2006 Suzuki Swift DDiS from UK and Ireland - Comments

Various annoying trim rattles; by clock, both rear door panels, glove-box lid.

I chose this car after shortlisting down to cars around £9000 with good economy and local dealers.

I looked at diesels: Citroen C3, Skoda Fabia, Kia Rio, Toytoa Aygo (petrol and diesel), new Corsa, new 207, Peugeot 1007 etc.

I narrowed it down to the Aygo 1.0 Black which was the most enjoyable for the price, and the Swift.

The Swift won as I got a good deal from a dealer with superb service, and I felt the Aygo lacked what was needed as the main car for all roads and all seasons- though fun, the tiny tires on our hideous rural roads would be a liability, and the lack of a drivers switch for the nearside electric window was unforgivable.

If I lived in town, I would have bought the Aygo as it was a delight to use.

All others were turned down due to not being able to get the engine, colour or specification I wanted within my budget. The Swift had the diesel engine, style, equipment and niceties such as alloys and heated mirrors, plus five doors and metallic paint.

The "money no object" choice would have been the diesel 207 which was just exceptional to drive with the best steering feel and handling by a mile.

I have now covered 1200 miles and my view on the car is favourable overall, and I hope that the rattles can be fixed on my next dealer visit, as they are irritating.

The car is much admired by all in its Graphite grey metallic, with subtle smoked silver stripes over the bonnet and above the sills (like a GT40). The colours and stripes work very well together and exude an understated quality, which I could not have imagined. I hate stripes, but this combination was on display in the showroom and just works, somehow!

I am getting an average of 55mpg, and remain impressed by the car's handling and traction.

The big tyres help with this.

The car is practical, but does have flaws; the parcel shelf does not rise with the boot, the alarm for the key in the ignition with the door open is infuriating, (you can't sit with door open and radio on for example), the seatbelt alarm is annoying when manouevering and so on.

The speedo is rather optimistic compared to the sat-nav (tomtom 910) and the mpg display is stupid- Ford's overall average system is far better than a constantly changing instantaneous display fitted here.

For: dealers excellent, style, admiration, five doors, cost, handling, equipment, economy, fingetip stereo controls.

Against: lots of rattles, cheap seat edge fabric, key alarm, seatbelt alarm, odd driving position, not as good to drive as more expensive competition, eg 207, grating disc brakes, two pushes on remote key to unlock or deadlock-daft! interior fan not very powerful but noisy, no leather steering wheel.

I have only covered 1200 miles, so will update this, or do another report after more miles, and once the rattles have been looked at by the dealers.

Geoff.

***UPDATE****

I have now booked the car in to have the various issues fine tuned, and have covered 2000 miles to date.

It's going in for:

Clutch does not fully disengage/grinds into reverse.

Numerous trim rattles/glove box lid loose/clicking driver's seat.

I have asked them to disconnect all beeps and alarms.

I have owned and driven most brands of car, and spent months testing and choosing before buying this one, and I do generally get on with this car.

It is improving with more miles as you would expect- the stiff gearbox has becoming slicker and the engine more lively.

However, it is the ridiculous Suzuki electronics designs that are getting to me day by day, as they are totally illogical, and infuriating:

The keys-in alarm with door open is the worst design available, as it activates as soon as you put touch the keys against the ignition, not just when you turn them or switch off the engine and forget to take them out like on all other brands.

This minor detail is driving me mad already, as I usually open the door and put the keys in first to save losing them, then sort all my other bits out; sat-nav onto dock, mobile in cubby, wallet in glovebox, load the car etc. All this time a god-awful piercing shrieking is sounding which starts me off in a foul mood, before I even start it up. In conjunction with the stereo only working with the ignition on (unlike other brands where it switches off when keys are removed, but activates if turned on again) it also means that you cannot listen to the stereo without turning the engine on if you have the door open, without the same shrieking as the keys need to be in the lock.

