All-New Suzuki Swift drive to Bataan
A Swift-er drive Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar
At 6am on a Thursday, March 28th, 2019, I met up with a large group of motoring media at Suzuki Auto Caloocan for breakfast. Why? Our friends from Suzuki Philippines wanted us to drive their All-New Swift to Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bagac, Bataan.
Keiichi Suzuki, the Director and General Manager of Suzuki Philippines Inc. welcomed us, “Since its launch in 2018, the all-new Suzuki Swift has been receiving good response, and this media test drive is another proof of the Swift’s reliable performance on the road. It is also a testament to our ability to keep up with the changing needs of Filipino drivers, especially the millennial market. The Swift continues to evolve to offer our young Filipino drivers a richer driving experience. This is another way we reach out to more Filipinos and share with them the Suzuki Way of Life,”.
Accessorized
The variant we drove was the Swift Special Edition, a dressed up GL CVT. Aesthetic add-ons up front are a Special Edition Grille, Front Skirt, Special Edition Carbon Fiber look decals, and a stripe that starts at the hood goes up over the roof and ends at the tailgate. There are side skirts finished in Carbon fiber with Special Edition decals and around back, there’s a rear spoiler up top and a skirt with integrated splitter under the rear bumper. The accessories look pretty good.
Power and Transmission
The All-New Swift is powered by a gasoline four cylinder 1.2L DOHC with intake VVT Direct Action engine that puts out max power of 82Hp at 6,000rpms with 113Nm of torque at 4,200 rpms, and it’s mated to a Constantly Variable Transmission (CVT) which works pretty well at keeping your drive economical.
It looks underpowered on paper, but Suzuki engineers played a balancing act with just enough power with decent fuel economy. It comes with a Sport mode button which is located on the gear shift knob and when activated, it lets you get stay well into the higher rpms and doesn’t let the rpms drop below 2000-2500 rpms so quick acceleration is always within reach which helped when we were on winding portions of the highway or needed to overtake, but when we were on long stretches of road, we switched off the Sport mode and let the car take care of keeping the rpms low increasing fuel efficiency.
Handling
It’s easy to drive in the city and out on the open road, direct and responsive, thanks to it’s variable gear ratio steering system and it’s new generation platform which allows it to be lighter but more rigid contributing to it’s better handling characteristics. Its ride is firm enough to mitigate some body roll, but it’s not harsh.
Impression
The All New Suzuki Swift is a capable vehicle to take out on the open road, with just the right mix of power and economy, it just all depends on how you drive and how many friends and luggage you bring along. There are a lot of cup holders and places to put your knick knacks you need on your drive and air conditioning stood up to the summer heat even without tint. There’s adequate of trunk space for our things, more than enough for a quick jaunt out of town for about 3-4 people comfortably (seats maximum 5 though) and their luggage.
Here’s a short video of the drive:
The good looking mid trim GL CVT variant we drove is priced at Php799K putting it below even the entry level manual transmission variants of it’s direct competitors, knowing that, makes it look that much better. SuzukiPH will come out with the price of the accessories of this Special Edition soon.
Words, Photos and Video – Neil Pagulayan
