TMW - The Suzuki Swift is one of those cars thats just brilliant at everything it does.

The Suzuki Swift, can be summed up in one word - AWESOME - this car, the 1.0 litre 3 cylinder automatic has so much runt that you would be forgiven for thinking that the car had a far bigger engine. 

The car is an all new version, taking the brand into the future, along with the Ignis and Baleno, the brand has a reputation for beng the best small car maker in the world, and with its current range of cars, you can easily understand why it has this rep, the Swift, just oozes quality and safety, becasue this car is so full of safety features it would put a far more expensive car to shame.

The 1.0 litre boosterjet auto comes in at £16,334, which includes the beautiful Burning Red Metallic paint, from the outside, there are hints of previous Swifts, as they dont want to move it too far away from the car that preceded it, but they wanted it to be a model on it's own, the lines of the car flow nicely from the front to the back, with the "hidden" door handles in the back doors, you feel like you are in a coupe rather than a five door hatchback.

The lines continue to flow around the back, including the rear lights, the car from the outside looks to be compact and small, but like other Suzuki's the interior of the car belies the fact it is a compact car, you have loads of room inside.

The seats are very supportive and comfortable, and the touchscreen and all the buttons, dials and switchgear are all close at hand and you never feel as though you have to stretch or spend too much time looking away from the road to press a button etc.

Once you have managed to get the steering wheel and seats into position, you amazingly find yourself with quite a bit of space in the rear for passengers, i would say that you can get five adults in this car, because you can, but you probably wouldn't want to go to far fully loaded two adults in the back would be a better bet, they would have sufficient room, and be comfortable.

This car comes with a raft of safety equipment, the main one being the cruise control, which is adaptive, this means that the car will detect a car ahead and automatically slow down to match the flow of traffic, and in the case of an emergency, the car will brake to a stop, even in heavy traffic, the car will alert you if you are too close to the one in front, with either an audible warning or if set, it slows/stops its self.

the car is so easy to drive with very light power steering, just put it into drive and off you go, no hassles, no worries, the touchscreen is basic, and follows the same system as found in other Suzuki's, the sat nav is easy to operate and is very quick and accurate, unlike some i have had, which seems to run about half a mile behind the car, Suzuki has it just right.

You get few creature comforts inside the car, i felt that it could have done with an arm rest, but thats just a personal choice, and does not detract from an ideal car, the rest of the interior has plenty of storage pockets etc, to keep all your bits and pieces in, from a dent sized bottle of drink to the cup holders that will take a small bottle or cup.

The fuel consumption for the Swift as per the brand's numbers are :-

• Urban - 44.1mpg
• Extra Urban - 65.7mpg
• Combined - 56.5mpg

I managed to get in combined driving situations about 49 mpg, according to the display in front of you, and i do believe that this is achievable, it is very "swift" in getting to the speed limits your require, and sometimes it can be too quick getting there, thats how brilliant the engine/auto box work together, the car has a 114g/km rating, not the best especially for a small car, but it does beat a lot of other cars, especially as the top speed is 118mph, i dont think i would be happy doing this speed in this car, without the assistance of Adaptive cruise control, and brake assistance.

The car comes with loads of extra kit for the asking price, these include :-

• ABS with EBD & Brake Assist
• ESP
• Six Airbags
• Seatbelt Pretensioners
• ISOFIX Child Seat Anchorages
• Childproof Rear Door Locks
• Tyre Pressure Monitor
• High Beam Assist
• Remote Central Locking
• Push Button Start/Stop
• 4.2" Touchscreen
• Electric Windows All Round
• Power Steering
• Tilt & Telescopic Adjustable Steering Wheel
• Gear Shift Indicator
• Auto Air Conditioning
• 16" Alloys
• Tinted Rear Windows
• Navigation System

The Swift will follow the Baleno and Ignis and become a really popular car, the swift has been a big hit in the UK throughout its many body styles, and this new one deserves to be an even bigger hit with UK Buyers, than ever before.

