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2017 Suzuki Swift RS Turbo Detailed Review, Specs, and Photos

By Aref Ali On Sep 22, 2017

This time we are bringing you something different. The car in question is the 2017 Suzuki Swift RS Turbo. But before we continue with our review, I would like to thank Sigma Motors Lahore for lending us this amazing little car. If you are looking for an imported vehicle, give them a try as well. This particular car is up for sale for PKR1.85 million.

Also Read: 2017 Toyota Corolla Altis Grande CVT-i Detailed Review

Suzuki Swift name was first launched back in 1985. Throughout the world, this little hatchback was put up for sale under numerous Suzuki brand names. The 2017 Suzuki Swift is the 6th generation of popular Swift series of Suzuki cars. Within Japan, Swift is in its 4th generation (same shape). But internationally, it is the sixth generation. New Swift is based on Suzuki’s lightweight platform “HEARTECT” platform. Internationally, the car is available in various engine and body trim options. But the car we were test driving was the petrol-powered 1.0-liter turbocharged version. Now let us start with the review.

2017 Suzuki Swift Exterior

Swift is a 5-door, 5-seat hatchback and is currently in its 6th generation around the world. However, Suzuki Pakistan is still selling us the older 3rd generation Swift car. The body dimensions of the new 2017 Suzuki Swift are 3890 x 1735 x 1500mm (length x width x height). If we compare it with our Pakistani Suzuki Swift, the local swift is 3755mm in length, 1690mmin width, and is 1525mm tall. Except for the height, the new Swift is not only longer but also wider. The wheelbase of the new Swift is 2450mm, compared to current local Swift’s 2390mm wheelbase. Its ground clearance is only 120mm whereas Pakistani Suzuki Swift has the ground clearance of 160mm.

Where the 3rd gen Pakistani Suzuki Swift had fairly straight lines, the new 6th generation Swift 2017 is much rounder from the outside. Overall, the front end of the car has an oval look to it, where the car gets edgy and straight at the back. The new car looks related to the third generation Suzuki Swift, so you will immediately find the connection and see how the 2017 model compares to the older Swift.

Suzuki has dropped the rear end of the car to make it more streamlined and aerodynamic. Although the front grill is massive. But when you look at it straight from the front, you will notice how low the grill is situated on the front as a whole. Front bumper is massive and wraps around different of the car a fair bit.

Body curves and line

Since it is a top of the line sports model of the Swift, it comes with added bits and bobs that accentuate the curves and lines of the car. Right at the bottom of the front bumper, you will find a chrome piece between the protruding side splitters. In the bottom half of the front bumper, you will find chrome housings for the fog lamps and a black accent that joins both the fog lights under the trapezoid front grill. The grill itself has a chrome outlining with the front camera located in the upper middle area.

Overall the whole front end, from fenders to bumper and including the bonnet, it is roundish and has smooth curves to it. The front end almost looks like an egg. Both the front fenders are still flared but do not look as aggressive as it was in the third-gen Suzuki Swift.

Rear

Open the rear hatch of the car, and you will find its small boot, and you will notice that the rear seat has a 60/40 split. You get latches in the back of the seats to push the seat forward. Under the rear floor mat, you will find the puncture repair kit because these modern Japanese imports don’t come with spare tire anymore due to space as well as cost saving.

Talking about the rear of the car as expected from most other hatchback family cars, the Suzuki Swift 2017 has a small well-rounded rare. But you will notice that the rear end is in steps. First, you get your rear windscreen area, then the middle part of the boot hatch with rear brake lights on both ends and then the rear bumper of the car.

On top of the rear windscreen, you will find the rear spoiler that has a very flush fitting to the whole car and doesn’t look like it’s been added afterward at all. The rear mounted brake light comes in the spoiler.

Three-Step Rear

The rear end of the 2017 Swift is made to look like it’s in steps. When you look at the cabin of the car from the outside, combined with the rear windshield of the car and the roof area, you will notice that it is kind of hunched backward. At the center one-third of the rear of the car, you will see the rear not only steps backward extending the boot of the car, but it also protrudes outward to the side of the car. The lower one-third of the car extends even further outward, make the whole end in steps.

You will find chrome accents on the edge of the rear boot lid with a rear camera mounted above it and Suzuki batch right above the camera. On the right side of the boot lid, you will find Swift and RS badges. The rear brake lights are completely red with just small and narrow rectangular reverse and side signal clear lamps in the middle.

2017 Suzuki Swift Interior

Overall the interior of the quality was excellent. I had reviewed the brand new 2017 Toyota Corolla Grande not too long before this review, and if I am being honest, I felt that the interior quality and the finish of the Suzuki Swift 2017 was better than the new 2017 Corolla. The whole interior is black including all the door panels, dashboard, seats, and upholstery. But you will find chrome accents as well as silver painted frames and bezels throughout the interior. As I said before the exterior of the new Swift RS is quite round, but the interior has straight lines and edges.

On the right side of the dashboard, you have your car Start-Stop button with its traction control, radar braking as well as lane departure warning button.

