The European-spec Suzuki Ignis will go on sale in Britain this January priced from £9999, marking the first time the mini crossover has been offered here for nine years.
Click here to read our review of the new Suzuki Ignis
Prices and specs
The entry price buys an SZ3 model, which comes as standard with six airbags, air-conditioning, a DAB radio with Bluetooth, 15in wheels and front electric windows, and room for five people. Above this sits SZ-T trim, which is priced from £11,499 and adds satellite navigation, a rear-view camera, 16in alloy wheels, roof rails, wheel arch extensions and swaps five fixed seats for four with rear sliding rear ones.
Top spec Ignis SZ5s gain climate control, Dual Camera Brake Support, keyless entry and start, rear electric windows, LED headlights with DRL and front foglights. Prices for the SZ5 start at £12,999.
Engines and gearboxes
The engine line-up is based the 89bhp 1.2-litre Dualjet engine, as used in the Baleno and Suzuki Swift. An SHVS (Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki) version will also be available exclusively with SZ5 trim models. It uses an ISG (Integrated Starter Generator) with an integrated power generator and electric motor, and a lithium-ion battery pack. The hybrid Ignis emits 97g/km of CO2 in its most efficient spec.
The Ignis will be offered with front-wheel drive as standard, with Allgrip four-wheel drive available as an option. For fuel efficiency, the Allgrip system sends 90% of power to the front axle through a viscous coupling in normal driving conditions.
Design
Suzuki’s use of lightweight structures across its model range means that weight has been kept to a minimum; the Baleno weighs 905kg, and Suzuki confirmed that the Ignis weighs about the same. This should lead to ultra-low running costs, as is expected in the city car class.
We first saw the new Ignis at the 2015 Tokyo motor show, but the European-spec car that followed in 2016 is 10-15cm longer than its Japanese counterpart, which adheres to Japan’s strict 3.6m guidelines, although the floorplan remains the same. Revised bumper designs swallow up the added length, according to a source at Suzuki.
The Ignis gets even more cutesy styling than other compact Suzuki models like the Celerio, which sits above it in the brand's range. At the rear is a trio of D-pillar indents that reference the rear-engined SC100 'Whizz Kid' of the late 1970s, and plenty of options including several colours for the roof give buyers a large amount customisation.
Unlike previous generations of the Ignis, no Sport model is offered, and the four-wheel drive variant will also be identical to its front-drive counterpart, meaning that there won’t be an off-road-styled Ignis akin to the Ignis Trail concept, either.
Rivals
The Ignis’s somewhat niche appeal means that rivals are thin on the ground, with the Fiat Panda Trekking and Cross among the only direct competitors. The two-wheel drive Panda Trekking is priced from £13,210, while the micro-SUV Panda Cross costs £16,360 with the entry-level 0.9-litre engine.
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New Ignis Low spec
Suzuki Ignis
ianp55 wrote:
Years of experience and expertise on how to manufacture small cars profitably along with not being obessed with using expensive mouldings and plastics to give a false sense of quality but just providing quality through decent design and engineering.
Of course, it also helps that a lot of their cars are not manufactured by them, but by a subsidiary in India where workers are thrown a few peanuts to keep them going.
2017 Ignis
ianp55 wrote:
Yes, of course they're 'doing it on the cheap', well, cheaper. And so they should still charge premium prices. People are more then willing to pay them and they're a business and in business to make money out of us.
Given how tall some city cars