CONCLUSION

Would i have one, if I were in the position of wanting a small car with lots of safety and oodles of interior room, then yes, this car ticks all the boxes and many more too, the pricing at £16k is not the cheapest, but you do get an awful lot for that money, and for that reason alone i would have one, unfortunately i have just purchase a new car, so i am not looking, but if i were, this would be within the list of cars to consider, and you should consider it too, you would be daft to ignore this car.

The All-New Suzuki Swift, the best ever swift comes with deposit allowance and a loyalty bonus for existing owners.

• All-new Swift – Now on sale in the UK.
• Available as a Five-door model only, priced from £10,999 for SZ3 model.
• £500 finance deposit allowance offered on SZ-T and SZ5 two-wheel drive with 2.9 per cent APR finance.
• £500 loyalty offer towards Accessories for existing Suzuki owners.

The all-new Swift went on sale last week and Suzuki is pleased to announce the availability of its attractive PCP finance offers. Personal Contract Purchase is an ideal way for customers to take delivery of a new Suzuki with a very low deposit and low monthly payments too. Suzuki Financial Services is also offering a £500 deposit allowance with 2.9 per cent APR finance on SZ-T and SZ5 two wheel drive models until the end of June.

Taking an SZ-T with 1.0 Boosterjet engine as an example with the £500 deposit allowance on offer, no further deposit is required and payments are then spread over 48 months at £185 per month with an APR of just 2.9 per cent. 

Monthly payments can be lowered to £159 per month for the SZ-T if a small deposit of £1,163 is made. As with any PCP agreement, an optional final payment is required to keep the car which for this model is £4,645.

Moving to the top of the range SZ5 1.0-litre Boosterjet 2WD with the £500 deposit allowance, just £1,305 is all that is needed as a customer deposit followed by 48 monthly payments of £179 and an APR of 2.9 per cent. The optional final payment for this model is £5,153.

For even greater fuel efficiency, the SZ5 2WD with manual transmission is equipped as standard with SHVS (Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki) as standard. In situations that require higher fuel use, such as when starting from a standstill or accelerating, SHVS helps suppress fuel consumption by providing electric motor assist using electricity generated through regenerative braking. Because the system uses a belt drive rather than a conventional starter motor to restart the engine after an engine stop it allows for a quiet and smooth start.

The six speed automatic transmission equipped SZ5 is also included in the low rate and deposit allowance offers with a customer deposit of £1,543 required followed by 48 monthly payments of £199 .

Suzuki has introduced a new and comprehensive Accessories programme to enable customers to fully personalise their new Swift. As an introductory offer Suzuki will contribute £500 towards these to all existing Suzuki car owners. The only stipulation is that customers must have had a Suzuki car in the same household for at least 90 days and the accessories are ordered at point of purchase.

Specification Highlights

Standard equipment for all Swift models in the range is comprehensive and the SZ3 model with 1.2-litre Dualjet engine and manual transmission includes six airbags, air conditioning, leather steering wheel, DAB radio with Bluetooth and four speakers, rear privacy glass, LED daytime running lights, 15-inch wheels, body coloured door mirrors and front electric windows.  

Pricing

1.2-litre SZ3 Dualjet - manual transmission	£10,999
1.0-litre SZ-T Boosterjet - manual transmission	£12,999
1.0-litre SZ5 Boosterjet SHVS - manual transmission	£14,499
1.0-litre SZ5 Boosterjet  - automatic transmission	£15,849
1.2-litre SZ5 SHVS ALLGRIP - manual transmission	£15,499

TMW - The Suzuki Ignis, another brilliant small car from Suzuki, the brand that specialises in small cars.

Well, today seems to be the era of SUV and small cars, an area that Suzuki dominates, the small car range is one of the best that you can buy, from the Celerio, Swift, Baleno and this the Ignis, a name that’s from its past, but placed onto a brilliant new car, and one that deserves to take the sector to new heights.

