BATTERY BOOST

The Swift Hybrid wrings more economy out of a brand that already seems to run on the sniff of an oily rag

JUST WHEN you thought Suzuki couldn’t do much else to the current Swift to make it better, it has. And it’s happened with the arrival of a hybrid version of what has turned out to be the brand’s stellar performer.

We’ll get to the working bits and pieces shortly, but what’s happened here is the combination of a battery pack and a petrol engine to wring even more economy out of what is already one of the best there is when it comes to running on the sniff of an oily rag.

The Swift Hybrid can’t be considered a gung-ho, damn-thetorpedoes fully fledged hybrid, but it scores points for effort. Suzuki has toyed with hybrid drives before now but this is the first time we’ve seen it in our Kiwi Market.

Suzuki likes to call this Swift a “mild” hybrid and there’s no denying that. Simply put, this hybrid uses an electric motor called an integrated starter generator (ISG). Essentially it lends a helping hand to the car’s 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, coming into play when start up and acceleration demand.

These two actions are the basis of any vehicle’s movement and the one that sucks up a good amount of fuel, so the little electric motor helps take the load off the engine. It regenerates power when you take the foot off the accelerator; most obviously when you’re coasting downhill.

The ISG also has a role to play, getting energy to other car operations such as some electric functions involved in the engine itself, air conditioning audio and phone connection.

The driver for all this technology is fuel economy and cutting back on emissions. According to tests, the lithium-battery assisted Swift manages to achieve both. Even if you get close to the 15 per cent better economy Suzuki claims that this Swift delivers over others in the family, then it’s worth close inspection. And it also cuts emissions by a quarter. These are pretty impressive numbers.

You can keep track of what the engine-battery combo are doing through a series of digital readouts on the instrument cluster.

The new hybrid comes in two variants — the GLX at $26,500 and the LTD we have been driving, which gets more kit for its extra $2000.

Standard across the range is adaptive cruise control, LED headlights, forward detection system, rear view camera, heated mirrors and tyre pressure monitoring. The LTD also gets lane departure warning, mirror-placed blind spot monitors, rear park sensors and cross traffic alarms.

The engine in the new Hybrid is a little different from the motor in the other Swifts too. Its output is down a little but because of that hook-up to the battery system, peak torque is reached with significantly less revs to do it.

But some adaptations to the new engine — higher compression ratio is one of them — means the Swift Hybrid drinks 95 octane fuel. So, higher price at the pump versus better economy and lower emissions. We’re not getting our calculator in a tizz but we know there is an audience for this sort of combo. There is no arguing that there are others in the Swift family that are sharper performers — the stellar Swift Sport is an obvious example — but that is not the point of this little car with its battery add-on.

The marketing team at Whanganui-based Suzuki NZ reckon half of the Swift Hybrid sales will be to business or fleet buyers but longer term they believe a quarter of future sales for the Swift will be those carrying the hybrid badging.

The thing to remember is the hybrid model is still a Swift at heart and here’s where it scores lots of points for us.

A surprisingly spacious little car, it has a thoroughly assured road sense and is just such a fun car to drive.

Sure, the Hybrid model has a sport setting for the automatic transmission, but as we said earlier, it’s not a Swift Sport.

But then it is a Suzuki Swift,which really is enough said because it’s a great little car.

I loved this little battery-backed beauty. The battery is stowed under the front passenger seats which means none of the boot space is compromised.

Thing is this win-win situation — petrol engine with battery boost — provides great economy. I also loved the puncture repair kit in lieu of a space-taking spare wheel.

This new model Swift has sharper looks and great safety equipment, and that’s why I’m impressed with this stylish small package.