WHAT CAR AWARDS - Suzuki makes it three with a price point win for the 6th time for the Swift Sport.

• Three-door Swift Sport wins ‘Best Buy’ hot hatch for less than £15,000 for the sixth consecutive year.
• Achieves 45.2mpg in ‘True MPG’ fuel economy test – more economical than official EC combined figure.

Suzuki celebrated again at the 2017 What Car? Magazine awards in London last night with the Swift Sport awarded a price point win for the sixth year in a row. The performance flagship of the Swift range was comprehensively judged by the editorial team and the final vote resulted in the three door model yet again receiving the ‘Best Buy Hot hatch for less than £15,000’.

First introduced in January 2012 and with more than 6,000 sold in the UK, the Swift Sport has a high standard specification that includes satellite navigation, DAB radio, USB connection and auto air conditioning.

Steve Huntingford, Editor of What Car? comments: “The Suzuki Swift Sport is a reminder of the way hot hatches used to be – and it’s none the worse for that. Whereas all of its rivals now have turbocharged engines that pull strongly from low revs, the Sport uses a naturally aspirated 1.6 that’s most rewarding when you thrash it. True, it’s ultimately not that fast, but this just means you can use every ounce of the car’s performance without having to fear for your driving licence.

"The Sport also feels light on its feet and, thanks to its diminutive size, you can push it hard even on narrow country roads without feeling like you have to breathe in when something comes the other way. Then there’s the car’s sensible side. Suzuki was runner-up in our most recent reliability survey, so the Swift Sport should prove dependable, and it returned a very respectable 45.2mpg in its real-world True MPG fuel economy test. Although we’d opt for the cheaper three-door model to keep the price as low as possible, a five-door version is available if you decide you need better access to the rear seats.”

Swift Sport is available in a choice of four standard metallic paint finishes and is also  equipped with seven airbags, cruise control, High Intensity Discharge headlamps, rear privacy glass and 17-inch alloy wheels. In addition to satellite navigation and DAB radio, the Sport also has voice recognition, Bluetooth and music streaming compatibility.

BMW X5 takes the title of most stolen for the SIXTH year running, not an award I would want to have.

But 4x4s Prove to Be a Popular Target for Thieves in 2014 Reports TRACKER

As owners of new cars take delivery of their latest pride and joy this March plate change, stolen vehicle recovery expert TRACKER is putting the spotlight on thieves’ top targets.  According to the latest figures from TRACKER (part of the Tantalum Corporation), the BMW X5 is still the favourite among car crooks, topping its most stolen and recovered table again 2014 for the sixth year in a row.

Last year TRACKER recovered over £11 million worth of stolen vehicles and returned them to their owners. The average value of cars stolen and recovered in 2014 increased by over 8%, hitting £25,600, compared to £23,600 in 2013.

For the past three years, BMW models have dominated the top 10, but 2014 saw an increase in the range of Mercedes and Jaguar Land Rover marques being stolen and recovered.  The BMW M3 moved down from second place to sixth, in 2014, whilst the Mercedes C Class moved up a place to take the number two slot.

The Range Rover Sport jumps four places, up to third position and the Land Rover Discovery makes a new entry at fifth, suggesting that 4x4s were in big demand for organised crime gangs 2014.

Whilst Porsche enjoyed year-on-year new car sales growth in 2014, it dropped out of the TRACKER Top Ten most stolen and recovered league table completely; it sat at ninth place in 2013 with the 911.

“The 2014 figures illustrate that prestige models continue to catch the eye of thieves, but the average value of stolen cars we recovered was just £25,600, suggesting that older models of prestige cars could be just as attractive to criminals as newer models, ” explains Andy Barrs, Head of Police Liaison at TRACKER. “Interestingly, the number of vehicles that are being stolen without keys has steadily risen over the last few years, accounting for 43% in 2014. We believe this is down to the growth in car hacking where criminals target keyless vehicles by bypassing their security systems, using technology they’ve bought on the internet.

“Indeed, experts, such as Thatcham Research have warned that as keyless security systems become commonplace in cars, the skills to bypass these will be widely practiced by most criminals and in turn, lower value keyless vehicles will be equally at risk. We recommend that car owners invest in an added layer of security by using tracking devices that harness the latest technology.”

TRACKER is the only provider of stolen vehicle recovery systems which bring together GSM, GPS and VHF technology.  This powerful combination offers motorists the most effective safeguard against theft, even in the event of its GPS failing as a result of signal ‘jamming’ by the more discerning criminal.   

The units work like an electronic homing device. A covert transmitter is hidden in one of several dozen places around the vehicle. There is no visible aerial, so the thief won’t even know it’s there. Unlike other tracking systems, the device works even if the vehicle is hidden in a garage or taken abroad. TRACKER is the only vehicle tracking system operated by all police forces in the UK, offering car owners the ultimate in security. 

TRACKER’s Top Ten Most Stolen and Recovered

	2013	2014
Top ten cars by make and model most frequently stolen and recovered	1. BMW X5 2. BMW M3 3. Mercedes C Class 4. Audi S4 5. BMW M5 6. BMW 3 Series 7. Range Rover Sport 8. Range Rover Vogue, Audi S3 = 9. Mercedes E Class, BMW 5 Series, Porsche 911 =	1.   BMW X5 2.   Mercedes C Class 3.   Range Rover Sport 4.   Mercedes Benz E Class 5.Land-Rover Discovery 6.   BMW M3 7.   Range Rover Vogue 8.   Audi RS4 9.   Mercedes Benz ML 10. Mercedes Benz C63