The interior lighting system is also daft-it seems to have some, but not all of the intelligence seen in other cars, Citroens for example, where the lights come on when unlocking with the remote and go off when the engine starts, come on again when switched off or door opened. I seem to be forever switching the interior light on or off as it always does the opposite of what you want it to be doing- it does come on when you unlock, but goes off three seconds after you close the door, before you are ready to move off.

The remote locking system is plain daft- you press the remote once and just the driver's door opens, twice for all doors and the boot to unlock. A clever thought to save wear on the locks and motors, or a good safety idea for a lone woman? No! As soon as you put the keys in the ignition- all the doors then unlock, so what is the point?? You wear the remote batteries out twice as fast for no benefit at all, and swear at it every time you wonder why you need to press the damn thing twice to open the boot.

I do understand the reason for one press=lock, two presses=deadlock, as this is a safety issue, but why not have a separate button for lock and lock+deadlock? Again, it's just poorly thought out.

The seatbelt alarm is also badly designed. I understand the need for an alarm to sound, that must be heard over the stereo, if you forget to put your belt on when driving off. That is a good idea. Many cars have this system, of an alarm together with clever programming so it is triggered to improve safety. Not Suzuki- the alarm triggers at 10mph (deafeningly for 90 seconds)

The poor design lies in that if the car has passes 10mph at any time, it is then triggered by removing the belt-even at a standstill with the engine running. I regularly have to reverse into very tight drives, where you are allowed by law to remove your belt, and this screeching banshee alarm sounding incessantly is dangerously distracting. It also sends you over the brink of insanity when you need to stop and start regularly without using your belt, e.g. at the various sections of a recycling centre, opening and closing gates, or swapping parking spaces.

This is just needlessly bad design which makes you irritated and more dangerous because you carry out the manoeuvre much more quickly and irrationally to shut the stupid thing up.

The stereo is adequate, but cannot match the sound quality and clarity of Peugeot, Skoda, VW etc, and again, is poorly thought out. There are 60 volume level increments for a start. Why? If you use the steering wheel controls it takes an hour to turn it up and down (why not fewer increments: 1-20?) and when you adjust the volume it beeps loudly at you with every press. WHY?

The steering wheel audio controls are also set up best for LHD cars- the volume/mute would be better on the right side, not left in RHD models, as you never use the station seek with RDS, and that is under the fingers of the hand which is always on the wheel. Again, most other manufacturers get this right. A minor flaw, but again it shows a lack of thought.

Why are the electric window and mirror switches, front foglights, steering wheel audio controls etc etc not lit at night?

No glove box light either.

The car looks good, but I feel it does not have the engineering and design standard to be rewarding to own, not for any major fault, but for dozens of little flaws such as decribed above plus the following:

No curved end blind spot on driver's door mirror.

The parcel shelf has no strings, so does not rise with bootlid and has to be flipped up.

The bootlid does not open high enough so you keep banging your head.

Only one handle on inside of the boot to close it- on the right hand side. I am left handed.

No side gutters on windscreen means screenwash cleans the screen, but does not then get directed over the roof, but on to the side windows and mirrors which get filthy.

No clutch foot rest.

No front door handgrips for the passenger to comfortably hold on to.

Fuel cap design fiddly.

Seat edge/door trim fabric very poor quality.

Lots of rattles from the trim.

Buzzing speakers.

Dull flat spot at 2500rpm.

The plastic steering wheel feels horrid.

The standard headlights are very poor-but reasonable with bulb upgrades.

From reading this, you must think that I am over critical of the car. My job means that I spend a lot of time in it, and all of these minor issues, which slightly grate on me time after time just add up to me enduring the car rather than enjoying it.

I hope that the dealers can fix the quality issues and disable the beeps, tones and alarms, so that I can enjoy the car and not have to change it.

I am currently feeling that I should have either spent more money, or accepted a better quality brand with less spec, as the car feels badly thought out and the rattles belie poor build quality.

