This car caught my eye simply because I didn’t know what it was. I drive past this lot every day during my work commute and finally pulled in to see what it was and I was surprised to see a Suzuki badge on there. Even though I was a kid in the 1990’s, I was pretty astute automotive wise. I was the kid who could name make and model of nearly every car that drove by. I digress but my point being that I have zero recollection of there being Suzuki automobiles on the roads back then.
I remember the Samurai well. I even remember Daihatsus, Charades and Rockys but not Suzukis. I know the Geo Metro was a Suzuki (I didn’t know that as a kid) but I remember Geo Metros. (The memories of the “Getting to know you” Geo commercials are coming back to me now).
I digress again but this is why this car interested me. From what I can gather, this particular car is a 1992-94. I couldn’t find anything to pin the year down exactly. The front bumper design and dash layout looks to be the 1992 update. There’s not much info available for these. The fact that it’s the 4 door sedan is most likely why I noticed it. Had it been the 3 or 5 door hatchback I would probably assumed it was a Metro.
It’s an upper level GS model, pumping out all of 70 horsepower out of it’s 1.3L inline 4 cylinder with the optional 3 speed automatic transmitting the power to the front wheels.
It’s sitting in a small RV storage lot next to a gas station so one would assume it probably spend quite a few miles being towed behind an RV. However the plate expired three years ago and it’s evident it hasn’t moved at all in quite some time. I figured I would document it before it disappears. It may be the only one left.
Photographed in Birmingham, Alabama June 2018
That’d be kinda fun to buy (on the cheap, hopefully) and keep it running. Show up at the local Cars and Coffee with something absolutely different.
And it should be hard to keep running, considering everything under the body is Geo Metro.
I remember two things about these. First, that they existed, but in minute numbers. Second, that they had absolutely no relevance to my life in the early 90s.
The location really surprised me. I was sure you were going to say somewhere in Canada (and at least 5 years ago).
I was not aware that Suzuki sold a 4 door sedan in the early 90s, just hatchbacks. This looks an awful lot like a concurrent Civic that was shrunken just a bit.
The current generation of the Swift gets generally good reviews in British car magazines, but I suspect it will remain what I call a “second tier” (teetering into third tier?) manufacturer unless they give up their independence.
I thought it may have been some sort of gray market car until I looked it up. The dealer sticker is from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
As I recall, in the US the Swift was also available as a three door hatch (same as the Metro) and that version greatly outsold this four door sedan. Suzuki also removed the 1.0 liter 3 cylinder from the Swift’s option list, so you needed to go to your Chevy dealer for that ultimate economy car penalty box.
On a related note, I would be interested in the ratio of 3 cylinder to 4 cylinder engines sold in US Metros. Since GM generally sold these as loss leaders, the four cylinder variation may be fairly rare in Metros.
The Swift also had a GTI version using the three door hatch body and an upgraded 16 valve engine. It may have been a Canada only model, as I remember a Canadian acquaintance who used one for autocrossing…
Like all GM captive imports, other markets will know this vehicle by a different name, or know of unique powertrains and features…
I found that out when I looked up information to do this write up. Like I said in the article, if it had been the hatch version I probably wouldn’t have given it much notice, just thinking it was a Metro.
Agreed; the four door Swift was quite uncommon in the US. I remember seeing a few back in the day, but have not found one in recent years.
Yes, it seems like the Swifts were pretty much all fours and the Metros triples. I suspect that was by some mutual agreement. The Swift was positioned a bit above the Metro, as a swifter alternative.
I test drove a GTI way back when. Absolute blast, the only thing that wiped the smile off my face was the $4000 of add-ons on the second sticker. And the msrp was under 9K. In retrospect I should thank that dealer, I would probably had killed myself in that little rocket.
If other dealers played the mark up game that seriously, no wonder Suzuki never sold many under their name.
Weird. I’m vaguely aware that these exist, but can’t remember the last time I saw one. Even the Metro convertibles probably outsold the Swift sedan by 10:1.
Also, remember the Metro/Swift craze when gas prices spiked a decade ago, and people were paying top dollar for these cars and tacking “aerodynamic” wheel skirts onto them?
When I was looking for a car to replace my ’87 Taurus wagon circa 1997 I test drove one of these from a used car lot, I believe it was a ’92 model in white with auto, looked exactly like this one. I remember it started right up and ran smoothly and had decent seats. But, man oh man it was small and “tinny” sounding/feeling. Drove ok but in comparison to the much larger Taurus you really felt like you were riding on the road.
I bought an ’87 VW Jetta instead. In hindsight I might have had better luck with the Swift!
I recall seeing a lot of these in canada when I went there 20 years ago, where there were also geo and Pontiac badged versions.
My good friend bought one of these probably in 1993 or so…still had kids in college at the time, so wanted a small commuter car for work…I’m guessing he had it up to about 2000 when he bought his current Toyota Tacoma truck. He’s also owned 3 Prius’ (including the original sedan) in the time I’ve known him…so I’m thinking fuel economy is pretty important to him. I think he liked the Swift fine, only trading it in when he bought the Toyota truck (which he bought after moving out of the city)….he’s since moved back into the city but still owns the truck, which he’s gotten several offers from other people to buy it….though I’m sure the Swift probably got much better gas mileage than the truck.
