TeamSwift

Now this question has been raised many times among my group of friends....I'm just wondering whats your opinion on this subject....Some say that the GTIs time is over and that the new swift sport is the better car both in terms of power and handling.....Just wanna know what u guys think? Personally I spent quite abit on my car and i find that its kinda insulting for someone to say that my cars days are over and i should just scrap it

Uh, no.

The GTi will hopefully be always around as long as people like us are there to appreciate them. They're inexpensive, and fun to drive. As time goes on, modern cars will get fatter and less fun to drive.

There's no way a new car can approximate how raw a GTi is.

My car might not be a GT(i) but I've been in them, and I still prefer my car. It's like what my mom says(only willing if slightly unwitting test pilot I have), every time she gets in, she swears something about the car just makes her drive with a heavier foot, throwing it around, smacking it about, but it might be because she says it feels like a go-kart that doesn't know it's a car.

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My cars:

J. McBean: '98 Suzuki Swift 1.3L 16v SOHC 5sp+ "Mk5" Made in Canada
The Mini Rattler: '94 Suzuki Swift .993L 6v SOHC 5sp+ "Mk3" Made in Canada *The Winter Beater*
B. Berry: '90 Chevrolet Turbo Sprint 1.0L 6v SOHC 5sp+ "Mk2" Made in Japan

I got 18MPG in a 3cyl with a 5 speed manual 4dr, '93 Metro!

Would love to get a new swift sport.

In fact I'm trying to convince the gf to get the swift sport from japan instead of the basic new swift being sold here.

"Fingers crossed"

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1989-GTi: JE 75mm 11:1 pistons,Ported head,Suzukird single UD pulley,Sandros 210/340 chip,Aluminium flywheel,3tech 222/365 cams,Apex I S-afc,Genie headers,Cultus IM,50mm tb,Crane cams adjustable cam gears,B&G suspension.
1991-GTi: Cultus headers, Single UD pulley,Sandros Chip,3Tech 210/340 Cams,Cultus IM, 4.39fd GB, Apex springs.
2001-Altezza AS200: Stock.
Aruba "one happy island".

There was this Swift meeting last weekend at a local shop, for new Swifts only. My girlfriend had some shopping to do there and when she arrived in her GTi, she got alot of attention. They were all like "Wow, a GTi! Those are cool, much more fun!" and so on.

I drive it myself regularly and I also get the need to throw it around. I also do that in my 1.0, but it has stock suspension and crappy tires, so it isn't as much fun (yet ). When I drive a modern car I always feel some kind of distance between me and the car as if I'm not driving it myself. All the electronics and safety equipment and fuzzy power steering, combined with their added weight completely take the fun out of driving. Glad I have my Swift

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1995 Swift 1.0 Spirit/GL:

- mildly ported head
- ss exhaust valves
- 222/365 3tech cam
- +10 gear
- K&N air filter
- TBI bridge removed
- srd underdrive pulley
- GTi flywheel and clutch
- GTi catback
- deleted cat, now 2" ss pipe
- 14x6J ET45 BSA Racing
- Nankang AS-1 165/55-14
- 35mm lower Apex front springs
- GTi sway bar
- QSP Rally 70 350mm steering wheel with Autostyle hub
- Noname sports seat

0-100kph: 13.01 seconds

the new swift sport goes to 0-60 mph/0-100 kmh in 8s and so does my old 89 gti , so why bother on buying the new one when i already have one sitting in my driveway that's just as fast. I'll buy it only when my car dies in my opinion take the new swift sport as replacement . like ppl here say, as long as there's people like us the gti legacy wont die.

btw i'm getting the same attitude from ppl at my job
they all think it's a geometro

I LOVE SUZUKI GTi!!! I'm the only one here in US-NJ with one I'm surrounded by Honda hatches i've won 10/12 races that i've gotten into =} the pure advantage of them not knowing whats under the hood is pure awesome!

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1989 Suzuki Swift GTi - 1.3 DOHC (Cultus JDM Engine) - 1300 lbs
1993 Nissan Sentra wanting to be SR16VE

one thing i love about my '89 gti is the fact that no one takes my little 1.3 seriously. they fail to realize the 89's DOHC 4 banger was rather light weight, capable of 7000+ rpm stock ,had little to no power robbing emisions junk in 'em and the rest of the car was rather light given the power they put out. with only a couple suspention and engine mods, gti's like mine have been waxing honda's on the track during "street legal night" regularly. i'm surprised suzuki has gone soo far from the original swift platform. it was successful, why fix what aint broke? the only thing i would have liked to have seen, is more AWD cultus's in north america...

as for the new swift... too much plasic, not enough balls....

