Suzuki Swace Review & Prices

The Suzuki Swace is a bit like one of those actors who you’ve definitely seen in something else before, but you can’t quite put your finger on what.

That’s because, behind Suzuki’s very mild restyling, it is effectively a Toyota Corolla Touring Sports. You see, the Swace exists because Suzuki did a deal with Toyota to sell a rebranded version of the Corolla (along with the Suzuki Across, which is basically a RAV4). That saves Suzuki a boatload of cash in designing its own car, but also as both cars are hybrids it helps the firm reduce its average emissions.

While Suzuki raided Toyota’s substantial larder to create the Swace, it didn’t take everything. For starters, it’s only available as an estate, whereas the Corolla can also be had as a hatchback and a saloon. The Suzuki also only gets one engine option rather than the wider choice Toyota offers, which is a shame.

The Swace comes fitted only with Toyota’s 1.8-litre petrol hybrid system. This combines a 102hp four-cylinder petrol engine with a 53hp electric motor, which drives through a CVT automatic transmission, although the Swace can also drive on EV power alone for short distances.

The Swace covers the 0-62mph sprint in 11.1sec and will carry on to a top speed of 112mph. That’s pretty far from fast, and sure enough if you need oomph in reserve for an overtake you may find the Suzuki lacking. But off the line it feels quicker than the figures suggest thanks to the lack of any gear changes from its CVT transmission and the instant electric motor torque.

The trade-off is that the Swace is very fuel efficient. Officially it’ll average over 64mpg, and even if you drive without any thought of saving petrol, 50mpg+ is easily achievable. It’s not exactly exciting, though, and while it’s refined and smooth in gentle driving, the engine sounds a bit like a farmyard animal in pain if you use all the performance.

While this means you’re not likely to be throwing the Swace around like a hot hatch, it’s good to know that it’s pretty composed and capable to drive. It’s good at ironing out the worst potholes Britain has to offer but combines that with a controlled feel, meaning it doesn’t wallow about or float too much. The steering is accurate, too, although ultimately a Ford Focus Estate is much better at keeping its driver entertained on a twisty road.

As for styling, the Swace bears a strong resemblance to the Corolla Estate (which you’d expect given they’re the same car), but with Suzuki tweaks. These include a modestly different front bumper and grille. The back end of the car is pretty much identical, bar the badging. In the metal, it’s somehow more anonymous-looking than the Corolla.

Perhaps the biggest downside, though, is that the Swace doesn’t get the same superb warranty as Toyota offers in the Corolla as standard. It’s only three years, with the Suzuki and you’ll need to pay for the extended warranty if required. However, the Swace is now cheaper than an equivalent Toyota, so it has that in its favour.

Surprise, surprise, the Suzuki Swace’s cabin is a lot like that of its Toyota…well, you get the drift by now. It’s not as elegant to look at as Volkswagen Golf Estate’s interior, but it feels like it’s been built with long-lasting solidity more than fashion in mind.

Space is good, too: there’s more legroom than most alternatives, and while headroom isn’t quite as generous there’s room for three children to sit comfortably side-by-side, and three adults can stand short journeys without arguments.

The story is largely the same regarding the Swace’s boot. Yes, it’s ahead of alternatives such as the Focus or VW Golf, but it’s smaller than the huge Skoda Octavia Estate. On the upside, you can store the parcel shelf under the false boot floor and a mountain bike fits easily once you fold the seats.

There are two trim levels available, SZ-T and SZ5, both of which are well kitted-out. SZ-T models come with 16-inch alloy wheels, automatic LED headlights with automatic full beam, an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, plus lane-keep assist and a pre-collision safety system.

To this, SZ5 adds front and rear parking sensors, wireless smartphone charging, bi-LED projector headlights, a blind spot monitor, rear cross-traffic alert and a parking-assist system.

Both cars also have radar-guided cruise control, lane-departure warning, road sign assist, automatic door locking and tyre-pressure monitoring.

If you’re dead set on a Suzuki Swace, why not check out our deals page and our used Suzuki deals to see how much you could save on one?

