Suzuki Swace review

Pros: Practical, efficient, well-equipped

Cons: CVT gearbox lacks refinement

The Suzuki Swace is the Japanese car brand’s first ever estate car, offering a practical and stylish alternative to an SUV. Priced from €30,995, the Swace is quite good value too and goes up against other compact estate cars like the Skoda Octavia Combi and the Kia Ceed SW. Could this be the perfect everyday car?

Suzuki Swace Design

Built as a result of a collaboration between Suzuki and Toyota, the new Swace shares a lot with the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports, including the same low, sleek profile and hybrid powertrain. Suzuki hasn’t done much to make the Swace look different than the Corolla other than swap the badges front and rear. But the new placement of the Suzuki badge on the bonnet framed by LED headlights and daytime running lights gives the Swace a slightly more high-tech appearance, especially finished in silver metallic paint like our test car.

This is a smart-looking estate whatever way you look at it and standard kit includes five-spoke 16-inch alloy wheels, roof rails, body-coloured door handles, and rear privacy glass. At the back, the rear bumper gets a glossy black tip for a sporty finish.

Suzuki Swace Interior

The Swace’s interior is almost identical to the Corolla. It has a simple and straightforward dashboard design that feels well-made with plenty of good quality plastics and soft touch materials. The Swace also borrows the Toyota’s digital instrument cluster and touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard. The touchscreen is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which means you can avoid the native system’s rather dull graphics.

Available in just one SZ-T trim level in Ireland, the Swace comes loaded with 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 bright and spacious cabin with decent headroom and legroom in the rear for a compact estate car. The rear bench can even seat three in reasonable comfort with good legroom for all passengers. There’s also separate ventilation controls in the back and Isofix anchors on the two outer seats.

Being an estate car, the Swace is designed to be practical and the boot offers 596 litres of space. That’s just 40 litres shy of the Skoda Octavia Combi. A two-position floor can be used to create a flat loading sill and has a reversible waterproof side. Other practical features include switches to let the rear seats down, expanding the boot capacity to over 1600 litres.

Suzuki Swace Performance & Drive

The Suzuki Swace uses the same 1.8-litre hybrid engine as the Toyota Corolla. There’s a modest 122hp and power is sent to the front wheels via a CVT gearbox. It’s a petrol-electric hybrid that you don’t have to plug in and charge. It’s one of the most efficient family cars we’ve driven in a while, returning 4.6 litres per 100 kilometres over a variety of roads.

The Swace is certainly not designed to be sporty, but it is nice to drive and handles the road well. The only frustration is the CVT gearbox, which gets a bit noisy if you want to pick up speed quickly. The Swace is clearly a car that rewards you more with a gentle right foot. And then you can just enjoy it for the comfortable cruiser that it is.

Suzuki Swace Pricing

The new Suzuki Swace SZ-T goes on sale from €30,995 and comes well-equipped.

Carzone Verdict

The Suzuki Swace is not the most original car on the market but it still has broad appeal: it’s stylish, practical, well-equipped, efficient and makes a great alternative to a more expensive SUV. Of course, you can say the same about the other car that looks very similar…but the Swace is a great addition to Suzuki’s line-up and is now one of the brand’s best cars.