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95% of the canadian population say "Oh shit!" before hitting the ditch.
The other 5% are good 'ol Alberta boys saying "Hear, hold my beer... NOW WATCH THIS!!!".


May not always be pretty, but Rednecks Git'R'Done Good!

New Swift Sport 0-100kph 8.9 seconds
90 GTi - 0-100kph 8.2 seconds
Game over.
Those figures are from magazine road tests...

GTi... new Swift Sport.... GTi ..... new Swift Sport...

No contest. I'll take one of each.
Why? the old GTi has a certain capability to feel better and faster than it really is. It handles extremely well for what it is. It always brings a smile to the dial When you drive it. The New Swift Sport does feel better and is plenty fast enough in the right hands. It handles extremely well for what it is. It always brings a smile to the dial When you drive it.

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Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car and oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car.HP is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how much you push the wall out.

And if I had to drive the length of the country as fast as possible I would choose a new swift sport, no contest, 0-100 don't always tell the full story... new swift is quicker once you are doing over 100kph .

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that could be true but who's going to drive a full length of the country in a race? this isn't speed racer , or is it?

seriously most common people race in straight away in mostly in a 1/4 mile or so. there both equally fast, one's cheaper and the other one is somewhere hear, 10-20 grands? suzuki should've made the swift sport a 200hp car instead of 130 so it could keep up with the competition, nissan sentra se-r & honda civic si n the other cars that i cant remember just like in the old days (90-94)

so basically they just took the gti n redid the body and added it some more torque hp so it could keep up with his old relative the gti? anyone see where i'm going with this?


both stock cars, swift sport vs swift gti

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1989 Suzuki Swift GTi - 1.3 DOHC (Cultus JDM Engine) - 1300 lbs
1993 Nissan Sentra wanting to be SR16VE

What he is saying is the new swift sport is an easier and more comfortable drive for long distance at speed. Its not that hard to translate kiwi is it?

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Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car and oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car.HP is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how much you push the wall out.

A couple of years ago I was an official on the Targa NZ, 5 days of tarmac rallying the length of the North Island (almost half of NZ), I was pretty much the last official to go thru and went between the zero and the double zero car, 5 days of driving as fast as I could given that the roads were 99.8% guaranteed free of other traffic, I was driving a flat back SI civic at the time which is similar to a gti but with better handling, after 4 days of this I was stuffed, fatigue had set in and I spent the last day just cruising, I think a swift sport would a great car for that, spirited driving over long distances, don't get me wrong, I love my gti and it's a great racecar for short distances but cars have evolved a lot over the last 20 years.
Personally I'd rather have a new Fiesta with 2.0 duratec, now that is a real HOT HATCH

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And thereby hangs the tale.

Some people actually take pride in actually being able to drive around "corners". My wifes new swift pisses over the GTi for ease of driving and handling in the turns. The Swift Sport is even better.
Just as honda's were made so wankers don't drive Suzuki's,(no offence datts),
1/4 mile "races" are for people who don't know how to drive... period...

Seriously.. I just watched that video that was posted in this thread. The only thing it proved to me was the stupidity of setting something like that up in a built up area. Not the drag, but the run off. someone could have been hurt.

Now thats gonna spark some debate.

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Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car and oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car.HP is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how much you push the wall out.

i'll love to do that

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1989 Suzuki Swift GTi - 1.3 DOHC (Cultus JDM Engine) - 1300 lbs
1993 Nissan Sentra wanting to be SR16VE

kiwi? now wanker? your so lovable

yeah this was at tokyo, the curve at the end was dangerous i think the gti won

i think they wanted the new swift sport to be like the gti. if it's like u say why waste time n money when u can have the regular new swift?

