Manual no longer the automatic choice
Two pedals are no impediment to genuine driving fun in new Swift Sport.
It’s a momentous time in motoring. Something akin to Bertha Benz popping out on a road trip in her husband’s new creation, Henry Ford arranging his factory into lines or Lamborghini deciding the middle of the Miura was the best place for the engine.
Here goes: if you’re a keen driver, the manual transmission is no longer the best choice for the Suzuki Swift Sport.
This is groundbreaking stuff, because if there’s one car that has always demanded a manual, it’s the little Sport.
While many Japanese makers commit unforgivable crimes against the ‘‘Sport’’ badge, Suzuki has always done it proud with the Swift. Still does.
The new-generation Sport picks up the BoosterJet turbo engine from the Vitara, giving it considerably more performance than the standard Swift. But Suzuki also still delves into every other area of the car to make it a proper enthusiast machine: it gets heavily modified suspension with Monroe shock absorbers, thicker anti-roll bars and host of detail changes.
It’s still a properly driver-pleasing machine if ever there was one, punching way above its weight (which is under a tonne, by the way).
It also looks the business: partly because it’s 15mm lower and 40m wider than standard. But also because it has some unique styling elements, including a gaping front bumper and faux-carbon-fibre exterior trim. The latter actually looks pretty cool despite being fake. Anyway, what were you expecting for less than $30k?
The first Swift Sport was manualonly and quite right too: the fourstage automatic available in lesser Swifts of the time would have been an affront. Once Suzuki twigged that the go-faster Swift was actually quite an aspirational model for a broad range of buyers, it introduced a two-pedal option for the second-generation model; but it was a continuously variable job that diminished the driving experience considerably. Or perhaps completely.
Although the rest of the secondgen Sport was still brilliant if you had the manual gearbox. Of course.
And so to the new third-gen Swift Sport. There’s still a six-speed manual option, as there should be. The Sport is still that kind of car.
There’s also an automatic gearbox on offer: a new six-speed, which (unlike the old CVT) has actual ratios.
The manual is great fun and gives you excellent control over a car that has unremittingly sporting character. It’s fantastic on the open road, with crisp shifts and relatively long legs for open-road cruising. It’s still fun around town, although it doesn’t quite have that snicksnick feel at lower speeds that the very best manuals offer.
Here’s the thing: the six-speed automatic is brilliant all the time. The BoosterJet engine was paired with a conventional (you might like to call it ‘‘proper’’) automatic in the Vitara at the insistence of the European market. They don’t do CVT over there if they can help it. So it was set up well right from the start.
In the Sport, the new turbo engine is all about torque and the gearing of the automatic seems to gel perfectly with the power delivery. Compared with the manual, the self-shifter has shorter first, second, fifth and sixth gears, but with a slightly taller final drive.
Don’t ask me to work it all out. That’d be boring. But happy to drive: the automatic seems to make better use of the engine off the line, sprinting away without getting flustered. It’s also suitably lively on the open road, clicking between the higher ratios with alacrity when you decide to go and play.
The automatic has exactly the same acceleration and exactly the same Combined fuel economy as the manual.
You will note how I haven’t mentioned that an automatic is easier to drive to in traffic, which is where the Swift Sport will probably spend most of its time. Because that’s really not where your attention should be focused if you’re buying such a fun little thing. But, ahem, it does happen to be easier to drive in traffic as well.
There are only really two downsides to the automatic. The first is that the selector is infuriating because it goes straight past Drive and down into Manual unless you really pay attention. It would better if there was an indent, or it was a sideways-shift kind of arrangement. The second is with said manual mode, which doesn’t offer as much control as you might think. But that’s a gratuitous gripe really, because a good automatic like this one doesn’t need a manual mode at all; it’s really just ego-massaging for the driver. Let the gearbox do its thing and enjoy the rest of the car. The Sport is still an accomplished machine in corners: cheeky enough to throw around but still grown-up and stable when you’re being sensible. Nice sporting detail in the cabin too, including a special Sportthemed steering wheel, instruments, seats and red trim. The new-gen Swift has upped its game considerably on safety: Sport joins the RS in having active safety technology like autonomous emergency braking and even adaptive cruise control. The latter is a boon in the automatic model especially, although it isn’t the very latest stop-and-go-capable kind. Still a brilliant feature to have in a sub$30k car, though.