I share an ownership review with the owner of this 2018 Suzuki Swift Sport Suzuki Swift Sport Driving Impressions: • Why Buy A Suzuki Swift... #suzuki #swiftsport
Ok, on listening to you both speak about the car. I can only disagree with a lot of what I am hearing. In a nice way of course! Anyway, I've owned from new, both the 2018 Suzuki Swift Sport (turbo), and from new, a 2016 normally aspirated Swift Sport. The 2016 NA car cost me £13,400. The 2018 car cost me £16,500. Your man is quite right. The car initially went on sale for £17,999. But if you ordered the car in the first month of sale (June), you got an extra £1,500 off the price. I took advantage of that of course. My 2018 Sport was delivered on the 4th August 2018. I've now since owned it for 5 years - and it has just over 36K miles on the clock. The previous Swift Sport was owned for 3 years and 22K miles - for a time I had both cars on my driveway. I've heard lots of people say that they think the old NA car is more fun than the newer turbo car, but having owned both - and driven both in anger, I don't believe that is the case at all. I think the newer car is more fun. Why? For a start, it is considerably faster - especially in gear acceleration. Handling and agility is much improved in the newer car as well. The NA car didn't give me confidence to slide around a corner at 80 MPH. The newer car is supremely confident at 80+ MPH cornering. Roundabouts are a riot in a Swift Sport. You can use throttle up / lift throttle around a roundabout at speed and feel the neutrality of the car as it slides between axles. Both models are quick cornering cars - but the turbo car is even quicker. Suzuki did a lot of work on the suspension to improve the relationship of tyre and tarmac in the new car... and it shows. The new car is approx around 75Kg lighter than the old car - front end agility is a step up as well. Like an Alpine A110, you don't need stiff suspension when you are light weight. In fact, in the UK, it is desired to have a car that is supple / compliant enough to attack our back roads at speed. Seemingly stiffer cars just end up too fidjety on a poorly surfaced back road and actually make the driver compromise their progress by slowing down to allow the car to settle. The car feels more refined, not because it is soft (it's actually stiffer than the old Sport), but because Suzuki did a lot of work specifically on the chassis. It is my opinion that you didn't corner the car hard enough to get into the handling envelope. If you had done - you would have instantly thrown the 'not as much fun as an Up! GTI' out of the window. The Swift Sport is superbly neutral. The transistion of a power understeer front end slide to a slide at the rear via weight transfer is sublime (lift of oversteer). Also, the car has ESP / disc brakes in the rear. If you demand too much steering angle at speed, the feeling of a 'phantom rope' pulling the car sideways becomes evident from behind the wheel - almost like a 'get out of jail free' card. You're pushing the limits of grip during a corner, and just when you think you're running out of road - the ESP tightens the line and adjusts the cars attitude to get you facing in the direction that is demanded of the steering. All of this means you can drive the Swift Sport incredibly fast down ANY back road - no matter how poor the surface is. I've had dicings with MK7 and MK8 Fiesta ST's in such scenario's. They are no quicker down a typical UK 'B' road, and I've also had fun with much more expensive / more powerful cars. None of which has ever managed to make any real distance between them and the scrappy little 1.4 litre turbo Swift Sport. Also of note - put Esso Super Unleaded 99 in the tank for an instant performance boost. The Swift Sport has an adaptive ECU - and makes extra horsepower when used with Esso's best brew. But, don't put Shell V-Power in the tank. I'm not sure why - but Shell V-Power makes the power drop off in my car compared to Esso's brew. Anyway, to summarise - the Swift Sport is not the fastest car I've owned, but it certainly is the fastest point to point car I've owned. That suppleness / compliancy / low weight cannot be over-stated, that is what allows this car to tackle the most poorly surfaced back roads in the UK at speeds most heavier performance cars dare tackle. There are countless videos on CZcams demonstrating how a lowly Swift Sport manages to keep up with much more expensive metal. This car is heavily underrated. To the owner of the Swift Sport in your video. Keep it for as long as you can, and continue to explore the hidden talents in the Sport's chassis. I guarantee you that the first time you start exploring the handling envelope at the edge of grip - you will truly see the light on what this little car is capable of. Enjoy!
