Suzuki Swift acquired

[garethj]

Back in my late teens, I thought I was a Volkswagen fan.  I had several Beetles, a T3 Fastback and a 412.  Yes, Volkswagens for me alright.

Somehow, probably because of the rear engine, I then had a Suzuki Whizzkid - it was like a go-kart but without the refinement.  A few years later I had a Suzuki Cappuccino, another Whizzkid (with lots of other cars in between) and a Baleno GSR.  Was I actually a Suzuki fan?

I’d deny this vehemently, while admitting to you that I’ve just bought this.

It’s a Swift GLX

No, a GLX.  It means alloy wheels, which I don’t care about, a 1.5 engine instead of the GL’s 1.3 and aircon, which I really do care about.

This one has been in Cambridge for years which means it’s got various little dents the size and position of bicycle handlebars, and to save me the bother of scratching it, it comes pre-scratched.

It’s also a 3 door, which looks much cooler than the 5 door and I can convince myself makes up for trivial things like the cheapest tyres I’ve ever seen and a clutch that’s not going to survive many more drag races.

I tried to convince the kids that one of these would be a good idea for them, on the basis that they must be tough to be a hire car at the Nurburgring, and they look quite good.  Obviously they ignored me, so I bought one for myself.

Shall we crack on with making it habitable?

I really need to be able to stream music and podcasts from my phone, one of these gadgets plugs into the CD changer port on the back of the radio and as a bonus I can load music onto a USB stick which acts as a 99 disc CD changer.

First job, remove the glovebox and plug… oh, the glovebox catch has snapped.  Time to look on YouTube, and by jiggling an Allen key I could open the latch and remove the glovebox.  A new latch was a fiver, which I’m happy with.

Reaching around while on the floor is a highly transferable skill these days, and allowed me to plug in the cable, fixing the little controller thing inside the glovebox as per the picture.

Bangin’ choons achieved, luxury next.

 I didn’t realise how lazy I’ve become and how nice it is to have an armrest.  Not until driving this as it doesn’t have one.  EBay to the rescue and the Yinshi Manufacturing Company in Shanghai.

A couple of self tappers and I’ve got an armrest that’s adjustable for position, has two storage trays and a fucking cupholder built in.  Marvellous.

First trip was to Wales and back, just short of 400 miles in a day.

A win 👍 It’s also a hoot to drive and when child #3 (I forget their names) learns to drive next year, I can actually afford to put her on the insurance.

[tooSavvy]

Swift...... say naw moarr 🙃

..... he says, waiting for something to snap 🤦

😉 ... 👍

[RoverFolkUs]

These are ace, well bought 

[Sham]

1 hour ago, RoverFolkUs said:

These are ace, well bought 

+1 brilliant little things. I really rate Suzuki cars of the last 10 years or so, and even though this is a bit older - it's the model that started them on the up swing.

[Aston Martin]

Tap the top of the dashboard, sounds like a kitchen compost bin.

[Sham]

1 minute ago, Aston Martin said:

Tap the top of the dashboard, sounds like a kitchen compost bin.

I'd rather have the Suzuki way of a cheap interior and tough mechanical parts than most manufacturers 180⁰ approach.

[AnnoyingPentium]

I really like these, same with the model that followed. A friend has had the latter for almost a year, and it's been a great wee first car for her. Well bought. 👍

[garethj]

3 minutes ago, Aston Martin said:

Tap the top of the dashboard, sounds like a kitchen compost bin.

Cheap car is cheap, shocker😀

Unlike motoring journalists who think you can tell everything about the quality of a car by how the plastics feel, I’ve worked for automotive suppliers for years and know the feel of the plastics has nothing to do with how well something works or how long it lasts.

[garethj]

On 04/10/2023 at 20:57, garethj said:

… makes up for trivial things like the cheapest tyres I’ve ever seen….

Ordered some tyres which actually grip the road, which will be a refreshing change from the Chinese death rings on there now.  Kleber Quadraxers are apparently half a step down from Michelin Crossclimates for 2/3 the cost so a set of 4 isn’t going to break the bank.

A tiny 10 gallon tank and petrol instead of diesel means filling up every 400ish miles (the BMW would do 750 miles to a tank) so I’ve had a few opportunities to measure fuel economy.  48mpg seems about it, the trip computer stating 50-52, but that seems ok for a car that’s only doing 22.5mph per 1000 revs in 5th.  The Sport is even shorter geared!

[garethj]

Grippy tyres: achieved.  A full set of 4 new tyres is probably the same feeling normal people have when their butler brings the port and cigars: a certain self-satisfaction knowing that all is well.

I’ve no idea how normal people live or feel, being honest.

