The Suzuki Swift Sport has been with us for a couple of years in its current form, and
in that time it's earnt the respect of many as a peppy, endearingly old-school hot hatch.
Last year, it gained the option of five-doors, but that hasn't affected its character, and
instead has only added a little extra practicality for those that need it - perhaps those with
a young family who aren't ready to give up on driving fun just yet. It's still a cheekily-styled
little box of fun, with its large headlights, gaping honeycomb grille, finned front fog
lights, and 17-inch alloy wheels with 45-profile tyres. The extra doors haven't corrupted the
Swift's basic shape, and it's the same length as its three-door brother, while the blackened
A- and B-pillars tie the side profile together nicely. The styling is finished off at the
rear with a bee-sting antenna, a fairly sizeable roof spoiler, and a pair of exhausts that
poke through a grey-coloured diffuser. The first thing you'll notice on climbing aboard
is the acres of headroom, and there's loads of adjustment for both the steering wheel
and the sports seats that also do an excellent job of holding you in place. The dashboard
is simply laid out, there's good storage in the glove box, door bins and centre console,
where there are also charging and USB ports for your phone. The instruments are clear,
the switchgear is where you'd expect it, and the chunky steering wheel finishes things
off nicely. It might not be the last word in interior design, but there's something
very honest about it all. There's no fuss to it. In the back, there's room for a couple
of six-footers - just - but if you're more likely to be ferrying kids about, there are
three proper seat-belts and a couple of ISOFIX mountings. The boot, as you'd expect, isn't
massive. You're looking at 211 litres of space back here, and although you can increase that
to 512 litres, the seats backs fold forward onto the bases where they still take up quite
a bit of space, and there's a high sill to negotiate, too. However, let's get some perspective
here - this isn't supposed to be an estate car. Power comes from Suzuki's 1.6-litre four-cylinder
petrol unit, and it produces a modest 134hp and 160Nm of torque. In an age of 200hp turbo
hot hatches, that might sound a little, well... boring. But Suzuki set out to deliberately
create an old-school fun-to-drive hot hatch, and its 8.7 second 0-62mph time shows you
that there's more to the Swift than its horsepower figures would suggest. On the move, the Swift
feels a little lethargic if you keep the revs below 4,000 or so. However, that makes it
docile around town and it's very forgiving of being left in the wrong gear. Speaking
of gears, the six-speed manual box has a light and easy-going shift action. Peak power is
developed just below 7,000rpm, and that means to get the best from it, you need to snick
down a ratio or two and work the engine harder. That is kind of what the Swift is all about,
though. You can't just amble along and then expect the engine to do everything for you
- you have to engage with the experience in the way we were used to with hot hatches before
turbocharging became a thing. It's the same with the handling - the Swift turns in sharply
with practically no body-roll, but the ride is on the sporty side of firm so there's a
definite purpose to it. It's never annoying, but there's no forgetting you're in the 'fun'
version. But then, that's the point. The Swift Sport is about having fun. It's no point-and-squirt
machine, it's a sporty little hatch that demands - and rewards - a little extra driver involvement.
It's just that now it's available as a five-door, you can bring the family along, too. Owning
one needn't trouble the family finances, though, with the five-door coming in at £14,499 with
a standard spec that includes satnav, climate control, xenon headlights, keyless entry,
cruise control and other goodies. CO2 emissions of 147 g/km mean a road tax bill of £140
a year, with an official economy figure of 44.1mpg - a figure we had no trouble achieving
during our time with it. So there you go. If you like your hot hatches pure and unspoilt
by turbos or gimmicks like stop/start and fun-killing traction control, you might just
be exactly who Suzuki's engineers had in mind when they made the Swift Sport.