Swift Sport 07-11

[WoodyS27]

Hiya guys,

I'm looking at getting a Swift Sport (07-11 model) as a second car. The ones I'm looking at seem to be in the 80-90odd thousand mile range.
Are there any main things I should be looking out for on them or are they generally reliable at higher mileage?

Cheers

[Objective Alpha]

look for rust, and that it has full history. Some of them have had a hard life, so finding out about the owner and how they cared for the car will tell you a lot.

[colin79666]

Check the abs light isn’t on. It is a common fault. Also suss out if the previous owner has been using super unleaded or not, these don’t like 95. Like most Japanese cars, generally reliable if cared for but at this age many examples will have had a hard time and more recent owners may not have kept up with the required servicing. Find a good example and you should be onto a winner.

[carlosvalderrama]

I've had 2, one 09 when nearly new and one from 2010 I had for a couple of years and sold in 2019. I probably did 25-30k across both. Casually looking for a third, but probably not going to bother as the fleet is too big.

Generally they're pretty tough, engines and boxes are fine unless excessively abused. Watch for rust on the back of the sills and near the jacking points, I've not seen any properly manky ones, but they might be looking flaky by now. Hard brake lines are often rusty so might be a problem now they're a decade old.

ABS units can go, mine didn't, but they can be rebuilt for a couple of hundred quid. Other than that it's typical cheaper car stuff like sticking calipers, old ball joints, tired exhausts and such. I had to replace an ABS sensor once, other than that it was just servicing.

Tyres are a weird size, (195/55 maybe) which means it's either Goodyear eagles or cheapos. Many roll on 205/55 as they're easier to get. Mine did with no issues.

The paint might be soft, both of mine had horrible stonechipping on the front of the bonnet, way worse than other cars I've had given the mileages.

Interiors can look mucky and worn, the red fabric holds hand grease easily and the plastics are rock hard and easy to mark. And if you find one without the driver's seat bolster collapsed and/or ripped to bits you've got a unicorn. If you've not been in one the front is weirdly roomy, and the boot and back seat are tiny, like they put the driver's seat in the wrong place or something.

They've got a very low insurance group so they're very popular with new drivers as they're insurable and have dual exhausts. As such stty mods, stickers and crap servicing aren't uncommon, (as are cheap crash repairs) but there are a few nice 1 owner examples around for 3-4k which should avoid that sort of thing.

I really liked mine. Felt robust, and were fun to just thrash about in as a runabout. I sold them as I have a constant revolving door of cars and a limited amount of space, but generally I still regret it. Simple, inexpensive, characterful and dependable.

The precise opposite to the Missus's Alfa Mito Turbo which is not nice to drive and relentlessly unreliable.

[un1eash]

I had one for a couple years from new back in 2009, was pearl white so quite rare. Only problem I remember from ownership was a squeeky seat but this was resolved with a recall. Great little cars and very fun.