Generally, if you’re buying a re-badged vehicle, I’d recommend buying it from a dealer of the manufacturer.
For example, why buy a Chevy City Express when the Nissan dealer down the street sells the same thing, and they know how to fix it?
But in the case of a Suzuki, while a Chevrolet dealer can still service a Metro, it’s hard to find a Suzuki dealer to fix your Swift!
You buy a badge engineered vehicle at the “other” dealer for the simple fact that it is cheaper….or so you believe. Another reason is that often the “original” manufacturer doesn’t have a dealership that is close by, or it has an iffy rep.
Suzuki at it’s height didn’t have a lot of dealers. Even in Memphis where I lived in the 90s, I don’t remember seeing a Suzuki dealership. Though it may have been part of the VW dealership group there.
In the case of the Chevy City Express/Nissan NV200, I would not buy either one as it is a rolling pile of poo. But folks buying the Chevy most likely do it because they have a “relationship” with the dealer.
Why do you say that the Chevy Dealer does not know how to fix it?
I had a Pontiac Vibe it was bought from Win Kelly Pontiac Chevrolet Buick GMC in Clarksville MD. They knew perfectly how to fix it even though it was a Toyota matrix in disguise. I also got parts I needed from them cheaper then getting the parts at Toyota.
The Swift and the Metro were made at CAMI which was a joint effort of GM and Suzuki so both cars could easily be fixed at a Chevy or a Suzuki dealer(I think other then the badges and steering wheel, the only thing different between the cars was the radio size)
As for the City Express, Chevy dealers can easily work on them. I saw a couple being worked on when I was there 2 weeks ago getting a oil change for the truck.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these or had much prior knowledge of them before either. I knew Suzuki sold the Swift in the U.S., but beyond that I never really looked into it much before.
Also, I decided to check regarding the model year. Carfax plate inquiry reveals that this is in fact a 1993.
October 1992 full-line ad. For those on a budget, the 10% more ($800) for 4-dr rather than hatch likely made a difference:
Like everyone else, I’ve never seen a Swift sedan in the U.S., but plenty in Canada. I wonder if they were only sold regionally in the states? I’ve literally never seen one in Seattle, but up here in Victoria there’s a few around
I don’t think I ever saw one of these in California either, definitely not the 4door and I have zero recollection of the 2door either unless badged Geo. But we did get the Samurai and Sidekick, Vitara, etc. Was it in fact only sold regionally?
There were some Swifts around, especially the two door. I’ve shot one or two in Eugene.
Given that there aren’t weeds growing up all around it and that the tires have air in them it looks to me like it could be a runner. Though that wouldn’t explain why the tags are expired.
I’m still trying to place this car. It seems so familiar, yet I can’t actually recall ever seeing one of these before.
It’s in decent shape for a 25 year old economy car. If most of these were sold up north, given this is a southern car I’d guess that this is one of the better ones that’s still around.
Sold here in either Suzuki or Holden flavours most of the survivors seem to be the hatchback variety or maybe that was just the most popular body when new
It sold well in Brazil for 1992 – 1996, unlike many other Asian models, is still possible to find half dozen of that still on the road in web car sales. But I’m not sure if it would be a good choice.
I have seen a few of these around when new. My high school’s parking lot had a few in it my senior year.
But it does not seem like they sold in huge amounts in my part of Maryland. It could be that Suzuki had/still has a reputation of making nice motorcycles and most folks think of two wheeled transport when Suzuki is mentioned. It could also mean that there was no dealers around. The car was popular as there were Geo/Chevy Metros everywhere in the 1990’s. Of course the Swift might have been more expensive then the Metro and folks ether bought the Metro or Aspire.
The Metro was one of GM’s CAFE cars (made so that it allowed the CAFE average to be lower for GM across the board)
As Paul mentioned, the first gen Metro was 3 cyl and the bulk of the Swifts were 4 cyl. That might have been to allow some distinction between the Swift and Metro along with the Metro not offering a sedan. My guess is that GM did not want to have a repeat of what happened with the Geo Storm in which the car sold very well but also outsold the Isuzu Impulse(its sister car) and that led to the canceling of the Impulse. As the Impulse was not being made anymore, the Storm was killed off also because Isuzu was making them
This is indeed the 1992-94 updated model just before it was replaced by the Baleno (Esteem to you American readers). The caps on this one were from a higher-grade Swift 5-door hatchback, and over here we got them in 1300 and 1600 cc form, with the 1600 carrying power windows and other luxury features for that era. The rear garnish on this model matching the taillights was only available on the 1600 as well. The Swift Sedans (or Cultus Esteems) were plentiful back in the 1990s, but are disappearing now.
They sold these in Australia too, in small numbers as this size of car is overhelmingly hatchback territory. There was also a 1.6L awd version, which really intrigued me at the time.
I have a 94 swift GA and love it I have owned it for 4 month now and have put 10,000 miles on it and have had no major problems other than a small rock flew up in a construction zone and put a small hole in my radiator. It is next to impossible to find parts for it.