New wiper blades front and rear too, the car must think its birthday has come around.  The tiny thing keeps racking up the miles, filling the tank every 400ish miles is tedious but otherwise it’s a nice thing to zip around in.

One of the better refills the other day, although I don’t think I’ve had lower than 46-point something when I’ve checked.

Clutch change soon I think, looks like it’s the thick end of 500 sheets which seems a bit pricey but perhaps it’s not just my mortgage and cat food that’s gone up over the last year or so.

Apparently the 1.3’s gearbox is a bit weak, worth thinking about if you want to get yourself some Swift action.

[loserone]

Would you rate the tyres so far? 

[garethj]

2 hours ago, loserone said:

Would you rate the tyres so far? 

They seem to grip well, same confidence wet or dry.

[2flags]

Well bought. I know several people who run these as driving school cars. That is not for the fragile or temperamental. 

[garethj]

8 months later and I’ve put about 18,000 miles on this.  It’s needed a tail light bulb, a headlight bulb and I think the wiper mechanism bushes are a bit shit, although drenching them in an old can of 3 in 1 oil seems to have helped until I fit the replacement bushes.

At the service it had a new set of plugs and brake pads as well as filters, the aircon is a bit weedy but we haven’t had much of a summer yet.

Still getting 48-50mpg too 👍

[garethj]

This had 96,000 when I bought it and I’m on about 120,000 now so it will have dispatched 25,000+ miles by its anniversary.

Obviously it’s never failed to start, never broken down and has just cost service items once I’d sorted the (expensive) problems I’d bought it with.

MoT is booked for September and it will need a tickle on the back brakes, possibly rear adjusters have seized as the handbrake is high.  Hopefully nothing else!

[Bmwdumptruck]

We had a 1.3  5door for our daughters second car. Came on standard steelies with cheapo tyres but I found a guy selling a virtually brand new set of alloys with factory Continentals for £150.  She ran it for about 3 years till she finished her apprenticeship and bought a 3 year old Mazda3. We kept it thinking we’d pass it on to our lad once he’d  had his year with the dreaded black box in the Panda that had preceeded it. But he didn’t like it so we ended up getting him a Fabia and we kept the roller skate as a spare car selling the Panda instead.  Rear brake adjusters were the only issue we had with it.  For whatever reason one side just kept adjusting the brakes on, needing regular readjustments.  We sold it to amate that needed a runabout to take his mum shopping in. He decided it needed lots of servicing, the brakes rebuilding and a rear door with a small amount of microblistering resprayed. He blew £3k on it in a year, the rear door looked worse than ever, the blistering reappearing in months and the colour match was crap and very dull.  He swapped it for a low mileage 03 golf 1.6 and lost a shed load on it………. When all he needed to do was use it as it was.   
Steering racks can be an issue.  We got our one from the same dealer we’d bought the Panda from a year or so earlier.  When I tested it the steering felt a bit odd so I asked them to make sure their mechanic checked it out.  When we collected it they proudly annouced its had both bottom arms and new discs and pads up front too.  Well we drove it home using a section of A1 dual carriageway, you could barley keep it in it’s lane at 70.  Took it straight back……. A week later they announced it was going to a local Suzi dealer for a new rack at £1200.  They were not happy when we collected it back, especially when I commented that if they’d checked it out properly when I asked them to, they could have backed out of the deal and just auctioned it on.  Passed their place a few weeks back….no longer there!!  

[garethj]

I know that gearboxes are weak and clutches are out of the 1980s (need replacing every 50,000 miles) but I didn’t know about steering racks.  Fortunately this one is good and precise even at high speed, steering feel is definitely one of its strengths.

[Lord Sterling]

A mate of mine had one of these as his first car. He is about 6ft-odd.

He proceeded to thrash it about for a few years until it broke. Then he had a Toyota Yaris, then a Mazda 3 Diesel (which broke) and a few years back he bought a 55-reg BMW 120d.

He has never treated his cars as they should be treated. Yes chucking them at a mechanic when something goes 'wrong' or doesn't feel right is all well and good but it looks like a complete shit-tip.

[garethj]

Woo-hoo, an MoT pass this morning.

The tester was quite complimentary that I’d fixed the previous advisories, he also talked about the matching cross climate tyres like he was sierraman’s long lost brother.

Really struggling with what to replace it with.

[Rocket88]

25 minutes ago, garethj said:

Woo-hoo, an MoT pass this morning.

The tester was quite complimentary that I’d fixed the previous advisories, he also talked about the matching cross climate tyres like he was sierraman’s long lost brother.

Really struggling with what to replace it with.

This, obviously…😁