2021 Suzuki Swift Reviews

City hatchbacks are becoming more expensive as the standards grow ever higher for safety and tech. But which of these popular light car heroes is the best? We put the Suzuki Swift, Kia Rio and Toyota Yaris against each other to find out!

While other carmakers abandon the supermini segment in droves, Suzuki keeps delivering the goods, as the MY21 Swift facelift proves. Small outside but pleasingly spacious inside, it proves that inexpensive hatchbacks can be compact yet refined, economical yet powerful, lightweight yet safe and - most brilliantly - sensible yet exhilarating. The GLX Turbo encapsulates these and much more besides.

The Series II Suzuki Swift is here, with a bare bones entry-level right through to a turbo-powered 1.0-litre. The big news is that the GL Navigator Plus and turbo GLX both have a swag of new safety equipment to level up with Mazda and Kia.

The Suzuki Swift GL Navigator Plus costs $21,490 driveaway, bang-on $1500 more than the GL Navigator.The money all goes to a suite of advanced safety features and is money well-spent. You get 16-inch alloys, air-conditioning, reversing camera, cruise control, cloth interior, remote central locking, auto-down power windows and a space-saver spare.The Plus shares the 1.2-litre naturally-aspirated four cylinder engine with the Navigator, producing 66kW and 120Nm, driving the front wheels through a CVT auto.As part of the Series II upgrade, the GLX scored a big safety upgrade, with blind-spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert and you get forward AEB with both low and high speed operation, forward collision warning, lane keep assist, lane departure warning as well as six airbags and the usual ABS and stability controls.The Swift GL Navigator Plus scored five ANCAP stars in 2017.

The entry-level Swift Navigator is the only spec-level available with a manual unless you take the Swift Sport into account.For $18,990 driveaway for the five-speed and $19,990 - also driveaway - for the CVT auto, you get 16-inch alloys, air-conditioning, reversing camera, cruise control, cloth interior, remote central locking, auto-down power windows and a space-saver spare. As part of the Series II upgrade, the GL scored...two more speakers for a total of four, powered by the 7.0-inch touchscreen media and sat nav system that also has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.On the safety front, you get six airbags and the usual ABS and stability controls and a reversing camera. The GL scored four ANCAP stars in 2017 as it hasn't got things like AEB.

The GLX turbo scores Suzuki's 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo engine, with a much healthier 82kW and 160Nm driving the front wheels through a six-speed torque converter auto. It's almost a shame there isn't a manual version.The Series II improvements have also brought a solid price jump to $25,410 driveaway, a solid increase on the old model. For your money you get 16-inch alloys, air-conditioning, LED headlights, reversing camera, cruise control, cloth interior, remote central locking, auto-down power windows and a space-saver spare.The GLX has two more speakers than the Navigator and Navigator Plus pair, with a six-speaker stereo powered by the 7.0-inch touchscreen media and sat nav system that also has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.As part of the Series II upgrade, the GLX scored a big safety upgrade, with blind-spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert and you get forward AEB with both low and high speed operation, forward collision warning, lane keep assist, lane departure warning as well as six airbags and the usual ABS and stability controls.The Swift GLX scored five ANCAP stars in 2017.

The Suzuki Swift Sport has picked up a good wedge of new safety gear to add to its enduring appeal. It's not cheap, though, with Korean warm hatches swarming all around it, and one of them is much cheaper. Does its position as the last Japanese hot(ish) hatch win your heart or does value for money bring your head into the game?