Item: Used Suzuki Ignis Hatchback 2016-present
Rating: 3
Author: What Car? Team

If it’s a city car you’re after, check out the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/volkswagen/up/hatchback/used-review/n794">Volkswagen Up</a>. It lacks the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/make/suzuki">Suzuki</a>’s quirky character, but in place of that you get a grown-up feeling car with a high-quality interior and smart styling.

Alternatively, there’s the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/hyundai/i10/hatchback/used-review/n820">Hyundai i10</a>, which is almost as spacious as the Ignis and just as well equipped, but comes with a longer warranty – and it doesn’t cost anywhere near as much to buy.

Or, if it’s an SUV you’re after, why not try the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/citroen/c4-cactus/hatchback/used-review/n828">Citroen C4 Cactus</a>? True, you don’t get the option of four-wheel drive, but you do get more space than the Ignis, and the styling is just as eye-catching.

However, if four-wheel drive is a must, the most viable alternative is the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/dacia/duster/4x4/review/n67">Dacia Duster</a>. It isn’t as good to drive as the Ignis, though, and neither is it any cheaper to buy, but you do get a little more space inside.

<a href="http://www.whatcar.com/classifieds/used-cars/suzuki/ignis">Find a used Suzuki Ignis in the What Car? Classifieds here</a>

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What is it like?

Ownership cost

Advice for buyers

Our recommendations

Alternatives

Unfortunately, the Ignis is still too new for it to have featured in any of our Reliability Surveys, but Suzuki as a manufacturer earned an impressive rating of 86.6%, which meant it finished in fourth place overall out of 32 manufacturers.

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Hatchback

Suzuki is well known as a motorcycle manufacturer, but the car brand has been enjoying decent success in recent years, thanks to a line-up of neat, well-equipped and keenly priced models.

Its expertise focuses on smaller cars, although its high-riding SUV range is also hugely credible, especially the Ignis and Vitara, which are both rated highly by What Car?’s testers and which have enjoyed success at the What Car? Awards as a result.

Well priced, decent to drive and full of useful tech, Suzuki’s cars also generally stand out for delivering good fuel economy. The Ignis, Celerio and Baleno have all stood head and shoulders above the competition during our True MPG testing.

SUZUKI

IGNIS

A characterful city car, and about the only option if you need four-wheel drive in a car of this size – but there are quieter, more comfortable and better quality options out there

Used Suzuki Ignis Hatchback 2016-present

Not a great deal. No matter which model of Ignis you choose, fuel economy doesn’t drop below a combined average of 60mpg in official tests, with the most efficient variant, the SHVS, getting more than 65mpg. That's certainly on a par with most rivals, though the most efficient versions of the Volkswagen Up are even more frugal on paper. However where the Ignis really scores is out on the road, where it gets incredibly close to those figures, and that's rare in this day and age. Indeed, in 2018, we gave it our True MPG award, for the car that got closest to its official figures in our real-world tests.

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A characterful city car, and about the only option if you need four-wheel drive in a car of this size – but there are quieter, more comfortable and better quality options out there 

The <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/make/suzuki">Suzuki</a> Ignis is still relatively new, which means prices are still somewhat in flux and those of the earliest cars still haven’t settled down. Nevertheless, at the time of writing, prices start at around £8000 for the earliest, most basic cars. That means the Ignis is more expensive to buy than most of its rivals – even the Volkswagen Up, which is one of the more costly city cars, is cheaper.

A small range makes picking the perfect <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/make/suzuki">Suzuki</a> Ignis relatively easy. We wouldn’t bother with the additional cost, complexity and limited boot space of the SHVS when the standard 1.2-litre is so frugal, so the latter’s the one we’d choose. And we reckon SZ-T offers the best blend of equipment and value; handily, it’s also the most popular version of the Ignis, which means it’ll be the easiest to find.

Our favourite Suzuki Ignis: 1.2 Dualjet SZ-T

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<h2>What we're looking for:</h2><ul><li>Clever interior space </li> <li>Quiet and comfortable ride </li> <li>Good visibility </li> <li>Plenty of safety tech </li> <li>Low running costs </li> <li>Outstanding value for money</li></ul>

City cars are all about diminutive size and manoeuvrability because they invariably spend most of their time on our increasingly crowded urban streets.

