First look: Suzuki injects sport into Swift

SUZUKI’s new Swift notches up its already impressive street credibility with the release in Japan of details on the forthcoming five-door hatchback Sport model.

The Swift Sport revisits the performance image last seen in the three-door Swift GTi coupe that bowed out in Australia in 2000.

Already noted by Suzuki top brass as a competitor for the Peugeot 206 GTi, the tied-down, bold and brassy Swift Sport is endowed with a stroked, 1.6-litre version of the regular Swift’s 1.5-litre all-alloy, twin-camshaft, variable camshaft timing four-cylinder engine.

It punches out more power (92kW compared with 74kW) and torque (148Nm compared with 133Nm) than the 1.5-litre, and considerably ups the ante on the old GTi, which produced 74kW and 113Nm from its twin-camshaft, 16-valve 1.3-litre engine.

In a body weighing a tad over one tonne this means a healthy power-weight ratio which, not at all coincidentally, comes close to equating the GTi Peugeot.

The Swift Sport rides on a tighter suspension with bigger, 16-inch alloy wheels and 195/50R16 tyres. ABS braking with electronic brake-force distribution is standard.

Suzuki is not saying when, or if the new Sport is scheduled for Australia, nor is it commenting on price, but it’s a reasonably sure bet that should it arrive here, it will come in below the $35,000 Peugeot 206 GTi.

Suzuki Australia is also investigating the three-door version of the Swift, currently available in the UK, for introduction here next year.

However, this variant is only built in Hungary and so attracts a higher price than the Japanese-sourced five-door Swift currently sold in Australia.