SUZUKI SWIFT

Is our little live wire like a fine wine, or something closer to a Swift half?

- JACK HARRISON

WHY WE'RE RUNNING IT To see if this latest incarnation has maintained that trademark no-frills appeal

My time with the Swift really is something of a love story.

There are so many things to like, from the practical stuff like the fabulous fuel economy (now approaching 58mpg with gentle pedal use from my feet of lead) and a surprisingly large boot capable of holding far more rubbish than you would think, to elements I've mentioned in previous reports such as the impressive turn-in response and one of the greatest manual gearchanges of any car on sale today.

That's not to say it's all sunshine and roses, mind. A dashboard-shaped slug has crept into my rose garden, and a starter-generator-shaped cloud has drifted over it.

Regular readers will know that this is actually our second Swift - not through any fault of its own. We just wanted to try out both trim levels from the refreshingly simple model range. The first one was a base-spec Motion, while our current black-roofed car is the slightly more premium Ultra.

The nice thing about running two examples of very similar cars is that it lets you see whether a problem is simply an outlier, a bit of bad luck thankfully exclusive to a singular vehicle, or something that's an inherent flaw across the range.