I sat in the new Swift Sport at the Frankfurt motor show a couple of months ago. This wasn’t a particularly professional moment. There’s no time for indulgences such as this on the press day of this sprawling German show, even if you do happen to like the car. I glanced around the bonsai cabin and noted the new dash, the contrasting stitching and a general, pleasing absence of bling. Six speeds on the shift, I noted, wondering if they’d shortened the gearing to give it more fizz and then banged on a ludicrously overdriven top ratio to keep emissions and consumption down (they have).
I liked the old model, a giant-killing act of some aplomb. While it couldn’t match the sheer brio and firepower of today’s Renaultsport Clios, it was a fine warm, rather than hot, hatchback. This is a type of affordable, everyday car with enough vim to bring a smile to your face when the road starts to curl and curve. Funnily enough, Renault used to produce the best-ever warm hatch in the Nineties, the Clio RSi; bad name, great car, terrific prices.
I had wondered what might happen to cars like the Swift when Volkswagen, which owns a fifth of Suzuki, started throwing its weight around. The Germans wanted the Japanese to do as they were told, mop up VW’s surplus capacity in engines and suspensions and give VW the key to Far Eastern markets such as India, where Maruti Suzuki is the leading brand. It was all one-way traffic and VW sniffily dismissed any suggestion that it could learn something from Suzuki about making small cars. Finally, at this year’s Frankfurt show the Japanese signalled that they had had enough of this patronising – the deal is currently being unwound. Which leaves Suzuki independent, with the world’s most eclectic model range and the Swift Sport unmolested by Germany’s finest.
The new car is slightly larger and heavier than the old, but retains the Nautilus-style wraparound windscreen and Giugiaro-inspired window line. The 1.6-litre twin-cam fizzes out slightly more power with better emissions and its 136bhp with 118lb ft of torque is enough to throw this one-ton, three-door hatch up the road at a top speed of 121mph and accelerate from 0-62mph in 8.7sec, yet give a Combined fuel consumption of 44mpg and Band F CO2 emissions of 147g/km.
Climb inside and it’s hard to avoid a nostalgic rush as you contemplate the old-school plastic trim and simple two-dial binnacle. Only the piano-black centre console pumping Metronomy instead of Duran Duran reminds you this isn’t the Eighties and this isn’t a Peugeot 205 GTi. Even the seats are those tight-fitting buckets that make you feel like a rally star but attack your spine after half an hour.
The steering wheel is, wait for it, perforated leather; how Young Guns is that? No, you aren’t going to be very comfortable in the back seats and the boot is small, but that’s not what this car is about.
Fire it up and it’s hard not to blip the throttle as it warms, except at my age people might assume I’ve stolen my son’s car. The little mill fizzes through the frame and the rev-counter bounces around like a demented space hopper. The new gearbox doesn’t have the mechanical-feeling change of the old one and that’s a shame, but it slots cleanly and fast, which is what you need to keep this engine on the boil. The clutch is absurdly light.
Pull away and the lack of low-down torque isn’t as bad as you expect, well not quite. A complicated two-stage intake system and variable valve timing give a boost to the mid-range, but this engine is really all about revs. Which makes it surprising that the Japanese have given it a long stroke, so from 6,000rpm it labours on to a peak of 7,000rpm with all the spring of a climber negotiating Everest’s Hillary Step.
That takes away a bit of the joy, but not much. This little car is a perfect hoot. Well planted, but with a fine ride quality and accurate steering, it’s a smashing thing to drive fast. The body does roll a little, but that’s also part of the fun, when the inside front wheel starts to lose traction and you feather the throttle, holding a big screaming slide out of the corner. There is an electronic stability system, but it’s as discreet as Jeeves.
The main trait is understeer, but you can kick the nose into line with a lift of the throttle, although the mechanical grip from the 195/45/17in tyres and chassis dynamics means it never hangs its tail out like the infamous 205 GTi of yesteryear. The brakes are strong and linear so you can dance around the pedals pushing the car along like a football in the yard, with a grin as wide as the goalposts.
At £14,250, this is automotive fun of the type that should be driven to the V&A Museum and parked in a big glass case. The glass you’ll see it through, however, is the showroom window in January. Nip down there after Christmas and I guarantee that New Year will never have looked as good.
THE FACTS
Suzuki Swift Sport
Tested: Three-door hatchback with 1,586cc, four-cylinder petrol engine, six-speed manual transmission, front-wheel drive
Price/on sale: about £14,250/January
Power/torque: 136bhp @ 7,000rpm/118lb/ft @ 4,400rpm
Top speed: 121mph
Acceleration: 0-62mph in 8.7sec
Fuel economy: 33.6mpg/44.1mpg (EU Urban/Combined)
CO2 emissions: 147g/km
VED band: F (£130)
Verdict: A lovely little car, with fizzing performance, a good ride and fine build quality. Chassis not quite as agile as some rivals but it’s still great fun.
