Traditional values – Suzuki Swift review

What is it?

The new Suzuki Swift is first and foremost a traditional supermini. While it includes a mild hybrid in its powertrain, it eschews the move to all-electric power and SUVs, being a small car propelled by a three-cylinder petrol engine.

Suzuki makes no bones about promoting this fact – now 40 years old, the Swift badge is one of the most highly regarded in the Japanese manufacturer’s range and with little surprise as it’s sold more than nine million of them. And, Suzuki argues, there are plenty of people driving traditional superminis who when they come to replace them will want another supermini – they don’t want to go into an SUV, while they don’t want, and in many cases can’t afford, to go electric.

And what stokes Suzuki’s confidence is the fact that other manufacturers have been getting out of small cars, which means some of the Swift’s previous major rivals, including the biggest one of all, won’t be up against the new one – it won’t be competing against the likes of the Nissan Micra, the Kio Rio and of course the Ford Fiesta, for decades the best-selling car of all.

Of course the EV-slanted incentives in the fleet sector these days will restrict the potential business market for Suzuki’s new baby, but it could appeal to some user-choosers, especially those who can’t, or won’t, make the electric switch. So it’s no surprise that the new car is in many ways an evolution of a previous package recognised as a solid, affordable buy.

The exterior is certainly evolutionary, the new car clearly recognisable on first viewing as the archetypal small Suzuki. Inside rather more has been done, with a significant redesign more pertinently angling the instruments towards the driver to promote a cockpit-like feel, and all finished in a bright and attractive two-tone style.

Under the bonnet it’s all change too – this Swift employs a brand-new three-cylinder engine of 1.2 litres, promising both more power and efficiency. It’s combined as standard with a five-speed manual gearbox, with a CVT auto also available. Suzuki has also retained something that really marks it out from the small-car crowd – like its predecessor, and the successful Ignis mini-SUV, the Swift can be had with the brand’s Allgrip all-wheel-drive. No it’s not an off-roader but with road surfaces and the UK climate becoming all the more extreme, all-wheel-drive is a safety extra not to be dismissed.

What will mark every new version of the Swift out is the lack of an options list combined with a standard-equipment list that is both very long and includes features one would not expect in any supermini. Just two trim levels are on offer, Motion and Ultra, and there’s an argument for not bothering with the Ultra as on a Motion you get such niceties as adaptive cruise control, keyless entry and start, a wireless smartphone link and a parking camera.