When Suzuki first launched the Swace, it was identically priced to the equivalent Toyota Corolla Sports estate model. Now, the Suzuki is quite a bit cheaper as prices of the Corolla have moved up.

The result is that at time of writing, a Swace works out at almost £3500 cheaper than a similarly equipped Corolla estate, which is a big saving in anyone’s book.

It also means the Suzuki is very keenly priced against rivals like the Ford Focus Estate and Volkswagen Golf Estate, and even the class-defining Skoda Octavia wagon.

The Suzuki Swace is much the same as a Toyota Corolla to drive, which is to say very capable and, well, a bit dull

In town

Suzuki is a company that has made a virtue out of practicality and the Swace fits right in with this ethos.

Around town, it demands nothing from the driver other than the bare minimum of effort to steer, stop and make the car move. If that sounds like faint praise, it is, but it also means the Suzuki is really rather easy and relaxing to use in the urban environment.

The hybrid system lets you drive for short distances on battery power, and the engine comes into play quickly and quietly when needed.

Performance is okay but won’t impress any car fanatic friends. Then again, the CVT (continuously variable transmission) automatic gearbox that’s standard in the Swace just gets on with its job of making seamless progress.

It’s the same story with the ride as the Swace mops up most bumps without you paying much attention to them, and the engine only makes itself known when you press hard on the accelerator.

A decent turning circle adds to the Swace’s city credentials, and vision is good in all directions. Plus, a reversing camera is included with both trim levels of Swace.

On the motorway

Much like the way the Swace gets around town, Suzuki has stuck with a car that covers motorway miles with little disturbance to the driver.

Wind and road noise are pleasingly distant whispers at 70mph, and the engine only becomes vocal when you try to accelerate quickly and the automatic gearbox makes it spin harder than feels good for it, or your ears.

Once up to speed, though, the Swace cruises along quietly and very efficiently. It’s stable and the suspension makes a good effort at absorbing bumps and lumps before they have any impact on the car’s occupants.

On a twisty road

If you’re hoping for the Swace to be anything like the Suzuki Swift Sport, be prepared for disappointment. On the other hand, if you reckon the Swace will be just like the Corolla, you are bang on the money.

The Swace is never going to set your pulse racing on a twisty road, but it grips steadfastly to make it safe and easy to get from here to there. If you want to do this with a smile, but a Ford Focus.

What does hold the Swace back on country lanes more than anything is the engine and gearbox combo. They just don’t deliver much in the way of performance for overtaking slower traffic, and the racker the engine makes when you ask for strong acceleration soon has you backing off to get back to the quiet life.

The Suzuki Swace has all of the important bases covered for comfort, space and carrying capacity, but there are roomier estates available

Getting comfortable in the driver’s seat of the Suzuki Swace is a simple affair for almost anyone.

You get height adjustment for the driver’s chair as standard, and it moves back and forth more than enough on its runners for drivers of all statures to make themselves at home.

The Swace’s backrest adjusts by pulling the lever up and letting the upper part of the seat spring into place. It’s quick and easy to use, if not the most accurate system. Powered lumbar adjustment is standard on both trims of Swace.

Adjustment for the steering wheel sees it move for height and depth, so it completes an impressive array of movement for the driver to hone the seating position.

With all of that sorted, the view out of the Suzuki is very good in all directions, including over the driver’s left shoulder for reversing or swapping lanes.

To help with parking, all Swaces come with a reversing camera, and the upper SZ5 trim also has front and rear parking sensors included.

The door bins in the Suzuki are quite small and narrow, but it makes up for this shortcoming with a large glovebox.

There are also cupholders moulded into the transmission tunnel behind the gear lever. Further back, there’s also a cubby with lift-up lid that doubles as an armrest.

A small tray in front of the gear stick is ideal for holding your phone, especially as this is where there’s an USB charge point.

Space in the back seats

Suzuki, or Toyota really, has nailed rear seat space as the Swace offers even more knee room than a Skoda Octavia. That is very impressive and means adults fit in there without a hitch.

Head room in the back seats is not quite as generous as the Skoda’s, but even taller adults won’t find anything to complain about.

You can fit three adults across the Swace’s back bench, helped by the small hump in the floor that helps offer decent space for feet. A trio of kids will be more than happy back here, and there are ISOFIX child seat mounts in the two outer rear seats.

