Item: 2017 Suzuki Swift GL
Rating: 6.5
Author: Stephen Ottley

2017 Suzuki Swift GL Navigator video review
This pint-sized city car is a big deal for the Japanese brand.

Suzuki is not a big player in the Australian car industry - literally.

The brand’s biggest model is the Grand Vitara compact SUV and the majority of its range is focused on the city and small sized categories. The Celerio, Baleno, Ignis and S-Cross are all compact offerings.

But the most popular Suzuki has traditionally been the Swift city car, the sixth generation of which has recently landed in Australia but arrives facing a difficult future.

City car sales are in decline, largely due to the rise of city-sized SUV options and cheaper small cars, but there’s still plenty of competition for the Swift to take on in the shrinking market.

Which means there are a lot of expectations riding on this little car’s shoulders. And stylish shoulders they are, with Suzuki crafting a funky shape that should find favour with the younger audience the Swift is aimed at.

What do you get?

Suzuki is offering a two model line-up for the new Swift. Firstly there’s the GL with a 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine starting at $15,990 (plus on-road costs) and the GLX with a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine priced from $22,990.

The GL comes standard with 15-inch steel wheels, cruise control, Bluetooth and power windows.

But in between those two is the GL Navigator we’re testing here which, as the name implies, has the same equipment as the GL but adds navigation plus an automatic transmission (replacing the five-speed manual in the GL) as well as 16-inch alloy wheels, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and a reversing camera. The GL Navigator is priced from $17,990.

You can also get the GL Navigator with a Safety Pack that adds to the standard six airbags with autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning for another $1000.

Related Content

That’s an impressively well equipped city car for $18,990 (plus on-road costs).

The Swift is covered by a capped price servicing program, but the bad news is it requires visits to the mechanic every six months/10,000km, which is twice as often as most of its rivals. But the costs are reasonable, with minor services costing $175 per visit. But with the more expensive major service costs over the first three years you’ll be up for $1234, which is expensive maintenance at this end of the market.

What’s inside?

Suzuki’s expertise in compact cars shines through in the cabin of the Swift. Not only is it suitably stylish to match the exterior it makes great use of the available space. Overall the new model is 10mm shorter than the car is replaces, but the wheelbase has increased 20mm to create more interior room.

There’s good storage space, despite no lidded centre console box, with three cup holders, bottle holders in the door and a small tray at the bottom of the dashboard.

Thanks to the high roofline, headroom is plentiful and with the sculpted dashboard in the front and generous (by city car standards) rear legroom the Swift will carry four adults in relative comfort.

The boot measures 242-litres (a 32-litre increase over the old model) and is quite deep for a city car. The rear seats offer the practical benefits of a 60:40 split/fold.

In terms of design it can’t quite match the level of the class-leading Mazda2 but it isn’t far off. There are some nice touches, like the flat-bottom steering wheel, and mixture of textures and colours to lend a more premium air to the cabin.

2017 Suzuki Swift GL Navigator. Photo: Supplied

The 7.0-inch infotainment screen adds to that feeling, while also being easy to use with its screen split into quarters between - navigation, phone, radio/media and smartphone connection. The only annoyance is the lack of real buttons for the volume or to scroll through long menus, which is something that can be a little tricky at times as the screen can be a little slow to react.

Under the bonnet

As mentioned earlier the GL is powered by a 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine paired with a Continuously Variable Transmission. It produces a modest 66kW of power and 120Nm of torque and while that isn’t much grunt, there isn’t much to move. It tips the scales at just 870kg, which very light by modern car standards, even one this small.

Because of that the Swift feels more than adequately powered on the road. It isn’t a fast car, feeling a little tardy off the mark at times, but it has no trouble keeping up with traffic.

Even the CVT does a good job, lacking the same sluggish performance its kind can often be hamstrung by.

But while the lack of weight means the Swift feels sprightly on the move it comes at the cost of noise, with plenty of engine and road noise penetrating the cabin, particularly under acceleration.

Of course the combination of a small engine and a light car does have its rewards and Suzuki claims the Swift uses just 4.8-litres per 100km. That makes it one of the most fuel efficient non-hybrid cars on the market, undercutting even the Mazda2.

On the road

Suzuki has had a rich vein of form recently with its Vitara, Baleno and Ignis all winning our praise in recent years. The Swift continues that theme, with sharp handling for such a small car.

The lightness of the car translates into an agile and responsive little machine, with nicely sorted steering that is neither too light or too heavy.

The good handling doesn’t come at the expense of ride comfort either, with the suspension still able to soak up the larger bumps in the road with a minimum of fuss.

The skinny tyres will run out of grip quickly if you try and drive it too hard, but the overwhelming sensation created by the new Swift is a fun and engaging city car.

Verdict

Suzuki has continued its strong recent form by creating a city car that is as good as, if not better than, most of its rivals.

It is fun, funky and efficient but whether that’s enough to woo buyers back from baby SUVs and small cars remains to be seen.

But if you want city-sized transport with some style and substance then the Swift should loom large in your considerations.