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| The Suzuki Ignis can do gravel but really likes mud. |
“YOU must just write Adidas under there,” said the petrol attendant
as he tanked up the Suzuki Ignis five-speed manual in Beaufort West.
The fuel jockey was referring to the faux dents on the C-Pillar
that reminds of the Adidas logo, but which Suzuki said pay homage to the air
intake grills of the rear-engined Suzuki Fronte Coupé — a pocket rocket of note
in its day. The fuel tank swallows just over 30 litres, meaning I got to meet a
lot of petrol attendants on a long test drive from Cape Town to KZN in Suzuki’s
latest offering.
En route, I quickly found the one thing I learned to detest in the
hatch — a ridge on the hard plastic of
the door handle. After a few hours of driving, this ridge presses into a male driver’s right knee to the point where I started driving like a girl, knees together, which had me wondering if this was designed as a city girl’s hatch.
the door handle. After a few hours of driving, this ridge presses into a male driver’s right knee to the point where I started driving like a girl, knees together, which had me wondering if this was designed as a city girl’s hatch.
But Charl Grobler, manager of sales and product planning at Suzuki
Auto SA did boast at the launch this little hatch would also prove willing and
able over gravel. So I took it there — and Grobler was right.
The top of the range Ignis likes getting its 15-inch boots dusty.
Its 180 mm ground clearance is not really high enough for rocky
roads, but a kerb weight of only 850 kg on those thin tyres meant the Ignis just
sliced through mud — like a Nissan 1400 of yore. The lightweight construction
and rigid platform also ensured the little hatch reacted nimbly to any steering
inputs. So make this a car designed for city girls who don’t mind getting a bit
dirty.
In city traffic the 1,2-litre four-cylinder engine (which also does
service in the Suzuki Swift 1.2) returned 6,6 km/100 — or 15 km to a litre. On a
slow stretch of road works the best I got was 4,1, but the average open road
consumption was 5,9 l/100, or 16 km per litre.
The 1 197 cc engine in the Ignis makes 61 kW at 6 000 rpm for a
power-to-weight ratio of 71,65 kW/ton. But its torque that gets one past the
trucks, and while 113 Nm at 4 200 rpm is good for a small engine without a
turbo, it needed downshifting to second to get past trucks. I did not drive the
automated manual gearbox, but suspect it will require much the same high revving
treatment.
While happy on gravel and nimble in mud, this runner-up in the
World Urban Car Award comes into its own in the city, where it turns on a dime
and offers enough leg and more importantly, head room for two friends in the
rear seats.
The rear doors open over 70 degrees for easy entry, and the boot
swallows 260 litres with the seats up and 469 litres with the rear seatback
folded flat.
Standard items across all models include electric windows, remote
central locking, air-conditioning, electric power steering, and an
MP3-compatible CD sound system with USB port and 12V socket. The Bluetooth
system is not exactly intuitive and the USB port did not work with two of my power cables, which saw me going old school and using the 12 Volt socket.
These niggles were, however, quickly forgotten when I finally got
to use the projector-type LED lights on the GLX model on a dark but busy N1.
This lighting system is simply the best I’ve experienced in the sub
R190 000 price range and to my mind these lights alone are well worth the R20k
price difference between the GL and GLX models. The new Suzuki Ignis is covered
by a standard three-year/100 000 km warranty, and as a two-year/30 000 km
service plan.
Services are at 15 000 km or at 12 month intervals.
Ignis introductory prices:
1,2 GL — R169 900
1,2 GLX — R189 900
1,2 GLX auto — R204 900
