The Swift (not a caravan)

[The Arch Bishop]

Well, after more than 4 years with my Subaru Forester, it was time to find something smaller, less juicy to run and a little bit more modern.

I was after a warm hatch - 120bhp being my personal sweet spot for enjoyable hoonery without licence losing, and as simple as possible. Handling was the priority with decent-ish economy and practicality 2nd and 3rd. Oh and reliability of course.

It came down to a choice of one model in the end, having read nothing but glowing praise for the Suzuki Swift Sport, it looked like a fun but sane choice.

The first cat we went to look at was a 2010 car with only 9,000 miles on the clock on sale at a dealer in Maidstone - yours for just £5700. My wife and I took a trip up there after booking an appointment and was a bit surprised to be ushered down to the end of the lot to a car with a wheel clamp still on it and a nearly dead battery. The paintwork was fading slightly and had a few large stone chips as well as a small crease on the rear bumper. We had a look around it and went in to talk to the dealer who didn't want to let us drive it until we'd thrashed out a deal. Oh and they'd give me £370 for my old car... We politely declared we'd leave it and gave it up as a bad job.

Lots of other cars were about, but nothing that was quite right either being nearly 100k miles or overpriced, modified or unloved looking.

In the end we found a 2009 car with 56,000 miles, in silver with a well written advert and a matching set of expensive tyres for under £3000 (much more my comfortable budget). The private seller was keen to talk me over the car on the phone and we drove up to see the car in South London with high hopes.

Not perfect (it's a £3000 car after all), but in great condition with anthracite alloys a good history and with absolutely no issues. It drove perfectly on a test drive with not a jot of slack in anything, no nasty noises, nothing I could honestly fault.

The seller, explained that he'd bought it for his wife a year previously, but while he adored it, she hated it as it wasn't her style. Eventually, he'd relented and bought her a Fiat Abarth - a car he didn't seem enamoured with...

Anyway, we bought it there and then and drove it home. It was a very pleasant buying experience!

On to the pictures;

The anthracite wheels were not my cup of tea, but I'm starting to warm to them. The dreadful 'Swift' stickers that get to the end of the door then just finish, will have to go. Makes it look like a caravan.

The wife declared that the tail pipes were 'a bloody disgrace', so I set to them with some fine wire wool and Autosol. They were hiding a little secret under the crud;

"Ah, Milltek exhaust finishers" I thought, and then looked underneath;

Looks to me like a stainless backbox! it still could be just the finishers that are Milltek, but either way I'm chuffed. I thought it sounded a bit fruity when the wife drove off in it!

I emailed the seller " You didn't tell me it had a stainless exhaust". His reply - "I didn't know! Otherwise I'd have stuck a few more quid on the asking price!"

Anyway, initial thoughts on the car - it has a tonne of grip, rides better than I was expecting, goes pretty well, could do with a 6th gear, a little more feedback in the steering and the stereo is a bit cack.

After a few days of typical commuting and some shorter shuttling kids about, it's sitting just under the 40mpg mark too. Better than I was expecting.

Unfortunately, having a MPG readout has had the effect of making me drive like a nun. Might have to turn it off and actually try driving the car properly...

 

[Robyorks]

Looks tidy! I do like the look of the swift, from the outside. Test drove one slightly newer with a few less miles not so long ago. It was some special edition with leather seats but the rest of the interior let it down. Also, it was more than double the price you paid
Needless to say, we didn't buy it! Oh, I forgot to mention it didn't even have alloy wheels!

Like this colour and the wheels. Might just have a nosey on the autotrader website again...

Let us know how you get on with it :thumbs:

 

[red]

:grin: looks great that mate, lots of useable fun I imagine!

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Lee
Get plenty of underseal on it and it might be a keeper.
Barry

 

[XAF]

Looks lovely Lee, and pleasant surprise for you with the exhaust! I actually don't mind the wheels, and I'm not usually a dark wheel fan!

 

[Catweasel]

Looks a great little car. I have often had a sniff around them at our local Suzuki dealer.

 

[Brian']

Cool little car. Seen a lot of them on track when I was at the Nürburgring. Enjoy the car :-D

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Better update this after a few weeks of living with it!

One of my first jobs was to give it a good clean up, clay and wax as the paint work was pretty dry and dull, but I thought I'd give getting the stripes off a go first as they looked abysmal;

However, while the drivers side came off fine, the passenger side was not so rosy. They came off easy enough;

It left rather a mess behind in that you could still see where the stickers had been;

Here's a close-up of what I mean;

It's what my kids affectionately call the 'Ghost Swift'...

