I drove Suzuki Swace Ultra – it’s safe, reliable and practical with a huge boot and mega fuel economy

IT’S easy to forget not everyone likes cars as much as we do.

They just see cars as a tool. A way of getting from A to B.

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Fun? No, thank you. That’s for other people.

Which got me thinking . . .

Take away the romance of a car, the freedom, the thrill of driving, the wonderful shapes, and what does a car in its basic form need to be?

The answer is: It needs to be safe, reliable, practical and it must not cost too much money.

It needs to be a Toyota Corolla estate.

No car blends all of those things together as well as a Corolla.

Or, for the purposes of this review, a Suzuki Swace, which is a rebadged Corolla estate made alongside Corolla at the Toyota factory in Derby.

Rather than waste a lot of time and even more money developing rival motors, the Japanese giants decided to share toys

Namely Toyota’s big car and hybrid excellence in return for Suzuki’s small car expertise.

So Toyota makes Swace and Across (RAV4) for Suzuki and Suzuki gives Toyota a foothold with small cars in India.

We tried Swace before and we liked it.

Now the family wagon has been updated for ’23 with Toyota’s next-gen hybrid power unit, increasing total output from 120hp to 140hp, and reducing the 0-62mph sprint by 1.7 seconds to 9.4.

Nothing to make your toupee slip but nonetheless progress is smooth and easy and the battery recharges itself on the go, so you can do short distances around town in EV mode. Which is nice.

Standard kit includes 8in multimedia screen with parking camera, heated front seats and steering wheel, wireless Apple CarPlay, dual-zone air con, and more. Also nice.

But the two things that impressed me most were the boot and mega fuel economy.

Fold the rear seats flat and you’ve got a van. Tip runs. Golf clubs. Ikea. You name it. It does the job.

We averaged 59mpg over a week without even trying to drive like a nun.

And whoever tried it before us even managed 61.6mpg.

I doubt they were a nun either. Unless they were going to a fancy-dress party.

But that’s also unlikely.

Fun? No, thank you. That’s for other people.

To conclude, then.

The Suzuki Swace is a sensible choice for people who don’t mind being anonymous on the road but who want something that’s reliable and does everything it’s meant to do really well.

It’s either this or a Corolla.

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