By Eric Blair
AFTER five years off the scene, the Suzuki Swift is back in Australia which is good news for the many Australians who appreciated this wellbuilt, extremely reliable little car and were disappointed to see it dropped from the sales lists at the end of 1999.
Very easy to drive and simple to park due to its diminutive size, the old Swift appealed to people in the suburbs but could often be seen in the country as well.
Its replacement, the Suzuki Ignis, was a competent enough little car but lacked the overall style and quality of the new Swift.
In its new format for 2005 Suzuki, never a marque to follow the mainstream, has opted for function before fashion.
Unkind people could call the new Swift boxy, those with a more generous outlook can see lines in the chunky shape that should attract a new generation of admirers.
For a number of people these lines have brought to mind the MINI, especially when viewed in profile.
There’s certainly good interior space for a car in the 3.7metre supermini class. That’s enhanced by front seats with a lot of foreandaft adjustment, and a driver’s seat that can be raised and lowered.
Suzuki also gives you plenty of opportunity to juggle the seats to get the best from them. Boot space is decent for a car of this size and there’s the usual option of folding down the seat back to make it better.
Swift is powered by a new 1.5litre twincam, multivalve engine with maximum power and torque of 74 kilowatts (at 3000 rpm) and 133 Newton metres (at 4000 rpm) respectively. That makes it for a very driveable car.
Ride quality is good and the new Swift corners capably. This is a most enjoyable car to drive.
Fuel consumption was impressive at between six and seven litres per 100 kilometres on the freeway nine to 10 litres per 100 in the suburbs.
The Swift comes in two variants the standard Swift at $15,990 and the semisporty Swift Sseries, with alloy wheels, foglights and four airbags (the standard Swift gets two) for $17,990.
That’s with a fivespeed manual gearbox, and the fourspeed automatic transmission adds a further $2000.
Even better news for Swift fans is that it seems likely that there will be hot hatch variant similar to the previous GTi variant.
The name hasn’t been decided as yet but it seems certain that it will be coming here, perhaps late next year.
MODEL RANGE
Swift 1.5litre fivedoor hatch $15,990
Swift Sseries 1.5litre fivedoor hatch $17,990
To arrange a test drive contact Dandenong Suzuki, 55 Lonsdale Street, Dandenong. Phone 9708 5777.
