Closing the gap

VIA EMAIL

> I enjoyed the Hot Hatch of the Year special in the September issue.

Many of those cars aren’t available here in New Zealand, and the relative prices of the ones that are available differ from yours in the UK. My question is about how cost might affect your opinion of the relative desirability of a couple of the hot hatches. In the UK, the Suzuki Swift Sport costs £18k, and the Ford Fiesta ST £19k, a five per cent difference. So the more powerful and better handling Fiesta looks like a ‘no-brainer’ choice, and in your test that’s the verdict.

In New Zealand, the Swift costs NZ $28.5k, and the Fiesta $35k, a 23 per cent difference. At that price difference, is the Fiesta ST still a ‘no brainer’, or does the Swift start to look like a bargain?

Jim Walker

Stay tuned to Curtis Moldrich’s Swift Sport coverage in the Our Cars section, starting this month. His mission: to establish whether the Swift Sport is 23 per cent inferior to the Fiesta ST. BM