USED Suzuki Swift Hatchback (05 - 12)

My car

I have owned this car since Sept 2005 and so far it is one of the best cars I have had. I love it's "cheeky" exterior coupled with a grown-up interior, and the spec ticks all the right boxes.

I average just over 50mpg, which is less than the official 61.4 combined figure, but I do mostly short A-road journeys - so you might be wondering why I bought the diesel in the first place. This was because of the excellent reputation of the Fiat MultiJet unit, and the flexibility & pulling power during a road test.

I have been unfortunate/fortunate enough to have had direct experience of the Suzuki Assistance program - the inlet manifold pressure (MAP) sensor failed after 6 months but within 3 hours the Swift had been transported to the nearest Suzuki dealer (who fixed it in 1 day) and there was a replacement hire car on my drive - and this was at the weekend - impressive.

I ran a '98 Merc E280 just before the Swift and honestly don't feel short-changed - only miss the cruise control & leather steering wheel from the Merc - I see, however, that you can now "accessorise" your Swift with a red & black leather steering wheel that retains the audio controls - hmmm, early birthday present to self ?!

In summary, great car and reassuring backup.

My car

I have owned this car for a week now, and have found the car to be fun to drive and easy to use.

The dash is nicely laid out and the car is very quiet on the motorway, but fuel consumtion is a little less desirable than expected - however, I assume that this will change when the engine wears in.

Overall it is a great little car.

My car

We love this car, but we have had two problems. One is an audio speaker rattle in the front doors. It was fixed in five minutes.

Also the 1.6 uses more petrol than I would like - a trade for speed, I guess. We will buy another Suzuki.

My car

The Swift is an award winning package. It has good looks, is technically advanced and well designed. It has everything you desire and is not nearly as expensive as its main rivals, such as the Mini, Volkswagen Polo, Seat Ibiza and Toyota Yaris. You will be hard pressed to find a bad report on the new Swift, so let me concentrate on two things not often mentioned in reviews.

I like the Automatic gearbox. The Swift is a new supermini which does not use the dreaded CVT. It has a conventional four-speed automatic gearbox that is well matched to the 1.5-litre engine. You can put it in drive and forget about it, or if you want, choose the gears manually. I love the way you can move with a light upward touch from drive to neutral at traffic lights.

I dont like the small type in red - men are much more likely to be colour blind than women. The problem colours are red and green. The trip computer and clock looks neat, and from a design point of view fits smartly into the clean-looking dash, but it is too small to read easily and is red.