Used test: Hyundai i20 vs Suzuki Swift: costs

Buying and owning

Costs, equipment, reliability, safety

New, the Swift had the higher list price by just over £1000. Now, though, it’s around £500 cheaper to buy than the i20. On paper, that means that £8000 buys you a very nice four-year-old example indeed, with a good saving on the price of a new one. The i20 will cost you a fraction more at this age, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it shows that the Swift has actually suffered higher depreciation in its first two years, and if that trend continued over the forthcoming years it means you’ll be losing more of your money in depreciation.  

The Swift will also be pricier to service and insure, although its better official fuel economy makes up a little lost ground.

It does win the standard equipment contest, though. Both the Swift and i20 come with electric front and rear windows, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and gearknob, automatic wipers, rear parking sensors, a DAB radio, sat-nav and steering wheel-mounted controls. However, the Swift adds to that with adaptive cruise control (the i20 makes do with regular cruise control), climate control (as opposed to the i20’s manual air conditioning), a reversing camera, keyless entry and start and LED headlights. That’s more than most executive saloons get as standard.

And while both cars’ standard safety features include six airbags and lane departure warning, the Swift adds automatic emergency braking and automatic high beam assist.

However, security expert Thatcham has tested both cars. Each resisted being driven away equally well, but they were given only three stars out of five for resisting being broken into.

Suzuki as a brand finished in third place out of 30 manufacturers in our most recent reliability survey, while Hyundai finished in a highly respectable fourth place. In the small car class, the Swift finished in third place while the i20 came in fourth. 

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