With reference to my previous post about the review by Autovisie of Netherlands, here is a translated review by them in details. Based on the review, Suzuki come last from all the cars but it is not a bad review and opinion by the writer. Read the details below :-
"SOCIALISTS
In 1971 Autobianchi presented the A112 Abarth to the world. This compact little scorpion had a sting in it’s tail and made available to the common public a decent amount of horsepower normally only available to those with more money to spend.
The car segment of the hot hatch was born and came to full fruition with the Simca 1100 Ti, Renault 5 Alpine and Volkswagen Golf GTI.
That last one has in the meantime evolved into quite a large car with a corresponding price tag exceeding €35,000 so enthousiasts looking for a potent car for a decent price will have to look to a different segment of cars, featuring the likes of the Ford Fiesta ST, Mini John Cooper Works, Nissan Juke Nismo RS, Opel Corsa OPC, Peugeot 208 GTi, Renault Clio RS Trophy and the Volkswagen Polo GTI.
Those who don’t have €25,490 (Polo GTI) to €39,995 (Mini) to spend should read on, because when it comes to bang for your buck, these three used cars will make you a very fine offer.
Coming in at €4,950 the Suzuki Ignis Sport is the cheapest of the three cars and also has the best mileage to boot: only just over 50,000 km.
The Ford Fiesta ST and Renault Clio RS have a heftier price tag of €5,895 and €5,900 respectively, especially considering their mileage.
How do the cars look? Bullish!
The Ford has a mileage just short of 160,000 km and that is evident in the dents and scuffs on the 16” alloys. As a streetfighter who has, apparently, lost a few battles here and there it shows its scars.
The Renault, with a mileage just over 120,000 km, isn’t impressed and counters with ‘plasti-dip tattoos’ on the wheels and logo’s. The benefit? They can be removed.
The Suzuki is clearly the freshman of this group and tries to overcompensate for this. The car looks immaculate but also a bit out of it’s league. It sports a, quite big, rear spoiler and wider wheel arches to try to hide the fact that it is the least powerfull car of this group.
This mean looking Japanese car is indeed the least potent car on offer here. The 1.5 ltr 4 cylinder engine of the Suzuki delivers 109 bhp at 6400 rpm (interesting: according the instructions this car needs Euro 98 fuel) which means that the Ignis Sport needs to be kept in the higher rpm range to perform. Which isn’t really that bad, because above 4000 rpm you can feel the car grab you and it treats you to a nice metallic roar from the chromed exhaust tip.
Looking casually at this little blue hatchback you might think there’s a Suzuki Jimny in front of you. The Ignis Sport has been slightly lowered (20 mm) compared to its less powerful brothers and sisters, but it still looks a bit high.
And this can be clearly felt in bends, where there’s a lot of movement in the body.
Adding to that is the numb feeling in the power steering which gives an unnatural amount of counterpressure when swiftly taking highspeed bends.
The Suzuki isn’t exactly a precision weapon for driving smooth lines. It’s more of a car you can hustle through bends playing with the throttle. It’s probably not an appropriate car for daily use. Yes, it is very responsive, but the ride is quite hard, the car is noisy and it has a spartan interior (although with nice Recaro seats), compared to the Ford and Renault.
The Renault is clearly a lot more car. The Clio is quite well equiped. The raceseats are clad with leather and alcantara (although the one on the driver’s side shows some wear and tear), automatic climate control, cruise control and xenon headlights.
To top it all off there’s a delightful grumbling 2 litre 4 cylinder engine under the hood, sporting 169 bhp which surpasses the Suzuki easily.
Why the engine is grumbling is evident when popping the hood open. Where once there was the original airfilter, one of the previous owners has installed another one which clearly needs to be cleaned.
The presence of this airfilter signifies the amount of trouble you have to go through to find a second hand hot hatch which hasn’t been modified, because as it appears, the Fiesta also has been fitted with a different air filter (in this case a K&N filter).
