Step inside the 2017 Suzuki Swift

2017 Suzuki Swift

The new Swift has been the talk of the town for the past week. We've given you a detailed lowdown on the design of the car, and now it's time to take a peek inside. Let's take a look at what's different, what's new and most importantly - figure out if it is any better than the current one.

The Swift has always been a driver's car, and this iteration promises to be no different. Suzuki is stressing hard on the 'fun-to-drive' aspect of the hatch, which is quite evident the moment you step inside the car. Just like the older generations, the interior gets an all-black theme. To drive the theme home, there's a liberal helping of matte silver accents on the dashboard, the floor console and the door pads.

But, what makes the cabin particularly sporty-looking is the all-new redesigned dashboard. Unlike the outgoing generation that has a smooth, flowy 'waterfall' design for the dash and the centre console, the new Swift gets a rather upright orientation. It is a nice blend of form and function, which we think suits the character of the car rather well.

The design has an aviation overtone to it, courtesy the round switches for the automatic climate control, the large circular central air vents and the instrument binnacle. The instrument cluster itself is a funky-looking two-pod unit that houses a large speedo and a tachometer. Sandwiched between the two, is the 4.2-inch TFT display we've seen in the Baleno. The screen not only displays the usual parameters such as the odometer and the trip meters, but also reads out power and torque in real time! How cool is that!

The centre console has a five-degree tilt towards the driver, to make it easier to access on the go. The party piece, of course, is the big 7-inch touchscreen that sits in the middle. This is the same screen we've seen on cars like the Ciaz, Ertiga, Baleno and the upcoming Ignis as well. Over and above the usual Bluetooth, USB and Radio support, the screen doubles up as the display for the reverse camera and navigation. And yes, it does support Android Auto and Apple Car Play as well.

Nestled underneath the crisp display, are three roundels that house controls for the automatic air-conditioning. This is a particularly chic touch, which reminds us of cars like the Audi TT. The temperature, speed and flow graphics are displayed inside the circles itself, which does look neat. The 12V charging socket and the USB/AUX ports get circular flap-like covers. Storage spaces include a cubbyhole ahead of the gear lever, and some more underneath the handbrake.

Now, a 'driver's car' needs to pay special attention to the driver, correct? Let's start with the lovely looking flat-bottom steering wheel. The circular horn pad, the chunky thumb contours and the chrome accents give it an Audi-ish feel yet again. The buttons are placed at 9 and 3, and can be used to scroll through the MID, and control the audio system. The telephony controls are placed next to the stem of the steering, just like the current Swift.

Next up - the seats. Now, unless we get ourselves into one - we will reserve our opinion on whether or not it is comfortable. What we can tell you, is that the front seats score high on side bolstering, which should hold you in place well. The front headrests are large, just like the Baleno. Over to the rear, all three occupants get individual headrests and a three-point seatbelt.

Sadly, we think the fifth occupant will have to take a cab, because of the big floor hump. Notably, there's no central armrest, and the Japanese-spec Swift doesn't get rear air-conditioning either. As far as space at the rear bench goes, we expect the new one to be slightly better, considering the wheelbase has gone up by 20mm.

What about the boot, you ask? Well, space has gone up marginally from 204-litres to 265-litres. The Japanese-spec also gets a handy 60:40 split for the rear bench, which we reckon will be carried over to the Indian version as well. Folding the rear seats away altogether opens up a usable 579-litres of space.

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