Budget fun - Suzuki Swift Sport ZC32S
Discussion
trails said:
Wow, you did well there...I think they were £150 new!
I think you need to be careful there are no sharp edges on your bushes in case you mark your knob...
Before I bought a new one for my Subaru my children caught me cleaning my knob in the kitchen with sandpaper and alcohol. I had to explain that age and abuse will degrade all but the very finest quality knobs. I think you need to be careful there are no sharp edges on your bushes in case you mark your knob...
Cambs_Stuart said:
trails said:
Wow, you did well there...I think they were £150 new!
I think you need to be careful there are no sharp edges on your bushes in case you mark your knob...
Before I bought a new one for my Subaru my children caught me cleaning my knob in the kitchen with sandpaper and alcohol. I had to explain that age and abuse will degrade all but the very finest quality knobs. I think you need to be careful there are no sharp edges on your bushes in case you mark your knob...
The little Swift is still fulfilling its daily duties, its showing its worth on the narrow, bumpy lanes between home and work which its small dimensions seem ideally suited for. I have covered 5000 miles in 10 months averaging 34mpg, which have almost exclusively been A and B roads, I think probably only 100 miles of those have been on a motorway but we have a Volvo V70 we use for longer journeys.
I’ve been working through a few issues, it is 10 years old now so is getting to an age where things do need replacing and it has thrown up a couple of bills in the last few months. It is also using oil - around 1l/1000miles which I don’t believe it should be. It’s running fine, MPG is about where it should be, it passed its emissions test on the MOT and there’s no visible smoke from burning of oil so it’s a bit of a mystery so far. I am going to replace the rocker cover gasket on the next service as there is a bit of oil residue on the block.
In the last 3 months it has had:
2x rear calipers as they were seized and sticking
1x ABS sensor – failed after being disturbed during caliper replacement
Brake Fluid replacement
New PCV valve – blocked and on not letting crankcase pressure through effectively, found after investigating oil usage issue
It also failed its MOT, there was play in the steering rack and there was a roughness you could feel through the steering. It was surprisingly difficult to get hold of a replacement, Suzuki quoted £600+ for a new rack and local factors couldn’t get hold of one. I ended up finding a helpful chap through the owners groups on facebook who had a refurbished one and has taken back my old one in exchange. I also had new inner and outer steering joints replaced as well. Changing the steering rack has improved the car hugely, it feels so much more responsive and lively. Obviously the old one was in need of replacement and I hadn’t really noticed so I’m much happier with how the car steers now.
New inner and outer tie rods, ideally would have gone for Febi for both but couldn't get hold of them in time so NAPA it was, unsure of the quality of these but they looked ok
Another small improvement to the gear change I have made is simply spraying some lithium grease on the ball and socket at the bottom of the plastic gear shifter, and on all the other linkages I could access inside the cabin, it has improved the feel of the gear change making it feel a lot less notchy.
Next up will be a service, I've got a Nurburgring trip planned for April so I will be getting the car ready for that.
I’ve been working through a few issues, it is 10 years old now so is getting to an age where things do need replacing and it has thrown up a couple of bills in the last few months. It is also using oil - around 1l/1000miles which I don’t believe it should be. It’s running fine, MPG is about where it should be, it passed its emissions test on the MOT and there’s no visible smoke from burning of oil so it’s a bit of a mystery so far. I am going to replace the rocker cover gasket on the next service as there is a bit of oil residue on the block.
In the last 3 months it has had:
2x rear calipers as they were seized and sticking
1x ABS sensor – failed after being disturbed during caliper replacement
Brake Fluid replacement
New PCV valve – blocked and on not letting crankcase pressure through effectively, found after investigating oil usage issue
It also failed its MOT, there was play in the steering rack and there was a roughness you could feel through the steering. It was surprisingly difficult to get hold of a replacement, Suzuki quoted £600+ for a new rack and local factors couldn’t get hold of one. I ended up finding a helpful chap through the owners groups on facebook who had a refurbished one and has taken back my old one in exchange. I also had new inner and outer steering joints replaced as well. Changing the steering rack has improved the car hugely, it feels so much more responsive and lively. Obviously the old one was in need of replacement and I hadn’t really noticed so I’m much happier with how the car steers now.
