Laura’s Yellow Suzuki Ignis Sport
Laura Keane’s got herself a new car …… and it’s yellow!!
Being the owner of a Jap import Version R FTO has been something that insurance companies in Ireland were never too pleased about. They have gone out of their way to make insuring one in Ireland nearly impossible, despite my age and NCB going up in years. In the fifth year of ownership I had a quote in for a ridiculous amount of insurance – third party it was nearly more than the market value of the car. And don’t get me started on tax increases… So something had to give. And there was no way I was giving up the FTO. So I did a bit of research and found out that I can insure it as a classic car. The catch? I had to own a second car.
So the search began. I thought about getting a little one litre. But then I thought, this is me, if I have to drive this every day it’ll slowly sap the soul out of me, before I get a chance to drive it into a river from boredom. I was it finding it hard to come across something that was fun to drive but within budget. Then one Friday, I was up at a track day in Mondello and I saw a small, silver car flying through corners at warp speed nine and I thought – what is that? How is it so quick? It must be modified… With the banter that went on around the pits a guy with an M3 mentioned he was finding it genuinely hard to keep up with it in the corners. So for the rest of day my ears were pricked towards this little silver car.
It obviously planted a seed. That coupled with the fact that I had an awful lot of fun in its bigger sister – a Swift Sport at The Ring. A few months later it was up for sale. Unfortunately, I have a thing about silver coloured cars and I will simply not buy one, so the search was on for a blue or yellow one. There aren’t a lot of them for sale in Ireland, I went to see a few and they were wrecked and certainly not worth the money they were asking. I was beginning to lose hope when a lovely one popped up. It looked immaculate with low mileage, the only thing was that it was in Derry and I’d have to go down the whole VRT route. It looked so good though I had to call him. I asked him so many mechanical questions over two or three days I’d say he began to loathe my number coming up on his phone!
The Suzuki’s Recaro front seats
That weekend, we left home at 5am and were up for 9.30 am. When we drove into his house it was parked in the driveway and I knew straight away this little yellow beast; a Suzuki Ignis Sport; was going to be mine. He had bought it for his daughter but she never drove it and had one previous lady owner. It was pristine inside and out and the paintwork was immaculate. After a test drive and a two hour chat about all things motoring (turns out the owner was a big car and motorbike fan too!), we shook hands and hit the road.
Now to the mechanics… It has a 1.5L, 107bhp VVT engine and does 0 – 100 in 8.9 seconds. Nothing major, but because the car is so light (under a tonne in fact) it feels so much quicker. The car is based on the JWRC car and I’m open to correction here, but as far as I’m aware there were only 1500 or so of them made in the world. It has ABS, disc brakes all round (which are very good indeed), and has 4 out of 5 NCAP rated stars. The close ratio gearbox takes a while to get used to but suits the powerbands down to the ground. The engine revs high – very high – and a sixth gear would have been nice at motorway speeds. In essence it’s an engine that loves to be spanked without consequence and as a previous owner and friend of mine once said: “It’s like a little terrier straining at the lead!”
The exclusively designed Recaro seats are extremely comfortable and the mesh headrests are reminiscent of the MK II Escort era. I like the white on blue LED backlighted dash, along with the carbon fibre effect trimmings. The suspension is stiff but not teeth rattling and the air con is super cold along with a contrastingly hot heater. The spoiler and wide side panels are not just aesthetic; Suzuki put a lot of effort into wind tunnel testing the aerodynamics of this car.
The handling never ceases to put a smile on my face! I understand now why people rave about hot hatches. It is truly a driver’s car that eats back roads with fantastic feedback. While I’ve only been driving it at about 80% of its limit due to the three different tyre brands it came with, I know a set of proper (deliberately skinny) tyres will turn this into a little animal. It takes corners with no drama, and if you decide you want to lift off midway in a tight corner, the tail will come around – but nothing that a touch of opposite lock and a blip of the throttle won’t correct.
Even though the car is yellow, people who aren’t into cars aren’t aware of what it is until it flies past them on the straights or in roundabouts. I’m getting used to the ‘mouth agape’ look! I’ve had the FTO for a few years and I think I’ve been flashed twice in total for overtaking, albeit safely. Within a month of owning the IS, I had been flashed no less than eight times for equally safe manoeuvres. Is it that it’s expected from coupes but not small, quick hatches…?
It has some negatives, of course. The biggest for me being engine noise at motorway speeds. It is not a long journey car, but then again, it was never designed to be. As I mentioned earlier it revs high and can be a bit deafening, a sixth gear would have been nice. It seems to catch crosswinds easily so two hands on the wheel are needed when cruising on the open road. The boot isn’t enormous but you can put the back seats down if needs be. There is no temperature gauge and the ‘full beam’ dash symbol fades into blue backlighting too easily, so sometimes you can drive around (with the surprisingly great) full lights on, blinding other road users. The petrol tank is small also but this is offset by good MPG. It also had a clock alarm that goes off at random times which is comical – a bit like the car. I would like some small upgrades, like a sportier exhaust and intake. I’d also like new speakers and to freshen up the original, white Enkei alloys. All and all it’s a car that I wouldn’t fiddle with too much as it’s fantastic the way it is. Well done Suzuki.
I simply cannot wait to get this car out around Mondello. Watch this space…
Laura Keane
14th May, 2013
