Suzuki have been making small cars for over 100 years so it’s safe to say they know what they’re doing. This month saw them release two stylish small Suzuki’s – both revamped and improved and both have their own special niche in the automotive market.
Firstly the S-Cross. Suzuki have given it a bold new design and a new front end. It’s more sophisticated with a lean towards a more mature attitude. It embraces its SUV heritage and sports a new taller/more dominant chrome and black slotted grille with projector headlamps (LED or Halogen) and chrome accented fog lamps to complete the picture. The LTD model comes with a 1.6L engine (2WD or AllGrip) and the new Prestige has Suzuki’s impressive 1.4 Litre Boosterjet Turbo engine – it’s really very good.
Then there’s the all new Ignis. With more and more of the road going public taking to the tarmac (and sometimes even off-road) in SUV’s, the category has expanded and sub-sectioned from the original ‘SUV’ to Small, Medium and Large and beyond. Suzuki are no strangers to pioneering such categories – the Vitara led the way by inventing the Compact SUV, a vehicle that sufficiently let loose your compact spirit of adventure. Well they have done it again with the all new Ignis. The Ignis stakes claim to the Super Compact SUV sector, it’s a place that sits above small cars but below Compacts. Think little passenger vehicles but on small stilts – it’s Tom Cruise with insole raisers but (in the Ignis’s case) with more (some) personality. The 180mm ground clearance lifts it up above the nasty kerbs and rocks of town and country and increases the hip and ride height to ‘just right’.
In many ways, the Ignis turns back the hands of time in terms of styling. With its Giugiaro-designed fronte coupe C pillar slits and and headlight positioning, it hints towards a Retro Japanese 70’s look and yet has all the clean lines and design flair befitting a modern SUV. I particularly like the regressive detailing on the rear quarter panel and the slightly flared arches. It’s Nostalgic yet funky and did I say full of personality? The Ignis has a quirkiness about it that is instantly endearing with trim tweaks like colour coded surrounds and blacked out A and B pillars.
It’s the same story on the inside too. The uncluttered colour coded dash seems minimalistic but has all you need at your fingertips (with plenty of controls on the steering wheel too). The Bosch touchscreen connects to Apple and Android – with Sat Nav and 4 or 6 speakers depending on the model. The Ignis is surprisingly roomy too – with seats folded down, the LTD model boasts 516 Litres of luggage space – not bad for an SUV that’s a mere 3,700mm in overall length!
Under its cute clamshell shaped nose sits a 1.2L Dualjet engine that gives up a peppy 66kW and 120Nm, both numbers are ample for the daily drive and are delivered well via the 5 speed manual or rejigged CVT automatic. With its newly created frame the Ignis weighs in at under 900kg’s which makes it frugal when it comes to fuel (4.7-4.9L/100k’s) but don’t think that Suzuki have scrimped on the safety though, it has a 5 star ANCAP rating.
The Ignis comes in dressed in some vivid and exotic named colours such as Flame Orange and Fervent Red Pearl but you can also ‘personalise’ it with your choice of interior and exterior trims – go on, you know you want to.
So a newly refreshed S-Cross, All new Ignis and a New category created, things are really looking UP for the ‘small car’ company.
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