They do need to be big enough for a couple of adults, with back seats that’ll suffice for occasional use by people – or as a dumping ground for a couple of large shopping bags – but they must also be small enough to nip in and out of traffic, and squeeze into tight parking spaces.

Out-and-out acceleration isn’t crucial, but there must be enough oomph in the lower gears to scoot into gaps that appear in the traffic. Running costs should be low, too.

Fortunately there’s never been a better line-up of city cars on offer. Kia's Picanto mixes a neat, functional interior with tidy handling and a surprisingly big boot, while the Skoda Citigo and Suzuki Celerio are cheaper and even more frugal.

City

The <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/make/suzuki">Suzuki</a> Ignis is still a fairly new model, so it should come as no surprise that we haven’t heard of any major issues to be concerned about yet. Hopefully that will continue to be the case, but you should still check any Ignis over to make sure everything works. Check, too, that the interior’s still in good condition – with the cheap materials and plain surfaces used throughout, the Ignis’s interior is easy to damage and mark, especially if it’s had heavy family use. In SHVS models, cycle through the information display on the dashboard to show the level of hybrid battery charge on your test drive, and make sure it’s still charging up as you slow down in traffic.

Cast your mind back to your elementary Latin lesson, and you’ll no doubt remember that ‘ignis’ is the word for ‘fire’. A bold name for a car, you might think – but rather than a comment on its flammability, the Suzuki Ignis is so-named because its maker would like to think it’ll set your heart alight.

That’s the intention of the deliberately head-turning styling, anyway. From its big, googly eyes to its wide stance and angular, chopped-off tail, the Ignis stands out in any crowd. And that’s good, because it has two crowds in which to mix: it’s priced and sized in contention with city carssuch as the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/volkswagen/up/hatchback/used-review/n794">Volkswagen Up</a> and <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/kia/picanto/hatchback/used-review/n926">Kia Picanto</a>, and yet its high-riding stance and the option of four-wheel drive mean it has the feel of a diminutive SUV a shade below the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/dacia/duster/4x4/review/n67">Dacia Duster</a> and <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/citroen/c4-cactus/hatchback/used-review/n828">Citroen C4 Cactus</a> in size.

You get a choice of two petrol engines – well, to be more precise, it’s just the one option, a 1.2-litre petrol, but you can choose to have it either with or without assistance from a very small electric motor, making it a mild hybrid, which Suzuki calls SHVS. The model range starts with the SZ3 version, which has the basics but little else, but moves up through the SZ-T and SZ5 versions, which are more generous. There’s also a rufty-tufty Adventure version, based on the SZ-T, with chunky body styling and side stripes making this Ignis even more extrovert.

The Ignis is quite an appealing thing inside, too. With its two-tone colour scheme and attractive lines, the dashboard is more interesting than many city cars’. True, it’s built out of hard, cheap-feeling plastics, but crucially the bits you touch regularly, such as the indicator stalks and switchgear, feel high-quality. Shame about the aftermarket touchscreen system fitted to SZ-T and SZ5 versions, though; it’s fiddly, complicated and none too easy on the eye.

Happily, there’s a useful amount of space in the Ignis, with seating for four adults perfectly feasible – a rarity in a car this small – and the boot’s a practical size too. Keep in mind that the SHVS has a smaller boot, though, as that’s where Suzuki’s had to find space for the extra electrical gubbins.

So what’s the Ignis like to drive? Well, a mixed bag, to be honest. There are some good bits here – for example, both engine options feel eager and keen to rev, which makes the Ignis feel perky around town. They sound good, too. Meanwhile, good control of body lean and impressive grip make it agile in corners, despite its high-sided stance, and in the four-wheel-drive version, you can tackle muddy fields and slippery hills in confidence. And over larger bumps, the soft suspension cushions you rather well.

The trouble is, smaller bumps and potholes on town roads pose the Ignis a problem, as it jitters and fumbles over them. Other issues include the vague steering, which takes the shine off your fun in corners, and the wind and road noise, which build up at high speed, making long journeys rather tiresome. On the whole, though, while flawed, the Ignis is a characterful little car to drive.

<a href="http://www.whatcar.com/classifieds/used-cars/suzuki/ignis">Find a used Suzuki Ignis in the What Car? Classifieds here</a>

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Used Suzuki Ignis Hatchback 2016-present review

Alternatives

What alternatives should I consider to a used Suzuki Ignis hatchback?