The Suzuki Swift Hybrid Allgrip

 

My wife & I have been through a few Suzuki Swifts between us over the years. The first one my wife purchased was Swift Diesel  which was the thing to have after the government encouraged people to but that type of car because fuel consumption  better, did they think how they pumped out all types of nasty fumes into our atmosphere I doubt it. I felt the car was forced on us and we joked about it a few times. The colour was a horrible nondescript metallic light green. Why we kept it five odd years is beyond me, the thing broke down on the drive due to a sensor failure just after getting it home and as for the brakes well you pressed them and hoped sometime you would stop worst of all was the way it lost power on a junction when you needed to pull away. When my wife decided on a change as the new four wheel drive version had come out she bought a grey one which did not live up to expectations because it had no power which we found out in Wales when we went up a steep hill having to crawl up in first so she changed it for the car she wanted a Suzuki Jimny and that did pull up hills no problem. Fast forwards a few years and I had intended to retire, my son was working at the same place as I was and doing five days a week and needed to get to work so I changed my Vitara for a black Suzuki Swift (I wonder why Suzuki do not make a Swift Estate) Admittedly it had  a highish mileage but it was not going to get used that much other that work and the odd bit of running around. I what I did find out was it had superb fuel efficiency and could easily get down to our caravan and back on around half a tank of fuel and for a while my son used it to go to work after I retired

 Now I mentions in my Jimny review I would go for a Swift 4x4 if they came out again and mentioning it to the sales guys at Sportif is not a good move because it was not long before I found out they were coming out. About the only colour my wife & I liked was the Blue one with Black roof so one was ordered which I could go and see. Bad move because I decided I did like the car and a few days later I was picking it up.

 

This is it minus the numberplate

 It was what I was after

and within a week I was out and about with my new swift. Now it was bought in October as the lockdown was ending problem was we had another and the Swift was confined to our garage with my wife's Jimny for company for a few weeks only coming out for a run occasionally. 

Once it was eased off I took the car out more and got to enjoy how it drove. The handling felt a little firmer than my old swift but one thing I did notice was the acceleration was not so quick. The handling was I though a little better when I got used to it though the old swift got chucked around more. The handling in the wet certainly felt a lot better though I cannot say the four wheel drive cut in at all if it did.

 Under the bonnet the engine looks similar though in this case much cleaner that my old one at the moment

The front grill has changed as well and house the pick-up (left) for radar, adaptive cruse control

 

Front headlights are LED which I found amazing compared to the old halogen ones I was used to, the fogs work well if you use them as additional lighting. The day time running lights are also in the headlight cluster

The breaks are vented discs and the ally wheels have changed on the top of the range ones as well

The rear light cluster is an improvement as well

The boot is bigger than my old one and I have fitted a boot liner. There is no spare wheel only a pump and some sealer that you use if you get a puncture. You can purchase a get you home wheel if you would rather have one

 

 The all important Hybrid and AllGrip Badges 

And very important Suzuki Badge along with the most important for me the Sportif Logo. I had to ask for this because someone forgot to fit it. All the other cars I have bought from dealers I've taken there logos off but Sportif are special. I have been using then for the last 20 odd years and their service is second to none

 

 Inside you notice the leather rim steering wheel which has changed and has flat on the bottom and hand grips, this all gives it a much better feel 

The big change is the buttons on the steering wheel. On the left the controls for the media player and under it you can operate the blue tooth for your phone. The one thing I really do not like is the mode button. I found the one on my old Swift much easier to use. below the mode button is the info and mute buttons. The info changes the multi function display in the middle of the instrument cluster On the right is the cruse control for which you need a degree to use. Again the old version was much easier to use. 

 

 

Above you in front the mirror you will see this pod
 

It house the various sensors that are used for radar, adaptive cruse control 

 

The multi function display in the centre has multiple functions most of which you can do with out and to my mind a waste of time though this one tells you how much charge you have for the hybrid system

 

another useful one is the Average fuel consumption. So far I found out the range is about 325 plus miles depending on how you drive. My old one had a range of 425miles. The reason for the change is because Suzuki made the fuel takes smaller on the new ones so less range.

I tend to drive with mine set like this. On the left is the rev counter and water temp. On the right is the speedo and fuel gauge. When you first tun on the ignition the instrument cluster lights up like the Concorde dash before going out to show the important ones

 

In the centre is the media player (the centre ring is not normal on display but gives other options) where you have Radio with different stations and listening options, phone which links via blue tooth, Navigation and Apple car play where you need to connect via your lightening cable. You can also ply your phone through the blue tooth but it is not as clear. Your android phone will connect as well. In all this is a much better system than the old one. The screen also works with your reversing camera which I use as a guide preferring to use the side mirrors to reverse with

Under the media player is a pocket where you can put your phone and a USB connection, on the left of that is plug which I have connected my dash cam to that has a double USB connector on it for charging.

 To the right of the steering wheel is the start button and under it more switches that turn off other functions like stop start or lane detection and parking sensors/

In conclusion I have always enjoyed driving the Suzuki's I have owned though I have found that they seem to lag behind other manufacturers. They should be looking ahead in what is needed. The hybrid cars should have been out a few years ago and they should have been thinking more about bringing an electric car out now not in three years. I'm not keen on the Hybrid system that uses the battery to boost the engine power. It took a while to get my head around how to use it to it's best and I found out that easing the accelerator down gives results on the motorway. The fuel consumption I found was less that the old car but better that I thought it would be. I think that the hybrid system should be like Toyota's and the car run  on electric at slow speed and cut in with the engine as it gets faster. I truth cars now should be electric around because of the problems we are having global

The cost of cars has gone up and Suzuki I always felt were good value for money but they have been catching up with other manufacturers for a while. They still do offer good value in my opinion the whole host of extras on my car far exceeds what I had on my last one and would put what you get on more expensive cars to shame. I always enjoy seeing what Suzuki going bring out in the future and I look forward to seeing what will be next and the new Jimny my Wife would like