The centre armrest folds down to provide two cupholders, while the door pockets are a reasonable size. There’s also a map pocket in the passenger seat back.

Vision for those travelling in the back of the Swace is better than most cars of this type thanks to its relatively low window line, and it feels quite open and airy in the rear of the Suzuki.

Boot space

As an estate, the Suzuki Swace should be all about carrying loads with the maximum of ease, and it is.

It’s not the biggest estate car of this size for outright load capacity, with that accolade going to the Skoda Octavia at 640 litres, but the Swace is still very good.

It offers 596 litres of space with the rear seats in use, and the load sill sits flush with the floor when the height adjustable floor is in its upper position.

Tip the 60:40 split and fold rear seats down and you can free up to 1420 litres of room to carry luggage or anything else you want to pack in here.

There are sturdy tie-down points, and the back seats fold to create a long, flat floor. There’s also a 12-volt power socket in the boot to charge kit like a portable fridge.

Quality is the watchword inside the Suzuki Swace, though it does come at the expense of much in the way of style

Suzuki has lifted the Corolla’s cabin design wholesale for the Swace, which has pros and cons.

The cons are the look and style of the dash and cabin is, well, a bit plain. Clear and uncluttered would be a kinder way to describe it, but then so are others in this sector like the Skoda Octavia’s interior that still manage to inject a bit of pizazz and allure into their designs.

In the pros column, you’ll find superb quality where everything feels as if it will last for generations, or certainly the lifetime of use that a minicab driver would put it through.

The main dash display has blue back-lighting that is about as swish as the Swace gets, and it’s easy to read the dials in daytime or at night.

Steering wheel buttons work the menus for the various menus on offer in the main instrument binnacle.

In the centre console, you have physical buttons for the heating and ventilation, thankfully, so it’s a matter of milliseconds to adjust the temperature or fan speed as you’re driving, rather than having to fathom various infotainment menus.

Speaking of infotainment, the Swace comes with the same system as you find in the Corolla, which is a bit of step up from that found in the likes of Suzuki’s Swift or S-Cross.

The 8.0-inch colour touchscreen sits up high on the dash, so it’s easy to see at a glance. There are also shortcut buttons on either side to take you directly to the most commonly used menu pages.

As well as the shortcut keys, there are two rotary knobs for the stereo volume and to scroll through channels.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included with both trim levels of the Swace, so you can easily connect your phone and access its apps through the Suzuki’s infotainment screen.

Whichever of the two trims you pick with the Suzuki Swace, they both run on 16-inch alloy wheels and have a CVT (continuously variable transmission) automatic gearbox. As a result, both the SZ-T and SZ5 models provide the same fuel economy and emissions.

The official combined figure for the Swace’s fuel consumption is 64.2mpg and it should be achievable in the real world with only a little bit of effort from the driver.

Emissions are a very decent 103g/km, which means road tax of £170 in the first year and then £165 for the following years, so the Swace is not going to be a bank-buster to run and own. This is underlined with insurance groupings of 16 and 17 respectively for the SZ-T and SZ5 models.

The Swace has not been tested by Euro NCAP, but the near-identical Toyota Corolla has and it came away with a full five-star rating, which should also be true of the Suzuki.

This is because the Swace shares the Corolla’s long list of crash protection kit that covers seven airbags, including one for the driver’s knees.

There are also ISOFIX mounts for child seats in the two outer rear seats, lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking, and traffic sign recognition with all models.

For those choosing the SZ5 trim, you also get blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert to let you know of cars approaching that you might not see from the driver’s seat.

Suzuki and Toyota both have enviable reputations for the reliability of their cars, so the Swace is off to a very good start.

Suzuki provides its usual three-year/60,000-mile warranty with the Swace, which is fine until you remember that Toyota is happy to back its Corolla up to 10 years and 120,000 miles so long as you have it regularly serviced at a Toyota dealer. However, Suzuki does offer extended warranties at extra cost.

There are no recalls for the Swace, so you don’t have to worry about checking in with a dealer to have any preventative work carried out on used models.