Long-term consequences of a Suzuki Ignis Sport
Discussion
Hello and welcome to my sh!tbox.
In all seriousness, please bear with while I try and surmise ~4 years of my 2003 Suzuki Ignis Sport into something semi-coherent.
The Ignis Sport is a weird one. Launched to ‘recognise’ Suzukis JWRC championship retrospectively, it’s not a true homologation car (for JWRC anyway). It’s also not really an Ignis - in Japan this is in fact the first gen Swift Sport, and I think is much overlooked for its later siblings in the UK. I guess probably because of looks, they are quirky, but maybe also on scarcity (there were less than 2000 UK cars, 300 or less still around today).
It does get the high comp Swift Sport engine (albeit at a shorter stroke for 1.5L rather than 1.6), with all mod cons - 16V, DOCH, VVT -, close ratio 5 speed gearing (it won’t break 80 in 3rd), Recaro fishnets, carbon look interior, the fairly obvious body kit and unique suspension. Plus some great (and very light) Enkei wheels. I’ve found in my time that Suzuki either share a part across half a dozen models (rear trailing arms for example), or nothing at all (the bonnet and slam panel are different on the sport vs the standard Ignis).
I bought the car back in 2022 as my first car. Slightly late to driving but caught up quick by jumping solo on a train to Buxton, viewing/buying the car and driving home to Manchester in the dark, rain, on the motorway, through city centre etc. Good few firsts ticked off in one trip for me there.
One added bonus was the minor detour via the Cat & Fiddle as a shakedown. Had I looked closer at the condition of the tyres I might have taken it easier!
Seller seemed a decent bloke, and the car generally solid (albeit tatty cosmetically) - at least to my non-mechanic eye. A vain attempt at haggling got me £50 off, for a total of £800. Mildly offensive to even try I think, but 99ron was £2/L at the time so it helped get me home anyway! 133k miles and 12(!)+ owners - a lot for what is a small, and cheap (£10k new) car. How many cars either fishnet Recaros and very-real-definitely-not-fake carbon can you get for £10k these days?
After getting it home, there were a few ‘interesting’ modifications to deal with. Principally, that gear knob!
Also to come off was the sunstrip (brilliant way of obscuring all traffic lights) and factory fit Enkeis that desperately needed a refurb back to their original white. Someone had done a (bad) respray job on them to black - and black wheels are not allowed. Needless to say, I’ve still not sorted the wheels as of today.
Straight in the bin were some slightly scary tyres (previous owner hadn’t used the stock wheels to be fair to him) from 3 different ditchfinder brands - Radial F101 anyone? These were seriously cracked and probably too unsafe to have even driven home but were duly swapped with some Yokohama Advan V701 in 185/55 R15.
A bit more exploring of the car uncovered a tasteful, period-correct Max Power Magazine sticker. I still can’t bring myself to remove this one.
Car was quickly put to use as a bike truck (somehow swallows a large 29” MTB pretty easily), covering a fair amount of miles to wherever the mountain bike took me. An added bonus of this is typically great roads to/from riding.
The car promptly failed its first mot in my ownership, but nothing severe - CV boot, a new horn, and a brake light. Not bad for 6 months/8000 miles.
I had partial history, but mostly just receipts from the previous owners DIY puchases. One of the past 12 owners must have lost the handbook.
When the next oil/filter change was due, I promptly got on top of all the service items I dint have history for - coolant, gearbox oil, brake fluid, belts, valve clearances etc.
Now 8 months and a few more thousand miles in, I started to notice a few instances of the car getting pretty hot, and pushing coolant out of the expansion tank. Rebleeding the system gave no change, nor did a new rad cap. A garage suggested a water pump - no dice. Head gasket it is then. As it turns out this is basically THE failure for Suzuki M engines, combustion leaking into coolant. Fortunately, it also was (& is!) a slow leak, only rearing its head after long drives or a thrashing with lots of chasing 7k on the tacho.