Standard or not, the Clio RS is not only quick in a straight line, it also has no problems with sharp bends. Weaving roads like along the Rhine river seem specially made for this Renault, although as a driver you can’t help but feeling like you’re driving a truck because of the stance of the steering wheel and the high seating position.
The gear shifter is another dissonant with this car as it seems like your stirring a bowl of soup compared to the precise shifter in the Suzuki Ignis Sport.
The Ford is, according the factory specs, by far the heaviest car from this group. It has respectively 127 and 227 more to move than the Renault and the Suzuki, but it manages to hide its “love handles” pretty well. What’s more, you might think that there’s an error in the specs as the Fiesta ST feels more agile than either of its competitors.
It responds to your commands like a well-trained soldier and where the exterior of the car shows some wear and tear, the interior is still spic and span. The black and red sportseats still look good and are the only frivolous accents in the rather sober interior.
Apart from the ST-logo on the steering wheel, aluminium pedals and some shiny accents here and there it’s all quite subdued. There isn’t even a “badge of honour” on the outside showing off the fact that this is not a regular Fiesta. Sure the ST badge on the rear tells the people in the know what you’re looking at, but the dull grey colour surely dampens the visual impact of this car.
With the right colour (blue, red or white), the Fiesta would really stand out. Even more with additional striping over the hood or along the sides.
Fact is that these three cars have taken eachother on previously. Stripped, streamlined and powered up they have been fighting each other in the Junior World Rally Championship from 2004 to 2006.
There the winner was clear, because in 2004 the Suzuki was crowned World Champion and the Renault finished first 2 years later.
With the street versions of the cars against each other in this article, the winner is also very clear.
The Suzuki scores some good points with it’s like new looks but this hatch isn’t hot enough to win here. The Clio is hot enough though and convinces with it’s nicely equipped interior and performance. It’s akward seating position keeps it from the top step though, because the Fiesta ST is our winner. Although the engine is a bit lazy, the rest of this car is as sharp as a knife.
Text by REMCO SLUMP Photo’s by SYTSE DIJKSTRA"
In 1971 Autobianchi presented the A112 Abarth to the world. This compact little scorpion had a sting in it’s tail and made available to the common public a decent amount of horsepower normally only available to those with more money to spend.
The car segment of the hot hatch was born and came to full fruition with the Simca 1100 Ti, Renault 5 Alpine and Volkswagen Golf GTI.
That last one has in the meantime evolved into quite a large car with a corresponding price tag exceeding €35,000 so enthousiasts looking for a potent car for a decent price will have to look to a different segment of cars, featuring the likes of the Ford Fiesta ST, Mini John Cooper Works, Nissan Juke Nismo RS, Opel Corsa OPC, Peugeot 208 GTi, Renault Clio RS Trophy and the Volkswagen Polo GTI.
Those who don’t have €25,490 (Polo GTI) to €39,995 (Mini) to spend should read on, because when it comes to bang for your buck, these three used cars will make you a very fine offer.
Coming in at €4,950 the Suzuki Ignis Sport is the cheapest of the three cars and also has the best mileage to boot: only just over 50,000 km.
The Ford Fiesta ST and Renault Clio RS have a heftier price tag of €5,895 and €5,900 respectively, especially considering their mileage.
How do the cars look? Bullish!
The Ford has a mileage just short of 160,000 km and that is evident in the dents and scuffs on the 16” alloys. As a streetfighter who has, apparently, lost a few battles here and there it shows its scars.
The Renault, with a mileage just over 120,000 km, isn’t impressed and counters with ‘plasti-dip tattoos’ on the wheels and logo’s. The benefit? They can be removed.
The Suzuki is clearly the freshman of this group and tries to overcompensate for this. The car looks immaculate but also a bit out of it’s league. It sports a, quite big, rear spoiler and wider wheel arches to try to hide the fact that it is the least powerfull car of this group.
This mean looking Japanese car is indeed the least potent car on offer here. The 1.5 ltr 4 cylinder engine of the Suzuki delivers 109 bhp at 6400 rpm (interesting: according the instructions this car needs Euro 98 fuel) which means that the Ignis Sport needs to be kept in the higher rpm range to perform. Which isn’t really that bad, because above 4000 rpm you can feel the car grab you and it treats you to a nice metallic roar from the chromed exhaust tip.