I await the dealers fix, and will give it another chance.

Over time, I could live with the daft designs if they sort the alarms and rattles. The dealers are very good.

If you go to buy one, think very carefully-it looks nice, it corners well, the spec list is excellent, the price is tempting, the dealers try hard, but:

The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten!

To give you an idea how drastically Suzuki UK is behind the other car brands- look at the fact that they still do not have email, for any department, including customer services! I still find this laughable.

Geoff.

Goodness me Geoff, anybody would have thought you have bought a BMW 5 series! You are very critical, it's a cheap runabout car with good spec, you're going to get slight rattles, I have a 1.5glx and so far no problems, touch wood! I find car to be fun and reliable.

I just feel that we have the ability to produce excellent cars, and we mess them up by not thoroughly testing them in a variety of conditions, or asking for owner feedback.

None of the faults should be there; rattles are unacceptable in a new car. If you use the car in the rural stop, start, gates, reversing up narrow drives situations that I do, you do get irritated by the thoughtless designs, not at first, but after two or three months.

I just now feel that the car is not as good as others at a similar price, as the engineering is not as good. It looks good and has good spec, but the build quality and materials used as below average and there are just so many little irritating things about it on a day to day basis.

Having had many cars of a similar price, I can rightly expect that my £9290 should buy something that is of similar quality to a Skoda Fabia or a basic Peugeot (not a 5 series!).

On reflection, yes I am critical, but I am just saying how I feel; which is the point of the site; and I feel that the Swift has good points, but these are outweighed by the irritations, and the car is below the average quality standard in this sector.

My £9000ish shortlist was chosen on cost and location of dealers in this rural area and narrowed to: 207 (base), 1007 HDi Dolce, Fabia TDI PD70 Ambiente, Toyota Yaris Ion, Toyota Aygo, Citroen C3, New Corsa (base)

I chose it over the Fabia in the end, as for the same price it looked nicer. But after three months, I yearn for the solid, honest quality of the Skoda and the ease of living with it, rather than the appearance of the Swift.

The Swift looks best on paper with all the kit, economy, alloys air-con etc etc, but misses the integrity of Toyota and Skoda.

I'm glad you're pleased with your 1.5GLX-undoubtedly a good deal, and probably much better to drive than the asthmatic 1248cc diesel I have. Perhaps saving £1000 by having the petrol would have been better for me, as the drive is so much better and I could forgive it its foibles.

I would agree that the 1.5GLX is excellent value-I was offered a metallic new one for £8000, and this just wipes the floor with the competition at this price. My criticism must seem petty at this kind of price as nothing comes close.

I will send it in to the dealers and see how I get on!

Enjoy!!

Geoff.

Fair comment geoff, let us know how you get on with the rattles, my nearside front door rattled one morning and not done again, see how we go

paul.

Geoff.

I have the Grand Vitara DDiS and it has similar traits, however the central locking does not open all doors once the engine runs.. perhaps yours is a faulty model???

In the Grand there is a button to the right of the fuel usage meter that toggles from live to average and blank screen to suit the user.

I have also found that if you stop and remove the seat belt the alarm sounds.. but use the hand brake on one notch and it shuts up!

As I said I have a Grand, but the electrics may be the same. Hope this helps.

Wayne.

Hi Wayne.

The electrics are very different, unfortunately. The all door opening is standard- I argued this with the dealers and they showed me four other Swifts doing the same.

On the Swift, there is no switch for the fuel economy meter!

The seatbelt still sounds with the handbrake on, and the dealers can't and won't turn it off.

I will update my 2006 Swift DDiS page soon with the full details about my dealer visit to sort the problems...!

Needless to say, I am still annoyed by the stupid designs.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Geoff.

***UPDATE***

Now at 3700 miles and car has been to dealers.

They have fixed the glove box lid rattle, had both rear door panels off and fitted a missing clip on each door trim. They seem better, but not perfect.

