The hot Suzuki Swift Sport has arrived. The Irish Motoring Writers 2006 'Semperit Irish Car of the Year' gets a range topping 1.6 litre engine and a lot more attitude!
The endearing little Swift now has a big brother. To mark it out from the crowd the sporty features include big 17-inch alloy wheels, roof spoiler, twin exhaust pipes and racing seats while under the skin the floor has to be reinforced to stiffen the chassis. The three-door car looks chunky and is a serious rival to MINI especially when you take the asking price of €20,995 into account.
With 125bhp and 148nm of torque the latest Swift has enough power to humble many a larger car. 0-100km/h takes less than nine seconds in the front-wheel-drive car and top speed is 200km/h. To help keep the car in check ESP (electronic stability programme/control) is standard and before petrol-heads raise their eyes to heaven the ESP is not that intrusive when you know what you’re doing.
ESP in a nutshell helps a driver regain control of a potentially dangerous situation by reducing engine output and applying braking force to individual wheels should the car experience too much ‘over-steer’ or ‘under-steer’ i.e. nearly lose control.
ESP is one of those things that you may never need but is absolutely priceless in an emergency. When ESP is an optional extra it frequently gets treated by many buyers with indifference in the same way anti-lock brakes/ABS was a few years ago and this is a crying shame. Thankfully the car industry has made ABS standard fit and in time ESP will become standard too, so in the meantime make sure you enquire about it in your new car.
The five-speed manual gearbox has a close ratio making it very easy to keep the car in the power-band. The gear lever throw is short and precise but approaching motorway speeds I found myself wishing for a sixth and even seventh gear! The Sport is designed for the urban environment with the car well able to pull in fifth gear from 50km/h. Swift Sport has a stiff suspension set up that is more fun than uncomfortable. The steering is not as well-sorted as in a MINI Cooper but entertaining none the less.
Inside the cabin the huge front seats dominate. The range of adjustment is good but if you regularly have backseat passengers you’ll find it easier to let them out the passenger side so as to avoid having to reset the driver's seat each time. Sport features automatic air conditioning and keyless entry and start. The steering-wheel-mounted stereo controls work very well and help to make the spacious cabin a nice place to be.
I racked up over 800km/h during my test and averaged about 30mpg in old money which surprised me as it was mostly country driving. Apart from the lack of a couple of extra cogs in the gearbox and an annoying ‘buzzing’ from the top of the dash I really enjoyed the little car.
Swift Sport is funky, youthful, endearing and great value next to a MINI.
Michael Sheridan
