Suzuki Swace Review

Read Caroline’s Suzuki Swace review for everything you need to know about buying Suzuki’s new estate car in Ireland.

Suzuki has launched a series of new models in Ireland this year, expanding into new segments and building their hybrid portfolio.

The Suzuki Swace has just gone on sale in Ireland this summer and is the Japanese brand’s first ever estate car. Built as the result of a collaboration with Toyota, the new Swace shares a lot with the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports.

Priced from €30,995, there’s just one version of the Swace on sale in Ireland and it comes very well-equipped.

So the Swace is shaping up to be a practical and stylish alternative to an SUV at a great price. In this review we’re going to take a closer look at Suzuki’s new car.

What’s so special about the Suzuki Swace?

Suzuki has some great cars in their line-up like the Swift and the Vitara. The Swace feels like an entirely different prospect because it shares so much with the Toyota Corolla, which has already been a big hit in Ireland.

On the outside the Swace is a sleek and good-looking estate. The car received many admiring glances during my time with it. In fact the position of the Suzuki badge on the bonnet gives the Swace an ever so slightly more appealing look when viewed head-on compared to the Corolla. LED headlights come as standard as do LED daytime running lights. There’s also a big glossy black mesh grille.

Other standard features includes five-spoke, 16-inch alloy wheels, roof rails, body-coloured door handles, and rear privacy glass. The Swace has the classic elongated shape of an estate car with quite a sporty rear end. At the back, the rear bumper gets a glossy black tip.

Estate cars like the Swace are a great alternative to an SUV. The Swace offers a great sized boot at 596 litres. It’s only about 40 litres less than the boot in the Skoda Octavia Combi.

Swace is also fuel-sipping hybrid. And that means a lot these days. During my time with the car, I saw consumption as low as 4.4 litres per 100 kilometres, without trying very hard.

Inside the Swace

As we’ve discussed, the exterior of the new Suzuki Swace lacks originality. Inside it’s pretty much the same story. Everything from the steering wheel to the dashboard, switchgear and infotainment comes from the Corolla. That’s no bad thing as the design and quality of the Swace’s interior does feel a step up from other cars in the Suzuki range.

The touchscreen and digital instrument cluster are borrowed from the Corolla too. The touchscreen comes as standard with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which means you can avoid the dull interface of the native system.

The Swace is only sold in one trim level and the good news is that it comes loaded with comfort features including dual-zone climate control, heated steering wheel, heated front seats, driver’s seat electric lumbar support, radar cruise control, reversing camera and push button start.

The Swace has a lot to offer anyone looking for a practical family car. The cabin is a bright and spacious with good headroom and legroom in the rear for a compact estate car. The rear bench can even seat three in reasonable comfort with enough legroom for all three passengers. There’s also separate ventilation controls in the back and Isofix anchors on the two outer seats.

The boot offers a lot of flexibility with a low sill, two position floor with reversible waterproof side. You can use the two position floor to create a flat loading sill or place it in the bottom of the boot to maximise the space available. Another handy feature are the switches in the boot to let down the rear seats, expanding the load carrying abilities to over 1600 litres.

What kind of hybrid is the Swace?

The Suzuki Swace has the advantage of being a fuel-sipping hybrid – but it’s not a plug-in hybrid. It’s a petrol-electric hybrid that doesn’t require you to plug it in and charge it to return excellent economy. There’s a low capacity battery on board that helps the car to run more efficiently, particularly in low speed town driving.

The Swace uses the same 1.8-litre hybrid powertrain as the Toyota Corolla and can return some impressive economy figures. There’s a modest 122hp sent to the front wheels through a CVT automatic gearbox.

Over a week of driving my average fuel consumption was 4.6 litres per 100 kilometres, and that included some motorway runs. It’s one of the most efficient cars I’ve driven in a while.

On the road the Swace is a steady and reliable drive. The automatic transmission makes it all rather effortless, though the CVT gearbox can get noisy under hard acceleration.

Instead, the Swace hybrid is more suited to a gentler pace, where you can enjoy this car for being a comfortable cruiser.

Did you like it?

In 2022, Suzuki has added a new S-Cross and Vitara Hybrid to the Suzuki range. The Swace is a brand new model and very accomplished.

While the brand hasn’t done much to make the Swace stand out from the Corolla, they’ve taken a good car into the Suzuki stable and not done anything design-wise that would impact what a fabulous efficient car this is.

Suzuki in Ireland is selling the Swace in just one trim level and it’s packed with equipment. It’s just a few hundred euro less than a similarly specced Corolla estate.

Still, it’s arguably got a slightly more appealing, high-tech appearance and will never be quite as ubiquitous as the equivalent Toyota.

And if you love Suzukis, you’ll definitely enjoy this new addition to the range because it really has some of the best quality and design wearing a Suzuki badge.

The Swace has broad appeal and certainly offers a good value alternative to an SUV in a sleek and stylish estate car with a big boot.

Model tested: Suzuki Swace SZ-T
Price: €30,995
Engine: 1.8-litre petrol electric hybrid
Power: 122hp
Torque: Nm
Top speed:  km/h
Acceleration (0-100 km/h):  seconds
CO2 emissions: 103g/km
Motor Tax: €190 per year

____________________________

Written by Caroline Kidd

Founder and Editor of Changing Lanes, Juror for Irish Car of the Year