What's this then?

This is Suzuki's new small car, the Baleno hatchback, which actually isn't a replacement for the Swift, but a slightly larger small car. It's built around an all-new platform and Suzuki says that it's one of the most spacious and practical cars in its class, with a 355-litre boot.

Inside, there's the option of a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and, given Suzuki's usual and admirable obsession with safety kit, an autonomous braking system triggered by a millimetre radar housed in the front bumper.

It's the engines that are the most significant though. The Baleno is the debut vehicle for Suzuki's down-sized petrol turbo engine, called the Boosterjet, which is a three-cylinder unit with 110hp and 170Nm of torque. There's also a heavily updated 1.2-litre petrol engine with 90hp and the option of a mild-hybrid system that uses an integrated starter generator to give the engine an extra kick under acceleration, and which recoups braking energy for the electrical system when you're slowing down. With that fitted, Suzuki says the Baleno can hit a 93g/km Co2 emissions score.

Neil Briscoe - 15 Sep 2015