I feel pretty sympathetic towards most compact and sub-compact cars from days gone by. Granted, it helps that I haven’t driven a whole lot of them in my time, but judge them mostly according to their image, their outlook and the way they’re portrayed in marketing material from their heyday. Horizon, Sundance, Alliance, Colt, GLC, cars such as those. “How bad can they be, really? Besides, those period-correct graphics really suit them in that Japanese commercial.”
Then there’s the inevitable moment of truth when you have to actually drive a real bargain-basement car, a vigorously de-contented appliance that serves only the purpose of being the one off the production line after the previous one and before the next one. This is what it felt like to cover a 100km distance in a Suzuki Swift long past its best before date.
The Swift bodystyle you see here was originally unveiled as the Suzuki Cultus in September 1988. Back in the day, it offered either fuel-efficient starter-level commuting no worse than its comparisons, as the car is unmistakably late-80s in its execution, or sporty progress provided by the 1.3-litre, 100hp GTi model. Not a bad thing by 1988 standards, and the car soon made it to the States badged as the Geo Metro.
But, possibly due to budget constraints and the possibility that no-one told them to stop producing it, the Swift soldiered on mostly unchanged until 2003, also seen in saloon form. It was produced in Hungary from 1992 onward, and actually is still made in Pakistan. One shouldn’t discount the fact that every other car on the roads of India is one of these. The other cars are mostly Maruti Suzuki Altos, which are a size smaller.
This five-door, GLX specification car was built in 2000. It was bought new by an older man, and apparently stood unused for a number of years, after which it was sold on by the estate. A couple years ago, a work colleague of my friend paid something to the tune of 4000 eur for it, despite protests by said friend, and here it is. And I needed to drive it to another county so I could pick up my freshly-serviced Peugeot.
The Suzuki has only covered some 63 000 km, and the five-digit odo is on its first round. Despite that, it feels superbly worn. The brakes feel terrible, and there’s definitely something wrong with them as the pedal goes as deep as the clutch. The gearbox and clutch make horrible noises, and the tire roar in any speeds is indescribably loud. At over 100 km/h, I recorded 90db on my iPhone app. Next to a racing car, I felt closer to death in this doing 120 km/h than anything else.
You sit low on flat seats, close to the road, and hold a clammy, sticky steering wheel that’s finished in something the colour of a mushroom. You just want it to end.
120 isn’t even that easy to reach. Featuring the 67-horsepower 1.3-litre four and saddled with the longest gear ratios they could choose, the car takes ages to accelerate. It does nothing on fifth, fourth or third. Second gear provides some acceleration, but that’s it. Giving it gas in first gear makes it sound suspiciously horrible.
In highway speeds, the car droned on at 2000-something rpm. In comparison, the short-geared 205 is easily at 4000rpm – and it accelerates from those speeds without an issue. The shoutiness of the 205 isn’t an issue compared to the Swift, as the tire noise is so overpowering in the Suzuki that the relatively calmly running engine is no merit.
The earlier decontentment gripe might have been a touch unfair, in all honesty. The Suzuki is surprisingly well-equipped, featuring a rev counter, central locking, electric windows and dual airbags – but no power steering to turn those aftermarket rims. And the construction of the car just makes you feel it was built to haul those airbags around, and nothing else. As the fuel prices recently rose to a new level, demand for useable old Metros returned in the States; whoever sold their large car and went for an overpriced Metro, I feel sad for thee.
The plastics are dire, the textures saddening and the tacked-on, GLX-spec switchgear haphazard. Now, don’t get me wrong: I like a good old ’80s plastic Japanese car interior. They just used the wrong grey materials here.
A note found on the windscreen a little while ago: “If you can’t afford a parking spot, sell your piece of junk. This isn’t your spot.”
Having reached our destination, I was exhausted. As I picked up my Peugeot with its new cambelt and water pump and audible stereo speakers, the journey home was a complete joy. It’s an interesting comparison: the 205 is from a vaguely similar time period, made for quite a long time (until 1998 actually), but somehow manages to be a joy in its simplicity and exuberant hoonability. You can’t hoon the Suzuki, as it only appears to suffer for it and drags you down in its miserability. It’s not a good bad car, just a regular bad bad car that’s bad at it. The step taken forwards with the new generation 2004 Swift is immense.
It does have five doors, though. And a tow bar.
[Images: Copyright 2013 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen]
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