The dashboard rattle did not occur on their road test, so they did not fix that, but said that if it is a problem to bring it back in. They also said that the problem is likely to be a rattle in the cross-member of the dash which involves removing the entire dash (a two day job) and warned me that doing this would solve one rattle, but cause three!

This is annoying, because the dash top rattle (by the clock) is intermittent, but drives you mad when it starts and stays rattling for hours. I think it is sensitive to the car heating as it does not occur at some temperatures.

The drivers seat was inspected and lubricated, but still clicks when your bodyweight transfers from one side of the seat to the other on corners. The click is on the right runner somewhere and is something to do with the seat height adjuster. Minor but irritating.

The clutch was checked, but found to be OK, however still struggles to get into reverse without grinding slightly, which is irritating as it makes you look stupid every time you try to reverse. Again, minor but irritating.

The dealers originally offered to commence work on switching off the seatbelt/key-in/stereo volume alarms, but wanted to charge £52.50 per hour to do this, and said that doing so could upset the entire electronics system, and was not recommended. I was cross about this, as Fiat will turn theirs off without charging.

I asked them to contact Suzuki technical (who will not speak to owners, only dealers) to see if it was possible to reprogramme the module.

I went to collect the car and nothing had been done to the alarms, and the dealer told me that the alarms were part of a sealed module and could not be silenced.

I cannot express how annoying this is! This sounds like an easy answer to me, and I wish they had tried harder.

I now use the car slightly differently to avoid setting off the damned stupid key-in alarm and badly thought out seatbelt alarm, but whenever they sound I grimace and wish I had a different car, for example once I have exceeded 10mph in a journey the seatbelt alarm is armed and will sound even when you stop with the handbrake on-really annoying if you have to get out briefly to open a gate.

These alarms are thoroughly annoying and very poorly designed by Suzuki. Other manufacturers set their alarms up better-I never have this problem in all of the other new cars I use.

I have now fitted a Suzuki Ignis parcel shelf string and clip, which I ordered at a cost of £7.65 from the dealer. This means that the shelf now rises with the bootlid at last and is one less irritation. This would cost pence to fit as standard and I begrudged paying £7.65.

The stalling and flat spot seems to have cured itself and I think that stalling was caused by me trying to drive off too quickly after getting in the car-I now start the car immediately and let it tick over for ten seconds while I put my belt on etc and it has not stalled since. It seems to like to settle down before driving off from cold.

The engine and box have improved massively now that it is run in and the flat spot has disappeared.

The engine on the car is now superb-quiet, torquey and smooth and gives me an average of 50mpg+ for stop/start driving in cold weather.

The dealers advice to give it some stick when run in to loosen it up worked very well indeed, and the car has transformed from sluggish to effortless.

I do wish it had a better steering wheel, in leather-like the Swift Sport. I had considered a Sport, but the three door only bodyshell in UK, the ROCK hard suspension, narrow sport seats and the petrol economy put me off-the DDiS is a better balance of economy, driveability, comfort, performance and practicality for everyday use, even though the Sport looks fabulous and has nicer trim and climate control instead of manual air-con.

The Sport has a clutch rest too, but smaller mirrors.

It annihilates the DDiS performance though!!

So to sum up, my DDiS is improving with use, but still has rattles and rage-inducingly badly programmed alarms.

It offers practicality, is enjoyable on twisty roads and gives excellent fuel economy. It also gets endless admiring glances and comments, surprisingly for a cheap car.

Come on Suzuki-the Swift is a great product let down by a few minor details, and this will have a bearing on my next choice of car. Suzuki should be asking us owners what we think of our cars so they can improve the next range.

Geoff.

