Suzuki Swift Review 2024

The Suzuki Swift is now in its 40th year in the UK, and in this latest iteration is in an ideal position to make several thousand new friends. That, Suzuki says, is because the competition is dwindling in number, with several small hatchback rivals being discontinued or becoming electric cars only. Does it have what it takes to convert these potential buyers? Our Suzuki Swift review reveals all.

Their numbers may be on the decline, but there are still plenty of petrol-powered small cars out there – the budget-focused Dacia Sandero, for example, or the Hyundai i20. Or if you fancy a used model, there is no shortage of Ford Fiestas.

Smaller, shorter and lighter than most of its small hatchback contemporaries, the Suzuki Swift definitely sits at the value end of its class, especially when you factor in how much standard equipment there is.

This fourth-generation car is no head-turner; indeed, there a strong case for its predecessor being a better looking car. But Suzuki listens to its owners, which is why the rear door handle is back, no longer disguised within the rear pillar, and, presumably, there’s a generally more conservative appearance.

On board, though, things have become much more interesting. The new, two-tone design is a massive leap forward in terms of styling, even if all the finishes are still hard, scratchy plastic to the touch, and even if the cockpit is still awash with analogue dials and proper physical switchgear.

And there’s a new nine-inch audio display touch screen atop the dashboard which, though hardly the last word in technology, does the job perfectly well, though often rather slowly.

Thanks to steering wheel rake and reach adjustment a good driving position is easy to come by, although the seat may be too high for some. The seat itself is well bolstered and a good fit, although not the last word in comfort.

Rear seat space is, frankly, a bit tight for adults, but that’s par for the course in this class. And with just 265 litres of space below the parcel shelf, load capacity is limited, too.

There’s just one engine available; a new 1.2-litre three-cylinder mild hybrid petrol unit delivering 82PS and 112Nm of torque to the front wheels. It may be mated to either a five-speed manual gearbox or a CVT automatic. This is also the only small hatchback in the UK available with optional four-wheel drive, paired exclusively with the manual transmission.

This isn’t a quick car; in the Ultra manual variant we drove, 0-62mph is reached in 12.5 seconds, and the top speed is 103mph. What does impress however, is the WLTP combined fuel consumption figure of 64.2mpg, aided by the light weight of 984kg.

That is also a bonus when it comes to handling, and despite a lack of power, it’s still fun to drive. Ride quality, though, is not so impressive. The firm suspension required to elicit the flat(ish)-cornering agility tends to play havoc with occupants on anything but the smoothest of road surfaces.

You don’t expect a car this small to have the last word in ride quality, but many of the Suzuki Swift’s rivals offer a deal more cruising comfort.

In all, then, the Suzuki Swift makes just as compelling a case as it has always, doing things sufficiently differently to deter just as many as it attracts.

If, as the company suggests, there really is an increasingly large pool of potential customers looking for a small car with a traditional combustion engine, it’ll be interesting to see how many of them beat a path to a Suzuki dealership’s door.

At 3860mm long, 1735mm wide and 1495mm high, with a modest, 2450mm wheelbase, the Suzuki Swift is smaller than most of its better-selling rivals, yet it isn’t as cramped inside as you might think.

Even tall people sitting in the front will be quite happy, thanks to loads of headroom and a generous seat sliding range.

Steering wheel rake and reach adjustment make a decent driving position easy to come by, although the seat may be too high for some; tall drivers may find that the steering wheel blocks their view of the top of the instrument cluster.

Despite the absence of adjustable lumbar support, the seat itself is well bolstered and a good fit, although not the last word in comfort.

There’s a reasonable amount of stowage space as well, including a glove box, two trays – one in front of and one behind the gear lever – and two cup-holders.

Rear seat space, though, is tight for adults, as is usually the case in this type of car.

And with only a 265-litre capacity below the parcel shelf, the loadspace is far from class-leading, either.

Folding down the rear seats increases luggage capacity to 589 litres, but there’s quite a drop from the tailgate opening lower lip, and folding down the rear seats leaves an annoying step in the floor.

The Suzuki Swift is easier to see out of than many other small hatchbacks, thanks to relatively upright windscreen pillars and tall side windows, front and back.

Parking is made easy because all versions have both a reversing camera and parking sensors fitted as standard. The rear doors also open wide, so adults get a good view of the lack of knee-room they’ll have to put up with.

The cabin is extremely well screwed together, and we can’t fault the appearance of the posh new two-tone interior.

However, it is all made of scratchy plastics – even the paler trim, which is finished to look like pleated fabric.

If you’re wondering why there is so much plastic, it’s because in the Suzuki Swift’s other two key areas of sale – Japan and the massive Indian market – plastic trim is not seen as a sign of cheapness but, rather, of ruggedness and durability.

Anyway, both the leather-covered steering wheel and gear lever feel pleasant enough, and the rest of the controls and switchgear are sufficiently tactile to quickly push thoughts of scratchiness to the back of the mind.

All models are equipped with a nine-inch touchscreen infotainment system which sticks out of the top of the dashboard, so it’s easy to peer at without your eyes straying too far from the road ahead.

The system comes with a full range of features, including navigation and smartphone mirroring for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

It’s a relief, however, to find a separate bank of physical buttons for control of the air-conditioning, because this isn’t one of the easiest or most intuitive infotainment systems around.

The screen can be really rather slow in responding to the prod of a finger, and the design of the operating system makes it tricky to find some of the functions available.

Prices for the Suzuki Swift start at £18,699 for the Motion trim level with a manual gearbox. The higher specification Ultra manual costs £19,799.

The same two trim levels with a CVT powertrain cost £19,949 and £21,049 respectively, and the top-of-the-range Suzuki Swift Ultra ALLGRIP 4WD manual also costs £21,049.

