The Goodwood Test: Suzuki Swift Sport

Heritage

Exactly what is a hot hatch anyway? These days cars meeting this basic description can cost nearly £50,000, pack up to 400hp and boast anything from four-wheel drive to adaptive dampers, ceramic brakes and all manner of clever locking differentials. Stripped back to the fundamentals and according to tradition a REAL hot hatch is a lightly souped-up supermini, its basic strut front/twist-beam rear suspension stiffened and tuned for exciting on-limit handling while ultimate power plays second place to fizzing revs and closely stacked gears. And it should be fun to drive while being cheap to buy and run. How did we lose sight of such a simple formula? 

Design

Suzuki hasn't. On the face of it the Swift Sport is a fairly unremarkable machine. It doesn't riff on retro pastiche like the Fiat 500 or Mini, it doesn't do downsized premium like an Audi A1 and most people wouldn't give it a second glance. It's not that attention seeking on paper either, with a naturally aspirated 1.6-litre engine putting out just 136hp and 118lb ft of torque for a 0-62 time of 8.7 seconds. There is, on the face of it, absolutely nothing special about this car. And yet, for the few months, it remains on sale, it is quite simply the last gasp of the real hot hatch available to buy new. 

Performance

And given people are now willing to pay 30 grand for a mint Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9 that's important. Let's compare those cars. The 205 has near identical power and torque figures to the Swift. At under 900kg it is lighter but has the crash protection of a crisp packet. The Swift Sport is a modern car with airbags and crumple zones and still weighs just 1,049kg. In the classic style it has simple suspension, stiffened, more rigidly mounted and tuned here on UK roads. It has a slick, close ratio six-speed manual gearbox and you need to rev the hell out of it. It's simple, fun and proves there's a whole lot to life than out and out performance.   

Passion

A generation of drivers who cut their teeth on 205 GTIs, Clio Williams, Mk1 Golf GTIs and the rest are now realising that and driving up the prices of the few original examples that didn't get punted backwards through hedges. And for less than £15,000 with all the kit as standard (including HID lights, air-con, cruise, DAB radio, Bluetooth and metallic paint) the Swift captures the spirit of these cars in a pleasingly unassuming package that'll never go wrong or cost you a fortune in running costs. You can even have it as a five-door if you need extra practicality. Looking for the true spirit of the hot hatch? It lives on in this wonderfully unpretentious little Suzuki. But not for much longer. Catch one while you can.

Price tag of our car – £14,399 list plus £0 in options (because everything is standard!)