Rather than fixing that, I cracked on with some handling/styling mods. 25mm bolt on spacers fixed the (awful!) standard fitment - I really don’t know why Suzuki seemingly fitted the wide arches, and forgot to change the offset to match.
Before
After
Also on were some HEL braided hoses, and a Cusco strut brace with master cylinder support. (Yes those copper hard lines really were that bad and passing MOTs
)
In my mind this would have me reenacting the EVO review shots with great style.
Nearly a year in, and a first breakdown (coolant top ups are a daily occurrence, not a breakdown). Just a coil pack and off we went.
I fitted some square plates, because JDM. I immediately regretted this - why do morons fit plates with self tappers when there’s literally threaded bosses in the bumper/boot panel?
I ‘popped the hood’ to compare strut braces with a supra owner on a north wales drive out. He promptly moved to the other end of the car park. Wonder why?
Went on stand at Japfest, where I got serious Ignis envy.
Monster Sport carbon bonnet.
A move meant the mighty Ignis was put to work. This showed the admirable cargo space of such a small car. It also highlighted my reversing deficiencies as I backed into my mate’s living room wall.
With the regular overheating and all, I decided it was finally time to fix the head gasket fit a shiny carbon fibre intake from Suzuki Sport (think NISMO for shopping cars). The great noises from the valve timing changes on WOT with this did not help make overheating less frequent.
The next major issue the car had was an alternator failure while ferrying a mate to dinner. On the M60, in the rain, at night. With no hard shoulder to boot. Definitely a scary experience but made it off with the engine running, I guess I now know the engine is the last thing to stop anyway. At least losing headlights/dash with each flash of the hazards was amusing retrospectively.
Some pretty leaky shocks had me slightly concerned. A call to Suzuki to find they would be “£800 sir and and don’t sell the springs anymore” had me disgruntled & shopping for coilovers. Some of Suzukis parts pricing, and no longer available items are frankly ridiculous and they clearly don’t care one bit about keeping any of their more interesting cars on the road. I can recommend Levois Suzuki however, who not only sourced me an inner CV when 2 other dealers told me they were discontinued, but also did me a discount on top as an owners club member. Top service (even if they can’t help change the price lists).
Anyway, coilovers.
I went for Cusco Street Zero. The main other option was BC Racing, however they don’t seem to know which of their own kits fits a sport vs standard Ignis - I committed to the JDM and imported the Cuscos, along with all the chassis underbracing they do for the Ignis & an adjustable panhard rod.
While you’re paying all that shipping it’d be a shame to not make the most of it though right?
A substantial exhaust rattle had turned out to be more than just a heat shield, and in fact be a back box ready to exit stage left. I sourced a Fujitsubo Legalis R exhaust (with extra JDM burnt tip).
Fujitsubo are a top exhaust brand, and in fact manufacture for many other JDM exhaust brands.
An MOT fail due to a holed exhaust manifold/downpipe had me fit a lovely Empire Motorsport unequal length header to the car, giving it a lovely rumble and (I’m told) a few bhp even without a tune on the stock ECU.
So, we now have extensive handling mods, intake, exhaust, and some sticky AD08 tyres. It’s probably time to fix that head gasket.
Only issue is, the car was on 160,000 miles by this stage. It’s also a pig to remove the head with the engine in situ, very poor access for the timing chain cover which I didn’t fancy in situ.
These two factors convinced me I was better off shopping for a lower mileage, 1.6L engine from the later Swift Sport (ZC31S). This is a well documented direct swap, no messing about with mount, wiring or engine management.
So I found an engine, and picked it up.
A slightly scary motorway drive home (regret not hiring a van!) saw me with a low-ish mileage (70k) engine for £300, ready to swap straight in and enjoy all my mods.
