Suzuki Swift Sport 2021 review: manual

The Swift's rebirth in the 2000s brought some chunk back to the small car segment. The steady evolution has led us to this iteration which is a fantastic looking machine.

The refinement of various details on the Sport has continued to improve its looks.

Suzuki has resisted the urge to grow the Swift too much over the years but the refinement of various details on the Sport has continued to improve its looks.

The Series II inherits the new headlights and tail-lights, of course, but also gets a shoutier grille to go with the shoutier-looking twin exhaust pipes poking out of a black apron at the rear.

The Series II inherits new headlights.

The 17s look gigantic on this tiny package, but not cartoonishly so. Basically, I'm a fan.

Apart from the cracking front seats, the cabin is basic and betrays the cheapness of the Swift's roots. You do sit a bit high in the Swift's front sports seats, but you'll no doubt get used to it.

Otherwise it's all very Suzuki, which means nothing to catch or offend the eye. It's certainly less stylish than the exterior but will probably last forever.

The Swift ships with six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, low-speed forward AEB, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, reversing camera, and with the Series II update also features blind spot monitoring and reverse cross-traffic alert.

The Swift's maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from 2017 still stands.

This list is pretty good and matches the segment's safety heavy hitter, the Mazda2, on key points but there is nothing else with this kind of performance in the segment.

You also get three top-tether anchors and a two ISOFIX points, and the Swift's maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from 2017 still stands.

It's noisy. It's fun. It's bumpy. It's darty. It axle tramps. It's a laugh. There's a lot to think about with the Swift Sport, as there always has been.

One of the first cars I reviewed for CarsGuide was the Swift Sport and I remember saying that it does a couple of things well and the rest was... well, not so good.

The 1.4-litre turbo engine is a cracker, with a strong slab of torque.

A lot has changed in six years, but the Swift Sport is still a similar proposition. The 1.4-litre turbo engine is a cracker, though, with a strong slab of torque that easily overwhelms the front tyres if you have any steering lock on. 

Suzuki really commits to lightweight, the car coming in under a ton at 990kg. That means the modest power figures feel rather less modest. It's a proper urban warrior, handling everything you can throw at it in traffic with a slick-enough gearshift and a throttle that wants to dance.

Things come apart a bit on the freeway as a trade-off of the light weight is less noise damping material, letting plenty of tyre and wind noise into the cabin. The stereo isn't really up to covering that, so that might get a bit tiring.

But the needle swings back again when you find a reasonably smooth B-road or even C-road to go corner-hunting. It's a genuine delight to throw around and all the noise and wheelspin associated with said activity is worth it for the way you can work the Swift Sport.