Great stuff. I'm the owner in the clip and I really do like my Swift Sport and plan on keeping it until it reaches its 12th birthday at the very least. I'm pontificating in the clip about whether the previous gen is a better long term bet because there's less to go wrong/less expensive maintenance. Interesting what you say about the fuel. I ran my ZC33S exclusively on premium (super unleaded) fuels for my first 2 years of ownership including 2 loads of Esso Supreme 99+ but can't honestly detect any difference between this and the Esso E10 fuel I've used for last two tanks 🙌
You don't need to post this to every video you see. It's great that you enjoy your car but you seem to be very insecure. Do your mates tease you for having a girls car or something?
@@BobFlocker I grew up when small, lightweight hot hatches were all the rage. I progressed into heavier metal - I've had 3x V8 cars (2x sports cars, 1x GT) in my time. Trust me, I'm not insecure about my choice of wheels. Having experienced a broad range of cars over the years - I know what's fun and what isn't. I don't care what people think about my car. I drive it by choice - because I like it. I don't give a stuff what other people think. But, if you think it's a 'girls' car - that's up to you. All I know, is that the Swift Sport can humble far more powerful metal - I have real world experience of this. I'm enthusiastic about the car, yes - even after 7 years of Swift Sport ownership across 2 models. I still find it very good fun to drive - all the time. A 'rag it all day' bullet-proof engine just adds to the real world fun available from this car. Not a lot, to not like in my opinion.
@MrZekToR you clearly care because you replied. As I said it's good that you enjoy your car. There's no need to be so insecure though. Get some self respect mate.
Hey Sam, was great meeting you. In case anyone was interested about 16:30 - 16:42 Suzuki agreed to repair this under warranty 🙌 Always great to see a manufacturer stand behind their (older) product in this way.
That is great to know and I am glad Suzuki are sorting the issue. As a brand it shows a lot and they all seem very friendly from my experience with Suzuki's press team yesterday and it is great to hear you are getting the same service as an owner 👍
Suzuki were World Junior Rally Champions several years ago with the first gen Swift, and then tried to up grade to full WRC with not very good results, and then sadly gave up. CTC have found if you run that Swift on 98 octane and you with get around 150bhp.
They are clearly great little cars but at £23K to £24K when new, they are up against some conspicuous opposition …. many small cross-overs and even the Hyundai i20N is only £2K more and equally well kitted out as standard. Sadly the whole sector of spirited hatches is somewhat diminished
Thank you! From speaking with the owner it has run well for them so no reason why it should not be great in the long term if well looked after / serviced regularly 👍
Hi, nice video. How its going nowadays? any problems with the car you can tell us? Does it have carbon build up, did you check it? How can you prevent it? Every 7500miles an oil change i guess.
Thank you for the positive feedback. Other than the boot not holding open the owner has not mentioned anything further in terms of problems with the car to me 👍
No other problems so far apart from wheel alignment needed following a tyre puncture. It might need it's ADAS recalibrated as a result but we'll see. Yes it almost certainly has carbon build up on the valves and pistons but the car is not running rough and I've not checked specifically for it, but other owners report it as having occurred at lower mileages than mine (which is on 34K at present). Carbon build up looks like it's checked at Suzuki's 12 year service on my car. Car does about 3,000 miles a year and is serviced annually. Hope this helps.
@@shahzadayub7191so your the owner of this little white pocket rocket? It helps for sure, i consider myself to buy the Hybrid version but the only problem which holds me back is the carbon build up. Where did you get these informations about other Swift Sport drivers where its occured? In a forum or at your dealer? If its a check which comes at the 12 year service first, how could they detect the problems. And what did they against it, walnut cleaning?
