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Making a splash

Suzuki’s latest small car may well make more of an impact than its predecessors. June Neary checks out the Splash

A Woman's View - Will It Suit Me?

Suzuki urgently needs to make a splash in the small car sector. The public at large simply don’t register that the Japanese marque makes anything other than the Grand Vitara 4WD models – though the latest generation Swift range is helping a little in this regard.

If things are to change, the brand’s management decided, then a car must be produced designed very specifically for European tastes. Hence their decision to work with Vauxhall on the development of the smart citycar-sized model that rolled onto my driveway last week – the Splash.

Suzuki have done this before with a project that brought us the first generation Vauxhall Agila and their second generation Wagon R+. That time however, the project was firmly Suzuki orientated. This time round, it seems, the company has let Vauxhall (or more accurately General Motors) take much more of a role in ‘European-ising’ the end result. Which means that this Splash looks and feels for more like a Ford/Vauxhall/Renault-type mainstream product. A small car, in other words, that people like me would be much more comfortable in owning.

The Practicalities

This little car, just 3.7 metres in length, slots into the Suzuki line-up alongside the similarly-sized (and priced) Swift supermini. It would start from a more affordable baseline figure and look directly comparable on price to its sister car, Vauxhall’s MK2 Agila, but for the UK market at least, Suzuki doesn’t have access to the entry-level 1.0-litre petrol engine that I’m guessing many potential Splash customers would rather like.

There’s a five-door-only bodystyle and the designers have integrated those doors a good deal more cleanly than in many city tots, the rising waistline of the car giving it a dynamic, wedgy appearance, albeit to the slight detriment of a good view out for shorter kids in the back.

The rear seat backs can also be folded down to create a totally flat load floor, serving up a total of 1,050 litres of available space. Vauxhall Agila sister model aside, no other city car can touch this. The hip point for the front seat has been deliberately set high to make getting in and out of the car easy, offering a commanding view of the road and taking advantage of that high roofline. I thought the styling to be neat and very well resolved.

Safety is another crucial constituent part of a small family vehicle and the Splash has an impressively complete specification in this regard. ABS with brake assist and electronic brakeforce distribution are included, as is ESP stability control. Six airbags are dotted around the interior, plus there are seatbelt force limiters and pre-tensioners for the front seats.

Behind the Wheel

Suzuki is offering a range of two engines with the Splash. Both are mated to five-speed manual gearboxes but there’s the option of a four-speed automatic with the petrol unit. Currently, things start off with an 85bhp 1.2-litre 4-cylinder option. Suzuki’s European focus with the Splash is underlined by the presence of a 1.3-litre diesel engine. It’s manufactured under licence from Fiat and it delivers 73bhp, courtesy of an advanced common-rail direct injection architecture.

I thought that the Splash looked very attractive in terms of running costs, especially if you opt for the diesel variant. This compact but flexible citycar benefits from tax-busting CO2 figures of just 131g/km on the petrol unit and 120g/km on the diesel, meaning that the latter unit will fall into VED Band B – the cost of a tax disc being just £35 a year.

I was impressed with the car’s responsive power steering, agile change of direction and lack of body roll. Sixty is around 12.3 seconds away from rest in the 1.2-litre model on the way to close to 109mph, so motorway travel, if not rapid, is well within this Suzuki’s ability. It gets a bit noisy when you rev the engine, though so you won’t want to do too many long trips.

Around city, town or village, the Splash will turn through 180 degrees in less than 10 metres – which should be handy in multi-storey carparks and tight streets.

Value for money

Both engines should return well over 40mpg in ordinary day-to-day use and service and insurance costs should also be very low. Prices are competitive with rivals like the Hyundai Amica and Chevrolet Matiz, starting from around £9,000.

All Splash models are equipped with a CD tuner with MP3 player and steering wheel-mounted audio controls, a leather-trimmed steering wheel, remote central locking, front electric windows with driver’s auto-down, air conditioning, electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors, height-adjustable front seats, a tilt adjustable steering wheel and an information display.

Could I Live With One?

Only those with a penchant for the outwardly curious would have opted for a Suzuki Wagon R+. This Splash replacement is a car that I’d be far more comfortable buying and owning. I’m not sure that many small car buyers’ mileages will justify paying the kind of premium that Suzuki are asking for the diesel version but if I was offered the right kind of deal on a 1.2-litre petrol model, I can see why this car might well appeal.