Long-term report: The Suzuki Swace arrives on the fleet

It won’t surprise you to hear that over the past few years, I’ve been driving more and more cars powered by some form of electricity. But I’ve never ‘lived’ with one despite there being a steady stream of them arriving for testing at my house most weeks of the year.

That’s about to change, though, as I’ve taken the keys to a new long-term test car which I’ll be running for the next few months. Meet the Suzuki Swace.

The what, I hear you cry? Yes, it’s a rather odd name isn’t it, but in reality ‘Swace’ is as weird as things get because this is one of the most rational and sensible cars money can buy.

This Suzuki family estate car is a full-hybrid – or a ‘self-charging hybrid’ as it’s sometimes known – and if it looks just a little bit familiar then your eyes aren’t playing games as it’s the near identical sibling to the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports.

Built in Britain, the Corolla is one of the finest hybrids you can buy in my opinion, and the Corolla/Swace pairing came about through a technical partnership between the two Japanese carmakers. Suzuki also takes the RAV4 plug-in hybrid and offers it as the ‘Across’, and by adding some mild-hybrid powertrains to its Ignis, Swift, Vitara and S-Cross models, Suzuki can now say it only offers hybrid cars for sale in the UK.

The Swace is a bit cheaper than the Corolla, and there’s a very good reason for that. Suzuki has decided to only take the estate version of the Toyota, and is positioning it at the value end of the mid-sized estate car market. So, there are only two trim levels, and both dispense with the big wheels, glossy black trim and sporty bodywork of models you’ll find at the top end of the Corolla Touring Sports range.

My Swace is the top-spec ‘Ultra’ model, but you really wouldn’t know this is the poshest Swace – it’s a car that doesn’t like to shout about itself. Look a bit closer and you’ll spot the 16-inch alloys, heavily tinted rear glass, and, because this is the facelifted version, LED headlamps with new LED daytime running lights.

It’s well equipped inside with heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, front and rear parking sensors, a rear parking camera, blind spot monitoring, and Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay. The only option on KP23 OKR is the £600 metallic paint.

Toyota offers two hybrid engines but Suzuki has plumped for the lesser of the pair to keep in tune with its more value-focused aspirations, presumably. It’s a 1.8-litre petrol and because it’s the updated model it’s had a bump in power to 138bhp, with power sent through a CVT gearbox.

At £31,399 it’s reasonable value for money, and I’ve certainly seen a lot of them around, only to realise it’s the Toyota version. Even the Police in my area use them as panda cars; the Toyota version, it turns out.

Early impressions are very good. It’s supremely comfortable, feels very well made and the fuel economy is extraordinary. Suzuki claims 62.7mpg but I’m routinely seeing 65mpg on long motorway journeys, and on shorter trips to shops anything over 80mpg is entirely possible. I’ll give you a more thorough update soon, but for now, the Swace is a welcome new ride.