New inner and outer tie rods, ideally would have gone for Febi for both but couldn't get hold of them in time so NAPA it was, unsure of the quality of these but they looked ok
Another small improvement to the gear change I have made is simply spraying some lithium grease on the ball and socket at the bottom of the plastic gear shifter, and on all the other linkages I could access inside the cabin, it has improved the feel of the gear change making it feel a lot less notchy.
Next up will be a service, I've got a Nurburgring trip planned for April so I will be getting the car ready for that.
I'm also thinking about getting one of these as a fun run about. Currently on an NC mx5 after my NB was written off by a drunk driver. However my old 31S swift sport was a right hoot to drive. I was a lot less experienced then too, so feel I never got the full potential from it. Thinking of the 32S as a daily fun car, ticks all the boxes really, but the 31S I had was incredibly stiff which makes me worry about the 32. I think a test drive is in order to see what they like. I'll refer back to this thread if I ever get one 
Ben Lowden said:
Great update thanks! What mileage are you up to now?
It will be on 84k in the next couple of weeks, it's worn it's miles surprisingly well for what is viewed as a fairly budget brand, interior wear etc, although quite few stone chips on the bonnet, I think the paint is quite thin.Cambs_Stuart said:
Have you tracked the swift before? I've seen a couple on track days and the owners usually look like they're having fun.
I haven't tracked it yet no, it needs some better pads in the front and ideally some braided hoses too. Half considering doing this before Nurburgring but it's different to a track day there so I probably won't be hammering it round. My previous MX5 had coilovers/geo/brakes/tyres etc all to improve its capabilities on track but to the detriment of its on-road performance so it's at odds with what I'm using this car for 99% of the time. I guess I could still have fun on track with some sensible mods so I would like to take it out at some point.Garett said:
My previous MX5 had coilovers/geo/brakes/tyres etc all to improve its capabilities on track but to the detriment of its on-road performance so it's at odds with what I'm using this car for 99% of the time. I guess I could still have fun on track with some sensible mods so I would like to take it out at some point.
I fell victim to that on my old MX5 also. Realised how much better driving on the road is with softer / higher ride height. And for that 1% it is on track, it's not bad at all.Garett said:
It will be on 84k in the next couple of weeks, it's worn it's miles surprisingly well for what is viewed as a fairly budget brand, interior wear etc, although quite few stone chips on the bonnet, I think the paint is quite thin.
Great memories of owning my Swift Sport, bought on 10,000 miles in 2017 and sold in 2021 on 80,000, for £500 less than I had paid! Aside from consumables she was utterly faultless.It was apparent that the paint is incredibly thin on these, I had the bonnet, front bumper, front quarters and roof resprayed at 30,000 miles due to stonechips.
offspring86 said:
Great memories of owning my Swift Sport, bought on 10,000 miles in 2017 and sold in 2021 on 80,000, for £500 less than I had paid! Aside from consumables she was utterly faultless.
It was apparent that the paint is incredibly thin on these, I had the bonnet, front bumper, front quarters and roof resprayed at 30,000 miles due to stonechips.
You did pretty well there , putting that many miles on a car and only costing £500 is virtually unheard-of, never to be repeated. I wish I'd bought one at the start of 2020 when I first started looking, they were even better value then. Alas that year didn't go to plan for any of us!It was apparent that the paint is incredibly thin on these, I had the bonnet, front bumper, front quarters and roof resprayed at 30,000 miles due to stonechips.
marcp8v said:
This makes me miss my 32s! They are such underrated cars.
Mine was a early 32, with around 130,000 miles. Used to use oil too, get a genuine PCV from Suzuki and it should solve the issue, it did with mine, and I was still using 0w20 oil.
They are cracking little cars , I have replaced the PCV with a genuine one which I think has reduced the oil usage but not completely solved it. Oil change with 0w20 and new rocker gasket up next as it is weeping. Mine was a early 32, with around 130,000 miles. Used to use oil too, get a genuine PCV from Suzuki and it should solve the issue, it did with mine, and I was still using 0w20 oil.
I gave it a wash today, no mean feat when juggling 2 small children on mothers day. It's the first proper wash (with actual contact by hand) other than just blasting the thick off with a jet wash it's had since the Christmas break. I snow foamed the bits of the underside I could reach too. It is a car from a Japanese manufacturer afterall, even if it is made in Hungary. To be fair they don't seem too bad for rust but I'm sure it would still benefit from a once over underneath with some Dinitrol or such like.
