SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


When Suzuki Auto SA announced its 2012 Swift Sport recently, we were there to drive it

Pics supplied

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday July 4, 2012

This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a prepared course chosen to make the product look good. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.

More power, more doors, fewer emissions

Just over a year ago, Suzuki gave fans of the brand “More Swift” in the form of more standard B-segment hatchback for their money. This year, the catch phrase could well be “More Sport” as magic is worked on the company’s little 1600 cc asphalt burner too.

Apart from cosmetic details like new rear lights and diffuser, new side sills, new frontal appearance including lights and fog lamps, the grille and air intakes have been reworked and enlarged as well. New alloy wheels are shod with 195/50 R16 rubber rather than the 195/45 R17 tyres of old.

The cabin has been made over with hairline chrome instrument panel decorations and eye-catching red-stitched accents on the leather steering wheel, sporty cloth seats and gear lever sock. Stainless steel pedals and a chronograph-style meter cluster enhance it further. The metallic rings around the meters are thicker than those in the regular Swift while another one surrounds the multi-function display. The front seats are based on those of the standard car, but with added support built into the seat frames and complemented by exclusive upholstery with red-embroidered “Sport” logos.

It was decided to bring in the five-door Japanese-built Swift Sport rather than the three-door European car we had previously. Diehard fans may howl, but five doors are way more user-friendly. Who wants to get out of the car every time one of the brood needs to clamber aboard or disembark, and have you ever tried to sell a used three-door? We have and our experience is that it’s almost impossible, because you cut your pool of potential buyers down to almost nil.

It’s not all cosmetic, of course. It’s what’s under the skin that counts and there’s plenty of change where it matters. The new Swift Sport sits 10mm closer to the road than the previous generation, resulting in improved and more composed handling. Bigger rear suspension trailing arms, stronger connections to the hub carriers, improved torsion beam bushings and larger rear wheel bearings improve steering response and cornering stability.

Front and rear Monroe shock absorbers have stronger damper coils while front struts have internal rebound springs for better roll stiffness without sacrificing ride comfort. The steering gearbox and suspension frame have more rigid mountings and front wheel bearings are bigger. Together with other enhancements, these result in better overall yaw response.

The body incorporates more high-tensile steel than in the previous Swift Sport. Its reinforcements reflect the benefits of computer-aided optimisation, as the new vehicle is both light and very rigid. Although the new car boasts more equipment than previously, it is 30kg lighter, resulting in better handling and lower fuel consumption.

You want more? The M16A engine remains much the same, but power and torque are up by nine percent and eight percent respectively, increasing to 100 kW and 160 Nm. Fuel economy improves from 7,0 l/100 km to 6,5 and emissions go down by eight percent to 153 gm/km. Sprint time to 100 km/h goes down from 8,9 seconds to 8,7 but maximum speed declines from a claimed 200 km/h to 195. More? You don’t let up, do you? How about a six-speed gearbox to replace the old five-cog unit? That’s enough, now. What stays the same is all the equipment and safety kit the old one had.

That includes six airbags, ABS with EBD and EBA, two ISOFix anchorages and three child seat tethers, ESP, on board computer, powered windows and mirrors, HID headlamps with washers and automatic levelling, keyless starting and front and rear fog lamps. Differences include air conditioning that is now automatic and fitted with pollen-filtration, and indicator repeaters in the wing mirrors. Boot size has increased slightly from 201 litres with the seat backs up and 494 with them folded, to 210 and 533 litres.

The ride and drive session revealed willing performance with top gear biased toward economy, a smooth and positive gearbox, excellent road behaviour and ride quality that is a little softer and more compliant than many of its peers. Interior storage spaces are also more generous than on quite a few others. We think we may want one.

The numbers
Price: R213 900
Engine: 1586 cc, 16-valve VVT, four-cylinder
Power: 100 kW at 6900 rpm
Torque: 160 Nm at 4400 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 8,7 seconds
Maximum speed: 195 km/h
Eurotest fuel consumption: 6,5 l/100 km
Tank: 42 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km with AA roadside assistance
Service plan: 4 years/60 000 km

For our review of this car, click here



What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.

What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police. Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so I do actually exist.

I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

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