Published:
22 March 2024Suzuki makes some clear claims about the Swift’s ride and handling and what its engineers have benchmarked. Body roll has been reduced to Volkswagen Polo levels, we were told, and steering response upped towards Polo and Ford Fiesta levels.
It hadn’t really struck me that the previous Swift was less responsive than a Polo, but it doesn’t take long behind the wheel for this new model to feel relatively alert.
The steering is nicely weighted and geared and provokes a linear, positive response. It’s still perfectly stable around the straightahead – albeit it’s worth noting that my test route didn’t take in any higher-speed motorway driving, and it’s fair to think that noise levels won’t be as low as in the plushest, biggest cars in this class.
The good thing about a car that weighs sufficiently little, though, is that you don’t have to tie it down too firmly to retain strong body control. The Swift leans only a bit, takes no time to settle, and is a pretty game companion to chuck along a windy road.
Our test car rode the 16in wheels that are standard in the UK (15s are standard in some markets), and even those were fitted with 55-profile, 185-section tyres, so there’s some absorbance in the sidewall.
This isn’t a car that rides with the same kind of deftness between ride and handling as the Fiesta did, but it's significantly closer to the top of the class than it was.
