- Ignis and Swift score high in fuel consumption drives with Fleet World magazine and parkers.co.uk.
Suzuki Motor Corporation’s Swift has recently won the 2018 RJC Car of the Year award, promoted by the Automotive Researchers’ and Journalists’ Conference of Japan (RJC).
The latest Swift is the third-generation version since its launch in 2004 as a world strategic model, and is now the third consecutive winner of the coveted award having also won RJC Car of The Year in 2005 and 2010. Across the domestic range in Japan, this also marks the seventh Car of The Year title for Suzuki following the WagonR in 1993, the WagonR and WagonR Stingray in 2008, the Swift in 2005 and 2010, the Hustler in 2014, and the Alto in 2015.
Commenting on the reason for presenting the award to Suzuki, RJC said, “The Swift offers a good variety of models to a wide range of users, especially the newly launched in Japan Swift Sport with six-speed manual transmission which has excellent driving performance, manoeuvrability, and sporty characteristics.
The 27th RJC Car of the Year award was selected from a list of Japanese domestic models that were launched between 1 November 2016 and 31 October 2017. A vote on 1 November narrowed the field down to a shortlist of six and a final vote on 14 November determined the overall winner.
Swift has sold 5.77 million units worldwide since its first launch in 2004*. They have been favoured in Japan, Europe, and many other global markets.
*Based on Suzuki research as of the end of September 2017.
Real World Fuel Economy drives.
Long established magazine Fleet World recently entered a Swift in their annual MPG Marathon to monitor how the car would fare over a pre-determined route versus its officially quoted fuel consumption figure. The editorial team chose a 1.2-litre petrol SZ5 ALLGRIP 4×4 model with SHVS (Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki) which has an official combined figure of 62.8mpg. This is the heaviest Swift model in the range although it still weighs in at just 980kg. The driving team managed to make a 29 per cent improvement on the combined figure at 81.05mpg achieving 18.25 more miles on a single gallon.
Driver Richard Morcom comments “I was impressed by our Suzuki, 81mpg is not bad for a four -wheel drive car and that’s in the hands of an ordinary driver with a time limited route which shows that manufacturers figures can be improved upon. We didn’t do anything clever to achieve that figure either, our performance was down to following the satellite navigation and being very gentle when accelerating and braking”
Parkers.co.uk decided on a much longer economy drive with their long-term loan Ignis SZ-T by taking it on the arduous Land’s End to John O’ Groats route. Driver Stephen Lawman achieved an average of 80.42mpg over a total of 885.3 miles including some minor traffic re-routings on the way.
The Ignis consumed just 50.63 litres or 11.12 gallons of fuel; the 80.42mpg achieved was versus an official combined figure of 61.3mpg representing an additional 19.1 miles driven per gallon.
The total fuel cost for the journey was £60.88 and Stephen completed the marathon trip in 21 hours and 12 minutes. Over the eight-month loan period with Parkers, the Ignis clocked up almost 11,000 miles and recorded an average of 61.4mpg representing 100.1 per cent of the officially quoted figure.
