Suzuki Swift - long-term review

When the Swift won Top Gear's Small Car of the Year back in 2024, Ollie Kew had this to say about it.

“Nothing’s perfect so far. And neither is the Suzuki Swift, which has been an uncommonly handsome supermini for 20 years until whoever designed this new one used a beluga whale for facial inspiration and forgot the other three sides altogether. The interior has fewer soft touch impressions than Roy Keane’s punditry and you need to be a bomb, sorry, bong disposal specialist to figure out how to disable the anti-speeding alert.

“But that aside there’s a refreshingly simple ‘hire car in sunny Majorca’ vibe here that’s charmingly endearing. The only car here with proper, unfussy dials for speed and revs. A delectably sweet five speed gearshift. The Swift musters just 81bhp and sluggish urgency as a result but it feels so agile and alert because it’s so incredibly light: less than a tonne despite plenty of equipment and class leading onboard space. It holds its drink as well as it holds an apex, and yet rides with a mature, soft edged, spongy fluency. The best of all worlds.

“Then you look at the bottom line and see it’s the second cheapest car here, even in laden Ultra trim. Cheap to buy, cheap to run, fun to drive, unpretentious, comfortable, practical and likeable. Isn’t that all you could want from a small car?”

Question is... has how we feel about the Swift changed since Ollie wrote this? Broadly speaking, no it has not. The Swift is still a good, old fashioned small car with a frankly astonishing amount of equipment thrown at it in this specification. It’s not exhilarating to drive (it only has a tiny engine and 81bhp after all) but it’s very capable of motorway driving and will easily and readily indulge in a touch of overtaking should the need arise.

The price remains remarkably attractive, there’s very little that can offer a similar package for a similar amount of money.

However, there are some things I’d love to see improved for the next generation of Swift. First, the seats. Having really supportive seats is essential on long journeys... and I do a lot of long journeys. The Swift seats need more bolstering to keep driver and passenger comfortable on extended trips.

Second, the seat adjustment. It’s great that the Swift has height adjustment, but the rake adjustment is done via a lever and not a wheel. This means you can go from upright to ridiculously reclined in a simple pull. Not ideal. Yes, once it’s set up, it’s done... but if you share the car with another person, resetting the seat to your preferred position takes a long old time, every time, and is somewhat annoying.

Third, the keyless entry system. To clarify, the system itself works fine, but it’s clunky. And I’d really appreciate a visual sign it’s locked, like a lights flash. But that’s all. I thought there would be more that I’d like to see changed or improved, but apparently not. Seems Suzuki got it almost 100 per cent right first time around.