The Suzuki Swift Sport Might Just Be The Best Value New Car On Sale Today

We’ve been running our long-term Suzuki Swift Sport since the end of November, and in that time it’s done everything from acting as a camera car and ferrying us to car launches to simply taking us to the shops for a pint of milk. It’s spent the last six weeks parked outside my flat as my daily driver, and in that time I’ve come to the conclusion that it might just be the best value new car on sale today.

For a small car that costs £13,999, that’s a bold claim, so let me explain. I get to drive cool cars in this job. The kind of cars I used to dream of driving. Yet every time I get back to the Swift, it takes about five seconds for me to remember how great the little Suzuki is.

It’s hard not to sound patronising, but from the outside it’s difficult to explain what’s so great about this car. The 1.6-litre naturally-aspirated four-pot makes just 134bhp (0-62mph takes a leisurely 8.7 seconds), but it’s not about the raw numbers, it’s about the Swift’s excitable nature. It’s like a puppy that’s glad to see you come home after work.

I ran the Peugeot RCZ R - our other long-termer - over Christmas and loved it. You sit down low, cocooned in a small cabin. It’s got almost exactly twice the Swift’s power, and low-down punch makes fast progress easy. Ditto the Nissan 370Z Nismo (review to come soon); low slung, plenty of punch, and with RWD it was fun on roundabouts.

The thing is, the Peugeot costs upwards of £32k. And that’s for a car with an old-fashioned interior, and a badge that snobs will look down on. The Nissan’s even more expensive, nudging Porsche Cayman money…

In the Swift, things are different; you sit high enough to give the impression that you’re driving a van, and when you plant your foot at low revs, nothing much happens. But then you let it rev out. And out. And out. This things just fizzes all the way to that 7000rpm red-line, and that’s where the car comes alive. The noise isn’t exactly a joy, but you can tell the car’s having as much fun as you are.

This weekend we drove the Tesla Model S to France, and its insane acceleration will be etched in my mind forever. It’s addictive and compulsive. But for a car that costs £70k, the interior’s a bit of a letdown. It looks nice, but the touchscreen is slow and the seats have pretty much zero support.

Back in the Swift, at a quarter of the price, and the cloth seats have strong side bolsters to hold you in place. The plastics aren’t appealing, sure, but the dash is nicely laid out and the Garmin sat-nav works like a dream. The red glow from the dials is calming at night too.

The new Ford Focus ST - a car I drove at its Spain launch recently - is another model I want to mention. Thanks to wide, sticky rubber, it grips surprisingly well through the corners and the pedals are perfectly judged to feel in tune with the car in a heartbeat.

After a couple of days abroad I arrived at Heathrow, climbed back into the Swift and immediately exited a roundabout with a little bit too much enthusiasm. My mind was still in the twice-as-expensive ST, and the Suzuki understeered more than I’d ever managed in the car. Yes, it was wet, but I was reminded that the car’s not invincible.

That being said, after dialling it back a notch or two, I remembered just how chuckable the Swift is. It’s small and light, with tiny wheels, so you can really throw it about and drive it on the throttle - you can genuinely feel the car moving about underneath you, making corrections easy. It’s actually a great car to learn fast driving techniques in, as you can have fun at the limits without driving too quickly.

In conclusion then, the Suzuki Swift Sport might not be as quick or luxurious as other cars, but when you look at its affordable price you’d be hard pushed to find something quite as capable and fun. It’s unpretentious and doesn’t try too hard and it always wins me back after even the shortest blast.