Suzuki Swift - long-term review

For 13 glorious years, superminis reigned supreme, sitting pretty at the top of the UK’s bestsellers list from 2009 to 2021. OK, the Ford Fiesta did much of the heavy lifting, claiming pole position for, er, 12 of those, until the Vauxhall Corsa somehow stole its throne in 2021, but still.

Since then though, it’s been a slippery slope. In 2022 the Nissan Qashqai upset the order, and every year after that has seen the Ford Puma top of the tree (it’s currently in first place this year too), as buyer preference drifted towards compact SUVs and crossovers. The total number of superminis in the top 10 bestsellers has slipped too, from as many as five in 2021 (Vauxhall Corsa, Mini, Toyota Yaris, VW Polo, Ford Fiesta) to just one in 2025 (yep, the Corsa again). And the Fiesta was killed off entirely in 2023. Anyone see that coming five years ago?

It all makes for pretty grim reading for the humble petrol-powered supermini, and there’s more bad news too. March 2026 was the UK's best month for EV sales, with 86,120 new registrations accounting for a record 22.6 per cent of the total new car market, according to figures released by the SMMT. Top of the list? The Jaecoo 7.

Yep, if the Swift didn’t already have enough on its plate, there’s now also the Chinese invasion to worry about, who will sell you a bigger, better equipped car for Euro supermini prices. A triple blow for the Suzuki, then – indeed, as Esther pointed out when it arrived six months ago, a small car joining the Top Gear Garage is a rare occasion. And as we wave goodbye to our little blue friend, we don’t currently have another supermini on the fleet, the Renault 5 having departed last month and next smallest car being the Alfa Romeo Junior – a compact crossover. It's not for want of trying, but we're apparently being starved of small affordable options right now.

And yet amongst all the doom and gloom, there are reasons to be cheerful. The Swift isn’t holding the petrol-powered supermini candle alone, competing with the likes of the (deep breath) Citroen C3, Hyundai i20, Mini Cooper, MG3, Peugeot 208, Renault Clio, Seat Ibiza, Skoda Fabia, Toyota Yaris, Vauxhall Corsa, Volkswagen Polo and others. More members still in the club than you thought, huh?

Of course, the Swift isn’t solely powered by petrol – it gets a baby-sized helping of electricity too. That’s thanks its 1.2-litre mild hybrid powertrain, which pairs a naturally aspirated three-cylinder engine with an integrated starter generator and a very small lithium-ion battery. It’s not powerful, with its 81bhp and 13.6secs 0-62mph sprint time every bit as sluggish as it sounds, but tread carefully and economy is one of this car’s biggest strengths – we regularly saw returns over 56mpg. Excellent news, given the current climate.

However, it’s far from the prettiest supermini out there, and the cabin feels very tired, about as exciting as an old people’s home. Like Esther, I found the seats severely lacking in support (though the headroom is frankly astonishing – this is genuinely a supermini for the supertall), while the touchscreen is probably the biggest letdown with its dreary menus and slow responses. You do at least get proper dials, plenty of physical buttons and a dedicated climate control panel, but just two years after launch it all feels ripe for a refresh.

A case of you get what you pay for, perhaps? Well, not really. The Swift may start from a whisker under £20k (ours is a couple of grand extra OTR for all-wheel drive), but that puts it firmly in the middle ground compared to its myriad rivals. A Renault Clio could hold its own on the catwalk compared to this and starts from a couple of grand less, a Peugeot 208 feels night and day different inside and will set you back around the same, while a Hyundai i20, which I drove back-to-back with the Swift, is far more engaging – not a million miles away from the all-conquering Fiesta in fact – and yet wears a similar pricetag.

And in planet EV, carmakers haven’t given up on the humble supermini just yet. The Renault 5 oozes desirability and now starts from just £21.5k with the Government’s Electric Car Grant, the Ford Fiesta is making a comeback, and there’ll be a new all-electric VW Polo later this year. There’s life in the supermini yet – but is there life left in the Suzuki Swift? On this evidence, it might be time for another supermini supertest.