Suzuki Swift Sport 2008 - Bargain Basement fun
Discussion
Swift Motoring
Lets say you have circa £1000 and you want something that is fun, reliable and practical. There used to be a lot of options before the prices of used cars went through the roof, so a £1000~ car is not quite what it used to be, let alone something that's objectively quite good, right?
Well, the Suzuki Swift Sport (ZC31S) seems to be a bit of a cheat code.
The MX5 Replacement
After my Mk2 MX5 failed it's MOT quite spectacularly for rust, I was forced to selling it cheap as a project car and was left with £700 cash.
I genuinely adored my little Mazda, and having to sell it on a whim left me with me with a bit of a hole.
I wanted something fun, reliable, a little more practical than the MX5, but still something that can be ragged around back lanes. Also, we had a dog now which meant having a back seat would be quite useful for going to the dog field and back.
I was initially looking at the newer 2012> shape of the Swift Sport, but indecision whether I wanted to spend £6K on one had stopped me making a rash decision.
Then I stumble upon an advert for a £750 Swift sport on a facebook owners page. The garage had said it may need a new clutch and the owners wanted it gone. By sheer luck it happened to be less than 2 miles away, seemed rude not to have a look, right? It had no service history an an apparently dodgy clutch.
Well it was good, quite good. The seller accepted my £700 cash and left happy.
The problems
You may be shocked to learn that a £700 car with zero service history and 5 previous owners could have a few small problems...
I took the assuption that everything needed servicing and starting tidying it up.
Work still to be done:
The Good
I wanted something that had a similar Ethos to the MX5. Light, fun, simple and cheap. I think the ZC31S Swift ticks this box very well.
These are quite popular with new drivers as they are fairly 'cheap' to insure for a warm hatch. I should note that I am in my early 30s, and so not the typical young Swift Sport buyer.
Having spoken to a few younger swift owners, I felt bad telling them I pay less that £250 a year to insure it when they are stumping up nearly £3000 for the first year.
People often describe this car as a baby Type R, the red seats, JDM styling and twin exhausts make it a rather good looking hatch. However the 123bhp from it's 1.6 VVT engine mean that it's somewhat short (Absolutely miles off) the pace of a Type R.
Once behind the wheel this doesn't matter. It's engaging and raw, the sound of the intake combined with some gearbox whine mean it feels like a tiny rally car as you hit the rev limited doing barely the speed limit. The seats hold you well in corners and the stiff ride means it corners like a proper sports car.
It's balanced, and doesn't feel overly FWD, instead something you could get a bit of Lift off oversteer with some enthusiastic driving.
It's practical too, the dog is very comfortable in the back seats for the mile trip to the dog field twice a day. Fold the backs seats down and you can fit a fair bit inside it. This isn't my only car, but it could be if I needed it to be.
Big desk transport? No problem!
Big Floof transport? Also no problem!
The result of many muddy dog walks.
The Bad
Simply put, it's loud and geared very short. I've never owned a car that so desperately needed an extra gear for motorway speeds. Combined with the fairly stiff ride and little to no noise deadening, it is not a car made for traversing long distances.
Fuel economy is average at around 35mpg, not bad, not great.
The turning circle is a bit rubbish, makes it feel like a bigger car than it is when doing tight maneuvers.
It's got a fairly early Keyless entry system which is far from faultless. Sometimes the it doesn't detect the key inside the car and take 30 seconds for it to unlock the ignition. It's a bit dim-witted, but kind of convenient.
The interior is pretty cheap, the plastics used are not of a high quality and it's very reminiscent of late 90s Jap cars. It's not say it isn't well glued together, but you won't be impressing any passengers. On a similar vein the door close sound is the cheapest and tinniest of any car i've ever owned.
However all of this in the name of weight and cost saving at resulting in a car that's barely over a ton at 1070kg. You can tell that the majority of it's modest MRP price went into the drivetrain.
The Cup holders are absolutely useless, so much so I actually designed 3D printed inserts to hold cans properly. Sold a few of them too, seems I wasn't the only one annoyed by this.
The stock tyre size is a less common 195/45/17, which means that the few mid range tyres you can get for it are around £150 a corner. Going up to 205/45/17 means you get a proper premium tyre for less than £125 each. I recommend it, makes a difference with little to no cons.