@@born_hard9705 Thank you. Yes I am. The short answer is I wouldn't let carbon build up put you off buying the car. It has a 7 year/100K miles manufacturers warranty - only Toyota gives you more - provided it has a qualifying service at a main dealer. It also has a 12 year unlimited mileage anti corrosion warranty. The Swift Sport was ran for 100K miles by Auto Bild (Google it) and came joint 8th best out of 119 long term test car's they've ran. (Ford Fiesta with a 1.0 litre ecoboost engine was dead last I think). Carbon build up happens on all direct injection engines. It is inescapable sadly as the gunk generated is not allowed to be vented into the atmosphere, so it sticks inside the engine. Most manufacturers use direct injection engines in order to meet emission requirements. So unless you're buying something fairly exotic, something very new with dual injection or quite old you'll have the same "problem" whatever you buy regrettably. That said even at very high mileages I doubt the deposits rob the engine of that much power or smoothness, certainly not noticeably. You won't feel 10 or 15 horsepower loss on the road (if that) in respect of a car producing more than 10 times that amount in my car's case (154 PS). Sam 's Golf R has 50k odd miles on it, must have carbon build up in the engine and it still flies. Same with my mom's 2016 MX5 with 80K miles on it which she has had from new. So on the Owners Club forum there's a hyperlink to a Japanese website where the owner uploads pictures of the Swift Sports engine showing carbon build up after 17K miles. Not sure what they did but they said an oil catch can from a reputable company did not work. Walnut blasting is the way to go. You could have the carbon build up inspected by a Suzuki dealership sooner in the UK if you wish to pay extra or opt for the major service for 7+ year old cars (299 GBP) as valve clearances are checked as part of that service. The issue with that is it is not a qualifying service for the purposes of extending the warranty to the 7 year mark. Due to service schedule on my car this will coincide with its 12 year/100K service, although in my car's case it'll have around 55 to 60K miles at that time, based on current projections. Hope this helps? Best wishes
I might have missed something but was the owners car a manual or auto? I have a manual sport with the 6 speed box. My previous car was a manual ignis which is 5 speed. I liked the ignis a lot and would still own it but I found it so underpowered it was dangerous going up hills while keeping up with traffic. I am however a big fan of Suzuki engines and gearboxes, not sure about 3 cylinder turbos. The best feature of the 1.4 turbo is the fantastic torque which gives you power in any gear. I don’t think it really needs the 6th gear.
Lucky this swift has a 4 cylinder motor with a 7 year/100K miles manufacturers mechanical warranty and a 12 year anti-corrosion guarantee from suzuki 🙌
Ok, on listening to you both speak about the car. I can only disagree with a lot of what I am hearing. In a nice way of course! Anyway, I've owned from new, both the 2018 Suzuki Swift Sport (turbo), and from new, a 2016 normally aspirated Swift Sport. The 2016 NA car cost me £13,400. The 2018 car cost me £16,500. Your man is quite right. The car initially went on sale for £17,999. But if you ordered the car in the first month of sale (June), you got an extra £1,500 off the price. I took advantage of that of course. My 2018 Sport was delivered on the 4th August 2018. I've now since owned it for 5 years - and it has just over 36K miles on the clock. The previous Swift Sport was owned for 3 years and 22K miles - for a time I had both cars on my driveway. I've heard lots of people say that they think the old NA car is more fun than the newer turbo car, but having owned both - and driven both in anger, I don't believe that is the case at all. I think the newer car is more fun. Why? For a start, it is considerably faster - especially in gear acceleration. Handling and agility is much improved in the newer car as well. The NA car didn't give me confidence to slide around a corner at 80 MPH. The newer car is supremely confident at 80+ MPH cornering. Roundabouts are a riot in a Swift Sport. You can use throttle up / lift throttle around a roundabout at speed and feel the neutrality of the car as it slides between axles. Both models are quick cornering cars - but the turbo car is even quicker. Suzuki did a lot of work on the suspension to improve the relationship of tyre and tarmac in the new car... and it shows. The new car is approx around 75Kg lighter than the old car - front end agility is a step up as well. Like an Alpine A110, you don't need stiff suspension when you are light weight. In fact, in the UK, it is desired to have a car that is supple / compliant enough to attack our back roads at speed. Seemingly stiffer cars just end up too fidjety on a poorly surfaced back road and actually make the driver compromise their progress by slowing down to allow the car to settle. The car feels more refined, not because it is soft (it's actually stiffer than the old Sport), but because Suzuki did a lot of work specifically on the chassis. It is my opinion that you didn't corner the car hard enough to get into the handling envelope. If you had done - you would have instantly thrown the 'not as much fun as an Up! GTI' out of the window. The Swift Sport is superbly neutral. The transistion of a power understeer front end slide to a slide at