The Old Suzuki Swift Sport Is Now A £4750 Big-Fun Bargain

You don't need loads of power to have loads of fun, and early versions of the fantastic second-generation Swift Sport have dropped below £5000
The Old Suzuki Swift Sport Is Now A £4750 Big-Fun Bargain

The new Suzuki Swift Sport is upon us, and while the other Matt wasn’t blown away by it, I’m probably the world’s biggest fan of the old one. That tiny footprint with wheels far out in the corners, sharp steering and light weight made it more chuckable than a tennis ball.

Its engine was a peach, too - a fizzy and characterful 1.6-litre normally-aspirated four-pot with 134bhp. It was the throttle response I always loved first and foremost: massage the right-hand pedal and it would leap forward like a big, daft puppy who’s seen a rabbit.

The Old Suzuki Swift Sport Is Now A £4750 Big-Fun Bargain

It was a car that made you laugh, that made you forgive it for its scratchy plastics and that made you love it – at least it did once you got over your automatic desire for more straight-line speed. With so relatively little power on tap you could often find space to go flat-out, slinging that zingy little engine all the way to the redline again and again.

You felt like you sat on that roller-skate profile rather than in it, but the way it went around corners was incredible, even on relatively narrow 195-section rubber. It was a car that brought the best out of good tyres, the body leaning just enough to help communicate what was going on throughout the chassis. I loved it. I still love it. I’d buy one. Team CT of yesteryear even ran one for a few months.

The Old Suzuki Swift Sport Is Now A £4750 Big-Fun Bargain

A quick hunt around the classifieds shows that this 2012-2018 generation is starting to drop below £5000. Priced at under £14,000 for the three-door when it was new, it’s an exercise in minimal depreciation. Losing £1500 a year in value may not seem great, but some executive saloons almost lose that every month in their first year on the road.

Anyway, the cheapest we found was this one, at £4750. Black wouldn’t be our first choice but this 2012 three-door has a reasonable-sounding 90,000 miles behind it. There looks to be a little minor kerbing to one or two of the wheels, but the Falken tyres are A-rated for wet grip. At least, the identical ones in a different size on Dave the Octavia are.

The Old Suzuki Swift Sport Is Now A £4750 Big-Fun Bargain

The trader selling the car hasn’t troubled to clean the seats up, so they need a good seeing-to with upholstery cleaner. The paint could no doubt use a machine polish and then a few coats of a seriously expensive wax.

But this looks, essentially, like a promising little hatchback that could give you tonnes of fun whether you’re driving it to college and back, or stepping out on a sunny, summer weekend morning for a blast. With 10 months’ MOT left and no advisories to worry about, what’s not to like?

Comments

Hawkoga

I’d rather buy a MK3 Fiesta ST for less to be honest.

04/22/2018 - 07:29 |
24 | 2
Freddie Skeates

In reply to by Hawkoga

“Mk3” “ST” pick one

04/22/2018 - 07:47 |
14 | 0
Anonymous

Or just buy a type r

04/22/2018 - 08:45 |
0 | 0
Alexander LHeureux

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Finding a good type r that hasn’t been beaten in that price range is hard in Europe from my endless searches. Best luck for a cheap sporty Honda here is a Prelude or CRX del Sol

04/22/2018 - 09:51 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

b-but muh reputation!

04/22/2018 - 22:38 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

i would take an e39 525d,163hp 350nm tq,way more comfortable and fun to drive and also pretty fuel efficient

04/22/2018 - 11:04 |
4 | 22
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

When I saw this comment I knew you were romanian. This is about hot hatches not big ass whales like the 5 series…. Asa-i romanu, numai BMW.

04/22/2018 - 13:29 |
8 | 0
Foxx

a fieSTa would be a bit better straight line, but a swift is correctly named, while you don’t throw a fiesta when you are really heavy.

04/22/2018 - 23:56 |
0 | 0
NotARealRoadTest

THinking of getting this generation of Swift, after giving back my faulty Lexus. I’m so surprised the Swift Sport is only insurance group 19!

04/23/2018 - 13:37 |
0 | 0
Zonda Man (Full Send Squad)

And then insurance rapes you. You should do more reviews on low insurance cars that you can have fun in

04/23/2018 - 14:21 |
6 | 0

Insurance is pretty high for swift sports, I was quoted 2.1k for a 2007 swift sport!

04/23/2018 - 15:29 |
0 | 0
Paul Beckman (slowtsx)

I would buy it and then ship it into the States

04/25/2018 - 21:22 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Yea, but you will be in a Suzuki…a small Suzuki.

04/26/2018 - 16:23 |
0 | 0

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