Report 6

The Swift Sport Hybrid is primarily designed to be a fun to drive supermini – something it does very well. It’s nippy, entertaining, and capable of carrying the weekly shopping. Ours has needed to be pretty versatile this month, venturing into the territories of people mover and dog van.

The Swift’s first unusual task involved a giant novelty cheque – stay with me. We all know that such television props are large, but they really are cumbersome things and much less flexible than you might think in reality. Sat next to the Suzuki this enlarged item was nearly two thirds of its length. Thankfully, dropping the rear seats of this car gives you 579-litres of space, with its square boot aperture being just about big enough. I’m not sure how useful this consumer advice is, but if you’re a travelling novelty cheque salesman, the Suzuki will take your unusual cargo.

Next up, fitting five adults into this little car. We know the Swift Sport will happily seat four with good leg room and enough head space for top hats, but what about that middle seat? Well, as with most cars of this size, it’s the shoulder room that is tight, but big windows and a high roof prevents a sense of claustrophobia. There is a small hump in the floor that needs to be navigated, but large footwells either side make this easy. So yes, the Swift can seat five adults, but only really for short trips for reasons of comfort. Additionally, five blokes also dramatically increases the cars total heft, meaning there’s a notable dip in performance and a huge increase in ‘weight’ related jokes. 

The Suzuki’s boot is 265-litres with the seats up – making it 54 litres larger than that of a MINI. However, real life isn’t measured in litres on a spreadsheet, and so it was time to find out how the car got on with a dog in the back. Obviously you aren’t going to fit a St Bernard in here, but Sparkie the cockapoo had enough space for her bed and plenty of elbow room. I’d probably say a spaniel-size dog is about your limit to comfortably travel with, but that will be just fine for many pooches. In terms of bags, a pair of small cases, or several stuffed supermarket carrier bags will easily fit.

Flitting from place to place in the Swift again highlighted its surprisingly supple ride, especially as we are facing some of the worst conditions UK roads have ever been in. The Swift feels occasionally a little over sprung, but when up to speed it does a great job of filtering out pockmarked surfaces.

The Swift heads home next month, I’ll need to think of something suitably fitting to reward what has been a great long term testing stint.

Mileage 11,009
Arrived 6th September 2022
Price when new £22,570
Price as tested £22,570
Economy 50.4mpg (combined) 47.4mpg (on test)
Costs None Faults None