Used Suzuki Swift Hybrid long term test: report 5

The car Suzuki Swift 1.2 SHVS SZ5 Allgrip Run by Max Adams, used cars reporter

Why it’s here To find out if this hybrid small car with four-wheel drive is a hidden used car gem

Needs to Prove its worth compared with more conventional small cars 

Mileage 4837 List price new (2019) £16,999 Price new with options £18,496 Value now £12,797 (dealer price with no options) Test economy 48.5mpg

2 December 2019 – Too much screen time

The sharing of parts between cars is nothing new, but it is fascinating to see how far these parts do go. Citroën CX door mirrors seemed to find their way onto anything from TVR’s entire range to what was the world’s fastest road car, the McLaren F1. And now, the infotainment system in my Suzuki Swift can join that list of parts-sharing wonders because it seems to have turned up in the Alpine A110.

Now, this was probably for cost reasons, but I like to think that Alpine did a detailed search for the most lightweight touchscreen system around, liked the kilo-saving ethos of the Suzuki Swift and thought: "That’s the system we should use on our new £50,000 sports car."

Trouble is, it’s not a very good system, not even on a car that costs less than half that. You can time its responses with a calendar, the menu system is sometimes hard to fathom and, for some reason, it forgets the radio station I left it on. Nearly every time you start it up, it’s gone to another channel. Good for variety, maybe, but I generally connect my smartphone to bypass it completely.  

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