Cute and funky Suzuki Ignis launches in SA
The winners of the 2016 Brand of the Year award, have brought to South Africa the all new cheeky and chunky Suzuki Ignis. We join the Suzuki team for a fun filled day of driving to find out if the new pocket-sized SUV is any good.
Looks
Available in two derivatives, GL and GLX, Ignis rides on either 15” steel hubcapped wheels or 15” alloys and is a winner in the looks department. Loosely based on a Giugiaro design from the 70’s, and looking like a cross between a Fiat Panda, MK1 Golf and an Uno, the Ignis is fresh faced and easy on the eye but with a certain sense of familiarity to its design. Driving in convoy one passer-by commented that we looked like we were on our way to do an “Italian Job”. Cheeky.
Available in 5 colours, Ignis is completely customizable, with even the interior colours designed to complement and match the exterior. According to Suzuki, no other car in this segment offers as much flexibility as Ignis when it comes to design, extras and colour coding options.
Practicality and interior
Ignis interior is large, all things considered. 4 occupants easily made themselves at home and a 5th squeezed in snugly as a joke while all the journos involved laughed at how surprisingly spacious Ignis is inside. The boot has 260L of cargo space available, and although the boot is smaller than the class leader, Renault’s Sandero, it is higher than the average in that segment.
Ignis comes standard with dual front airbags and has a 4 star NCAP rating.
Mounted on the centre of the dash is the CD, FM/AM receiver, and an optional touch screen is available for all models at for an additional R6500.
With wide opening doors, multiple cup/bottle holders, 180mm ride height, ABS/EBD and even rear park distance control, Ignis lives up to the promise of being practical and multipurpose.
On the Road.
On the road Ignis is stable and composed. The steering feels a tad light at lower cruising speed but for inner city driving it works great. The seating position isn’t ideal but with limited interior space Suzuki have done a good enough job for the driver to be comfortable, although taking one’s time to get set up is advised. Other than that, Ignis is hard to fault. The 1.2-litre engine pushes out 61kW, which doesn’t like much, but Ignis weighs just 850 kg, so the 113 Nm engine feels much more powerful than the specs would suggest. The five-speed manual transmission has a nice throw and feel, and sprinting from 0-60km/h is fun as the engine revs up freely to the shift point of around 5500 rpm. Ignis is also available in Automated Manual Transmission, but unfortunately none of these were available at the launch.
Fuel consumption for Ignis is claimed at 5.1l/100 and on our route, with mixed driving, we achieved a respectable 6.7l/100.
Verdict
It’s fresh and new, and bar the not so perfect seating position, we couldn’t find much wrong with Ignis. Our route took us over some very bumpy gravel and dirt roads and Ignis cruised over and about like a puppy on a farm. With a good safety rating, competitive pricing and total customization, this is a great family runabout or student car. In this segment Suzuki Ignis lives up to the hashtag. It really is #LikeNoOther
Pricing
1.2 GL 5MT 169 900
1.2 GLX 5MT 189 900
1.2 GLX 5AMT 204 900
The new Suzuki Ignis is covered by a standard three-year/100 000 km warranty, as well as a two-year/30 000 km service plan. Services are at 15 000 km/12 month intervals.