Obviously,I’ve gotten carried away slightly. I figured that extra 100cc, and my breathing mods deserved better. The Ignis ECU isn’t easily mapped, and some dodgy bloke online was offering plug-in Link standalone ECUs for the stock loom. This opened up a world of potential. Tuning, drive by wire support, and all the motorsport features of a proper standalone that I could enjoy tinkering with.
So that’s pretty much where I am now, plus a few boring things like brakes, fixing the A/C, finding some new-old-stock Thule roof bar adapters, and fitted steelies for the winter. A few JDM trinkets don't hurt either - Suzuki Sport pedal/footrest set & a factory-option mesh grille (with Suzuki Sport badge).
Pads are weirdly shared with the RX-8. Rear brakes are very oversized for the car! (Bigger rear discs than front, parts bin supplied I imagine)
The engine is stripped down to a short block and the head disassembled - it’d be a shame to have it out and not fit some lumpier cams, right?
I’ve got a big stockpile of parts to fit, and I’m hoping to finish the engine rebuild this summer and get it fitted while there’s still some decent weather to enjoy it.
Kudos if you made it through all that!
Cheers
In all seriousness, please bear with while I try and surmise ~4 years of my 2003 Suzuki Ignis Sport into something semi-coherent.
The Ignis Sport is a weird one. Launched to ‘recognise’ Suzukis JWRC championship retrospectively, it’s not a true homologation car (for JWRC anyway). It’s also not really an Ignis - in Japan this is in fact the first gen Swift Sport, and I think is much overlooked for its later siblings in the UK. I guess probably because of looks, they are quirky, but maybe also on scarcity (there were less than 2000 UK cars, 300 or less still around today).
It does get the high comp Swift Sport engine (albeit at a shorter stroke for 1.5L rather than 1.6), with all mod cons - 16V, DOCH, VVT -, close ratio 5 speed gearing (it won’t break 80 in 3rd), Recaro fishnets, carbon look interior, the fairly obvious body kit and unique suspension. Plus some great (and very light) Enkei wheels. I’ve found in my time that Suzuki either share a part across half a dozen models (rear trailing arms for example), or nothing at all (the bonnet and slam panel are different on the sport vs the standard Ignis).
I bought the car back in 2022 as my first car. Slightly late to driving but caught up quick by jumping solo on a train to Buxton, viewing/buying the car and driving home to Manchester in the dark, rain, on the motorway, through city centre etc. Good few firsts ticked off in one trip for me there.
One added bonus was the minor detour via the Cat & Fiddle as a shakedown. Had I looked closer at the condition of the tyres I might have taken it easier!
Seller seemed a decent bloke, and the car generally solid (albeit tatty cosmetically) - at least to my non-mechanic eye. A vain attempt at haggling got me £50 off, for a total of £800. Mildly offensive to even try I think, but 99ron was £2/L at the time so it helped get me home anyway! 133k miles and 12(!)+ owners - a lot for what is a small, and cheap (£10k new) car. How many cars either fishnet Recaros and very-real-definitely-not-fake carbon can you get for £10k these days?
After getting it home, there were a few ‘interesting’ modifications to deal with. Principally, that gear knob!
Also to come off was the sunstrip (brilliant way of obscuring all traffic lights) and factory fit Enkeis that desperately needed a refurb back to their original white. Someone had done a (bad) respray job on them to black - and black wheels are not allowed. Needless to say, I’ve still not sorted the wheels as of today.
Straight in the bin were some slightly scary tyres (previous owner hadn’t used the stock wheels to be fair to him) from 3 different ditchfinder brands - Radial F101 anyone? These were seriously cracked and probably too unsafe to have even driven home but were duly swapped with some Yokohama Advan V701 in 185/55 R15.
A bit more exploring of the car uncovered a tasteful, period-correct Max Power Magazine sticker. I still can’t bring myself to remove this one.
Car was quickly put to use as a bike truck (somehow swallows a large 29” MTB pretty easily), covering a fair amount of miles to wherever the mountain bike took me. An added bonus of this is typically great roads to/from riding.
