Suzuki Swift - long-term review

While the world around the Swift seems to have been going slowly mad, the baby Suzuki has been bimbling along merrily in its own happy little world. To what am I referring? Well, to the rather wonderful fuel economy the Swift enjoys.

I’ve always had a deep affinity with cars that manage to eke out their fuel in a magical way, but never more so than now when fuel prices seem to be rising at a frankly alarming rate. The Swift habitually returns over 56mpg, which is most welcome. It costs approximately £40 to fill it up and the onboard computer tells me I can expect to travel for approximately 380 miles. A bit of certainty and economical happiness in uncertain chaotic times – most welcome.

But are we ever satisfied with the fuel economy we get from our cars? For me, getting the mpg figure to improve has turned into a bit of a game. And I suspect it has for many others as well. Back in the day, a trip around the M25 or down the M1 would see most drivers (yes, including me… shhhhhhh) doing a merry dance on the throttle with zero anythings given to the economy we were getting. Now, and I can’t be the only person to notice this, the M25, M1, M40, M2 all seem to be populated by drivers who stick to 65mph. This is probably the result of a couple of influences, but the main one I imagine is the rising cost of fuel.

The other is likely the speed cameras and how many drivers have been caught by them in the past few months/years. Information from the police who are responsible for the M25 shows that more than 300 people are snapped every single day on that motorway – interestingly especially high risk areas for speeding drivers are  between junctions 17–18 and 5–6… these locations have historically been among the highest-earning in the UK… you have been warned! – and over the past three years the police claim to have received almost £25m through fines. Yes, that’s 25 million pounds, ouch.

I have, however, found a foolproof way to beat the system. Yep, you guessed it… I leave earlier and drive slower. No more worry about being snapped by speed cameras and hugely improved fuel economy. Winning!