I’VE always had an obsession for cheap, lightweight, front-wheel-drive cars. It doesn’t matter what badge it wears or where it’s from, they resonated with me during my teens and their appeal has never waned.
My missus scoffs when I show her advertisements for 25-year-old Peugeot 205 GTIs and says I should grow up, but there’s something special about cars of this type as the way they drive cannot be argued with.
However, a Japanese firm - Suzuki - is getting in on the act now and their new £17,000 Swift Sport has all the ingredients I look for in a car as it’s affordable, cheap to run, small, light and appears to put fun before everything else. It’s the third Swift the Sport badge has appeared on and the new car’s predecessors have garnered solid reputations while never really being big sales hits.
In 2018 guise, the rev-hungry naturally aspirated engines of old have been ditched in favour of a 1.4-litre turbo unit which produces a VW Up GTI-beating 138bhp, which is its main rival. In today’s world of headline-grabbing power outputs, that figure might not suggest much excitement but key to its success is its 970kg weight, enabling a respectable eight-seconds-dead 0-62mph time.
Looks are subjective but in my opinion the little Swift looks great - it’s elevated from regular models by more pronounced bumpers and a wider track, while it has carbon-effect exterior trim and twin-exit exhausts.
Open the door and there’s a pair of sportier seats and a chunky, flat-bottomed steering wheel that’s made to feel a bit more plush by gloss black trim. Get settled and you’ll notice just how good those seats are; they clasp your ribs and are supportive in all the right places, incomparable to the deckchair-style ones fitted in the Up GTI.
Press the starter button and the engine bursts into life in the way small-capacity units do with a dose of revs and a shouty, rough idle. You immediately know it’s a characterful motor from that point.
The Swift Sport, which is only available with a six-speed manual, takes about two corners to put a smile on my face. The steering isn’t particularly great and it’s not exactly brimming with feel, but it’s a car you immediately gel with. The gearbox is great, the handling is fantastic and the tenacious nature of its engine is a great match for the featherweight Suzuki. It darts around with the agility of a fly, while the punchy engine’s power feels strong because the kerb weight has been kept to a minimum.
Get it on a good road and it responds to your commands with an eagerness to please - it’s a car that hunts down every corner and revels in being taken by the scruff of its neck. In all weather conditions it remains sure-footed and no matter how many liberties you take with it, it’s soaked up by excellent damping which has been given a chassis to match.
The throttle response is keen and although it’ll rev to 6,000rpm, it does its best work before that point so hanging on to a gear all the way to the limiter isn’t worth it. There’s ample torque - 170lb ft - which is a massive 40 per cent more than previous generations so there’s proper in-gear pull which belies its 138bhp output.
No matter how hard you drive it, it remains super-cheap to run and never dips below 40mpg - a staggering level of economy which simply shouldn’t be possible when you’re driving spiritedly.
Cars like the Swift Sport make the motoring world a better place. Their brilliance lies in their simplicity; they don’t take themselves too seriously and their character shines through because of it. You simply don’t need 350bhp hot hatches to have a good time - 138bhp and 970kg is the true meaning of fun.
Is it better than the Up GTI? I genuinely think it is. More people will buy the VW because of its badge, but the Suzuki is a performance hero and I doff my cap to anyone who buys one because they’re absolutely worth it.