The car promptly failed its first mot in my ownership, but nothing severe - CV boot, a new horn, and a brake light. Not bad for 6 months/8000 miles.
I had partial history, but mostly just receipts from the previous owners DIY puchases. One of the past 12 owners must have lost the handbook.
When the next oil/filter change was due, I promptly got on top of all the service items I dint have history for - coolant, gearbox oil, brake fluid, belts, valve clearances etc.
Now 8 months and a few more thousand miles in, I started to notice a few instances of the car getting pretty hot, and pushing coolant out of the expansion tank. Rebleeding the system gave no change, nor did a new rad cap. A garage suggested a water pump - no dice. Head gasket it is then. As it turns out this is basically THE failure for Suzuki M engines, combustion leaking into coolant. Fortunately, it also was (& is!) a slow leak, only rearing its head after long drives or a thrashing with lots of chasing 7k on the tacho.
Rather than fixing that, I cracked on with some handling/styling mods. 25mm bolt on spacers fixed the (awful!) standard fitment - I really don’t know why Suzuki seemingly fitted the wide arches, and forgot to change the offset to match.
Before
After
Also on were some HEL braided hoses, and a Cusco strut brace with master cylinder support. (Yes those copper hard lines really were that bad and passing MOTs
)In my mind this would have me reenacting the EVO review shots with great style.
Nearly a year in, and a first breakdown (coolant top ups are a daily occurrence, not a breakdown). Just a coil pack and off we went.
I fitted some square plates, because JDM. I immediately regretted this - why do morons fit plates with self tappers when there’s literally threaded bosses in the bumper/boot panel?
I ‘popped the hood’ to compare strut braces with a supra owner on a north wales drive out. He promptly moved to the other end of the car park. Wonder why?
Went on stand at Japfest, where I got serious Ignis envy.
Monster Sport carbon bonnet.
A move meant the mighty Ignis was put to work. This showed the admirable cargo space of such a small car. It also highlighted my reversing deficiencies as I backed into my mate’s living room wall.
With the regular overheating and all, I decided it was finally time to fix the head gasket fit a shiny carbon fibre intake from Suzuki Sport (think NISMO for shopping cars). The great noises from the valve timing changes on WOT with this did not help make overheating less frequent.
The next major issue the car had was an alternator failure while ferrying a mate to dinner. On the M60, in the rain, at night. With no hard shoulder to boot. Definitely a scary experience but made it off with the engine running, I guess I now know the engine is the last thing to stop anyway. At least losing headlights/dash with each flash of the hazards was amusing retrospectively.
Some pretty leaky shocks had me slightly concerned. A call to Suzuki to find they would be “£800 sir and and don’t sell the springs anymore” had me disgruntled & shopping for coilovers. Some of Suzukis parts pricing, and no longer available items are frankly ridiculous and they clearly don’t care one bit about keeping any of their more interesting cars on the road. I can recommend Levois Suzuki however, who not only sourced me an inner CV when 2 other dealers told me they were discontinued, but also did me a discount on top as an owners club member. Top service (even if they can’t help change the price lists).
Anyway, coilovers.
I went for Cusco Street Zero. The main other option was BC Racing, however they don’t seem to know which of their own kits fits a sport vs standard Ignis - I committed to the JDM and imported the Cuscos, along with all the chassis underbracing they do for the Ignis & an adjustable panhard rod.
While you’re paying all that shipping it’d be a shame to not make the most of it though right?
A substantial exhaust rattle had turned out to be more than just a heat shield, and in fact be a back box ready to exit stage left. I sourced a Fujitsubo Legalis R exhaust (with extra JDM burnt tip).
Fujitsubo are a top exhaust brand, and in fact manufacture for many other JDM exhaust brands.
An MOT fail due to a holed exhaust manifold/downpipe had me fit a lovely Empire Motorsport unequal length header to the car, giving it a lovely rumble and (I’m told) a few bhp even without a tune on the stock ECU.