Hi Geoff, thanks for update, I now agree with the dash rattle, mine now rattles close to the clocks! Can't believe the dealers saying they might put 3 rattles back after removing the dash to fix! If they do, remove again until fixed, sounds like they don't want to get involved? Mine now is annoying, also n/s door panel has plastic creak now and then, also drivers carpet makes a loud poping noise when changing gear, sounds like carpet becoming unglued from padding, all in all though I like the car, loosening up now and handles brilliantly and stereos good, averaging about 39 mpg in very heavy traffic.

Paul.

Overall the Swift is a good car and well-priced, but it good could lead the class with just a little more finesse.

The niggles could easily be avoided by Suzuki asking for feedback on the car from the owners, then modifying the production technique to avoid the rattles and daft electronics-I really would pay more for better quality.

I have sworn at the infuriating key-in alarm twelvty times already today!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!!! I KNOW the &$%*ing keys are in, I &%$%ing PUT the &*^5ing things there, so shut the £&^%ing screeching up now before I set fire to you and your *&^%ing stupid screeching *&^5ing alarm you *&^%ing STUPID $%^$ing car. Etc. AAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH!

Does the keyless entry system on the GLX avoid this?!

To avoid a heart attack, I won't even start on the seatbelt alarm programming again. I'll just calm down and have a nice sherry and imagine that I actually own a bicycle or a 2CV. Hmmmm.

The engine and 'box improve hugely with running in, don't they...?

Have you done a full report on your 1.5GLX yet? What is the title? 39mpg overall is good, and makes the extra cost for the DDiS, and the loss in performance and keyless entry seem not worthwhile for only 11mpg difference.

Geoff (amidst an alarm induced psychotic episode)

Someone please help. I am going mental. Nurse!

(Sobbing)

Hi Folks, Just found this web site and smiled at the comments, have had a 1.5glx for about two months now, 1300 miles or so and the engine/box is improving, but reverse can be difficult to select sometimes, it might be possible to disable the annoying seat belt alarm by foxing the switch/wiring under the seat so that the system thinks the belt is engaged, will investigate the possibility.

The ignition alarm is stupid I agree, and so is the central locking, I've all, but given up using the button on the door system, its poorly thought out and irritating so is the fuel consumption indicator.

I also have the 'near the clock rattle', not been able to stop it yet, have been able to reduce a fair bit of road noise in the car by removing interior trim and installing soundproofing, as the car is built simply its not too difficult to remove the trim.

I've also got a rattle which I'm so far unable to pin down, but it occurs at low speed only, over concrete roads especially, sounds like the suspension/linkage might be loose, but it disapears at speed so one for the dealer.

Town fuel consumption is poor at about 28mpg (short, cold trips)motorway at 41mpg (over 70mph!).

So far the car has been reliable and I remind myself its half the price of the Golf it replaced and will probable be half the trouble too!! Donny.

Hi Donny.

Many Swifts were recalled for a clutch fault (dragging/graunching), but apparently my late 2006 model was modified at the factory before delivery. It still graunches though!

Check with your dealer that yours has had the modification carried out as this has been an ongoing issue with the Swift.

I have been told by the dealers not to bypass the seatbelt switch as it may corrupt the electronic safety system on start up.

Geoff.

Hi geoff.

Had dash rattle looked at, was a loose wire/connection block in the steering cowling, now lovely and quiet. might be worth mentioning to your dealer to let them have a look.

Paul.

Thanks for that Paul. I am right on the verge of swapping this daft car for something else. I have written to Suzuki to ask them to contact the dealer to arrange a quote to disable the alarms, to be carried out when the car goes back in again to sort the dragging clutch and various rattles.

Through past experience, Suzuki UK Head Office are not very helpful, relying on the dealers to do the PR, so I will wait and see.

I will give it another month for them to get it spot on, or get rid of it.

Current faults:- rattles, dragging clutch when selecting reverse, buzzing rear speakers and door panels, loose driver's seat.

Current hate factors:- those %^) &%* *^^ %%*&* %^%&* alarms, the stupid two presses key system (particularly when opening the boot), tendency to stall easily when cold, the looks you get every time the cars stalls or grinds when you select reverse, the poorly set up electric power steering which weights up at higher speeds, but is very heavy, dead and lifeless around the dead ahead position, the 60 volume increments on the stereo.

Basically, the thought that I should have bought the 207.

I'm not loving this car at all.

The best thing about it is the smooth and torquey engine (when warm) but 45-50mpg does not justify it.

It looks nice, and has a long equipment list, but not enough thought went in to designing it and getting the details right (see previous comments).

Watch this space!

Geoff.

*****UPDATE****

As expected, no answer from the ever helpful (?!) Suzuki UK, so rather than setting fire to the Swift or shooting myself, I have had to take it to pieces myself.

The stereo bipping on using the steering wheel audio controls comes through the speakers and the unit maker (Clarion) says nothing can be done about it.

The key in alarm sounds from one of the modules on the upper underneath of behind the dash, but is impossible to locate which one without a volt-meter so I gave up. After taking the steering column cowling off, sliding the lighting ring of the ignition switch and generally investigating it, there was no obvious way to disable this sodding alarm.

I have KILLED the seatbelt alarm FINALLY (oh, deep and wonderful joy) by fiddling with the underseat connectors and finding out that the larger connector relates to the pretensioner system, but the smaller (rear) connector is the switch that tells the computer that the seat is occupied and the belt is not on. This must be an open circuit, as it seems to have safely fooled the car that the seatbelt is on, so that the warning icon and alarm is deactivated, but the pretensioners and air-bag system is active. HURRAH!!

To do this, just feel the rear connector under the driver's seat, and depress the tiny locking toggle on the inner (handbrake) side, and then the lower half of the connector pulls down and can stay loose and disconnected. It all works fine and I feel like I have won the lottery.

When Suzuki finally contacts me to tell me how to do this, I hope that they have a cure for the other two damned alarms, too.

It's not made me happy with the Swift, just a little less annoyed. Next up; trim rattles, buzzing speakers, grinding reverse gear, stalling.

Still, it saves me money- I try to drive it as little as possible...

Still no response from my letter to Suzuki- it's been over a week now, even though I put my mobile and e-mail contact details on the letter. Considering we have bought five new Suzuki cars in recent years, this is not good.

The dealers are good, but my experience of Suzuki UK has always been poor-for example Suzuki UK told me that the Jimny JLX+ model I was actually sat in at the dealers just did not exist, but if it ever did exist, they would send a brochure. When I later queried a fuel economy misprint on the web-site, they had no answers as to the correct figure.

I never did receive the brochure, or an answer to the fuel economy, even after I bought the car.

When the Jimny rolled over and was written off, I wrote a nice letter to Suzuki UK asking if they would offer a little incentive for me to buy the third new Suzuki in two years (fifth in total), because the insurers would only pay the invoice amount which the dealers had fiddled to be artificially low with a low part-ex price, after leaving the sales order form blank. They wrote a letter back basically saying the accident was my fault and that only the dealers can do deals; it was not even a nice letter; no effort was made at all.

The dealers did offer me a good deal on the Swift in the end, so as I like the dealers, I begrudgingly went for Suzuki no. 5.

Now, after buying the fifth car off Suzuki UK, and asking them direct for advice regarding if it was possible for the various warning alarms to be disconnected-after the dealers said they couldn't-they have not even responded.

In 2007, for a car manufacturer not to have an e-mail contact point is just unbelievable-"we do not have that facility at present"-and the delay in contact just adds to my feeling of poor service from Suzuki UK.

They will only talk on the phone to main dealers about technical queries, too, which is most helpful.

If they finally offer some help; even just some advice, then maybe the delay will be worth it as it means that I may be able to finally start to enjoy the car. I don't hold out much hope, though.

I think I will have learnt my lesson by the time we order our next new cars, one of which will probably be very soon at this rate.