► We live with the Suzuki Swift Hybrid
► Is it too light?
► Read month 4
Downsizing makes sense, so long as you’re not the only one doing it. A remark by Euro NCAP’s Michiel van Ratingen caught my eye. Increases in car weight are down to ‘consumer preference for larger vehicles and to electrification, with ever bigger batteries being used to quell consumers’ range anxiety… a trend that helps neither safety nor the environment.’
Of the link between weight and safety, NCAP highlights a report by the VIAS Institute in Belgium, which looked at real- world crash data. It says that if a 1600kg car and a 1300kg car collide, the risk of fatal injury decreases 50 per cent for those in the heavier vehicle while increasing almost 80 per cent for those in the lighter one.
It seems we’re charging headlong into the wrong automotive cul-de-sac here. Choice is fast disappearing, with small, lightweight hatchbacks like the Ford Fiesta exiting the market because new regs make it hard to sell them profitably.
And yet Suzuki offers a range of lightweight, super-frugal cars. It’s had to discontinue the Swift Sport to ‘fully comply with all UK legislation’ but the base Swift soldiers on. It weighs just under a tonne, produces only 81bhp, manages 99g/km C02 and routinely returns high-50s mpg (this month’s 55mpg is a record best) thanks to its 1.2-litre three-cylinder mild-hybrid engine. And that’s with me working it pretty hard to get anywhere.
Pedestrians could probably stop it with an outstretched hand.
Despite measuring just 3890mm from tip to toe, the Swift can also package my wife and two secondary schoolers in comfort and even carries a decent amount of luggage, as a recent trip to the airport when we each had a large carry-on bag in the boot attests. It does 350 miles between fills that take no time at all because the tank holds just 37 litres.
There is, of course, one massive negative given the VIAS report – with such a feathery kerbweight, the prospect of getting in a head-on collision with an SUV or electric car (heaven forbid an electric SUV) just doesn’t bear thinking about. Or makes me think about getting something bigger – the Swift gets three out of five stars from NCAP, incidentally.
We need more cars like the Swift, not fewer. Instead, we’re locked into a cycle of reducing grammes per kilometre while adding ever more kilos.
Logbook: Suzuki Swift Hybrid Ultra (month 5)
Price £19,799 (£19,799 as tested)
Performance 1197cc turbocharged three-cylinder, 81bhp, 12.5sec 0-62mph, 103mph
Efficiency 64.2mpg (official), 54.9mpg (tested), 99g/km CO2
Fuel cost 10.9p per mile
Miles this month 1355
Total miles 7313