Suzuki Ignis Review & Prices

The Suzuki Ignis undeniably stands out in a sea of fairly boring, samey-looking small cars. For a start, it manages to look cute and tough at the same time. Its LED surrounded headlights look like black eyes and the dinky bruiser is further bolstered by blistered wheel arches and a trio of d-pillar indents.

Basically, it’s the Ricky Hatton of the city car world.

However, it does make choosing an obvious alternative that bit more difficult. The Fiat Panda is a logical choice, but there are also small hatchbacks such as the Fiat 500 and Toyota’s Aygo-X, which has SUV pretentious but not the off-road ability to back them up, to consider.

Inside, it’s spacious enough to deal with all the cars mentioned above. There’s room for four adults and the quality is good even if the materials are on the cheap and durable side. It’s colourful, though and the infotainment system is easy to read if slow to respond.

Thankfully, the driving experience isn’t nearly as laborious. The Ignis is impressively light – basic models weigh just 895kg, about 15kgs less than a VW Up. It feels sprightly and is enjoyable to drive around town but out on the motorway, things are bumpier and noisier than close alternatives. Not to deal-breaking levels, though.

What could put you off the Ignis is its limited engine range. In fact, there’s just one to choose from – a 1.2-litre four-cylinder hybrid petrol – and you can have it with two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. But even four-wheel-drive models can return fuel economy of more than 50mpg.

Equipment levels are also impressive on entry-level cars, which come with air-conditioning, a DAB radio, electric windows and a Bluetooth phone connection. One step up to the SZT gets you sat nav and a reversing camera.

So, if you aren’t impressed with the range of traditional city cars on sale, the funky Ignis could be the refreshing take on city motoring you need. If so, check out our deals page for the very best prices.

The Suzuki Ignis takes on cars like the funky Fiat Panda and Toyota Aygo-X in two-wheel drive trim. In base SZ3 form, it’s a close match to both, offering similar performance and kit.

The SZ5 four-wheel-drive version has a harder time finding direct SUV alternatives. The Panda is no longer offered in 4x4 trim, and Suzuki’s own Jimny 4x4 is not available in the UK anymore. That basically leaves the much larger Dacia Duster. While spec levels are similar, it can’t quite compete off the beaten track, and it’s far less spacious inside, too. The Suzuki Swift hatchback can also be had with an all-wheel-drive system, and matches the little Ignis in performance and pricing while offering a bit more space inside, although lacking any sort of ground clearance.

Considering the Ignis’s positioning as a small city car, the mid-level SZ-T is where our money would go.

The featherweight Ignis is a joy to drive around town, feeling alive and responsive. Less impressive is the bouncy ride and unrefined motorway driving experience

In town

Weighing not much more than the shopping bags you’ll pack in the boot, the Suzuki Ignis feels that much more lively and agile at low speeds than your usual bloated hatchback. It is responsive away from the lights, and visibility out the front is great. Less impressive is the restricted view out the back, and the sometimes-harsh ride that comes with the Ignis being so light. It feels fine on most road surfaces, but sharp dips or potholes quickly unsettle its composure.

Brake assist and hill hold assist are standard, although there are no parking sensors or rearview camera to aid you when reversing into a tight parking spot. That’s not a huge problem thanks to the car’s small dimensions, but the large pillars either side of the rear window can restrict visibility.

On the motorway

It may not be all that surprising to hear that the Ignis is not the most capable motorway cruiser. Wind and road noise are constant companions at higher speeds, with the little engine running out of puff on steep inclines and during ambitious overtaking manoeuvres.

Cruise control and lane departure warning are only fitted to the top SZ5 trim, but this really is more city car than road trip companion anyway. The Fiat Panda is a bit more refined at speed, but the Volkswagen Up is the one that feels the most grown-up on the motorway.

On a twisty road

That in-town agility gives the Ignis a similarly fun driving experience around twisty roads. It’s not particularly quick, but it zoots about with gay abandon, offering just enough grip from its skinny tyres to keep you out of trouble. There’s some body lean, but that just serves to remind you to slow down around the corners.

It’s surprisingly spacious when compared to small city cars, less so if you consider it to be the small SUV that Suzuki says it is. The boot is a decent size, too, although it has a pronounced load lip

For a small hatchback, the Suzuki Ignis has class-leading levels of interior space. The front seats don’t offer height adjustability and the steering wheel only adjusts for rake and not reach, but it’s big enough to fit most frames.