I've a small list of jobs building up, not quite sure how I'm going to squeeze them in as life is busy at the moment but so far the list is...
Oil & filter change
Air filter
Airbox to throttle body pipe replace
Throttle body clean
Swap wiper stalk (mist wipe doesn't work)
Rear demister connector needs re-sticking ( any pointers?)
Replace xenon bulbs (occasional flicker)
Some of these jobs are more involved than they first seem, for example the wiper stalk replacement requires removing the airbag and the steering wheel, and a bulb replacement requires the front bumper removal. Not rocket science but not exactly 5 minute jobs either.
Anyway for today washing the car for 20 minutes, attending to the smallest child for an hour and then washing the rest of the car with a cold bucket of water feels like an achievement.
I've a small list of jobs building up, not quite sure how I'm going to squeeze them in as life is busy at the moment but so far the list is...
Oil & filter change
Air filter
Airbox to throttle body pipe replace
Throttle body clean
Swap wiper stalk (mist wipe doesn't work)
Rear demister connector needs re-sticking ( any pointers?)
Replace xenon bulbs (occasional flicker)
Some of these jobs are more involved than they first seem, for example the wiper stalk replacement requires removing the airbag and the steering wheel, and a bulb replacement requires the front bumper removal. Not rocket science but not exactly 5 minute jobs either.
Anyway for today washing the car for 20 minutes, attending to the smallest child for an hour and then washing the rest of the car with a cold bucket of water feels like an achievement.
I've owned the car for 1 year now, so it was due a service, although I've only covered 5500 miles in that time. Also with a trip to Germany coming up at the end of the month I'll be putting well over 1000 miles on it so I wanted to service it ahead of that.
I'd treated the car to a box of parts from Suzuki, Sims Suzuki in Darlington have a great website listing lots of common parts with next day delivery so an order was placed.
5l of 0w20 Ecstar oil
Oil filter
Air filter
Throttle body air pipe
Rocker cover gasket
Also some throttle body cleaner and instant gasket was acquired
First up was the replacement rocker cover gasket, the car is using a bit of oil and it was wet along the front edge and one side, admittedly nearest the filler but even so, I think they are a service item so was probably due. Supposedly you should inspect and reset the valve clearances but that's a bit beyond me and from what I've read most people say they are very rarely out.
Engine as it is when you open the bonnet
And with engine cover removed, which is also the airbox
All fairly straightforward. Coil packs to remove, a couple of breather pipes, a couple of brackets and 7 bolts holding it down. A hard yank and it was free.
All looks in order in here, reassuringly golden and not black sludge!
There were a few spots where gasket sealant needs to be applied so the only tricky part was carefully scraping the old off whilst making sure none fell in to head!
Bolted back down and torqued to 7.5nm, I didn't want to risk snapping a bolt so followed the recommended settings.
Next up was the throttle body hose, the rubber perishes with age and sure enough mine was looking past it's best. They can split and cause all sorts of odd running issues and affect the fuel economy etc. Mine hadn't completely split through but was well on its way.
Whilst I was in there and had access to the throttle body I gave that a clean. It's a DBW throttle so an assistant is required to press the pedal to open the throttle butterfly. I was amazed at how much crud came off it and how dirty the rag I was using was. Again this can cause all sorts of funny running issues and a bad idle, mine was idling ok but it was worth doing whilst access was easy.
Before
During
After
Then all back together and I replaced the air filter. The one in there wasn't actually in too bad condition and was only 2 years old so it had probably only done 10k miles. Interestingly it was an after market Mahle item, and the replacement was an OEM Mahle item as you can see they were identical.
After that I fired it up to make sure I'd put everything back together properly and let it warm through slightly before dropping the oil. Now whichever gorilla had tightened the 14mm sump plug unnecessarily tight had also done the same to the filter. I had to get the breaker bar out for the sump plug which felt a tad excessive and I was worried of slipping and rounding it but in the end it finally relented and I drained the oil.
Despite the hand book saying the M16A takes 3.9l, I drained 5l out and it took 4l before it even registered on the minimum mark on the dipstick, so all 5l went in.
