By Ian Strachan.
Suzuki has long been known as a manufacturer of well-specified small cars and competent off-roaders. Now the company has expanded into new sectors – with a little help from Toyota.
The new Suzuki Swace is Suzuki’s medium estate car offering. This British-built new entrant is based on the Toyota Corolla Hybrid following the Japanese giant’s collaborative business agreement with Suzuki.
The Swace differs from the Corolla with a re-designed front end and Suzuki signature badging inside and out. The collaboration works and the result is a welcome addition to Suzuki’s range.
The Swace comes with a 1.8 litre 102 PS petrol engine, coupled to a powerful 53kw electric motor which powers the car when the petrol engine isn’t required. The switch from petrol to electric and back is seamless. The engine is married to a stepless automatic gearbox.
With electric assistance you get impressive fuel economy. Published figures for combined driving are 64.2 mpg. I got slightly less than that at 58 mpg, but that included a lot of winding country lanes and quite a lot of motorway driving. CO2 emissions are low at 99 g/km.
I test drove the Swace in SZ5 trim level, which gives you all-round airbags, dual-zone air conditioning, a multimedia audio system with Apple CarPlay and Bluetooth connectivity via an eight-inch touchscreen, heated front seats and parking camera, park assist, front and rear distance sensors, blind spot monitor. This spec comes at £29,299 on the road.
Annoyingly – and this is my only criticism of this excellent estate – the Swace SZ5, despite its high specification and price, comes without a satnav. This is 2021 and no car, other than the cheapest and most basic, should come without this now indispensable accessory.
Apart from that grumble, the cabin of the Swace is a very pleasant place to be, thanks to a good use of trim materials and simple, well-placed instruments and dials. There’s lots of oddment space, and all controls fall easily to hand. Space for driver and front seat passenger is generous and rear head and legroom is good. There’s a large 596-litre luggage compartment, with underfloor space where the spare wheel would normally be. Folding the rear seats gives you a cavernous 1,606 litres of luggage space.
Performance from the 1.8 unit is more than adequate, with no flat spots across the range. The engine never felt under strain, and handling is confident and controlled.
This stylish, versatile and sporty-looking estate is a welcome addition to Suzuki’s range.