the rear via weight transfer is sublime (lift of oversteer). Also, the car has ESP / disc brakes in the rear. If you demand too much steering angle at speed, the feeling of a 'phantom rope' pulling the car sideways becomes evident from behind the wheel - almost like a 'get out of jail free' card. You're pushing the limits of grip during a corner, and just when you think you're running out of road - the ESP tightens the line and adjusts the cars attitude to get you facing in the direction that is demanded of the steering. All of this means you can drive the Swift Sport incredibly fast down ANY back road - no matter how poor the surface is. I've had dicings with MK7 and MK8 Fiesta ST's in such scenario's. They are no quicker down a typical UK 'B' road, and I've also had fun with much more expensive / more powerful cars. None of which has ever managed to make any real distance between them and the scrappy little 1.4 litre turbo Swift Sport. Also of note - put Esso Super Unleaded 99 in the tank for an instant performance boost. The Swift Sport has an adaptive ECU - and makes extra horsepower when used with Esso's best brew. But, don't put Shell V-Power in the tank. I'm not sure why - but Shell V-Power makes the power drop off in my car compared to Esso's brew. Anyway, to summarise - the Swift Sport is not the fastest car I've owned, but it certainly is the fastest point to point car I've owned. That suppleness / compliancy / low weight cannot be over-stated, that is what allows this car to tackle the most poorly surfaced back roads in the UK at speeds most heavier performance cars dare tackle. There are countless videos on CZcams demonstrating how a lowly Swift Sport manages to keep up with much more expensive metal. This car is heavily underrated. To the owner of the Swift Sport in your video. Keep it for as long as you can, and continue to explore the hidden talents in the Sport's chassis. I guarantee you that the first time you start exploring the handling envelope at the edge of grip - you will truly see the light on what this little car is capable of. Enjoy!
Great stuff. I'm the owner in the clip and I really do like my Swift Sport and plan on keeping it until it reaches its 12th birthday at the very least. I'm pontificating in the clip about whether the previous gen is a better long term bet because there's less to go wrong/less expensive maintenance. Interesting what you say about the fuel. I ran my ZC33S exclusively on premium (super unleaded) fuels for my first 2 years of ownership including 2 loads of Esso Supreme 99+ but can't honestly detect any difference between this and the Esso E10 fuel I've used for last two tanks 🙌
You don't need to post this to every video you see. It's great that you enjoy your car but you seem to be very insecure. Do your mates tease you for having a girls car or something?
@@BobFlocker I grew up when small, lightweight hot hatches were all the rage. I progressed into heavier metal - I've had 3x V8 cars (2x sports cars, 1x GT) in my time. Trust me, I'm not insecure about my choice of wheels. Having experienced a broad range of cars over the years - I know what's fun and what isn't. I don't care what people think about my car. I drive it by choice - because I like it. I don't give a stuff what other people think. But, if you think it's a 'girls' car - that's up to you. All I know, is that the Swift Sport can humble far more powerful metal - I have real world experience of this. I'm enthusiastic about the car, yes - even after 7 years of Swift Sport ownership across 2 models. I still find it very good fun to drive - all the time. A 'rag it all day' bullet-proof engine just adds to the real world fun available from this car. Not a lot, to not like in my opinion.
@MrZekToR you clearly care because you replied. As I said it's good that you enjoy your car. There's no need to be so insecure though. Get some self respect mate.
@@BobFlocker LOL. I'm not insecure - but perhaps you are, are you trying to self-validate your own insecurities? Haha.
Hey Sam, was great meeting you. In case anyone was interested about 16:30 - 16:42 Suzuki agreed to repair this under warranty 🙌 Always great to see a manufacturer stand behind their (older) product in this way.
That is great to know and I am glad Suzuki are sorting the issue. As a brand it shows a lot and they all seem very friendly from my experience with Suzuki's press team yesterday and it is great to hear you are getting the same service as an owner 👍
There are people who upgraded the turbo to the point the engine produced beyond 200 HP so there's a LOT of potential in this platform.
Yes tuning potential from a turbo is definately a plus side over the n/a version 👍
There’s about 40 staff at my work and i can think of 6 with Suzuki swifts (2 sport). interested to see what they’re like lol
Yep they are well worth trying out 👍
Suzuki were World Junior Rally Champions several years ago with the first gen Swift, and then tried to up grade to full WRC with not very good results, and then sadly gave up.
CTC have found if you run that Swift on 98 octane and you with get around 150bhp.
They are clearly great little cars but at £23K to £24K when new, they are up against some conspicuous opposition …. many small cross-overs and even the Hyundai i20N is only £2K more and equally well kitted out as standard. Sadly the whole sector of spirited hatches is somewhat diminished
It's a very good point. I would like the price to be more competitive on these 🤔
Great owners review!
