Second Report

I have some bad news this month: I managed to dent the Ignis’ otherwise impressive fuel economy performance. The good news is I had fun doing it. Yes, the Ignis is already proving to be an entertaining little car. And if the penalty for having some fun is knocking a few miles per gallon off a tank of fuel, then so be it. Mind you, 52.9mpg isn’t bad, I just know that it’s capable of better.

Thankfully it’s not enough to prompt me to crawl around at 20mph everywhere, but the flip side is the realisation that the car’s fuel tank is comically small. Sure, it’s a small tank for a small car, but 30 litres is darn small, as the all-wheel drive kit robs the car of an extra two litres of capacity that is found on front-wheel-drive versions. All of which means more frequent stops.

I know cars like the Ignis are primarily pitched as urban tools, which means moaning about its modest range is silly, but the car’s easily capable of demolishing longer trips with ease and it does make those frequent stops a little irksome at times. Factor in a digital fuel gauge with blocky graphics, not a more granular representation, and the appearance of the low fuel light can be a surprise. Oh, and when it does, the range calculation disappears. That’s bad news for anyone who gets pleasure from playing fuel light bingo.

Still, elsewhere there’s ample space inside the car. I managed to fit a single mattress in the Ignis this month without a struggle. Folded in half, naturally, but I can add that to last month’s consignment of three dining room chairs. More proof that the Ignis is more accommodating than I originally thought. And I love how easy it is to fold the rear seats, although loading and unloading bulky items can be tricky, as the boot floor isn’t flat.

Visibility wasn’t particularly great with that mattress in the boot, but I was grateful for the car’s reversing camera when manoeuvring at the council recycling centre. The image isn’t the sharpest, but the infotainment screen’s bright display helps, as do the overlaid lines to help with positioning. Which is just as well because there are no parking sensors. It won’t be beep, beep, beeeeep, but a ‘crunch’ if you get it wrong.

Thankfully no disasters yet as I’ve been, mostly, going forwards with a big grin on my face. There’s some serious witchcraft going on under the bonnet that’s allowing me to zip along with more enthusiasm than the Ignis’ on-paper credentials suggest I can – the hybrid system delivers a noticeable boost under load. I think I’m going to have to do some more ‘research’.

The Suzuki’s modest 1.2-litre motor is proving to be equal parts willing and, when I’m not having fun, frugal. The handy ‘regen’ light frequently illuminates when I’m off the throttle or when braking, signifying a flow of electrons to the dinky hybrid battery. And it’s that battery that will add the extra oomph when accelerating to keep fuel consumption low. Thanks to this process, the rather basic trip computer informs me I’ve now ‘saved’ over a 1,000 miles worth of fuel. I guess my research will also entail reading the handbook to understand what this claim means.

Date arrived 26th October 2020
Mileage 1,810
Economy (WLTP combined) 51.9mpg
Economy (On test) 52.9mpg