Review: Suzuki Swift 1.2 Dualjet SHVS Allgrip SZ5

​It’s a good car, but can it work with this combination?

Suzuki may not have the fleet sales, but it’s been a popular maker in the small 4x4 sector for many decades and in the Swift it has also produced a hit hatch. It was perhaps inevitable that, given that heritage, there would be a four-wheel drive version of the hatch. Is it the best of both worlds?

That looks like a good idea, but you can only get the Allgrip four-wheel drive system in the Swift with a 1.2-litre engine. This non-turbocharged unit puts out an acceptable 89bhp, but there is a question over whether it’s still acceptable when it has the additional weight and complexity of the Allgrip system to handle as well.

We’d have rather seen it with the 1.0-litre Boosterjet engine, but Suzuki isn’t offering that combination right now. The 1.2-litre Dualjet has a mild hybrid system so you can get away from rest silently and smoothly, although it doesn’t seem to do much once you’re motoring.

The problem is that neither does the petrol engine. This is a light car, at just 980kg, but the engine still struggles to get its power down through the Allgrip system and onto the road. Go up a steep hill and you’ll be revving it out in a low gear. Want to overtake on a B-road and you’ll need to plan well ahead. It’s not relaxing.

However, find the right road and conditions and you’ll be definitely entertained. The handling is exceptionally good, with a great feeling mid corner and a real sense of balance and confidence. This isn’t far off the brilliance of the Ford Fiesta, and that’s praise indeed.

The all-wheel drive system does help keep things steady and it would prove useful on wet or snowy roads, but a lot of the time it just feels like extra weight that the rest of the car struggles to deal with. A lot of the time the lighter front-wheel drive version with the three-cylinder turbo engine would do a better job and it would be cheaper too.

That price in this instance is higher partly because you have to have a higher spec with the Dualjet and the Allgrip combination. But that does mean you get a whole lot of kit in the cabin, everything from sat nav to autonomous braking and from adaptive cruise control to LED headlights. It’s not a premium cabin, but it’s done to a decent standard and you certainly can’t argue with the amount of equipment for the money.

But, for our money, this combination doesn’t really work. A pokier engine, like the 1.0-litre unit, would at least make more demands of a four-wheel drive system but, as it stands, the 1.2-litre unit doesn’t have the power to push the handling or adhesion much, and that’s before adding the Allgrip system. With the Swift, as with so many things, it comes down to one mantra: keep it simple.

Suzuki Swift 1.2 Dualjet SHVS Allgrip SZ5 2017

On sale June
Price £15,499
Engine 4cyl, 1242cc, petrol
Power 89bhp at 6000rpm
Torque 88lb ft at 4400rpm
Gearbox 5-spd manual
Kerbweight 980kg
Top speed 105mph
0-62mph 12.6sec
Economy 62.8mpg (combined)
CO2/tax band 101g/km, 19%

Graham Scott is a writer for AutoCar.