This car is not very big from the look of it, but it is really like a TARDIS, for those Dr Who fans, there seems to be so much room inside, that five adults CAN sit in reasonable comfort, or four adults for a longer journey, at less than 4m long and less than 1.8 m wide, you can quite clearly see that it is a small car, but that’s not just its IP.

This car can come with a mild hybrid system, and a four wheel drive set up too, with auto and manual, and a 1.2litre engine as fitted to our car.

Let’s start with the exterior, it is different, and vastly likeable, it looks chunky and capable, which it is, the oversized headlights, LED projector are like a pair of eyes, the lines of the car flow through to the back where there is a louvered look to the C-Pillar, it gives the car a different look and one that suits it very much.

it then follows around to the back where the boot is sharply cut off, which unfortunately gives the boot a small amount of room, an extra inch or two would have made all the difference, but this is what you get for the money, and at £14,464 for the top of the range with optional paint, you get a lot of car for that money.

The nice and well suited black alloy wheels along with the white paint really go together very well, once inside, the dashes of orange break up a dark interior, an interior that's well positioned with lots of toys and kit.

The seats we found are very comfortable, but our only concern is the side bolsters are not supported, they feel like they are just shaped foam, which over time will go flat and make the seat covers floppy, but as a loan car, they are very suitable and comfortable.

You can manoeuvre the seats and steering wheel enough to get you a near perfect position, once there everything is at hand, you do not need to stretch for buttons or switchgear, and the touchscreen tablet, which is similar to Mercedes, in the way it is just attached to the dash rather than be a full part of the dash, has everything near and handy, and very easy to use.

The sat nav is a little slow; well to be honest the entire tablet is very slow with PIONEER on screen for ages before it comes to life, once there all is good, with plenty of options onscreen to play with.

The rear seats are suitably comfortable, and four can sit there in comfort for longer journeys, with five able to sit for shorter ones, anything longer and the three adults in the back would get uncomfortable, quickly.

The boot space is ok, it can take a couples weekly shopping, or with the seats down you get far more room to put bigger amounts of luggage etc.

Once on the road the 1.2 litre can easily keep up with motorway traffic and can overtake with ease too, the car has a top speed of 106mph, but at 11.4 seconds to 62mph, it is a tad slow, but once wound up, it’s a great car, it has a raspy engine note that sounds very sporty, but once in top gear, and you are cruising, that note seems to disappear and it becomes a nice quiet environment, the fuel consumtion of the 1,2 litre is

·       Urban 57.6mpg

·       Extra Urban 70.6mpg

·       Combined 65.7mpg

Are these achievable, well, no, no matter how I drove the car I could not get the in-car display to get anywhere near the indicated figures, but I did get an over all of 50.4mpg, and that included local, city and motorway driving, as well as a long distance journey to the SMMT event at Millbrook.

The clutch is very, very, light, I struggled for the first couple of days to get the biting point just right without slipping it too much, but by the time it came to give the car back, I was able to change gear nicely.

The car has a vast array of standard kit and equipment, to make it a safe and easy car to drive, these include but not limited too

·       AllGrip Four Wheel Drive

·       16” Black Gloss Alloys

·       Rear Privacy Glass

·       Wheel Arch Extensions

·       Navigation System

·       Bluetooth

·       Steering wheel Controls

·       Auto Air Conditioning

·       Automatic Light

·       Automatic Wipers

·       LED Daytime Running Lights

·       Double height luggage area floor

·       DAB Radio

·       Twin USB Socket

·       Electric windows all round

·       Information Display

·       Keyless entry and start

·       TPMS

·       Engine auto Start/Stop

·       Cruise control

·       And far, far, more

The Ignis is a brilliant car; there is no getting away from that, Suzuki really does know what they are doing when it comes to design and implementation of small cars and SUV’s, the Ignis generated a number of comments from other journalists and even one of my neighbours come across to enquire about it, and thought it was a really nice car.

