Suzuki Swift review

Your thoughts on the interior of the Swift will probably align with how you feel about the old-school powertrain. Because yeah, despite Suzuki claiming this is an all-new car, it’s pretty 2010s in here.

Hurrah! A non-minimalist cabin?

In many ways that’s a very good thing. There are proper analogue dials which are nice and easy to read, plenty of physical buttons which are easy to operate on the move, a separate panel for the climate controls which makes it easy to set the temperature, and even a manual handbrake which makes it easy to do handbrake turns in your local supermarket car park. Hurrah! Down with electronic parking brakes.

And yet, there are also downsides. The 9.0-inch infotainment screen suffers from clunky menus, basic graphics and a slightly delayed response time, while the general design is a little dark and dour. Suzuki claims the upholstery is ‘dual-tone’ but we’d argue that combining black plastic with grey plastic does not allow you to use that sort of phrase.

In better news, there is wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard and the new front seats (which are heated as standard even on entry-level models) are soft and comfortable enough.

What about practicality?

Space-wise it’s exactly the same size as the previous generation Swift too, which means you get a 265-litre boot which swells to 589 litres when you fold the rear seats. And there’s no impact on that space if you spec the 4WD version. The rear door aperture is impressively wide so getting into the back isn’t a problem, but those with long legs won’t be blessed with huge amounts of space once they’re in.

The main issue though is the speed limit warning system, which bongs away constantly as it misreads road signs and mistakes speed limits. Every single one of these now mandatory systems is the same, but Suzuki has made it needlessly difficult to switch off. For a start you have to be parked up, and then you’ll need to dive into the confusing menus of the small display between the dials. Argh!

And just one more gripe: some of the Swift’s plastics feel cheap and scratchy. But then again, this is actually a cheap car. And a light one. Click through to the Buying tab for more…