Suzuki Ignis review

It’s a hoot. With some caveats. The Ignis’s lightness gives it an eagerness that belies its modest power output. The steering is relatively slow for a city car, but it’s pleasantly weighted and once you’re used to its inputs, the Ignis’s diminutive dimensions and sheer slab-sidedness means you’ll not find a car that’s easier to thread through the urban jungle. Or an actual jungle.

Will it get through the jungle… quickly?

Er, no. The little 1.2 engine is game – and revs well past 6,000rpm if you’ve got some time on your hands – but there’s no turbocharger here, so it’s not exactly a relaxing moocher.

But again, the Ignis plays its lightweight card to superb effect, so the car walks the tightrope of feeling keen and zippy rather than highly strung and underpowered. It’s also smoother than the three-cylinder engines favoured by almost all of its rivals when cruising and especially at idle, because the cylinder count isn’t fundamentally unbalanced. It’s not the nicest-sounding of things, but weirdly suits the plucky little car’s character.

Gotcha. Any complaints?

Our main bugbear with the Ignis earlier in its life was slightly lively ride quality, the by-product of a tall car that doesn’t weigh very much sitting atop skinny tyres. But it feels a little better sorted this time around, so perhaps Suzuki’s listened. It’s still not a magic carpet by any means, but at least it won’t loosen teeth at the first sign of a speed bump.

It doesn’t play at being a grown-up car anywhere near as well as an Up – which is almost as quiet and comfy as a Passat on the motorway – and it won’t shrink long journeys. But it’s night-and-day better than Suzuki’s own Jimny on quicker, more open roads, as well as niftier in town (especially as it’s pumping out so much less carbon) and nearly as game off road. Quite a repertoire, huh?