1/4 mile races, what do you mean? professionals, the ones at a public street or just in general? i am sorry i have a IQ of 40 can u be a little more specific

as for the curves, you got to get to know me my friend there's no such thing as curves or sharp turns where I live. They're all L shapes turns with traffic lights, allot of traffic squeezing in front you, and heck if ur lucky u get some nice people saying some nice things to u such as *F*** outa my way* or *f*** u*. no long nice mountains road or regular roads that extend miles on and on with nice curves where u can be free, you speak of this heaven that i don't know of. i'm sorry i just don't understand ur language for i live in hell. i'm a lonely gti smack in the middle of united state's second worst city infested with honda lovers, although i'm kicking their arses pretty well

1/4 mile for ppl who don't know how to drive?
also, at drags it takes skill to be able to lunch right when the lights turns green, rev it out to a certain rpm so ur tire won't spin as much and blahblahblahblah it's not a matter of push down the gas padel and go straight to the finish line. no such thing, but i guess u wouldn't kno. then again it's ur opinion not a debate

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1989 Suzuki Swift GTi - 1.3 DOHC (Cultus JDM Engine) - 1300 lbs
1993 Nissan Sentra wanting to be SR16VE

I never lunch when the light turns green. It slows me down..

Yeah I was talking about street drags...

professional drags have their place and professional drag cars do require skill. Pitting your street car against another street car is just a pissing contest imho.

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Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car and oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car.HP is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how much you push the wall out.

it is dangerous.

we have a raceway that me and my friends can pay in order to race each other "atco raceway" it's really fun. i want to race in a circuit tho.

i guess u should launch at a red light

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1989 Suzuki Swift GTi - 1.3 DOHC (Cultus JDM Engine) - 1300 lbs
1993 Nissan Sentra wanting to be SR16VE

good on you.

I was in NJ about four months ago. there are a few winding roads through there. I was in the Murray Hill/ somerset Hills area.

I feel your pain tho. rented a car and kept having to keep my eye out for the troopers.... Get on a circuit for a change. Its exhilirating. I used to race bikes.

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Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car and oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car.HP is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how much you push the wall out.

Wanted to get a Swift Sport couple of months ago.
Here in Greece though we only get the 3door hatch!
When i got my mk2 GTi i drag raced a Swift Sport.The result made me stick with my GTi!
Not only i passed the Sport with 1.5 car difference but also had the chance to drive the Sport too against my GTi.
The result was the same!I never thought of a car with such a bad speed feel.
Also, many swift sports suffer with gearbox problems here in Greece.Many 2nd gears are broken due to hard shifts,others have cracks on the gearbox shell!It might be a certain number with this problem but it still is a problem!On my GTi even on trackdays etc where engine and tranny loads are a lot more than everyday driving the GTi is still working!Not even a smell or a point of something bad.
For me?

GTi - Swift Sport: 1 - 0!

I auto-x my cousin's SSS a few times and even once did a "chase" with a GTi...he started in front.

The SSS has better mid-band power, it defintely turns in just as well as the GTi, but outhandles it with a predictable set of tires. After all, the SSS suspension was tuned by Lotus!

The GTi has just as good a take off but the wheel base ratio is slightly more than that of the SSS.

All in all, I would rather a well-maintained GTi just because they are better looking (imo) and there are tonnes more aftermarket goodies for them at much lower prices than for the SSS.

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~the other Ralph~
Certified Suzuki Owner:
MKIII Swift GTi - The Green Destiny!
2010 Suzuki Jimny - The DD Workhorse!

I kind of raced one with my standard 97 GTi and it was falling back.....I like them tho

They are both great driver's cars.The advantage of the new Swift Sport is the safety plus it's more easy to drive in windy roads.The bad thing about the M16A engine is that it's drive by wire and that really kills engine responsiveness...OK i do accept the fact that by remapping the ECU you can make the throttle response better but that's it...Control of the car is great!Drove one couple of days ago and i must say that although it's a lot heavier it can still keep up with it's rivals with factory turbo and even with bigger engine sized cars.
The worst thing is that fuel consumption is awful!!18lt/100kms on 5th gear around 180km/h is quite high i must say but lets keep in mind that it's a hot hatch and not a car made for long road trips even though it won't disappoint you if you try one.
The GTi is just a classic hot hatch.The car that shocked the world in mid-80s with it's engine and performance and still stands out in the crowd.I owned one which soul is currently transplanted in my Baleno/Esteem hatchback and i must say this engine is good in all Suzuki's platforms even in Samurai and Jimny.
As long as we keep the GTi passion alive they will always be around