I have read that a not so uncommon death of these cars is Headgasket failure. The M16A engine seems to use head bolts that can stretch, resulting in a leaking head gasket. I think you have to absolutely rag it death for this to happen, so It's not rover K series bad, but is a weak point. Upgraded ARP bolts are available to fix this if you are so inclinded.
Oil starvation isn't uncommon if you track the car due to the design of the oil pan (or something like that). As I have no plans to track it, this isn't a concern to me.
To Summarise
Is this the best sporty car you can get for under £1000? Well if I'm honest it's no longer a £1000 car, nearer £2000 with all the work done, but I know I have a clean car with everything sorted.
An Mx5 is arguably more fun as a sports car, but finding one for this price that isn't made of rusty is difficult.
Do I like it? Absolutely. It's like an 80s hot hatch with the reliability of a >2000s Jap car for a bargain price. The newer generation Swift Sport is arguably a better car, with a 6th gear, more power and a little more refinement, but it'll be a few years before they drop in price.
Until then, enjoy the ZC31S while they are dirt cheap.
Lets say you have circa £1000 and you want something that is fun, reliable and practical. There used to be a lot of options before the prices of used cars went through the roof, so a £1000~ car is not quite what it used to be, let alone something that's objectively quite good, right?
Well, the Suzuki Swift Sport (ZC31S) seems to be a bit of a cheat code.
The MX5 Replacement
After my Mk2 MX5 failed it's MOT quite spectacularly for rust, I was forced to selling it cheap as a project car and was left with £700 cash.
I genuinely adored my little Mazda, and having to sell it on a whim left me with me with a bit of a hole.
I wanted something fun, reliable, a little more practical than the MX5, but still something that can be ragged around back lanes. Also, we had a dog now which meant having a back seat would be quite useful for going to the dog field and back.
I was initially looking at the newer 2012> shape of the Swift Sport, but indecision whether I wanted to spend £6K on one had stopped me making a rash decision.
Then I stumble upon an advert for a £750 Swift sport on a facebook owners page. The garage had said it may need a new clutch and the owners wanted it gone. By sheer luck it happened to be less than 2 miles away, seemed rude not to have a look, right? It had no service history an an apparently dodgy clutch.
Well it was good, quite good. The seller accepted my £700 cash and left happy.
The problems
You may be shocked to learn that a £700 car with zero service history and 5 previous owners could have a few small problems...
I took the assuption that everything needed servicing and starting tidying it up.
- Replaced all the brake pads and discs
- Replaced rear calipers as they were seized (like under the sea for 10 years rusty)
- Oil and filter change - It was years overdue....
- Removed the aftermarket airbox and put it back to stock (I'm old and boring).
- New tyres (Good year Eagle F1s) - The car came with ditchfinders all round, you forget how much premium tyres improve a car until you go from terrible tyres to premium summer tyres. It's worth noting that the stock size is 195/45/17, but most owners put 205/45/17s on as it's cheap and you get better tyres. Makes the ride better too.
- New door mirror as the old one was wobbly and broken.
- Replaced the head unit for a proper Android Auto unit.
- Bled the slave cylinder of air (An absolutely awful job to do on this car!)
- New 'Sport' Badge - the old one was faded.
Work still to be done:
- New clutch, shifting into 1st and 2nd is clunky and clutch fork is a suspect failure (common apparently). - Booked in for next week for ~£500
- New shocks all round - Front mounts are knocking, making wheel tracking difficult, so talked my self up to a full set of Bilstein B4s.
The Good
I wanted something that had a similar Ethos to the MX5. Light, fun, simple and cheap. I think the ZC31S Swift ticks this box very well.
These are quite popular with new drivers as they are fairly 'cheap' to insure for a warm hatch. I should note that I am in my early 30s, and so not the typical young Swift Sport buyer.
Having spoken to a few younger swift owners, I felt bad telling them I pay less that £250 a year to insure it when they are stumping up nearly £3000 for the first year.
People often describe this car as a baby Type R, the red seats, JDM styling and twin exhausts make it a rather good looking hatch. However the 123bhp from it's 1.6 VVT engine mean that it's somewhat short (Absolutely miles off) the pace of a Type R.
Once behind the wheel this doesn't matter. It's engaging and raw, the sound of the intake combined with some gearbox whine mean it feels like a tiny rally car as you hit the rev limited doing barely the speed limit. The seats hold you well in corners and the stiff ride means it corners like a proper sports car.
