Photograph Courtesy Suzuki
[Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the October 2013 issue of Grassroots Motorsports. Prices have been left to how they appeared in print.]
Suzuki’s North American operations just rang their death knell. The producer of many a widow-making sportbike never could quite get its four-wheeled vehicles to gain as much recognition in the broader American market. Its last significant effort was the stylish, mid-sized Kizashi sedan. There hasn’t been much in the brand for car enthusiasts to latch onto.
We’d say it’s not for lack of trying, but really, it is. While the Samurai has its own cult following in the off-road community, Suzuki only brought one pavement performer to the U.S. in recent memory—something small enough that maybe it didn’t seem too foreign to its sportbike people. It was the Suzuki Swift GTi, sold from 1989 to 1994.
You’ve seen its sibling around, usually in the hands of a hypermiler or merely being neglected. The Swift GT—known as the GTi for only the first year, thanks to VW’s trademark lawyers—is the Geo Metro’s faster brother. That’s a low bar to leap, but that doesn’t make the GTi a poor performer.
The Swift is swift because it’s light. A cool hundred horsepower come out of its high-revving, 1.3-liter engine, and there are just under 1800 pounds to move around. Unassisted steering means more power to the ground.
It’s one of the champions of the drive-a-slow-car-fast ethos (but it can make tons of power—see the tips on the next page). It’s tiny. It’ll squeeze anywhere in traffic, it revs to the skies, and it’s a hoot to wail on, even if all that wailing means you’re still side by side with that minivan you just drag-raced from the stoplight. Keep the revs up; this engine has a sportbike’s spirit and a 7500-rpm rev limit. Stiffer springs and four-wheel disc brakes round out the chassis package.
It’s unique from the Metro in cosmetic ways, too: Flush aero headlights and different bumpers give it a sporty look. Suzuki tried to make this a significantly nicer car than the Metro, so it has better—and heavier—interior materials and racier bucket seats.
If you’re looking for the nicest one in the States, $5000 is about the top of the market. Decent runners can go for $1000 or less, but the sweet spot appears to be about $2000 to $3000.
Buy the nicest one you care to afford, and put a little effort into keeping it looking good. The community will thank you for not letting another one of these little toys descend into disrepair, and maybe you’ll earn some good karma for keeping the four-wheeled Suzuki torch burning after the brand departs our shores.
Mike Cove is a longtime Swift enthusiast and the owner of 3Tech, a company that specializes in the Swift and its rev-happy engine. Jen Imai won first place in the Performance Stock class in the 2011 California Rally Series with a Suzuki Swift GT. We mined their minds for these tips.
The Swift community is small, but active and resourceful. Look to the TeamSwift message board to answer your questions and help you find high-performance parts. Group buys come around regularly for custom-made bits.
The engine is remarkably robust and can make a lot of power on stock internals; It has a forged, nitrided crank, flat-top pistons, robust connecting rods and great head flow. A set of hotter camshafts—available through 3Tech—will let it rev to 9000 rpm without problems. The intake manifold, header and pistons from the overseas Suzuki Cultus GTi are the hot commodities for naturally aspirated horsepower, but the easy upgrades are a larger throttle body and a cone air filter.
Ready to blow your mind? Add a turbo. These little 1.3-liters can handle lots of boost and push 200 to 250 horsepower. Using pistons from the 1998-2001 Swift/Metro 1.3-liter drops compression to a boost-friendly 8.5:1.
Expect to break transmissions with high power or off-road abuse. Third gear is weak, and the second-gear synchro tends to wear out. Don’t be surprised by a one-two crunch on a high-mileage car. Rally racing tends to bust the differential’s spider gears, but a robust limited-slip is available from Gripper. If you’re adding a turbo, the whole box has to go (though as of this writing, a group buy on straight-cut gears is available on TeamSwift). A stronger transmission from a 1.6-liter Suzuki Esteem can be adapted.
Most chassis components and body panels will interchange with the Geo Metro. The GT’s unique bumpers—which changed for 1992, too, along with the interior fabric—can be hard to find in some areas, but Metro parts are plentiful in every junkyard.
For a great street suspension upgrade, pair the KYB GR2 shocks with H&R springs. The cost is low, and the combination works very well. If you want to go racing with a hardcore setup, Hot Bits sells a full coil-over package. Rear pillow-ball suspension mounts from an Eagle Talon can be adapted to the rear shocks.
The four-wheel disc brakes are capable enough, but good brake pads can be hard to find. Lucky that Honda CRX front brake calipers are a direct replacement for the Swift’s. Upgrade to the CRX calipers—they fit with the stock Swift rotors—and a world of pad options open up.
Look for rust on the rocker panels and on the front frame horns near where the lower control arms attach. It can be hard to spot. The chassis is rather flexible, too, and cars with weak frames can exhibit cracked windshields. Look carefully.
The driving experience is very sensitive to weight; what’s great fun alone becomes a chore with a passenger. Likewise, weight reduction is the easiest way to gain noticeable performance. The spare tire, jack and back seat weigh a combined 100 pounds.
Avoid fitting heavy wheels. The stock alloys are a mere 9 pounds. Getting heavy rolling stock only adds rotating mass, which will make the car feel sluggish. Still feeling sad off the line? Consider using a 4.39:1 final drive from a ’95-or-newer Metro. It’ll feel a bit better than the Swift’s 4.10:1 gear.
I got one of the last of these to be sold in 1994. I worked at GM Design Center at the time. The (base) car was also badged as a Geo Metro in the US and Pontiac Firefly (Where it had a 3-cylinder turbo) in Canada, I found Firefly decals in one of the studios shortly after the purchase and rebadged the car so it would appear that I was driving a GM car when I parked it at work. It sowed a lot of confusion as most people didn't know about the Canadian version. 
Sadly, it was hit by a car while parked in front of my house one night. The car was destroyed and somehow the driver of the other car was able to run. 
I had wanted to put a V8 in the MK1 Swift/Sprint/Forsa/Firefly since they came out in 1985. Finally did.
I absolutely loved the G13B. It was/is such an obnoxious, violent little engine. The rest of the car.... well..... left a lot to be desired. Rear suspension motion ratio made it difficult to get a good spring rate. The body had more flex than a pot of wet noodles. The steering was so slow that I was shuffle steering for a slalom. And the transmission ratios were made by a masochist that loved to hurt you.
But goodness they are a lot of fun. My 94 GT with a full tank of fuel weighed in at 1780lbs on the SCCA's scales and that was with a full interior.
In reply to bobzilla :
One of my favorite things is when someone explains why they love a particular car by first listing a bunch of reasons why the car isn't that good, but always ending it with something like "but it was really fun to drive."
Absolutely nothing wrong with loving cars that way, I just think it's funny. 
These were fun cars and I remember a couple of them running Showroom Stock at our local SCCA club races.
I do have one bone to pick with the article: "many a widow-making sportbike".
I may be a Yamaha guy but even I know Suzuki made some of the best handling bikes out there.
In reply to Colin Wood :
Don't get me wrong I'd never buy another. But I wouldn't turn down the opportunity to wring out someone else's lol
I remember seeing a leftover at a local dealership in 1994 or ’95. I forget the asking price, though. Could it have been like $9999 or less?
I haven't seen one of these in, probably since 2001. Good luck finding one now. Too bad as I bet I'd love one.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
If I remember right, I think mine was just over $10K.
David S. Wallens said:I remember seeing a leftover at a local dealership in 1994 or ’95. I forget the asking price, though. Could it have been like $9999 or less?
I found a listing on cars.com that says the original list price was $10,839.
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