So, we now have extensive handling mods, intake, exhaust, and some sticky AD08 tyres. It’s probably time to fix that head gasket.
Only issue is, the car was on 160,000 miles by this stage. It’s also a pig to remove the head with the engine in situ, very poor access for the timing chain cover which I didn’t fancy in situ.
These two factors convinced me I was better off shopping for a lower mileage, 1.6L engine from the later Swift Sport (ZC31S). This is a well documented direct swap, no messing about with mount, wiring or engine management.
So I found an engine, and picked it up.
A slightly scary motorway drive home (regret not hiring a van!) saw me with a low-ish mileage (70k) engine for £300, ready to swap straight in and enjoy all my mods.
Obviously,I’ve gotten carried away slightly. I figured that extra 100cc, and my breathing mods deserved better. The Ignis ECU isn’t easily mapped, and some dodgy bloke online was offering plug-in Link standalone ECUs for the stock loom. This opened up a world of potential. Tuning, drive by wire support, and all the motorsport features of a proper standalone that I could enjoy tinkering with.
So that’s pretty much where I am now, plus a few boring things like brakes, fixing the A/C, finding some new-old-stock Thule roof bar adapters, and fitted steelies for the winter. A few JDM trinkets don't hurt either - Suzuki Sport pedal/footrest set & a factory-option mesh grille (with Suzuki Sport badge).
Pads are weirdly shared with the RX-8. Rear brakes are very oversized for the car! (Bigger rear discs than front, parts bin supplied I imagine)
The engine is stripped down to a short block and the head disassembled - it’d be a shame to have it out and not fit some lumpier cams, right?
I’ve got a big stockpile of parts to fit, and I’m hoping to finish the engine rebuild this summer and get it fitted while there’s still some decent weather to enjoy it.
Kudos if you made it through all that!
Cheers
The Rotrex Kid said:
Great work. I bought and sold one of these once, it was a ropey one though! Great to see one getting some proper love.
Thanks, they really are getting rare now - people need to start fixing them instead of parting them out! Sport-specific spares are a challenge though.InitialDave said:
I was tossing up getting one of these in the past, though never did, instead sampling the contemporary Panda 100HP and Twingo RS, both of which were great fun in slightly different ways.
Two obvious rivals! They were both on my list when I bought, went for the cheapest option which may not have been a cheaper option long term. 
AnhBanhBao said:
Dare I say the steelies might look even better than the Enkies, even once they turn white again.
Yeah I'm torn! It's got a bit of 106 Rallye about it. White wheels is clearly essential. I think the steels will stay as winter-only for now. They are a fair bit heavier than the Enkeis, despite being 14" - which also really limits tyre choice (15" is sparse enough as-is).We owned one of these for over 10 years. Ours had the optional fog lights and 16" "San Remo" alloys.
Bought on 40k miles with 1 prev owner and sold on 116k. Paid £1900 for it and sold for £3000. Went to a 17 year old who ended up crashing it then blew up the engine somehow which is a shame.
Gearshift was fantastic and I would say it was a modern take on a 80's hot hatch. Extremely fun to drive.
Only gripe was the seating position was too close for tall people like myself, gearing was extremely short for motorway and it could have done with a little more power.
I would love to try one with a tuned 1.6 from the swift. With around 160ish bhp will be a lot of fun.
Bought on 40k miles with 1 prev owner and sold on 116k. Paid £1900 for it and sold for £3000. Went to a 17 year old who ended up crashing it then blew up the engine somehow which is a shame.
Gearshift was fantastic and I would say it was a modern take on a 80's hot hatch. Extremely fun to drive.
Only gripe was the seating position was too close for tall people like myself, gearing was extremely short for motorway and it could have done with a little more power.
I would love to try one with a tuned 1.6 from the swift. With around 160ish bhp will be a lot of fun.
