Suzuki Gets Swift to Idea of Fun

Date Posted 09-08-2005

TOKYO — Small Suzukis rarely have been fun and desirable — until now.

Enter the Suzuki Swift Sport, a Japanese take on the Mini Cooper that was made to market in Tokyo. With cute looks, go-kart handling and a hard-edged 1.6-liter twin cam, the Swift Sport is the real junior GTi deal.

Suzuki has put a lot of work into this latest Swift compact. The body design and chassis tuning were carried out in Europe, and the car did its paces at the legendary Nurburgring, among other venues.

The Swift Sport runs with a specially built 1.6-liter, variable-cam, four-cylinder engine, good for 123 braking horsepower. The five-door body gets all the necessary sports trimmings, and inside are high-backed red-and-black sport seats, a leather-trimmed wheel and choice of a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic.

In Tokyo, stickers will run from $14,216 for the stick version, which will go on sale October 28, to $14,697 for the automatic, which will launch September 15. Considering its specs and fun quota, the Swift Sport is not expensive.

What this means to you: Though Suzuki has no immediate plans for U.S. sale of the Swift Sport, the car nevertheless shows how the automaker is raising its game. Maybe a twin-engine version will appear at Pikes Peak someday?
looks a bit like a smaller Nissan Versa...
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/il/news/2005/0908/swift.500.jpg

Looks to be miles ahead of the Aerio and the rebadged Daewoos they're pawning off on us now.

I want!

I just read in autoblog that suzuki is bringing the Swift to the US. I'm pretty sure the sport will follow soon after...

"In Suzuki’s ambitious plans to grow its global sales, GreenCarCongress is reporting via a Japanese subscription-based news site that the Japanese automaker will be bringing its Swift subcompact to the North American market as early as 2007. Suzuki has obviously noticed the “Small is big” mentality that’s gaining cred with consumers over here. As fuel efficiency rises in priority among North American consumers, a vehicle like the Swift emerges as a solid business case. While Suzuki has not indicated what powertrains would be offered for the Swift over here, the thought of a MINI-like pocket rocket with a Hyundai-like price couldn’t be more tempting."

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/01/23/suzuki-swift-coming-to-america/

Sexy. I've always loved the Swift's looks.

Wish Toyota would make a corolla hatchback to go head to head with the mini.
Kinda like the ralli inspired corolla hatch that was offered in england in the '90s.

http://rally.pittalk.nl/klanten/jumbo/uploads/Nieuws_rally_photo3.jpg

I owned a 1989 MKII Suzuki swift GTi years ago.....and let me tell ya....this 1,800 lb, 100 HP hatch could MOVE.


i will be keeping an eye out for its return.