Passenger side

The dashboard in front of the passenger has been pushed inward compared to the middle part of the dash to make more passenger room. When you move to the middle of the dashboard, you will find factory fitted LCD and sound system. Under the LCD panel you will find your AC controls, and on top of the LCD panel, you have your AC vents with the hazards button in the middle. Under the AC controls, you have a small tray to put your stuff in and at the upper part of that tray you will find your 12-volt output and a USB port.

Cabin Noise

Since the Swift is turbocharged, you might think that car’s engine is noisy. But, that is not the case. When you rev the engine, it makes a nice heavy growl. But as soon the car is cruising, you will not hear any engine noise inside the cabin. Other road noises are also minimal inside the car. Since the interior is quite well put together, there are no scratching or creaking noises in the cabin when car is driving on bumpy surfaces.

Steering and MID

The most interesting side is no doubt the driver side with all sorts of buttons and switches to make your car fun to drive. The first thing that you will notice about the steering of the Swift RS is how small it is and the flat part at the bottom.

On the left side of the steering, you have your volume controls along with the mode button to change what kind of audio source you want to listen to. Right under the audio controls, you will find your call and speaker buttons. On the right side of the steering, you have your multi-informational display buttons. From here you can change the information shown on the small MID screen between the RPM and the speedometer. Keep pressing the info button, and you will find the different type of info to display on the dashboard; from G Sensor to torque and power meter to acceleration and braking graph as well as the fuel average of the car. And behind the steering, you have your flappy paddles for shifting gears.

Storage Spaces

As expected from any well-built Japanese car you will find a lot of storage space here and there. You have your glass holders and a package tray in the middle of the center console right in front of the shift as well as in the front door panels. You get four speakers; one in each door and two tweeters in the front.

The gear shift lever is fairly simple with P on the top and right at the bottom you have M, to drive it in a manual mode and you can change the gears with the help of flappy paddles behind the steering wheel. And you also get a seat warmer for the driver seat. Its button is situated right next to the handbrake.

Gear Lever

The windows in the rare doors are kind of narrow and small, so you might feel a bit claustrophobic sitting in the rear seats. The door handles for the rear doors are situated right on the top of the door instead of the regular position in the middle.

2017 Suzuki Swift Performance

Engine

If I have to put the performance and drive of the car in one sentence, I would say it is an absolute joy to drive this car. The car is so quick off its feet that you forget that it is just a 3-cylinder 1000cc vehicle. Calling it a pocket rocket will not be wrong. The gear changes were quick, and the car would just make you go backwards in the seat as soon as you press the throttle. There was minimal turbo lag making the car quite responsive.

Gearbox

Turbo 2017 Swift comes with Suzuki’s 1.0-litre Boosterjet petrol engine (K10C). It is a three-cylinder 996cc motor that makes 110bhp and 150Nm of torque. The Boosterjet name suggests that the engine is turbocharged. The turbocharged motor is mated to a 6-speed automatic gearbox. During my driving, I did not for once felt the car has a conventional gearbox. The gear changes were very smooth, and the car would just pull the gears as you give it some gas. The car is very quick for its size and engine capacity. The official Suzuki timings suggest that this Suzuki Swift 2017 can do 0 to 100 km/h in 10 seconds. It felt like it is as quick as the new 1.8L Toyota Corolla, if not faster.

Trivia: The manual turbo Suzuki Swift is 0.6 seconds slower than the automatic version that we were driving.

Fuel Consumption

Suzuki Swift comes with a 37L fuel tank. But considering it was only returning us 8 km/l when we were thrashing it, 37L of fuel is not going to take you very far. Suzuki Japan claims that car can do a little over 16 kilometers in a liter under JC08 cycle, but we all know these figures are not exactly possible to achieve in real-world driving conditions At normal decent speeds, the fuel average went up to 12 km/l. The owner of the car told us that it could do 15 kilometers in a liter if driven carefully. But what is the point of a turbocharged pocket rocket if you can’t floor it at every chance you get.

Flappy Pedals

As I mentioned that I test drove Toyota Corolla Grande not too long ago for one of our detailed reviews and it also has those flappy pedals. But the difference between the swift RS and the Altis Grande was that swift has much faster gear shifts compared to the Corolla. But keep in mind that this is not a completely manual car, and you cannot drag the gears all the way to the redline of the RPM. The car will change the gear itself right when it’s about to redline. I think that it can take a little bit of joy away if you are into spirited driving. You want all aspects of the car to be in your control, and something like gear changes is as crucial as anything to the right ride quality of a vehicle.

A/C Performance

The A/C was not exceptional, but fine. The car was quick to turn it off the moment it detected you are about to floor it. It was very twitchy. But you don’t feel anything inside the cabin. Stand outside, and you will hear the clicking of A/C unit engaging and disengaging.

You might expect that since it is a 3-cylinder car, there will be some kind of engine vibration when the car is idling with or without A/C running, but that was not the case here. If you have driven Suzuki WagonR, you might have noticed this behavior. But RS Swift’s engine idled smoothly.