It's balanced, and doesn't feel overly FWD, instead something you could get a bit of Lift off oversteer with some enthusiastic driving.
It's practical too, the dog is very comfortable in the back seats for the mile trip to the dog field twice a day. Fold the backs seats down and you can fit a fair bit inside it. This isn't my only car, but it could be if I needed it to be.
Big desk transport? No problem!
Big Floof transport? Also no problem!
The result of many muddy dog walks.
The Bad
Simply put, it's loud and geared very short. I've never owned a car that so desperately needed an extra gear for motorway speeds. Combined with the fairly stiff ride and little to no noise deadening, it is not a car made for traversing long distances.
Fuel economy is average at around 35mpg, not bad, not great.
The turning circle is a bit rubbish, makes it feel like a bigger car than it is when doing tight maneuvers.
It's got a fairly early Keyless entry system which is far from faultless. Sometimes the it doesn't detect the key inside the car and take 30 seconds for it to unlock the ignition. It's a bit dim-witted, but kind of convenient.
The interior is pretty cheap, the plastics used are not of a high quality and it's very reminiscent of late 90s Jap cars. It's not say it isn't well glued together, but you won't be impressing any passengers. On a similar vein the door close sound is the cheapest and tinniest of any car i've ever owned.
However all of this in the name of weight and cost saving at resulting in a car that's barely over a ton at 1070kg. You can tell that the majority of it's modest MRP price went into the drivetrain.
The Cup holders are absolutely useless, so much so I actually designed 3D printed inserts to hold cans properly. Sold a few of them too, seems I wasn't the only one annoyed by this.
The stock tyre size is a less common 195/45/17, which means that the few mid range tyres you can get for it are around £150 a corner. Going up to 205/45/17 means you get a proper premium tyre for less than £125 each. I recommend it, makes a difference with little to no cons.
I have read that a not so uncommon death of these cars is Headgasket failure. The M16A engine seems to use head bolts that can stretch, resulting in a leaking head gasket. I think you have to absolutely rag it death for this to happen, so It's not rover K series bad, but is a weak point. Upgraded ARP bolts are available to fix this if you are so inclinded.
Oil starvation isn't uncommon if you track the car due to the design of the oil pan (or something like that). As I have no plans to track it, this isn't a concern to me.
To Summarise
Is this the best sporty car you can get for under £1000? Well if I'm honest it's no longer a £1000 car, nearer £2000 with all the work done, but I know I have a clean car with everything sorted.
An Mx5 is arguably more fun as a sports car, but finding one for this price that isn't made of rusty is difficult.
Do I like it? Absolutely. It's like an 80s hot hatch with the reliability of a >2000s Jap car for a bargain price. The newer generation Swift Sport is arguably a better car, with a 6th gear, more power and a little more refinement, but it'll be a few years before they drop in price.
Until then, enjoy the ZC31S while they are dirt cheap.
Redline88 said:
You mentioned the brakes being rusty but how’s the rest of the underside? We’ve got one which is almost identical but it does seem to be really bad for rust underneath
It wasn't too bad at all. For reasons unknown the calipers seemed to have taken the brunt of it.The MOT center wasn't really concerned by anything they saw either.
I'll find out a little more in a couple weeks when I go to fit new shock absorbers. Getting those bolts undone could be interesting.
This are great little cars. I also own one i could not part with. I had exactly the same problems with the rear brakes. There a few things you should do / check.
- The Front Subframe likes to rust trough from the inside (if its not rusted, fill it with a spray wax)
- the rear inner arches, in the corners where the arches meet the rear bumber tend to rust, should also be filled with wax, mine rusted heavly
Link to my thread if you are interessted:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
good luck
- The Front Subframe likes to rust trough from the inside (if its not rusted, fill it with a spray wax)
- the rear inner arches, in the corners where the arches meet the rear bumber tend to rust, should also be filled with wax, mine rusted heavly
Link to my thread if you are interessted:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
good luck
Outstanding. Screaming bargain that.
My son has a zc32 and I love it, proper little hooligan of a car. It’s “only” about a grand to insure with him a d main driver but for an 18 year old that’s pretty cheap - less than most 1.0-1.4 super minis.
It had rusty brake calipers too so we’ve done those and front struts/springs. Looking a bit crusty underneath but passed its MOT last week with just a bit of welding to the exhaust and a bulb.
