Well, the inevitable happened, i ran out of time to get the cinq done, new issues popped up and with the BMW off the road and loads to do, i had no transport so being stuck, had been keeping an eye out for a runaround. Especially as it was vital for getting parts for the cinq to the garage, lugging tools around etc on top of day to day travel.
Loads of boring fiestas etc with a few months mot left popped up, then out of nowhere, plus very local.... up popped a Suzuki Ignis Sport, 12 month mot, 6 months tax and at a bargain price, 15 minutes from home... result.
As people know, i've raved about these wee cars for a few years, they are something of a hidden gem in the motoring world, as close to a "modern" cinq sporting as you can get, except built by the Japanese... which can only be a good thing :laugh:
It's been a monsoon here for the best part of 3 days, so there's no pics i've taken yet, but as a teaser, here's some from the ad
The wheels are 17" Lenso superlight samurai's and i also got a spare set of fox 15" wheels with basically rally tyres on them for winter!, issues.... there's a dent on the front wing and a dent and scrape on the passenger door. Body wise, that's about it.
Mechanically, the worst it gets is the alternator belt, which has recently been replaced, has an occasional screech from cold for about 15 seconds, after which it's fine. The rest of it is all good, even the air con works!
3 days of driving it, Positives.... Steering is razor sharp, well weighted (and it's an electric rack too, so that's well done), The grip is just astonishing... and i'm not exaggerating on that, i'd run out if bottle before i even got understeer! and that's in the wet!, engine is flexible and loves to rev hard, which is just as well because it only comes on song at 4k, below that it's "ok", nothing more, Gearbox is nice and light yet accurate, clutch is a nice weight, whole car strikes a good balance of supermini/off roader/hot hatch, seats are supportive and the engine at idle is almost silent compared to most cars, ground clearance is insane and wind noise at speed is surprisingly excellent with windows up. Fuel economy also seems a solid 35-40mpg in mixed driving.
Negatives, the ride is very, very harsh, the boot is shallow and mine doesn't have a load cover, which renders the boot useless as storage just now, and the turning circle is terrible... and i mean terrible, it's a city car by trade and on full lock, i estimate that it's about 10 meters wider in a u-turn than the bmw. But they are niggles, it's great fun to drive
Loads of boring fiestas etc with a few months mot left popped up, then out of nowhere, plus very local.... up popped a Suzuki Ignis Sport, 12 month mot, 6 months tax and at a bargain price, 15 minutes from home... result.
As people know, i've raved about these wee cars for a few years, they are something of a hidden gem in the motoring world, as close to a "modern" cinq sporting as you can get, except built by the Japanese... which can only be a good thing :laugh:
It's been a monsoon here for the best part of 3 days, so there's no pics i've taken yet, but as a teaser, here's some from the ad
The wheels are 17" Lenso superlight samurai's and i also got a spare set of fox 15" wheels with basically rally tyres on them for winter!, issues.... there's a dent on the front wing and a dent and scrape on the passenger door. Body wise, that's about it.
Mechanically, the worst it gets is the alternator belt, which has recently been replaced, has an occasional screech from cold for about 15 seconds, after which it's fine. The rest of it is all good, even the air con works!
3 days of driving it, Positives.... Steering is razor sharp, well weighted (and it's an electric rack too, so that's well done), The grip is just astonishing... and i'm not exaggerating on that, i'd run out if bottle before i even got understeer! and that's in the wet!, engine is flexible and loves to rev hard, which is just as well because it only comes on song at 4k, below that it's "ok", nothing more, Gearbox is nice and light yet accurate, clutch is a nice weight, whole car strikes a good balance of supermini/off roader/hot hatch, seats are supportive and the engine at idle is almost silent compared to most cars, ground clearance is insane and wind noise at speed is surprisingly excellent with windows up. Fuel economy also seems a solid 35-40mpg in mixed driving.
Negatives, the ride is very, very harsh, the boot is shallow and mine doesn't have a load cover, which renders the boot useless as storage just now, and the turning circle is terrible... and i mean terrible, it's a city car by trade and on full lock, i estimate that it's about 10 meters wider in a u-turn than the bmw. But they are niggles, it's great fun to drive
