Matt Prior
TESTER’S NOTES
Where exactly is the happy medium between a Ranger Raptor and an
S04?
‘
Smaller, fewer, lighter, shorter, beauty’ is a Suzuki corporate philosophy that pertains to the company’s compact cars, like the new-generation Swift that I drove last week. Obviously they say it in Japanese (‘shosho-kei-tan-bi’), but the mindset translates to the Swift being 3.8 metres long, so shorter than most superminis, and weighing less than a tonne, so lighter than most by a margin too.
“We’re good at making small cars,” notes Dale Wyatt, director of Suzuki Cars UK. But if there’s a feeling that the brand flies under the radar in Europe, where it’s a relatively niche player and the Vitara SUV tends to be its bestseller, it isn’t as understated elsewhere.