If began to dawn on me what the issue was. When I bought the car, I noticed that the rear passenger-side quarter had had some minor repair and paint in the past as the colour match wasn't great and you could see some sub-standard rubbing back (see how the paint has sunken into the scratches near the top of the following image);

Also, the stripes stopped abruptly on the doors so the rest had clearly been removed from one side to spray and the other to match. It wasn't something that bothered me too much as a lot of cars have incidents over their life-span and get dollied up at a dealer for sale.

However, clearly whoever had done the repair decided to carry on the lacquer down the door, so in removing the stickers, I'd also removed the fresh lacquer and left an indelible 'SWIFT' down the door... FFfffffffuuuuuuu.......

Anyway, because the rest of the car is in outstanding condition (really, it still feels like a new car), I've had a quote to respray the whole side of the car to do a proper job of it. It's a lot of money, but the Swifty-dumpling has, other than a new interior bulb, revealed no other nasty surprises or requirements from the large contingency fund I put aside for it. And the good side, sans-stickers, looks fantastic (excuse the muck, look at the shine instead);

To my eyes, it's a good looking little car. Almost like the bodywork has been poured over the wheels at each corner.

So, to live with? It's a totally practical everyday car. There is plenty of room inside even four-up. The suspension is firm but perfectly dampened, the engine is pretty torquey which, together with the short gearing, means you don't have to be rummaging through the gearbox all the time. The boot is small but a decent depth with a split level. It is very reluctant to do any less than 40mpg even with plenty of short trips and a bit of thrashing thrown in. It has decent range - about 300 miles between fill-ups. The keyless system, once I learnt how it worked, is genius as well.

To drive, there's very little that feels faster down bumpy, twisty lanes. That perfect dampening means that the wheels always feel utterly planted, never skipping over rough roads or crests. Mid-corner bumps will not upset it and you rarely have to use the brakes (which incidentally are excellent as a still-living deer would testify to). Roundabouts are fun too and also show off that it has a predicable amount of lift-off oversteer to tighten the line when understeer does eventually set in. It feels for all the world like an old school hot hatch but with a better ride.

The one thing that it does fall down in is in the steering which is a bit remote and has a weird pause to action. It's not slack as the slightest movement causes an effect, but there's the slightest delay to steering movement getting to the road. This may be down to the tyres which are Goodyear Eagle F1s not suiting this particular chassis. They are not a tyre I'm familiar with so it could be they are very soft in the sidewall. Time will tell.

Ultimately, it's not a car I love yet, but it is massive fun and totally hits the spot as to what I wanted from it. Sensible and easy to drive while doing the family duties while being a laugh when you're not.

Stereo is still cack though,

 

[red]

it looks like a cracking little car and with your review they should sell by the dozen :grin:

 

[The Arch Bishop]

[post]362360[/post] it looks like a cracking little car and with your review they should sell by the dozen :grin:

Yes, my post was sponsored by Suzuki GB by the way...

 

[XAF]

Great update Lee. Looks like a good un!

Is it possible to use 1500 wet and dry to blend down the old and new lacquer and then polish up?

 

[The Arch Bishop]

[post]362365[/post] Great update Lee. Looks like a good un!

Is it possible to use 1500 wet and dry to blend down the old and new lacquer and then polish up?

I'm not entirely sure as it's quite deep and I'm a bit cack-handed with stuff like that! The repair job is a bit naff anyway so I'm happy to get it all done properly. There's also a bit of "can't be arsed" in there as well! :lol:

They did offer me a cheaper option, but the rest of the car is nice enough to warrant spending out.

 

[The Arch Bishop]

So, why no updates on this? Basically because I've had absolutely nothing that's needed doing to it. My total non-fuel costs have totalled just under £70 - new wipers, a replacement interior bulb and an aircon recharge. Other than that, it hasn't needed any oil or even screen wash. I just get in it and drive every day.

It's one of the least needy cars I've owned and it's good at its job too. Perfectly practical for driving to work, taking the kids to school, shopping and everything in between. Generally, I get around 43mpg, so it's good on fuel too.

To drive, on a bumpy pock-marked b-road it's a total weapon and I'm not sure I've driven something that covers ground or corners as well as it with so little effort before. It's best described as a cheap car with very expensive suspension bolted to it.

Anyway, hyperbole aside, it's a good car, but lacks the sparkle of a Puma, in particular the steering feel and the gearbox, but as an everyday car, it's a cracker!

Get 'em while they're cheap!