BricktopST205 said:
Gearshift was fantastic and I would say it was a modern take on a 80's hot hatch. Extremely fun to drive.
Only gripe was the seating position was too close for tall people like myself, gearing was extremely short for motorway and it could have done with a little more power.
I would love to try one with a tuned 1.6 from the swift. With around 160ish bhp will be a lot of fun.
Seating position is a bit weird, made for shorter legs I guess. JDM cars got an adjustable column which is just not fair..
~160hp is about what I’m hoping for with a decently large fast road cam profile. If the stock intake manifold/fuel pump don’t stop me getting there then I’ll be very chuffed. I think that’d be a similar power to weight to a 2.7 Porsche 987, which will feel fast in a tin can without a LSD!
Edited by LewisA10 on Friday 20th February 16:08
Edited by LewisA10 on Friday 20th February 16:14
LewisA10 said:
Blue suits them well!
Seating position is a bit weird, made for shorter legs I guess. JDM cars got an adjustable column which is just not fair..
~160hp is about what I m hoping for with a decently large fast road cam profile. If the stock intake manifold/fuel pump don t stop me getting there then I ll be very chuffed. I think that d be a similar power to weight to a 2.7 Porsche 987, which will feel fast in a tin can without a LSD!
I was looking to get the rails welded about half a foot further back but never got round to it in the end as it was the missus daily drive so I didn't use it as much as her. Like you said it is a car that was made for shorter people. Seating position is a bit weird, made for shorter legs I guess. JDM cars got an adjustable column which is just not fair..
~160hp is about what I m hoping for with a decently large fast road cam profile. If the stock intake manifold/fuel pump don t stop me getting there then I ll be very chuffed. I think that d be a similar power to weight to a 2.7 Porsche 987, which will feel fast in a tin can without a LSD!
Edited by LewisA10 on Friday 20th February 16:08
Edited by LewisA10 on Friday 20th February 16:14
Wow, great work on your first car.
I nearly bought one of these, I had a 1.3 Swift GTi in my 20s and could never scratch the itch of wanting to replace it. The Ignis was great but just wasn't the same so ultimately canned the idea.
Still toy with the idea of picking up a cheap Swift Sport.
I nearly bought one of these, I had a 1.3 Swift GTi in my 20s and could never scratch the itch of wanting to replace it. The Ignis was great but just wasn't the same so ultimately canned the idea.
Still toy with the idea of picking up a cheap Swift Sport.
EdmondDantes said:
I always loved these, great to see one in such a good condition, especially as the yellow paint hadn t faded.
Thanks. Pictures are a bit deceiving I think 
, there’s about 5 shades of yellow. Needs a full respray really, one day maybe.deprivedofsleep said:
I nearly bought one of these, I had a 1.3 Swift GTi in my 20s and could never scratch the itch of wanting to replace it. The Ignis was great but just wasn't the same so ultimately canned the idea.
Love the GTis! I think the G13B revs like crazy right? Pretty cool little cars.LewisA10 said:
Thanks. Pictures are a bit deceiving I think , there s about 5 shades of yellow. Needs a full respray really, one day maybe.
Have you tried giving it a really good machine compound and polish? It can't put paint back on, but if you have differential aging/fading of the paint or clearcoat (are these single stage or not? I would assume not, but unsure), it can help quite a bit to even things up., there s about 5 shades of yellow. Needs a full respray really, one day maybe.LewisA10 said:
EdmondDantes said:
I always loved these, great to see one in such a good condition, especially as the yellow paint hadn t faded.
Thanks. Pictures are a bit deceiving I think , there s about 5 shades of yellow. Needs a full respray really, one day maybe.deprivedofsleep said:
I nearly bought one of these, I had a 1.3 Swift GTi in my 20s and could never scratch the itch of wanting to replace it. The Ignis was great but just wasn't the same so ultimately canned the idea.
Love the GTis! I think the G13B revs like crazy right? Pretty cool little cars.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff