SUZUKI SWIFT SPORT
Did its dynamic brio and simple charms compensate for its flaws over six months?
In recent years, Suzuki has hit a rich vein of form through an ability to engineer a rare trait into its models. It’s not a new suspension part, or a high-tech engine, or particularly sharp handling. It’s far more intangible than that: charm.
The restyled Ignis has plenty of it. The new Jimny is positively dripping in it. And, after six months or so running the new Swift Sport, I’m pleased to report it is also full of charm. Which is a very good thing.
Charm might sound a slightly twee quality for a hot hatch. Shouldn’t such cars appeal for their ability to exhilarate and thrill their way into your heart? Well, the Swift Sport can do that. But it does so by putting a broad smile on your face and winning you over through character, personality and enthusiasm.
Effectively, the Swift Sport’s charm enables it to play Jedi mind tricks to win you over. For both outright performance and perceived interior quality, it struggles to match up to the cream of the hot hatch class. And when you drive it, you’ll quickly build up a fairly sizable list of foibles and irritations And yet, about five minutes after you’ve clambered out of the driver’s seat, any irritation is quickly replaced by warm thoughts of how fun and friendly this car is.
That’s been the case since we first picked up the Suzuki from Dublin Airport and returned it to Autocar Towers via a circuitous route across some of the finest driving roads in Wales, the first of many journeys that were longer than strictly necessary. By the time I drove the Swift off the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead, I already felt fully at home in the car and had a smile on my face.
Part of the charm of the Swift Sport is its simplicity. There are no drive modes, so you don’t need to spend ages working through various suspension, engine and steering settings to hone it to your liking. It gives the car a slightly childish charm – and that’s meant as a compliment – that really fits the character you want a fun, effervescent hot hatch to have.
Yet, underneath that charm, the Swift Sport is still a capable performance machine. The 1.4-litre turbo engine might not quite have the character of the previous Swift Sport’s naturally aspirated engine, but it sure gives a hefty whack of power and torque that makes tackling a flowing B-road thoroughly fun.
Unlike some ‘harder’ hot hatches, the Swift Sport strikes a happy medium between such B-road performance and everyday practicality. In particular, the ride and suspension are still enough
to reward on faster roads, without making tootling on bumpy city streets too much of a hardship. And its small size and balanced steering make tight manoeuvring a cinch.
The Swift Sport also seemed to put a smile on the face of others, judging by the number of second glances it received. Mind you, I suspect that was largely due to our car’s Canary Yellow paint. Frankly, it’s a colour I could never see myself choosing, no matter how brave I was feeling, but I grew to quite like it. It really fitted with the car’s character. And it made the car easy to find in a busy car park.
Still, I can’t pretend that the Swift Sport is perfect. As noted, it was easy to develop a fairly long list of gripes. ❞Both the ride and cabin noise could irritate at motorway speed, and the small fuel tank meant you tended to fill up within 300 miles of the last stop, not least because the fuel range calculator was incredibly inaccurate. There was a slightly flimsy plastic panel on the transmission tunnel that we kept catching with our feet (I ripped it off once while doing so) and the reversing camera seemed to suffer from dirt and grime more than rivals’. The infotainment system and touchscreen were okay but couldn’t live up to the standards of some rivals. We also had a short-lived but annoying tyre pressure sensor issue, although this seemed related to the sharp drop in temperature at the end of the summer.
All minor gripes, but the sort of things that begin to add up – especially when you compare the Swift Sport with its rivals. At £16,999 (there’s currently a £1000 discount off the official list price), it’s pricier than a VW Up GTI and relatively close to the entry-level VW Polo GTI and class-leading Ford Fiesta ST.
But here’s the thing: the Swift Sport isn’t a car you’d necessarily buy based on some careful calculations, but because it’s charmed you into submission. If the Fiesta ST and Polo GTI are the small hot hatch equivalents of the Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport video games, the Swift Sport is Super Mario Kart – although, no, you can’t fire banana skins from the Suzuki’s exhaust (a job for the facelift, surely). Instead, while it might not have the depth, outright performance or sheer polish of its rivals, it makes up for that with a primary-coloured burst of character and, yes, charm – but underpinned by an engaging drive. It’s a hot hatch that is serious about performance, but remembers that this is a type of car that, above all else, should be fun.
Which raises another question: over the course of a few months, would I trade some of the Swift Sport’s fizzy character for greater all-round polish? Would I switch the Suzuki for a hot hatch that’s a bit more serious but refined, like, say, the Polo GTI? Good question – and one I’ll be answering very soon…
Underneath that charm, the Swift Sport is still a capable performance machine