Well, Suzuki seems to have taken a leaf from the Toyota playbook in terms of the look of the car, which has been spruced up nicely and is not at all boring looking. Like the Toyota Yaris, which was originally a fairly boring looking car, but an excellent driver, so too it was with the original Swift.

The new one, however, has plenty going on to attract your interest when it comes to the exterior design; sure, it’s not a stunner, but it is an attractive thing and, depending on the colour you get (we had a red one, but the blue on offer is particularly eye-catching), you can have something very appealing in your driveway.

They’ve beefed up the interior too and while for this money you should not expect a gilded palace, you do get a sport of three-layered dashboard with a little bit of faux chrome highlighting, there are still plenty of scratchy plastics on offer, so it’s not a very huggable thing. That said, it is going to be very hard-wearing and durable.

If the car comes up a bit short on the décor front, the amount of interior tech more than makes up for it. The 9” infotainment screen is at the heart of affairs and it is easy to use, is not particularly distracting when it comes to changing functions and has decent graphics.

There are also lots of physical buttons for such as the heated seats, climate and plenty more and the leather clad steering wheel does add a touch of class to the overall proceedings. The seats are comfortable and supportive, there’s plenty of room up front and the rear passengers are well catered for if not with abundant space. The boot is adequate, no more than that.

When it comes to the mechanics of the Swift, Suzuki has relied on its own resources – unlike Mazda who out-sourced the hybrid engine in the Mazda 2 to Toyota – to build a new hybrid engine. To that end it has ditched the old four-cylinder unit for a new three-pot which is still 1.2 litres in size.

Enhanced with mild hybrid technology, the new powerplant is slightly more powerful (82 bhp) than the old one, slightly faster (12.5 seconds 0-100 km/h and 166 km/h top speed), but it is also a lot more efficient, returning a figure of 4.4 l/100 km (63.6 mpg) and cleaner with emissions of 99 g/km.

It is not, er, the swiftest engine you will ever come across, although nearly a second quicker 0-100 km/h than the last one, but what it lacks in off-the-line pace is more than made up for by its mid-range tractability and, once you work the (manual, in this case) gearbox effectively, you will not find it or yourself breathless.

Sure, you have to rev it vigorously to find the power, but that’s part of the joy of this car – it almost demands a spanking by times.

The suspension has been updated too and while the Swift is still an excellent steer, it is also now a bit more comfortable and particularly so on badly surfaced country roads. 

It is not, certainly something that will cause blackouts because all the blood is rushing to the back of your skull under acceleration, but the snappy gearbox and the well-tuned steering allow you get under the skin of the car and allow you to hang it into corners without becoming a tree-felling operation.

This is not a car many owners will be bragging about owning, simply because it is what it is, but it is one that will well reward anyone who invests. It will allow them a quiet smugness that they’ve actually got quite a lot of car for the money, without having to shout it from the rooftops.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating and in this case – with nine million of them sold – Suzuki can be quite happy they have come up with something very palatable indeed which many more will grow to love and cherish.

And, they have also found a growing gap in the market and produced a car which is eminently capable of filling it.