Suzuki Ignis track test!
They say motorsport improves the breed, and no one knows this better than Suzuki. With multiple world titles behind the Japanese brand, we wanted to find out if any of this trickled down to the pint-sized Suzuki Ignis. But truth be told, we were just looking for an excuse to drive the Ignis around the smallest track we could find.
Ignis is light, VERY light
Weighing in at under 900kg Ignis is faster than you’d expect a 61kW “SUV” to be. Off the line, we were able to get proper wheelspin without trying, and when I tried to get off the line quickly, Ignis obliged. Fire up the engine via the racey push start button and the 0-100 11.6 second time seems entirely plausible and beatable.
Through the tighter turns, Suzuki Ignis suffered from some predictable understeer. But with some fine balance of the throttle, one could push through and really get some decent cornering speeds. I think had we let the front tyres down, and bumped the rear up a bit this would have fixed the problem handily. Twirling the steering was easy through the esses but this leads us to the only real issue Ignis has, and that’s the steering at centre, which can feel a bit lifeless at times. A deal breaker? No, but something owners will have to learn to get used to.
Through “The Dip” Ignis felt balanced and the suspension loaded up predictable. Ignis can be thrown around without much fuss and at no point did I feel stressed about lapping a circuit not much wider than the car I was driving.
Ignis is narrow, VERY narrow
We had millimetres to spare on each side and our test was very close to being cancelled.
At the launch, journalists jokingly ploughed into the back seats and although not advised for long journeys, Suzuki Ignis can accommodate three rear passengers, and can easily accommodate two. Back to the track and Ignis narrow girth meant that It was literally one of three cars on sale today that would fit through the narrow pit lane wall at the Kenilworth indoor Go-Karting. Through the corners I felt able to squeeze through the tightest of chicanes, and this translates into city driving that is effortless and doesn’t need much thought.
Verdict
Ignis is fun in every aspect of the word. Fun looks, fun drive and fun feel.
With small cars such as these one often gets the sense that one is being bullied on the streets by large SUV and bakkie drivers. It’s strange but thanks to Ignis’ chunky, almost military looks, it commands respect in a way not many cars this size do. Most times track tests are as relevant to daily motoring as a food fight is to eating, but with this test, we proved that Ignis is as at home at “Kenilworth Mall” as it is at “Kenilworth Racing”.
