Suzuki Swift Sport – Performance and 0-60 time
Far from a sprint star, getting to 62mph in 8.1 seconds for the 2018-2020 car and 9.1 seconds for the 2020-2024 hybrid
As you’d expect from a lightweight car with a torquey motor, the pre-hybrid Swift Sport accelerates with a glorious lack of inertia. There’s almost no lag and the car responds well, gathering speed with an impressive effortlessness. It feels fast too, pulling strongly and uncomplainingly from as little as 1500rpm.
Yet while the four-pot is smooth enough, it doesn’t really sound all that sporty. At start-up and low revs the Swift Sport's Boosterjet is muted and anodyne, while revving it harder elicits nothing more than a muted growl. It’s not unpleasant, but it’s not that inspiring either. Those familiar with the naturally-aspirated second-gen car will also miss its top end vivacity. There’s more performance everywhere in the new model, but like many forced induction motors there’s no real incentive to wring its neck, especially as the rev-limiter kicks in abruptly at just over 6000rpm. The upshot is that the Suzuki is more hushed at a cruise and more efficient, making it a far more grown-up and useful proposition as a daily driver than its predecessor.
The mild hybrid dropped power from 138bhp on launch to 127bhp, and the 0-62mph time to 9.1 seconds from 8.1sec, taking the on paper pace from lukewarm to the wrong side of tepid. But while 9.1 seconds to 62mph doesn’t sound quick, it feels faster than that, perhaps because peak torque increased to 173lb ft (up from 162) but then also, it’s that the 1.4-litre engine is augmented very slightly below 2000rpm with torque fill to add a little sense of urgency. That torque fill from the electric motor doesn’t offer a performance boost over the older Sport, but it does get the Swift off the line with an encouraging shove.
It’s not sluggish but it has lost the spark you’d want from one so small with a decent slug of power and torque at its disposal. The short gearing helps present a sporting appetite and constantly throwing gears at it gives the illusion that you’re whipping along nicely, but in reality you’re merely making progress.
