I see two trends when it comes to cheap cars these days. One is the cheap car with minimum number of options, like the Dacia Logan, and the other trend is that of small cars with a larger number of options but also a bit expensive, but under $15.000, which is a low price anyway. The Suzuki Swift is in the second category. The basic price of the Suzuki Swift is $13,745 and you get a CD player and both frontal and side airbags. I’m always a bit unhappy when these options don’t include air conditioning, but it’s an optional so with some extra money you can have it on your Suzuki Swift. If you’re willing to go up to $16,000 you get the air conditioning and other nice things like two more speakers, a CD player that can play MP3, cruise-control, an alarm, and electric windows and doors. The price is quite ok for this Suzuki Swift but it’s a small car with less then four meters in length so it’s perfect for the young but not for a family. That’s not due to the interior of the Suzuki Swift, which is very good, even for someone of my size, but you don’t really have the space to put too many groceries and kids in it.

This is the press presentation that the dealer gave me when I asked for some information about the Suzuki Swift.

To seduce the clients from all over the world is a challenge that all the major auto manufacturers have to go through. This time is Suzuki’s turn with the new Swift. And it’s got more chance to do that then ever before with the new Suzuki Swift. That’s because the car was made with the preferences of the client in mind.

From the very beggining, the design team worked with auto proffesionals and automotive fans to create the best subcompact car possible, the Suzuki Swift. The new Swift is more beautifull, has more interior space, it’s more refined, more comfortable. On top of that it offers a preview of the things to come at Suzuki in the future. Due to Suzuki’s global strategy, the Swift is assembled in Japan, Hungary, China and India.

The reason behind the Suzuki Swift was the time for the company to come out with a brand new product, one that would shape its future strategy and design for the years to come.

Suzuki Swift was first sold in US and Canada in two different versions, the GA and the GL. Later, the GTI version was added and it had fuel injection and better performance (100HP and 196km/h maximum speed). The name of the Suzuki Swift wasn’t the same everywhere. In Canada it was known as the Pontiac Firefly, in the US and Canada there was the Chevrolet Sprint, Geo Metro in the same two countries and also Maruti Esteem in India. In Japan the Suzuki Swift was named Cultus and in South America was sold as Chevrolet Swift. Some of the different models of the Suzuki Swift were a 3 and a 5 door hatchback, a sedan and a 2 door convertible.

It had three different engines at first, a carburated 1.0L, a turbocharged 1.0L and a 1.3L. The 1.3L was used by the Suzuki Swift GTI version but this one was sold only in Europe and Asia.