The last time I drove a Suzuki Swift over on Roadwork it was a slightly exhausted version of the old driving-school special that’s been around for donkeys years, and I absolutely loved it. You may have known the car as the Suzuki Cultus, or the Geo Metro. These cars offered three (of four) cylinders of basic, raucous and actually thoroughly enjoyable motoring for those with absolutely no money.

Those days are gone, now. The Swift has evolved to be something, well, a little more marketable than the thrummy, tinny Swift of old. Now, today we’re skipping a generation; “New Swift” arrived in 2004 but somehow managed to totally evade my attention, despite being literally everywhere and no longer reserved for the splutter ‘n scrape of driving school motoring.

So, when a key for the latest Swift Sport arrived in my lap, I felt I owed it to Suzuki to see how far things have come.

The answer is absolutely bloody miles. Wherever you look, inside, outside, underneath, anywhere there is hardly anything to remind you of the Swift of years gone by.

First impressions, then. Well, the first thing to make clear is that there’s nothing “funny looking” about it. Any notion of the Swifts traditional status as an economy car are banished to a distant past. When the previous incarnation of Swift arrived in 2004 some viewers spotted resemblances to the then-new Mini; this new car, though similar to the previous model, has distanced itself further from BMWs popular trinket.

But, why the clucking bell did they have to give it an Audi grille? Surely Suzuki have the talent and imagination to give the Swift an identity of its own? I think it’s a shame because there’s some nice detailing going on elsewhere. It seems daft that Suzuki lost their confidence at the front end and ended up borrowing bits from other people. Basically, I like everything; butterface.

So; partial credit for the exterior. How about inside? Well, once installed; and I was surprised how non-painful my entry procedure was ( my 6’5″ stature and grossly disproportionate leg to body ratio usually makes access and egress a bit dicey in small cars) and how unmemorable the seats were. I use the word unmemorable not as a criticism, but to celebrate that nothing came across as fundamentally wrong with them.

The same is true of the rest of the interior environment, which offers the same degree of adequacy that so many Japanese vehicle interiors seem to. There is adequacy in the design, which is neither dated nor pushing things forward, and the materials, which have shaken off the nasty shininess found in Swifts of old, but which still don’t serve up any particular tactile pleasure. Some of the details seem to be stuck in a time-warp, though; the electric window switches could have come from any point in the last twenty years.

Ergonomically,  though, all is well. The steering wheel is well sized and that and the stubby gear lever fall to hand quite naturally. Ready to go; I press the start button and immediately remember that I hate keyless go systems pretty universally; what’s the point? How much of a hindrance is using a key, really? Plus, one big advantage with having a key in a hole is that you always know where it is. In the Swift you end up just tossing the key into one of the storage trays, where it’s free to slide around or jump out and disappear under the seat somewhere to keep all your loose change and lost sweets company.  Anyway; I put this thought aside and set to work on the task of driving.

It’s zingy, this car. That little four-cylinder 1.6 litre engine, dressed with variable valve timing and spinning with commendable smoothness and refinement, thrives on revs and makes a pleasant noise while doing so. Performance doesn’t tear at your chest and leave you breathless, but it’s perky enough to entertain. Sixty is reached in under nine seconds, and you can head on to slightly over double that speed if you so desire. Max fizziness is reached at 7000 rpm. Mechanically, things are shaping up to be quite fun.

The unthreatening level of power available is easily governed by the brakes, and the power to stop is, if anything, better than the power to go. Grip is high, too. When a deviation in the road comes into view the car feels planted and initially responds well to steering inputs; there is very little slack in a guidance system which again bears absolutely no resemblance to the old Swift I keep going on about. In terms of point-and squirt, this car has it going on, with that feeling of being connected to the car at the hips which makes for a properly involving driving experience. But pretty soon, though, it is revealed that there’s something slightly odd about the spring and damper rates.

So, you’ve hurled yourself into the corner and its tracked round neatly enough, seemingly nice and flat you think “nice, I could have go away with carrying a bit more speed”. Then you unload the steering and point it out of the bend, or quickly dial on lock to turn into the second part of the “S”, whereupon the Swift will suddenly heave from one pair of tip-toes to the other. It’s a lurch that takes you by surprise and damn near threw me out of my seat. You get used to it after a few corners, but it’s a quirk that really ought not be there.

This is surprising when you remember how firm the ride is. It is very firm and can be a little harsh on potholes and ridges, although the suspension is bushed to the chassis seems to absorb the worst of the high-frequency jolts that really get through to your spine. Overall, aside from the odd peculiarity, you can concentrate on the good things, especially the gearshift which is fast and rifle-bolt direct into each of the six gears.

To sum up, as a nippy, fun, well put together small car the Swift has undeniable appeal. It will entertain you, especially if this is your first experience of sporty motoring. It’s smart, well equipped, innofensive looking. It’ll also very likely keep doing exactly what you expect it to do for dozens of years without putting up a single complaint. It’s well priced, too.

What it isn’t, though, is anything unique. European rivals have a little more design flair, particularly inside, and the Fiesta Zetec 1.0 EcoBoost bests it for roadability, though it is considerably more costly. As with all these things, it all depends where your priorities lie. If you can get used to that slightly strange behaviour at the rear angle, and it may well just be me and my inability to drive properly, the Swift Sport is a thoroughly sensible proposition.

And, hey, on those days that you’re not hooning it around the backroads, you could teach people to drive in it. Just like the old days.

( All images copyright Hooniverse / Chris Haining 2013)