There is no service light indicator to reset on these earlier Sports, it wasn't until they were updated with the Garmin head unit that it was introduced, I didn't realise this initially so there was a bit of head scratching as to why mine didn't have that setting on the dash!
Ahead of this I'd borrowed a small torque wrench off a biker mate at work for doing the rocker cover bolts. It was 1/4" and as I didn't own a complete set I had to treat myself to a Halfords Advanced 1/4" socket set which was a bargain, with the current discount code and a discount scheme at work I got it for around £28, down from £35.
Quite why I've never bought one before I don't know because it's diminutive size made it perfect for working in tight spots around the engine bay, would recommend anyone who doesn't own one to add one to their arsenal of tools.
All in all a day well spent!
I'd treated the car to a box of parts from Suzuki, Sims Suzuki in Darlington have a great website listing lots of common parts with next day delivery so an order was placed.
5l of 0w20 Ecstar oil
Oil filter
Air filter
Throttle body air pipe
Rocker cover gasket
Also some throttle body cleaner and instant gasket was acquired
First up was the replacement rocker cover gasket, the car is using a bit of oil and it was wet along the front edge and one side, admittedly nearest the filler but even so, I think they are a service item so was probably due. Supposedly you should inspect and reset the valve clearances but that's a bit beyond me and from what I've read most people say they are very rarely out.
Engine as it is when you open the bonnet
And with engine cover removed, which is also the airbox
All fairly straightforward. Coil packs to remove, a couple of breather pipes, a couple of brackets and 7 bolts holding it down. A hard yank and it was free.
All looks in order in here, reassuringly golden and not black sludge!
There were a few spots where gasket sealant needs to be applied so the only tricky part was carefully scraping the old off whilst making sure none fell in to head!
Bolted back down and torqued to 7.5nm, I didn't want to risk snapping a bolt so followed the recommended settings.
Next up was the throttle body hose, the rubber perishes with age and sure enough mine was looking past it's best. They can split and cause all sorts of odd running issues and affect the fuel economy etc. Mine hadn't completely split through but was well on its way.
Whilst I was in there and had access to the throttle body I gave that a clean. It's a DBW throttle so an assistant is required to press the pedal to open the throttle butterfly. I was amazed at how much crud came off it and how dirty the rag I was using was. Again this can cause all sorts of funny running issues and a bad idle, mine was idling ok but it was worth doing whilst access was easy.
Before
During
After
Then all back together and I replaced the air filter. The one in there wasn't actually in too bad condition and was only 2 years old so it had probably only done 10k miles. Interestingly it was an after market Mahle item, and the replacement was an OEM Mahle item as you can see they were identical.
After that I fired it up to make sure I'd put everything back together properly and let it warm through slightly before dropping the oil. Now whichever gorilla had tightened the 14mm sump plug unnecessarily tight had also done the same to the filter. I had to get the breaker bar out for the sump plug which felt a tad excessive and I was worried of slipping and rounding it but in the end it finally relented and I drained the oil.
Despite the hand book saying the M16A takes 3.9l, I drained 5l out and it took 4l before it even registered on the minimum mark on the dipstick, so all 5l went in.
There is no service light indicator to reset on these earlier Sports, it wasn't until they were updated with the Garmin head unit that it was introduced, I didn't realise this initially so there was a bit of head scratching as to why mine didn't have that setting on the dash!
Ahead of this I'd borrowed a small torque wrench off a biker mate at work for doing the rocker cover bolts. It was 1/4" and as I didn't own a complete set I had to treat myself to a Halfords Advanced 1/4" socket set which was a bargain, with the current discount code and a discount scheme at work I got it for around £28, down from £35.
Quite why I've never bought one before I don't know because it's diminutive size made it perfect for working in tight spots around the engine bay, would recommend anyone who doesn't own one to add one to their arsenal of tools.
All in all a day well spent!
Edited by Garett on Saturday 1st April 22:04
Trip to Nürburgring this last weekend, (Mayday bank holiday). We went via the tunnel which was a first for me, it was way easier and quicker too so will be my preferred route in the future over the ferry.
There's nothing like a road trip to either make or break your opinion of a car and I now have a new found respect for this car. Having barely used it on the motorway in the last year, it proved itself to be a great companion for a road trip. I was actually slightly dreading the long journey but actually the car wasn't as noisy and uncomfortable as I had imagined.
