Suzuki Ignis – Driven To Write

So Glad they Bothered vs. Why Did they Bother?

We debate substance versus style.

Basic Dacia Jogger in UN White (Source: Byri)

On the 9^th February 2022, first drive reviews of two quite different yet similarly priced new models featured on the home page of a certain influential car magazine’s website and caused something of a debate chez DTW. One of them gives me cause to believe that there is again room in the market for an honest car that offers fantastic value to potential buyers. The other is a disappointing replacement of an existing city car that just makes me wonder why they bothered?

Let’s start with the positive: all hail the Dacia Jogger. OK, so the name is daft, but then so was Roomster, the moniker given to the car of which the Jogger reminds me so much. Sadly, Škoda has long abandoned this corner of the market, and with it has gone its most distinctive and playful of designs, which must also include the Yeti. Both of these Ingenlath-influenced cars are firm favourites for most, if not all, on this site. Continue reading “So Glad they Bothered vs. Why Did they Bother?”

Anniversary Waltz 2000 – New Millennial MINI.

Sputnik Falls, MINI rises.

“What do you mean ‘what dome’? And you call yourself a location scout?” The 2000 Mini range. (c) thelastminis

It seemed for a time that it would simply go on indefinitely, but in 2000, after 41 years, time’s irresistible march finally caught up and Sputnik came home. The last years of Mini production saw it become something of a tribute act, with a bewildering array of special editions being offered, (mainly for Japanese consumption) culminating in the wide-tracked Cooper Sport 500, an example of which being the very last Mini built, leaving the Longbridge tracks on October 4th that year.

The advent of the new millennium was greeted with lurid fireworks along the Thames and thousands queuing to be underwhelmed by Mr. Mandelson’s Millennium Experience in Greenwich, but it wasn’t just Mini that sputtered and popped that year, so too the unhappy BMW-Rover alliance. Unravelling for some time, the Vierzylinder officially announced plans to Continue reading “Anniversary Waltz 2000 – New Millennial MINI. “

Two Fevered Decades – Taking the Temperature of the European Car Market.

Robertas Parazitas looks at the changing shape of the European car market over the last twenty years. The numbers tell several stories; some are manifestly obvious, others may surprise you.

The right-hand column lists European sales in 2017, highest to lowest. The numbers to the left tell several stories, many of them unhappy. Continue reading “Two Fevered Decades – Taking the Temperature of the European Car Market.”

What A Year It Has Been (Part 1)

So, there fades and fizzles 2017, nearly gone. Au revoir and good riddance. What can I remember without cheating by using Google Memories*?

Or without cheating and looking at a back issue of a car magazine? Unaided I can hesitantly say about the only stand-outs are something to do with a Toyota and an Alfa Romeo. AR launched the Stelvio this year** and many suppose it to be quite good. I haven’t seen one yet so I can’t say. I haven’t seen many Giulias either for that matter and it was launched, oh, what, two years ago.

Jaguar released images of the E-Pace and, again, one of those has not appeared anywhere near my district. Or maybe they aren’t on sale yet. Is that news? Or is it a real car? I am not sure***.

I can see as I struggle to Continue reading “What A Year It Has Been (Part 1)”

Micropost: Vastness Rescinded

DTW has a lot of time for Suzuki. Here we see a Jimny in its natural habitat.

The Austrian Tirol asks for a car like the Jimny. The roads can be narrow, steep and snowy. Like the long-lived Defender, the Jimny has evolved and readers can use a lot of mental disc-space on the details of these. You should know it has a ladder-frame chassis (can we Continue reading “Micropost: Vastness Rescinded”

Not Now, Mr Loos

We’ve already had a little look at the Suzuki Ignis now let us look at a little bit of it.

2017 Suzuki Ignis 4wd. All photos by the author

Overall, the Ignis is a neat little car with a robust appearance that belies its size. I am a little unsure if I am as enamoured of its reference to earlier Suzukis as I was originally; the previous Ignis was delightfully, eccentrically its own. Continue reading “Not Now, Mr Loos”

Ignis Inspection

As promised… a closer look at the new Suzuki Ignis.

These photos are very grey and very dank and really only serve to prove I did go to take a look at an Ignis with its wrapping still on. Curiously, all of the cars at the dealer had darkened rear windows so I could not see the interior properly. So, in the metal is the new Ignis going to live up to the burden of expectations? Continue reading “Ignis Inspection”

Tomorrow We Do Ignis

Curiosity overcame me so I went to a Suzuki dealer, writes Richard Herriott (who has hijacked this post).

On the way I saw the Mk 1. First, this is a public service as the Mk1 is not so well photographed. Second, it’s a chance to share my current morbid fascination. Until recently I hadn’t noticed the Mk1 Ignis (2000-2006). It shares similar themes with the Mark 2 which means Suzuki liked the idea and were planning an evolutionary approach. There is slightly raised third window at the back and the distinctive groove running around the middle of the lower body. The headlamps are not so distinctive as on the follow-up car. Why do I like this car? Continue reading “Tomorrow We Do Ignis”

As Promised

This diagram is a timeline of the Suzuki Cultus, Ignis and Swift.

The period of confusion is 2000 to 2008 when the Ignis appeared and was sold as the Swift, in Japan, replacing the Cultus. Suzuki produced two generations of Ignis: 2000 to 2004 and 2003 to 2008. In Europe the Swift appeared in 1988, the same as the car known in Japan as the Cultus. I don’t think we got the first generation. In Europe the Ignis and Swift overlapped from 2004 to 2008. Continue reading “As Promised”

Convergences

About 15 years ago design rationalism enjoyed one of its occasional bouts of popularity. In a few cases the appliance of simple rules to simple shapes led to similar conclusions.

2004 Ford Fusion: three sharp corners, neat work.

What we should be noticing in this slide show is the relation of the wing to the bumper and the treatment of the grille and bonnet. I noticed this originally because around about that time I occupied myself with a lamp design and without noticing how others did it arrived at something that looked very like the Fusion’s lamp.
Continue reading “Convergences”