Suzuki Swace Review (2021-present)

There’s an elephant in the room when you talk about the Suzuki Swace, and it’s the Toyota Corolla – specifically the Touring Sports hybrid estate model. You see, Suzuki and Toyota have a business arrangement that has seen them develop cars together, and as a result, Suzuki has been able to put its own spin on some established Toyota cars. The recent Suzuki Across is another example; it’s very similar to the RAV4.

The Swace, then, is essentially a rebadged Corolla estate, and not much has been done to the styling to differentiate it, save for a different badge at each end and a slightly different grille and front bumper. That’s no bad thing though; the Corolla is a very decent car. So why would you go for the Suzuki model?

Well, the Swace is what Suzuki considers the most sensible version of the Corolla Touring Sports. It’s taken the most efficient engine and some of the choicest features, packaged them up into just two trims, and offered them at attractive prices when new; prices that are lower than the Toyota models. It doesn’t have some of the sexier equipment that Toyota offers, and the warranty is smaller. You also can’t get it in hatchback or saloon form, like you can with the Corolla. But for those that aren’t interested in frills, or who want something that you’re not likely to see many of on the roads, read on.

Very much so, with plenty of legroom and headroom in both the front and back. You’ll have no issues getting two tall adults in the rear seats, and even three shouldn’t have too many comfort complaints. You will get more space in the back of a Skoda Octavia Estate, however.

The boot, at 596 litres, is usefully large, but again the Octavia offers more room with 640 litres, as does the Kia Ceed Sportswagon at 625 litres. That said, if you go for the plug-in hybrid version of these cars, you’ll get less space; 490 litres in the Skoda and 437 in the Kia. This is due to the space needed for batteries, and PHEVs have larger cells than regular hybrids like the Swace.

While the Corolla has a choice of hybrid options, there’s only one in the Swace. It’s a 1.8-litre petrol engine, attached to an electric motor to give a combined 120bhp, and it’s important to note that this is a self-charging hybrid, rather than a plug-in. This means you can’t plug it in to the mains to recharge the battery, and you can only do short distances in EV mode. Still, it’s a well-established system that will cut out the engine when it can, and will lower your fuel consumption.

That level of power won’t blow anyone’s socks off, and progress won’t be any more than an amble, especially when you’ve got a fully loaded car. It’s not a machine to be rushed, but if you’re ok with that then it does the job without fuss. The automatic gearbox is a CVT, which has particular quirks over a regular auto; it can send the engine revs sky high if you accelerate hard, which is grating on the ear. The simple solution is not to accelerate hard if you can avoid it.

The handling and ride is similarly leisurely, with a focus on comfort. The suspension isn’t the softest thing on the market but it massages away the worst of bad road surfaces nicely. The steering has a good amount of feel and heft to it, so it feels confident through the corners even if it doesn’t have the agility of a Ford Focus Estate. As a cruiser, it’s entirely competent.

The interior, much like the Corolla's, is smart and very well put together, with materials that feel solid if not particularly premium. Even the entry-level model has plenty of kit, with heated front seats and dual-zone air-conditioning, and an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system. It’s not a great system; it looks pretty old fashioned compared to some of its rivals, and it’s quite fiddly to use.

There’s no satnav, but you do get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so you can just use a navigation app on your phone and project its instructions through your car's screen. There are at least physical controls for things like the aircon.

Purchase prices for a new Swace are a fraction under those of the Toyota Corolla range, which starts with the Icon model that’s very similar in spec to the Suzuki. That makes it hard to separate the two, as many would consider the small premium worth paying to get Toyota’s longer warranty and improved resale values.

When it comes to running costs, the hybrid powertrain promises up to 64.2mpg, and if you keep most of your journeys short and urban, you should get close to - or maybe even beat - that. It’s pretty good for a petrol-engined car. Some rivals have plug-in hybrid systems that let you recharge the battery from the mains and do upwards of 30 miles on electric power only, which can give you a brilliant MPG figure. But they tend to cost quite a bit more to buy.

Low CO2 emissions of 99g/km mean a 23% benefit-in-kind tax bracket for company car drivers (2021/22). That’s a bracket lower than the Corolla Touring Sports. Vehicle Excise Duty after the first year will be £145 a year.

Insurance shouldn’t be too hefty, as the Swace sits in groups 16 and 17 of 50, which is about the same as the Corolla.

One major plus about the Swace’s Toyota roots is that it inherits a bulletproof reputation for reliability. Toyota is a byword for dependability, regularly landing at or near the top of independent surveys and studies, and the Swace can happily ride the coattails of that success.

The Swace is too new for us to have heard of any patterns of faults or issues, but frankly we’d be surprised to hear of any. There’s no such thing as a cast-iron guarantee of reliability in the world of cars – they’re complicated things – but this is pretty close to a sure thing.

All that said, Suzuki only offers a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty on the Swace. On the Corolla, you get the same, but providing you get your car serviced annually at a Toyota dealer, this warranty is automatically topped up by a year, up to a maximum of 10 years. For many buyers, this peace-of-mind alone will be worth the extra you pay to buy the Toyota.