Everything you need to know about the Suzuki Swift

By Martin Pretorius

Citizen of the world

Decades ago, Suzuki marketed a humble little car named the Cultus around the globe. But, humble though it was, the Cultus proved to be very popular among value-conscious buyers, because its low purchasing price and cheap operating costs soon gained it a loyal following. It was even exported to the USA, where it received a Chevrolet badge and some different trim, to become the Sprint.

Elsewhere, the “Swift” nameplate was attached to a higher-trim Cultus, and so it stayed for a few generations: the Swift was a trim level, rather than a unique model range. But after three generations, Suzuki decided to turn the Swift into a stand-alone offering for the Japanese market, basing the Swift upon the overseas-market Ignis. (This relationship has been revived with the latest Swift, but we’ll get to that shortly.)

It was only with the advent of the second “true” generation that the Swift name received widespread international use, being attached to the first Swifts we received on local soil as well. This was a very significant car for Suzuki, as this Swift used excellent, European-style driving dynamics to elevate it from the “bargain basement” to a “junior premium” position. It didn’t hurt that its build quality was excellent, that it presented a strong value proposition, and that the Sport model offered much more than just a fancy sticker, either.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

The next (third) generation was more of the same, really – just refined and improved as needed. It weighed slightly less, and used optimized engines to provide better performance and reduced fuel consumption. It was pretty much an evolutionary model change, which was exactly what it needed to remain relevant.

This evolutionary change was a good thing, though, because it ensured that the Swift’s best attributes remained intact. None of these Swifts demonstrated this better than the Swift Sport: a little box of grins and giggles, the Sport used a screaming naturally-aspirated engine to deliver 100 kW and 160 Nm, sent to the front wheels through a 6-speed manual gearbox.

Of course, many buyers would look at these bland output figures and dismiss the Swift Sport as being underpowered, and that’s actually not completely untrue. 100 kW isn’t a lot in today’s terms, and the absence of a turbo meant that the torque delivery is a tad languid at lower revs. But complaining about that would be missing the point of this car: it was an old-school hot hatch which encouraged the driver to wring its neck to achieve useable performance.

Because there wasn’t a surfeit of power, the driver had to work with the car to maintain momentum, leading to a hugely engaging driving experience which was backed up by limpet-like road grip, accurate steering, and predictable dynamic responses. It was not a straight-line rocket, but it was so much fun to string together a series of bends and sweeps, that the relative lack of urge soon faded from memory.

Economy is The Big Thing

Even though the Sport demanded to be driven hard, it remained exceptionally economical to run. Driving it enthusiastically over an extended period, it would likely return sub-7 litres/100 km consumption figures, and with a sensible driver behind the wheel, a Swift Sport would have happily drop below 6 litres/100 km on the open road. That’s very impressive for a car with such a highly-strung little engine.

Looking lower down in the third-generation Swift’s model range, our market received two other engine options. The smallest were the Indian-built 1.2-litre variants, with the Japan-built 1.4-litres filling in the gap in the middle. Indian-built cars differed in certain key areas, such as their increased ride height, but overall, they presented 95% of the full Swift experience but at a significant discount.

But, whichever engine was fitted, the third-generation Swift was impressively parsimonious, and turned out to be one of the very few cars which could actually match their claimed average consumption figures in real-world driving.

The fourth (current) generation

Remember how the first stand-alone Swift was based upon its concurrent Ignis sibling? Well, the same has happened again, as the latest Ignis and the new Swift (and the under-appreciated Baleno) again share their basic component sets. The new platform is called “HEARTECT”, and makes extensive use of high-strength steel to achieve a high measure of body rigidity without adding extra weight.

In fact, the latest Swift is even lighter than the previous one, enabling Suzuki to extract better performance and lower fuel consumption from an engine which features only minor revisions. The 1.4- and 1.6-litre engines have been dropped from the international line-up and replaced by downsized turbo-charged units, with the 1.2-litre carrying over from the old model, with either a 5-speed manual gearbox or a 5-speed automated manual transmission.

This is the only Swift currently available to local buyers, but there’s some good news for fans of performance driving as well. The next Swift Sport will be powered by a 1.4-litre turbo engine, with only slightly more power than the old 1.6-litre but a lot more torque. Hopefully they’ve also managed to retain the old car’s revvy, howling nature and engaging handling dynamics!

It’s a matter of Dzire

Swift buyers who wanted something with four doors and a larger luggage compartment could order a small sedan variant of the second- and third-generation cars, named the Dzire. Because this was an Indian-market development, it was only available on local shores with the 1.2-litre engine and softer (Indian-spec) suspension. We never received the Dzire based on the second-generation Swift, but the outgoing model’s sedan variant achieved modest success in South Africa.

Now, with the latest Swift rolling out of showrooms all over the country, the new Dzire has been re-positioned as a stand-alone model. It’s an altogether more attractive car, and thanks to small cosmetic enhancements, it also looks slightly less like an elongated Swift than it did before. It still only comes with the 1.2-litre engine, though, so it’s perhaps still not really ideal for heavy-duty hauling.

The Swift has been a success from the beginning, and in its latest form, it looks set to continue winning friends just like its predecessors did. And, seeing as Suzuki hasn’t messed with their winning formula yet, there’s even hope that the next Swift Sport will be just as much fun as its ancestors.

If anyone ever told you that a very good car has to be expensive, just point them in the direction of their nearest Suzuki dealership – the Swift is raring to prove that assertion wrong...

Suzuki Swift Range

1.2 GA	61 kW/113 Nm	R160 900
1.2 GL	61 kW/113 Nm	R177 900
1.2 GL Auto	61 kW/113 Nm	R191 900

Suzuki Dzire Range

1.2 GA	61 kW/113 Nm	R161 900
1.2 GL	61 kW/113 Nm	R178 900
1.2 GL Auto	61 kW/113 Nm	R192 900