A set of cupholders and a mobile phone shelf are provided ahead of the gear lever. The door bins are big enough to be useful – not a given in small city cars.

Space in the back seats

The base SZ3 trim comes with a rear bench that seats three. Theoretically anyway. The narrow dimensions of the Ignis won’t easily fit three adults (or even teenagers) abreast, but the SZ-T trim comes with a four-seater configuration that has a pair of adjustable rear seats. They can be tilted and moved backwards for additional space, and in this configuration the Ignis can happily seat four adults. There are two ISOFIX mountings points on all models.

The Fiat Panda and VW Up can also squeeze two adults in the back seats, but neither offers quite as much space as the Ignis. Electric windows are standard only on the top SZ5 trim.

Boot space

At 260 litres, the boot is pretty compact, but it’s the same as what you get in a Fiat Panda and comparable to other small cars like the VW Up (251 litres) and the Hyundai i10 (252 litres).

The rear seats fold in a 60:40 split on the base SZ3 and in a 50:50 split on the SZ-T and SZ5 trims. There is a pretty substantial step up in the boot floor when they are dropped, though, and there’s also a bit of a load lip that may impede the loading of heavier items. The VW Up has a flat loading floor which lets you make more use of the available load space.

The Ignis offers up an interestingly styled interior, but the material and build quality are not quite as good as most alternatives

There’s no denying the Suzuki Ignis’s budget-conscious roots, but the overall look and feel of the cabin is a refreshing change from the staid designs in many small city cars. The material quality doesn’t match a Hyundai i10 but that hardly seems to matter thanks to its stylish layout.

The funky two-tone dashboard houses a basic infotainment system on the SZ3 trim, incorporating Bluetooth connectivity, a USB connector and an MP3 compatible CD player – great news if you still have any CDs left to play in it.

SZ-T and SZ5 trims get a 7.0-inch infotainment touchscreen which adds Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, as well as sat nav on the top SZ5 trim. It’s an aftermarket Pioneer unit and works ok, although the graphics and responsiveness trail most alternatives and it’s probably better to use the mobile phone apps for sat nav and music selection. Steering wheel-mounted audio controls are standard throughout as is a four-speaker sound system. The top trim gets a pair of tweeters thrown in as well.

Your engine choice here is easy seeing as there’s only one available: an 82hp 1.2-litre mild-hybrid petrol. Front-wheel-drive is standard, as is a five-speed manual transmission. A continuously variable automatic (CVT) transmission is available on the SZ-T and SZ5 trims, although it doesn’t feel particularly pleasant in use and increases overall fuel consumption. Opting for the four-wheel-drive system does that too, so only choose it if you really need the extra grip.

The mild-hybrid system doesn’t offer all-electric driving capability, it does help lower fuel consumption. Fuel economy figures range from 52.4mpg to 58mpg depending on which of the above configurations you go for. CO2 emissions are between 119g/km and 122g/km. As a comparison, the Fiat Panda manages 53mpg and 125g/km, and the VW Up does 55mpg and 116g/km. Road tax for the first year of ownership is £190.

Acceleration from 0-62mph is in the mid 12-second range, which betters just about every entry-level small city car and makes the light Ignis feel particularly energetic around town.

The Suzuki Ignis received a rather mediocre three-star safety rating when it underwent the Euro NCAP testing procedure in 2016, and the test has been toughened up since then. These results were based on the basic standard safety equipment which includes a brake assist function and hill hold control. The Ignis’s 79% adult and child occupant safety scores compare well to the VW Up and Hyundai i10 (both scored three stars as well), although its 25% safety assist rating falls a bit short.

Step up to the top trim and you also get lane departure warning, cruise control, weaving alert and keyless start and entry. When equipped with these more advanced features, the Ignis’s rating increases to a full five-stars and the adult occupancy rating goes up to 87%, with the safety assist results shooting up to 60%.

The Ignis gets a pretty standard three-year/60,000-mile warranty although this can be extended. Hyundai offers five years of cover as standard, while Kia is even more generous with its industry-leading seven-year/100,000-mile warranty. Servicing can be done through Suzuki’s Service Payment Plans, which let you spread the cost of servicing over a number of payments.

There have been three recalls in the UK for the Ignis, these involved battery charging and drive belt issues as well as an incorrectly fitted fuel tank breather pipe.