Will this car be reliable in the long term?
Being a direct-injection turbo engine
or should you consider the n/a 4cyl engine ?
Thank you! From speaking with the owner it has run well for them so no reason why it should not be great in the long term if well looked after / serviced regularly 👍
Hi, nice video. How its going nowadays? any problems with the car you can tell us? Does it have carbon build up, did you check it? How can you prevent it? Every 7500miles an oil change i guess.
Thank you for the positive feedback. Other than the boot not holding open the owner has not mentioned anything further in terms of problems with the car to me 👍
No other problems so far apart from wheel alignment needed following a tyre puncture. It might need it's ADAS recalibrated as a result but we'll see. Yes it almost certainly has carbon build up on the valves and pistons but the car is not running rough and I've not checked specifically for it, but other owners report it as having occurred at lower mileages than mine (which is on 34K at present). Carbon build up looks like it's checked at Suzuki's 12 year service on my car. Car does about 3,000 miles a year and is serviced annually. Hope this helps.
@@shahzadayub7191so your the owner of this little white pocket rocket? It helps for sure, i consider myself to buy the Hybrid version but the only problem which holds me back is the carbon build up. Where did you get these informations about other Swift Sport drivers where its occured? In a forum or at your dealer? If its a check which comes at the 12 year service first, how could they detect the problems. And what did they against it, walnut cleaning?
@@born_hard9705 Thank you. Yes I am.
The short answer is I wouldn't let carbon build up put you off buying the car. It has a 7 year/100K miles manufacturers warranty - only Toyota gives you more - provided it has a qualifying service at a main dealer. It also has a 12 year unlimited mileage anti corrosion warranty. The Swift Sport was ran for 100K miles by Auto Bild (Google it) and came joint 8th best out of 119 long term test car's they've ran. (Ford Fiesta with a 1.0 litre ecoboost engine was dead last I think).
Carbon build up happens on all direct injection engines. It is inescapable sadly as the gunk generated is not allowed to be vented into the atmosphere, so it sticks inside the engine.
Most manufacturers use direct injection engines in order to meet emission requirements. So unless you're buying something fairly exotic, something very new with dual injection or quite old you'll have the same "problem" whatever you buy regrettably.
That said even at very high mileages I doubt the deposits rob the engine of that much power or smoothness, certainly not noticeably. You won't feel 10 or 15 horsepower loss on the road (if that) in respect of a car producing more than 10 times that amount in my car's case (154 PS). Sam 's Golf R has 50k odd miles on it, must have carbon build up in the engine and it still flies. Same with my mom's 2016 MX5 with 80K miles on it which she has had from new.
So on the Owners Club forum there's a hyperlink to a Japanese website where the owner uploads pictures of the Swift Sports engine showing carbon build up after 17K miles. Not sure what they did but they said an oil catch can from a reputable company did not work. Walnut blasting is the way to go.
You could have the carbon build up inspected by a Suzuki dealership sooner in the UK if you wish to pay extra or opt for the major service for 7+ year old cars (299 GBP) as valve clearances are checked as part of that service. The issue with that is it is not a qualifying service for the purposes of extending the warranty to the 7 year mark. Due to service schedule on my car this will coincide with its 12 year/100K service, although in my car's case it'll have around 55 to 60K miles at that time, based on current projections.
Hope this helps?
Best wishes
I might have missed something but was the owners car a manual or auto? I have a manual sport with the 6 speed box. My previous car was a manual ignis which is 5 speed. I liked the ignis a lot and would still own it but I found it so underpowered it was dangerous going up hills while keeping up with traffic. I am however a big fan of Suzuki engines and gearboxes, not sure about 3 cylinder turbos. The best feature of the 1.4 turbo is the fantastic torque which gives you power in any gear. I don’t think it really needs the 6th gear.
Manual transmission. Available in auto in some markets, but not in the UK in sport guise 👍
Wouldn’t touch a VW unless I could sell it three years later before all the problems start for the same money I paid for it.
3 cylinders Direct injection and turbo do not have long life spans. The disposable vehicle.
Lucky this swift has a 4 cylinder motor with a 7 year/100K miles manufacturers mechanical warranty and a 12 year anti-corrosion guarantee from suzuki 🙌