The 6-speed automatic gearbox is lively and works very well with the 1000cc engine of the car there is no unnecessary rubberband effect that you usually find in CVT vehicles of the same size. Overall the whole package felt like the Suzuki has been able to provide a car that cannot only cater the automotive enthusiast inside you as well as a 9 to 5 working person. Since the car makes most of its torque torque under 4000 RPM, you do not need to rev it, again and again, to make it run faster. A little push to the race pedal and you are on your way.

Braking

As you can expect from any well-designed vehicle, the braking was fantastic. The pedal felt light yet responsive, and I could feel the road through the pedal knowing how much I need to press to make the car stop. Most new cars dumb down the feedback a driver needs to fully enjoy the vehicle. This is not the case in Suzuki Swift RS. Not only brake pedal along with the shifting points of the car make it a joy to ride, but the steering wheel also feels responsive and connected to the road. The car comes with an electric power steering, and as with any EPS you might feel that the input has dumbed down in the new Suzuki Swift 2017 but it is not as bad as you might be expecting. Of course, it is not a sports car so don’t expect it to give you the feedback the steering of an older Porsche 911 would do but still it is safe to say that you will not feel muted.

2017 Suzuki Swift Comfort & Handling

Talking about the handling of the car I felt like the car was sticking on the ground. It just felt so planted. There was absolutely no elasticity or cushion in its drive. Yet I must say that car did not feel uncomfortable. It has a fairly comfortable drive even on rough and warped road surfaces. The car comes with 55 profile tires. The profile of the wheels of the tires is not that much taking away any cushion level that a bigger profile tire can provide. Although one can say, the ride could be a bit bumpy if the road is too bad, but overall I think Suzuki Swift RS provides excellent ride quality.

Handling

Changing direction immediately had minimum effect on the way the car handled. The front end of the car just remained grounded and planted on the road. Although I was not driving the car like a maniac, but I still chose my moments where I could be a bit harsh with the steering wheel. And every time I changed the direction of the car the front and just moved there without any drama. There was no understeer that the front wheel drive cars are famous for.

Boot Space

As written above, the boot is small. It is only 264 liters. It is, however, bigger compared to the 211-liter boot of Pakistani Swift, but still not sufficient. It is fine for two small sized bags, but it feels like it won’t be able to hold your monthly grocery shopping. Swift’s boot is smaller than Honda Fit’s boot. The boot is kind of narrow right at the level of the floor because of the wheel arches. But you can extend the boot thanks to 60/40 split-folding back of the rear seats. Both front seats provide decent lateral support on twists and turns. But it can be a little cramped in the rear. Also, although Suzuki says it is for five people, seating three adults in the rear is going to be a problem. Not only the headroom is less, but the rear seat is also narrow. On long routes, three adults will get tired soon.

Suzuki Swift’s turning radius is 4.8m. Both the new Cultus and the currently sold Pak Suzuki Swift has the minimum turning radius of 4.7m.

Rear Headroom

Since the roof slants and drops down at the rear, you have a decent headroom in the front, but that is not the case in the rear. The roof significantly drops down, decreasing the rear headroom. And if you are 6 feet tall or more, you will feel cramped sitting in the rear with other adults.

2017 Suzuki Swift Safety

Like any other new Japanese vehicle, the new 2017 Suzuki Swift also comes with a host of safety and driver aid features. The European version of the same car that we were driving received four-star Euro NCAP rating. The car has a bunch of features like Dual Sensor Brake Support, Lane Departure Warning Function, and Suzuki’s traction control. During my testing of the turbo Swift, I tried its city braking system, its lane departure warning system, as well the cruise control.

Safety Features

You get four seatbelts; two in the front, two in the rear. Rear seat belts come with force limiter and pretensioners. Also, the Swift 2017 features four airbags; two SRS side curtain airbags as well as the usual two SRS side airbags in the front.

Driver Aids

The Suzuki Swift 2017 also comes with the adaptive cruise control and handsfree switches on the steering wheel for a safer driving experience. The new Swift also features as many as four cameras for an excellent view and visibility of the car. You get cameras on each side of the car; front, back and both left and right sides. Put the car in reverse, and you will be able to see all four sides of the car thanks to a virtual bird’s eye view.

Verdict

The Pakistani Suzuki Swift can end up you costing more than PKR 1.5 million for the top of the line model. Add registration and other associated costs, and maybe it will end up a little shy of 1.6 million rupees. The car we were driving is priced by the showroom at 1.85 million rupees. There is no point in me justifying the showroom cost. But I will say this; the 2017 Swift comes with a boatload of features and driver aids. The things that aren’t maybe available in the top of the line Corolla or Honda, this turbo 2017 Swift has them. And then there is the build quality of the car. It is just simply better than the local Swift.

On the other hand, you are buying a car that is completely unknown to Pakistani used car market. I wonder what the chances of you ever be finding a replacement for a broken headlight or side view mirror. There is absolutely no after sales support.

But if you can spend that much on a car, then I think there are other options, better options, as well. The 2017 Suzuki Swift at PRK1.85 million can be hard to digest. On the other hand, if you can spend that kind of money on a second car than this Swift Turbo 2017 can be on hell of a ride.