Ah, yes, the Swift is a great car.
Ah, yes, the Swift is a great car.
The Ignis is a Swift?
Never would have guessed it, it looks much smaller!
acket.
There's no mileage listed so that's probably in the 150-200K+ ballpark.
R53 MINIs are loveable but thrashy & harsh, generally speaking. They ride hard even without runflat tires and give no protection to potholes. Winter performance on fresh Blizzaks is still largely crap.
In addition the first gen MINIs would allow their BCM (Body Control Modules) to get corroded (BMW later put a cover on them for the R56). This results in wonky behavior like power window & lock switches working erratically or not at all.
The Eaton superchargers are sealed units too and were not designed to be serviced. Combine that with plastic water pump gears inside and they don't last much beyond 150K miles, if that.
But they are absolutely lovable & utilitarian cars. Hatchback opening is very decent. Seats are supportive if weak on the side bolstering -- not so great if you're Bruce-Lee-fit like Ross but for a big guy like me it was great to not be pinched. I had a B&M short-shift kit in mine and a very decent cat-back -- and that's it. The car was a weapon.
Fit obtained.
10 years old, +220k miles, lots of soot (apparently people still smoke these days).
Hasn't provided the parking boon I had hoped for (the extra foot and half over the Fiat 500 turns out to be quite big), but the seating and cargo area make it suitable for 4 full-size adults and Costco trips (max capacity is only 800lbs)
The 1.5L has a respectable amount of low end for it's size, just never comes to life up top. Still, 109hp is plenty of power if you know what your doing (caught up with a 707hp Hellcat, with the help of some high speed bumps)
Until electric cars become cost competitive I feel that this should be the design that cars in the next 20 years should have been taking; efficient use of size and power, inexpensive and simple but well engineered, low maintenance cost ...
It might be the most responsive car I've driven (just had a stock RX-8 and a modified SW11/MK1.5 MR2); hides it's 2500lb weight well. Still suffers from being fwd, but it's only obvious when accelerating. Overall best combination of practicality without being boring that I've owned.