CONCLUSION

Ok, it’s not short of issues, with the main one being the tablet, it is just far too slow, ignore that and you have a car capable of doing everything you need of it, even going off road, not in the style of a Land Rover but its able to take rough ground in it’s stride and just waft over it.

It’s a car that will suit a number of people, from the single person, couples, or even with kids, its not a full five up long distance cruiser, the rear seats passengers would not be that comfortable for long.

I have had a number of cars and the Ignis is one I miss, it was fun, even when the car stopped it’s self because some moron walked out into the road, the car braked and stopped before I had the opportunity to think about it, and that was amazing, all cars should have this fitted as standard, it would stop a lot of rear end shunts and pedestrian accidents.

The new generation Swift moves the goalposts so far forward that it has the competition running for the hills.

• All-new Swift – on sale in the UK from 1st June 2017.
• Available as a Five-door model only, priced from £10,999 for SZ3 model.
• Strong CAP residual value forecast of 41 per cent over three years / 60,000 miles for SZ3 model.
• 90hp 1.2-litre four cylinder Dualjet engine offers CO2 emissions of 98g/km and 65.7mpg for manual transmission model.
• 111PS 1.0-litre three cylinder Boosterjet turbo engine offers CO2 emissions of 104g/km and 61.4mpg for manual transmission model.
• Boosterjet engine now available with Suzuki’s SHVS mild hybrid system (Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki) offering CO2emissions of 97g/km.
• Global Swift sales of 5.4 million units since 2005.
• Manufactured for Europe at the Sagara plant in Japan.

Ahead of its launch date of 1st June, Suzuki is pleased to announce competitive UK pricing for the all-new Swift. The range starts with the SZ3 and pricing is as follows.

Its good news for customers if they want to replace their Swift after three years too as industry leading residual value specialists CAP have set a forecast retained value of 41 per cent for the SZ3 after three years or 60,000 miles – a higher mileage than many Suzuki owners would cover. 

1.2-litre SZ3 Dualjet - manual transmission	£10,999
1.0-litre SZ-T Boosterjet - manual transmission	£12,999
1.0-litre SZ5 Boosterjet SHVS - manual transmission	£14,499
1.0-litre SZ5 Boosterjet - automatic transmission	£15,849
1.2-litre SZ5 SHVS ALLGRIP - manual transmission	£15,499

Metallic paint is a £485 option and dual tone metallic paint is £650. 

The SZ-T model is only slightly behind at 39 per cent which places Swift significantly ahead of its main competitors.

Specification Highlights

Standard equipment for all Swift models in the range is comprehensive and the SZ3 model with 1.2-litre Dualjet engine and manual transmission includes six airbags, air conditioning, leather steering wheel, DAB radio with Bluetooth and four speakers, rear privacy glass, LED daytime running lights, 15-inch wheels, body coloured door mirrors and front electric windows.

The SZ-T model is available with 1.0-litre Boosterjet engine and manual transmission adds rear view camera, Smartphone link display audio, 16-inch alloy wheels and front fog lamps glass.

SZ5 adds auto air conditioning, 16-inch polished alloy wheels, satellite navigation, Advanced forward detection system, keyless entry and start and rear electric windows. The SZ5 is available with a six speed automatic transmission as an option.

At just 3,840mm long, the new Swift is 10mm shorter than the outgoing model, while its wheelbase is 20mm longer, creating more interior room including 25 per cent more luggage capacity at 265L, or 54 litres more. It is also 15mm lower and 40mm wider, further accentuating its low and wide stance. Additionally, the European Swift has a wider front and rear track than the Japanese Domestic model.

New-generation platform ‘HEARTECT’

The new Swift rests on a new-generation platform “HEARTECT” that delivers enhanced fundamental vehicle performance due to being light and highly rigid. This new platform is now 30kg lighter than before which has contributed to the car registering a kerb weight of just 890kg (SZ3 model) - 120kg lighter overall for the whole car.