Suzuki Swift Review 2024

If you want a characterful little car and aren't bothered about cheap electric cars, the Suzuki Swift is a great choice. It's packed with personality and comes fully loaded with equipment, while it should be very cheap to run. If you need to carry rear-seat passengers or a boot full of possessions, you may wish to consider bigger alternatives.

We think most buyers will be best going for the most affordable Suzuki Swift Motion. That's because it's well-equipped, and you don't get a great deal more for your money by choosing the Ultra grade (unless you really need polished alloy wheels, automatic air conditioning and an indicator integrated into the door mirror).

There's only one engine for now, and we think the five-speed manual gearbox will be the transmission to go for. Don't bother with the extra expense and complexity of the four-wheel-drive Suzuki Swift Allgrip unless you really need the extra traction - it'll make sense for a few remote farmers but it'll be overkill for the majority of buyers.

There's a decreasing amount of small hatchbacks on the market. We reckon the new MG3 Hybrid will be one of the Suzuki Swift's closest competitors, while many buyers will consider it alongside a used Ford Fiesta. The Hyundai i20 is worth a look, too, as well as the Renault Clio, Vauxhall Corsa and Skoda Fabia. If you're looking for a no-nonsense small car, we'd also recommend the Dacia Sandero.

The Suzuki Swift is a no-nonsense little hatchback and it certainly won't impress you with its soft-touch finishes or any premium aspirations. On the plus side, the cabin is likely to be very hard-wearing - even the most well-used of secondhand Suzuki Swifts have worn their age well, and we suspect this latest model will be no different.

The Suzuki Swift's infotainment screen has grown in size compared to its predecessor, and also moved further up the dashboard. It's now a nine-inch display perched on top of the dash (making it easy to glance at without being distracting).

To be honest, it does feel like a budget system to use. It's just a bit laggy to respond and its graphics aren't as clear as they are in rivals. But the good news is wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both standard, meaning you can connect your phone and you won't need to bother about using the car's in-built features. We prefer Google Maps to move in-car navigation systems, so that's no great issue. And, as we touched on above, there are actual buttons for most features you need - so no need to go routing through the infotainment menus.

Even by small hatch standards, the Suzuki Swift isn't a big car. It measures 3860mm long, 1735mm wide and 1495mm tall - that means it's almost exactly the same size as the old Suzuki Swift and slightly smaller than a Peugeot 208 or Ford Fiesta.

It feels spacious enough for those in the front. Even with a relatively high seating position, our six-foot tester wasn't brushing the ceiling, while there's enough adjustment in the seats to get comfortable.

Things are tight in the back - like most small hatchbacks, it'll be a squeeze for two fully-grown adults, and don't even think about trying to squeeze three people side-by-side. Two child seats will fit comfortably, though, and there are ISOFIX mounting points on the outer rear seats.

The boot is pretty small. It can officially accommodate just 265 litres of luggage, which is 126 litres less than a petrol Renault Clio manages. It's fine for the weekly shop or a few weekend bags but anything more than that, you might want to look at a slightly bigger alternative.

The Suzuki Swift engine line-up is pretty simple. For now, all models come with a little 1.2-litre engine with a very small amount of electrical assistance. While it's badged a hybrid, you won't be able to run on electric power alone and alternatives like the Toyota Yaris Hybrid make a greater use of electricity.

You get the choice of a five-speed manual gearbox or a CVT automatic transmission (we haven't tried the latter but suspect the manual 'box will be the better option for most buyers). There's also a four-wheel-drive Allgrip model - that's pretty unusual at this end of the market and could be a good option if you really need the extra traction provided by all-wheel drive. We'd recommend avoiding the extra expense and complexity and sticking with the regular two-wheel-drive Swift, unless you really need to venture into muddy fields.

The Swift is, well, anything but swift. Officially it'll accelerate from a standstill to 62mph in 12.5 seconds (11.9 seconds with the CVT gearbox or 13.6 seconds with Allgrip). That's going to feel pretty slow when you're heading up a short motorway sliproad or planning an overtake.

If anything, though, we think the Suzuki Swift feels sprightlier than its figures suggest. We're keen to spend more time with it in the UK, but our initial drive in the French countryside suggested its 82PS (and 112Nm of torque) was more than enough for the lightweight hatchback. For those who do want a sportier driving experience, it's yet to be confirmed whether there'll be a Suzuki Swift Sport of this generation.

For a budget small car, the old Suzuki Swift surprised us in terms of refinement. Even when worked hard, the 1.2-litre engine was never particularly vocal, while outside noise (such as road and wind noise) wasn't too intrusive either.

Although we're yet to drive the new Suzuki Swift on the motorway, Suzuki says it's worked hard to improve noise and vibration levels. While we don't expect Volkswagen Polo levels of refinement, the little Suzuki Swift might be a more mature motorway car than you'd expect. 

The Suzuki Swift has the full gammet of driver assist and safety features - from emergency braking systems to those annoying lane-assist functions; you name it, the Suzuki Swift has it. They're standard across the range, too, while even features like traffic sign recognition, reversing sensors and a reversing camera are included - not things you'd necessarily expect on an affordable small car.

Euro NCAP has yet to crash-test the new Suzuki Swift but it'll be interesting to see if it improves on the four-star (with safety pack) rating of the old car.

If you're looking for a used car that you can have faith in, a Suzuki Swift is a pretty good choice. The little car has a reputation for being indestructible, while Suzuki ranked second (behind Lexus) in last year's HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index. We heard of no common issues with the old model and we have no reason to suspect the new car will be any less reliable.

As further reassurance, the Swift comes with Suzuki's service-activated warranty. That means it's covered for the usual three years then, after that, the warranty is automatically renewed every time the car visits a Suzuki dealer for a service. With regular servicing, you're covered for up to seven years/100,000 miles.

You'd expect the Suzuki Swift to be quite a cheap car to insure, but it's actually been placed into insurance group 27. That means it could cost more to insure than, say, a Vauxhall Corsa. We'd always recommend searching around for a few insurance quotes before deciding on a new car.

Under current VED rules, you'll pay £155/year to tax a Suzuki Swift. That's including the £10/year discount for hybrid cars.

Standard equipment on the Suzuki Swift Motion includes 16-inch painted alloy wheels, LED headlights, adaptive cruise control, a rear-view camera, rear parking sensors, navigation, heated front seats, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, keyless entry/start, Suzuki Connect connected services with three-year subscription, a nine-inch infotainment system, Lane Keeping Assist, Dual Sensor Brake Support, Lane Departure Warning & Prevention, Traffic Sign Recognition, Blind Spot Monitor and Rear Cross Traffic Alert.

The Suzuki Swift Ultra adds 16-inch polished alloy wheels, two rear assist grips, automatic air conditioning, a rear heater outlet, an indicator integrated into door mirror, electrically folding door mirrors and painted door trim ornament.