In the midst of the tidal wave of non-Geneva Geneva Show news that's come out, this one might slip by your radar - but the cutest micro-SUV of all, the Suzuki Ignis, has had its midlife facelift. The visual changes are subtle but not anonymous; check out the radiator grille and you'll see it has a five-spoke effort which better ties it in with stablemates like the Jimny and Vitara. This, in turn, necessitates upside-down-U-shaped contrivances front and rear which take on the appearance of faux skid plates, but in essence the Ignis still looks utterly adorable. Inside, the instrument pack has been tarted up with a black-and-white theme, while new accent colours of Lazuli Medium Blue Pearl and Medium Grey Metallic have been drafted into action. Talking of colours, there are three new ones for the exterior palette (bringing the total to 18 single- and two-tone schemes), which are Caravan Ivory Pearl Metallic, Rush Yellow Metallic and Tough Khaki Pearl Metallic. Then the Ignis' tiny 1.2-litre powertrain has been uprated. The motor itself has received a dual-injection system with an electric-intake variable valve timing (VVT) set-up, a variable displacement oil pump and electric piston cooling jets. Meanwhile, any model fitted with the Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki (SHVS) mild electrification tech will have a bigger lithium-ion battery, up from 3Ah before to 10Ah now. That improves the economy further. The final addition to the 2020MY Ignis range is the option of a CVT gearbox, although we're not big fans of those and so we're not as excited about that part of the update. Otherwise, one of our favourite small crossover-SUVs has just been lightly spruced up. UK deliveries should begin in April and prices for the updated Ignis will be announced nearer the time.
Matt Robinson - 3 Mar 2020