Cruise control, it's comfortable seats, along with a range of around 350 miles made the Swift a surprisingly decent little long distance car (for what it is). The best mpg I calculated was 44mpg cruising back to Calais, and the worst was 22mpg doing 6 laps of the Nordschleife. Pretty good really!
We broke up the journey down over 2 days, Yorkshire to Folkestone is about the same distance as Calais to Nurburg which is about 300 miles per leg. On the return back on Monday we did it in one day, sharing the driving between me and a mate. 600 miles and 13 hours door to door, quite a feat in this little car!
There was a surprising amount of Swifts there, I guess they have become a bit of a Ring legend because of 3 generations of the R4R cars. They seem to be replacing the later Swifts with Minis now which seems a bit of a shame, but the new Swift Sports are hybrids only in Europe so maybe this have some bearing on the decision.
My completely standard car was obviously one of the slower cars but a lot of fun, and I found new depths to the chassis I hadn't explored before, it was an absolute hoot to drive what a great little car! It held up to 6 laps well, the brakes are strong and held up to the heat well even on standard (Apec I think they are) pads. The Michelin PS4 tyres are excellent too, and definitely responded better having a bit of heat in them. I did 3 consecutive laps which was over half an hour of hard driving. I hadn't planned to but it was busy and time was getting on on my last day so wanted to use my laps up. If I'd left and tried to get back in I wouldn't have made it back on in time, I'd already tried to get on 3 times that day and it'd been closed, a very busy day.
All in all the car acquitted itself very well and surprised me with how competent it was. Nothing broke, it used 750ml of oil but I'm less concerned about this now as it's proven itself to be reliable under stress.
There's nothing like a road trip to either make or break your opinion of a car and I now have a new found respect for this car. Having barely used it on the motorway in the last year, it proved itself to be a great companion for a road trip. I was actually slightly dreading the long journey but actually the car wasn't as noisy and uncomfortable as I had imagined.
Cruise control, it's comfortable seats, along with a range of around 350 miles made the Swift a surprisingly decent little long distance car (for what it is). The best mpg I calculated was 44mpg cruising back to Calais, and the worst was 22mpg doing 6 laps of the Nordschleife. Pretty good really!
We broke up the journey down over 2 days, Yorkshire to Folkestone is about the same distance as Calais to Nurburg which is about 300 miles per leg. On the return back on Monday we did it in one day, sharing the driving between me and a mate. 600 miles and 13 hours door to door, quite a feat in this little car!
There was a surprising amount of Swifts there, I guess they have become a bit of a Ring legend because of 3 generations of the R4R cars. They seem to be replacing the later Swifts with Minis now which seems a bit of a shame, but the new Swift Sports are hybrids only in Europe so maybe this have some bearing on the decision.
My completely standard car was obviously one of the slower cars but a lot of fun, and I found new depths to the chassis I hadn't explored before, it was an absolute hoot to drive what a great little car! It held up to 6 laps well, the brakes are strong and held up to the heat well even on standard (Apec I think they are) pads. The Michelin PS4 tyres are excellent too, and definitely responded better having a bit of heat in them. I did 3 consecutive laps which was over half an hour of hard driving. I hadn't planned to but it was busy and time was getting on on my last day so wanted to use my laps up. If I'd left and tried to get back in I wouldn't have made it back on in time, I'd already tried to get on 3 times that day and it'd been closed, a very busy day.
All in all the car acquitted itself very well and surprised me with how competent it was. Nothing broke, it used 750ml of oil but I'm less concerned about this now as it's proven itself to be reliable under stress.
CABC said:
are you running aggressive camber?
what was it like having Frankie Boyle as a co-driver?
what was it like having Frankie Boyle as a co-driver?
I'll have to tell him that, it definitely helps having a passenger to watch out for the 911s approaching at warp speed from behind.Suspension and geo is completely standard so far on this car, it's a daily 99%of the time and I've learned from previous cars upgrades are often to the detriment of the usability.
gweaver said:
The suspension looks nicely unloaded there!
Yeah Pflanzgarten is a lot of fun when you get it right, I took a mate out who had more experience than me which helped me hit it a bit quicker.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff