A Respectable Ride for a Paupers Price
It's not everyday that it takes me over an hour and a half to get home from over town. Unfortunately, due to a severe car accident, this was the case. I found myself parked just a few kilometers away from my house in the worst traffic jam I had ever encountered. Nevertheless, I turned up the tunes, reclined my seat, and played "if I could have any car in the world, what would I get?" with my boyfriend who was riding shotgun.
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| Suzuki is back in the subcompact market with its GMDAT (Daewoo) Korean-made Swift+. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, Canadian Auto Press) |
This could have been an exceptionally irritating experience for me had it not been for my temporary test car's comfortable seats, standard AM/FM/CD player with four speakers, and some good company. The 2004 Suzuki Swift+ was a comfortable traffic companion, for this instance and throughout the week.
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| There's a lot of room in the Swift, with the large windshield and low dash adding to the airy ambience. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, Canadian Auto Press) |
What makes the Swift so cozy? Well, first off there's a lot of people room. One night I picked up a girlfriend and the first thing she said when she stepped in was "Wow, there's so much room in here." Indeed there is. Even the 6'4" boyfriend enjoyed the leg and head space. Adding to its spaciousness, or at least the feeling of wide open space, is the large windshield, making forward visibility quite good. Also, the dash is quite low adding to the airy ambience.
Its handling is also worthy of praise. I found that the Toyota Echo Hatchback and Hyundai Accent GSi, however, preformed a little better when it came to pure driving dynamics. The Swift's steering wheel, which is very comfortable, is quite stiff offering fairly good reaction time to input. The car also performs adequately in wet conditions. Despite having rear drum and front ventilated disc brakes applied to smallish 14-inch wheels wrapped with skinny 180/60R14 tires, braking on slippery surfaces is decent.