To put that into context, at the time of writing the Dacia Sandero range starts from just £13,795, and the Renault Clio from £17,995.

Thereafter, the Peugeot 208 (from £19,235), Vauxhall Corsa (from £19,635), Skoda Fabia (£19,730) and Hyundai i20 (£21,530) are all more expensive, and unlikely to have a better list of standard equipment from entry level.

For those considering a finance agreement, the Suzuki Swift makes perhaps more sense than it does to cash buyers.

This is thanks to relatively slow predicted depreciation, the best residual value ratings – 49-52% – of all the rivals listed above, and with some very competitive APR rates (at the time of writing, at least).

We’ve found leasing prices from as little as £122.46 per month.

Average fuel consumption (WLTP) of 64.2mpg is the front-wheel-drive manual Suzuki Swift’s trump card; even if you thrash the throttle, you’re likely to see returns well in excess of 50mpg.

The Suzuki Swift also makes plenty of sense to company car drivers paying benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax, thanks to CO2 emissions as low as 99g/km.

Just be aware that the CVT automatic version isn’t as efficient as the manual, and that the four-wheel drive ALLGRIP is likely to be less frugal than the 2WD model.

Suzuki gives you a fairly standard three-year or 60,000-mile warranty. However, with the inclusion free-of-charge of a Service Activated Warranty, things improve.

Once the car reaches the end of its manufacturer warranty period and is booked in within the Suzuki dealer network for its next scheduled service, the warranty stays in place until the next qualifying service, and is then simply renewed again up to a maximum vehicle age of seven years or 100,000 miles – whichever comes first.

The engineers have tinkered with both the suspension and NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) reduction measures in the new Suzuki Swift, with a view to giving owners a more comfortable ride and quieter cabin environment.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to have worked very well.

The suspension still feels too firm for a small family hatchback. This means that the thuds and bumps so commonplace on our dreadful roads aren’t absorbed as well as in most rivals, and driving down a poorly surfaced road can be wearing because you’re bounced around so much.

Moreover, although Suzuki says it has filled the car with more sound-deadening material that in the previous-generation model, it’s still not particularly quiet when cruising.

Road noise is the biggest problem, filling the cabin whenever you drive over even moderately coarse surfaces.

On the plus side, that firm suspension, allied to smooth, accurate and informative steering, makes the Suzuki Swift something of a hoot to drive, with plenty of grip and a stable stance to keep you interested on a winding country road.

And although the car’s no powerhouse, acceleration feels more brisk than the bald statistics would suggest.

Just one engine serves the entire Suzuki Swift model range, an all-new 1197cc, three-cylinder petrol unit incorporating a 12V mild-hybrid system to help realise the claims of better fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions than before.

Maximum power output is 82PS and torque output has risen slightly to 112Nm at 4500rpm. The mild hybrid system motor has a power output of 2.3kW and a healthy 60Nm of torque. This a commendably lightweight component, adding just 7kg to the weight of the car.

There’s a choice of two transmissions; a pleasingly slick and accurate five-speed manual, and a CVT system which varies the gear ratio continuously and steplessly in the manner of every Toyota hybrid you’ve ever driven.

Both manual and CVT powertrains are front-wheel drive. The Suzuki Swift is also available in All-Wheel Drive guise – a real rarity for this type of car – courtesy of the firm’s ALLGRIP 4WD mechanicals mated to the five-speed manual gearbox.

With a pleasingly eager three-cylinder thrum, the two-wheel-drive manual car can bumble to 62mph in 12.5 seconds, and on to a top speed of 103mph. The CVT variant completes the same dash in 11.9 seconds, but it is pricier and less fuel efficient.

The AWD version, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to benefit from added traction off the line, taking 13.6 seconds to reach 62mph and not quite topping 100mph.

The two-wheel-drive manual also delivers the best WLTP fuel economy and emissions figures; 64.2 mpg and 99g/km respectively. The CVT version returns 60.1mpg and generates 106g/km of CO2, while the adoption of AWD knocks fuel consumption back to 57.6mpg and raises CO2 emissions to 110g/km.

The new Suzuki Swift hasn’t been crash tested by Euro NCAP yet, but will probably score similarly to the last-generation model; the base-level version was awarded three stars, while the mid-range car was awarded a four-star safety rating for its increased safety kit.

That increase has now been adopted across the whole model range, with Lane Keeping Assist, Lane Departure Warning, Lane Departure Prevention, Weaving Alert, Traffic Sign Recognition, a Blind Spot Monitor, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Dual Sensor Brake Support 2 and a Driver monitoring System all fitted as standard,

No towing information is currently available for the Suzuki Swift.

The Suzuki Swift is available in a choice of two trim levels, Motion and Ultra. But you’ll get pretty much all you want in the way of goodies from the entry-level Motion.

Suzuki Swift Motion standard features include 16-inch painted alloy wheels, LED headlights, DRL and rear lamps, keyless entry and start, electric rear windows, heated front seats, rear privacy glass, adaptive cruise control, a rear view camera and rear parking sensors.

Add to that full-colour driver info display, a nine-inch infotainment touchscreen, wireless smartphone link with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, navigation, Suzuki Connected Services with three years’ free subscription and eCall.

Safety features fitted as standard include Lane Keeping Assist, Lane Departure Warning, Lane Departure Prevention, Weaving Alert, Traffic Sign Recognition, a Blind Spot Monitor, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Dual Sensor Brake Support 2 and a Driver Monitoring System 

The Suzuki Swift Ultra adds 16-inch painted and polished alloy wheels, automatic air-conditioning, electrically folding door mirrors, indicators integrated in the door mirrors, rear heater outlet, rear assist grips and painted door trim.