My son has a zc32 and I love it, proper little hooligan of a car. It’s “only” about a grand to insure with him a d main driver but for an 18 year old that’s pretty cheap - less than most 1.0-1.4 super minis.
It had rusty brake calipers too so we’ve done those and front struts/springs. Looking a bit crusty underneath but passed its MOT last week with just a bit of welding to the exhaust and a bulb.
Edited by Lefty on Thursday 6th March 10:51
Great little cars, I daily a ZC32 and also came from an NB MX5. It comes pretty close to the MX5 in terms of fun but is slightly more practical, which is why I chose it. That and my MX5 was rotten and on the verge of a spectacular MOT failure!
Rear calipers are prone to seizing, it was one of the first jobs I did on mine. I was told it's a Japanese car thing and it's to do with the orientation of the calipers and that water can't drain out of them effectively, don't know how much truth is in that.
Looks like you have bagged a bargain though, enjoy it.
Rear calipers are prone to seizing, it was one of the first jobs I did on mine. I was told it's a Japanese car thing and it's to do with the orientation of the calipers and that water can't drain out of them effectively, don't know how much truth is in that.
Looks like you have bagged a bargain though, enjoy it.
Very similar story to me.
Came from an NA MX-5, then briefly a Fiesta Zetec S, both consumed by tin worm.
Always fancied a Swift Sport , and a ZC31 in the same colour of yours came up for £1500 locally. I've had it 6 years now and I love it. Gearing is the only real downside, it's done 150,000 miles but it still feels good.
Put a ram air filter on for more induction noise last weekend and i'm finding it very addictve.
Although we are picking up an NC MX-5 later for my wife. Pretty fun 2 car line up for less than 4k :-)
Came from an NA MX-5, then briefly a Fiesta Zetec S, both consumed by tin worm.
Always fancied a Swift Sport , and a ZC31 in the same colour of yours came up for £1500 locally. I've had it 6 years now and I love it. Gearing is the only real downside, it's done 150,000 miles but it still feels good.
Put a ram air filter on for more induction noise last weekend and i'm finding it very addictve.
Although we are picking up an NC MX-5 later for my wife. Pretty fun 2 car line up for less than 4k :-)
Edited by molineux1980 on Thursday 6th March 10:37
I have the basic-ish 1.5 GLX as a winter car, and agree that they’re a worthy little machine.
Mine, not being the Sport, is geared at around 3000rpm at 70mph - I’ve not considered it low geared. It does have winter tyres though which cause quite a bit of road noise.
Foibles I’ve found include the keyless entry which seems to go through a key fob battery every 6 months or so, and the oil filter is quite vulnerable - mine got holed by a stone, but an easy and cheap thing to replace.
Mines averaging 43.1 to the gallon, but my commute is flat and gentle.
Mine, not being the Sport, is geared at around 3000rpm at 70mph - I’ve not considered it low geared. It does have winter tyres though which cause quite a bit of road noise.
Foibles I’ve found include the keyless entry which seems to go through a key fob battery every 6 months or so, and the oil filter is quite vulnerable - mine got holed by a stone, but an easy and cheap thing to replace.
Mines averaging 43.1 to the gallon, but my commute is flat and gentle.
Nice to see a Swift getting some space on here. I came to one from an FN2 Type R and whilst obviously slower, the Swift holds it's own in terms of fun on the road. Yours looks in great nick, and always loved that red.
Paid £1700 from a dealer, refreshed the pads and discs and gave it a service, and just coming up on a year of ownership and it's a great runabout. I think the only thing I don't like is the slight dead feeling in the steering going straight, but it's not very noticeable.
Hope it does you well!
Paid £1700 from a dealer, refreshed the pads and discs and gave it a service, and just coming up on a year of ownership and it's a great runabout. I think the only thing I don't like is the slight dead feeling in the steering going straight, but it's not very noticeable.
Hope it does you well!
Pebbles167 said:
I think the only thing I don't like is the slight dead feeling in the steering going straight, but it's not very noticeable.
Hope it does you well!
I found this to be really noticable with the old cheap tyres it had on it, center steering feel wasn't nice at all. With the Goodyear Asymmetric 6 tyres all round it's much improved. Although the top mount bearing had gone so the front wheels are knocking slightly meaning the tracking isn't quite right.Hope it does you well!
Once I get the new shocks on and the wheels all tracked I'm really hoping it fixes it.
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