Looking casually at this little blue hatchback you might think there’s a Suzuki Jimny in front of you. The Ignis Sport has been slightly lowered (20 mm) compared to its less powerful brothers and sisters, but it still looks a bit high.
And this can be clearly felt in bends, where there’s a lot of movement in the body.
Adding to that is the numb feeling in the power steering which gives an unnatural amount of counterpressure when swiftly taking highspeed bends.
The Suzuki isn’t exactly a precision weapon for driving smooth lines. It’s more of a car you can hustle through bends playing with the throttle. It’s probably not an appropriate car for daily use. Yes, it is very responsive, but the ride is quite hard, the car is noisy and it has a spartan interior (although with nice Recaro seats), compared to the Ford and Renault.
The Renault is clearly a lot more car. The Clio is quite well equiped. The raceseats are clad with leather and alcantara (although the one on the driver’s side shows some wear and tear), automatic climate control, cruise control and xenon headlights.
To top it all off there’s a delightful grumbling 2 litre 4 cylinder engine under the hood, sporting 169 bhp which surpasses the Suzuki easily.
Why the engine is grumbling is evident when popping the hood open. Where once there was the original airfilter, one of the previous owners has installed another one which clearly needs to be cleaned.
The presence of this airfilter signifies the amount of trouble you have to go through to find a second hand hot hatch which hasn’t been modified, because as it appears, the Fiesta also has been fitted with a different air filter (in this case a K&N filter).
Standard or not, the Clio RS is not only quick in a straight line, it also has no problems with sharp bends. Weaving roads like along the Rhine river seem specially made for this Renault, although as a driver you can’t help but feeling like you’re driving a truck because of the stance of the steering wheel and the high seating position.
The gear shifter is another dissonant with this car as it seems like your stirring a bowl of soup compared to the precise shifter in the Suzuki Ignis Sport.
The Ford is, according the factory specs, by far the heaviest car from this group. It has respectively 127 and 227 more to move than the Renault and the Suzuki, but it manages to hide its “love handles” pretty well. What’s more, you might think that there’s an error in the specs as the Fiesta ST feels more agile than either of its competitors.
It responds to your commands like a well-trained soldier and where the exterior of the car shows some wear and tear, the interior is still spic and span. The black and red sportseats still look good and are the only frivolous accents in the rather sober interior.
Apart from the ST-logo on the steering wheel, aluminium pedals and some shiny accents here and there it’s all quite subdued. There isn’t even a “badge of honour” on the outside showing off the fact that this is not a regular Fiesta. Sure the ST badge on the rear tells the people in the know what you’re looking at, but the dull grey colour surely dampens the visual impact of this car.
With the right colour (blue, red or white), the Fiesta would really stand out. Even more with additional striping over the hood or along the sides.
Fact is that these three cars have taken eachother on previously. Stripped, streamlined and powered up they have been fighting each other in the Junior World Rally Championship from 2004 to 2006.
There the winner was clear, because in 2004 the Suzuki was crowned World Champion and the Renault finished first 2 years later.
With the street versions of the cars against each other in this article, the winner is also very clear.
The Suzuki scores some good points with it’s like new looks but this hatch isn’t hot enough to win here. The Clio is hot enough though and convinces with it’s nicely equipped interior and performance. It’s akward seating position keeps it from the top step though, because the Fiesta ST is our winner. Although the engine is a bit lazy, the rest of this car is as sharp as a knife.
Text by REMCO SLUMP Photo’s by SYTSE DIJKSTRA"
Something that I need to mention here is all this will never be possible without the help of fellow "Axel Verheijen" from Netherlands which translate the actual review from Dutch to English and share with me via email. However fellow Axel is not an Ignis Sport owner but he is tempted to buy one, so I wish him all the best on his purchase of Ignis Sport in the future. Thanks Axel!… Sharing is caring.
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