Review: Suzuki Swift Sport 2018

In this digital age, when lines are blurring between technologies and lifestyles, the dashboard of the new Swift is a perfect illustration of where we are and what this car is meant to be.

The message centre displays everything from lateral acceleration to the turbo boost, and some graphs displaying power and torque being developed. It’s fun, frivolous almost, yet it’s the sort of stuff you’d only see on serious competition cars not that long ago.

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That sets the scene for the new Swift Sport, which we’ll see on these shores next spring. It certainly gets the ball rolling swiftly with a new platform that is both stiffer and lighter than before. There’s only 970kg to haul around, so the relatively modest power of 138bhp is more than enough to generate some instant go. But that’s not the best bit.

The engine is smaller, taking the well-worn route of replacing the 1.6-litre naturally aspirated petrol unit with a smaller turbocharged unit. The 1.4-litre Boosterjet is one we’ve seen in the Vitara S, and the clear advantage is a torque figure that has leapt from 110lb ft to 162lb ft.

There’s plenty of poke to haul this lightweight around with real vigour, yet you get the added bonus of some decent midrange, which wasn’t always the forte with this supermini. The handling is properly rollerskate agile and nippy. The well-weighted steering allows you to crank the car around a series of bends with real attack-speed, and grip levels are high even if the body does eventually succumb to some lean angles.

This new model is 80kg lighter than before, and that gives the engine an easy ride. The six-speed manual box stirs things with vigour, although there’s a slightly rubbery feel to the change itself.

The surprise is that all that fun is underpinned by a broad range of safety technology. There’s autonomous emergency braking, lane correction, a sleepy monitor, radar cruise control and advanced forward pedestrian detection. You’ll want some of that, like the lane correction, switched off if you want to play the hooligan, but even if you do this isn’t a car that wants to oversteer much or get too out of shape. It’s fun, but fun within vaguely sensible limits, and possibly none the worse for that.

Certainly those in the cabin will feel reassured that any hooligan tendencies are being monitored and kept under control. The cabin itself is a Suzuki one, so it’s not exactly luxurious but everything seems well screwed together and there’s an abundance of hard materials of decent quality, which seems to be replacing soft-touch plastics these days.

And of course it feels quite fun in there with the dashboard keeping you diverted, and with flashes of colour around the interior. The seats keep you firmly in place while the ride quality itself is not exactly cosseting – that would be too much to ask – but it’s pretty good for a car with this much verve.

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Along with all that safety tech, there is a good assortment of standard equipment, including a 7in infotainment touchscreen (Apple CarPlay, MirrorLink and Android Auto ready), plus climate control, a reversing camera and more.

This is more than it seems. It is indeed a Swift Sport and it lives up to both those names. It’s still fun, only now it manages to deliver that fun in a slightly more mature way. With the light weight comes great handling and vigour, yet there’s more midrange and a calm ability to cruise when needed.

Underneath there is an impressive array of safety equipment and standard equipment that would put many more sensible cars to shame. And prices – yet to be confirmed – will probably start around £14,500.

If you’re looking for a slightly old-school hot hatch but one with all the positive attributes of a maturing character, then Suzuki’s Swift Sport would be worth a detailed look when it comes on sale next April.

Suzuki Swift Sport 2018

Graham Scott is a writer for AutoCar