What's New?
One of the best-remembered Japanese budget performance cars of recent times was perhaps the Suzuki Swift GTi. Some of its highlights were a fantastic chassis, a powerful and free-revving engine, and bombproof reliability. Strong Swift GTi followers from Australia and North America even hailed the car as Japan's answer to the European hot-hatch legends such as the Peugeot 205 GTi and Renault 5 GT. Suzuki stopped making the Swift GTi in 1996, and because of the Japanese economic situation, there was no replacement for the this hot hatch until now, seven years after the last one left the Suzuki factory.

The Ignis Sport is in many ways the Swift Gti's successor. It is a little shorter, but taller and wider than the GTi, while the engine has gone up from 1.3-litre to 1.5-litre, gaining 15bhp. The Ignis Sport's weight is capped under one ton, but overall it is about 80 kilograms heavier than the Swift GTi.

How It Performs
Like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru Impreza WRX, the Ignis Sport is a special homologation model which means that that Suzuki can take part in the World Rally Championship. It has received special treatment from the factory, and is loaded up with high-performance goodies such as a short-ratio gearbox, a sports exhaust system, a stiffer suspension set-up and beefier brakes.

The smooth and punchy four-cylinder encourages one to push it to the red zone in each gear, and it propels one from 0 to 100km/h in just a tad under nine seconds.

What matters most when driving the Ignis Sport, though, is its handling. It responds sharply to driver inputs, sticks close to the ground, is sure-footedly, and has a bearable amount of body-roll. Also, when the roads turn bad, it doesn't irritate you with a jarring ride.

The interior is a spartan-looking affair, but one still gets a spacious cabin for four, electric powered conveniences, Recaro buckets and twin airbags. Overall material and build quality is above average.

How It Stacks Up
We can't think of any car in the region of $72,000 (with COE) that is more exciting to drive than the Ignis Sport. Like its predecessor, it packs a lot of fun for a little money and there's decent practicality thrown in the package, too. The Ignis Sport should carry on where the Swift GTi left off.

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