It seemed apt that when it came time to leave the office in Suzuki’s diminutive “mini-MPV”, the Splash, it had been raining long enough and hard enough to leave standing water on the road. Splash, splish, and indeed, splosh.
Such conditions can lead one to feel a bit vulnerable in a small car, and small the Splash most certainly is. At 3.7 metres in length, 1.7 metres wide and 1.6 metres tall, the Splash is the modern, European market-friendly version of the boxy-looking Wagon R.
Developed jointly with Vauxhall (which markets the Agila) and built in Hungary, the Splash is based on a shortened platform of the Swift supermini and went on sale in the UK in 2008. Earlier this year the car was revised, most notably with improvements to the 1.2-litre engine tested here, with the aim of boosting fuel economy and reducing emissions.
Like the Wagon R, this is an upright car with five doors. Unlike the Wagon R, the Splash is a five- rather than four-seater and has been styled with European tastes in mind. All of which means you can transport four of your friends without a single one of them having grounds to ridicule you for driving a car that looks like a sardine tin on wheels - even if, packed in so tightly, they feel a bit like sardines themselves.
Out on the road any worries about instability in poor conditions prove to be unfounded. The Splash actually handles rather neatly, with direct steering and plenty of grip. It uses industry standard MacPherson strut front and twist-beam rear, but because the Splash is almost as tall as it is wide, the suspension has been tuned so that the car won't lean too much in corners. The result is a surprisingly fun experience from behind the wheel, helped by those tiny dimensions and the good visibility provided by the elevated driving position and large windows, all of which means you can confidently zip through the tightest of gaps. If there’s a price to pay it’s in the firm low speed ride.
Engine choice comes down to a pair of petrol units: a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder with 68bhp or the revised 1.2-litre, four-cylinder 94bhp from the Swift. Both are linked to a manual five-speed gearbox, with a four-speed auto available for the bigger engine only.
As past experience with the Swift has proved, the 1.2-litre is quiet and economical unless you really throw some revs at it, in which case it’s noisy and economical. The 87lb ft of torque on offer doesn’t arrive until 4,800rpm, but there’s just enough urge below that point to make for smooth progress and once wound up this is an enjoyable unit that thrives on revs. On the Combined cycle expect 55.4mpg (which, strangely, is identical to what you’ll get from the 1.0-litre unit), a figure the Splash matches with ease.
The gearbox itself feels somewhat basic in use, as if the engineers merely put in five forward ratios along with one for reverse but then made no effort into making the action of moving from one to another as slick as possible. That the gearstick itself wears an ugly concertinaed rubber surround only adds to the feeling that this particular component has been built to a cost, and that the cost in question was very low.
Although lacking anything in the way of clever sliding rear seats, the interior is surprisingly roomy, while the seat trim and most of the cabin plastics feel as though they’ll stand the test of time. Open the boot, however, and you’ll see that the comfort of the occupants has been prioritised over luggage carrying capacity. Fitting an average family’s weekly supermarket shop into the 178-litre space might be a squeeze, especially when 36 litres of that is accounted for by a space under the boot floor.
Conversely, thanks to the capacious passenger compartment you can drop the rear seats (60:40 split/fold as standard) and throw in a surprising amount. It will, for example, swallow a mountain bike with ease, fulfilling that brief of MPV-like versatility.
Standard equipment includes four airbags, steering wheel mounted controls for the stereo, air-conditioning and heated door mirrors, while upgrading to SZ4 trim adds ESP stability control, curtain shield airbags, 15in alloy wheels and front foglamps.
Although not outstanding in any one area, what the Splash represents is an introduction to the world of underrated cars. It might not be the best model in its class, but at the right price it’s worthy of consideration against rivals such as the Hyundai i10, Fiat Panda and Renault Twingo.
The problem is, Suzuki is not currently marketing the Splash at anything close to the “right price”. At £9,495 for the entry-level version it’s simply too expensive when Volkswagen will sell you a Polo, or Ford a Fiesta, for the same price, not to mention when Suzuki itself is currently offering the bigger and better Swift for £8,800. Our advice would be to haggle hard or pop along to your local Vauxhall dealer, where you can pick up the Splash’s sister car, the Agila, from £8,495 with a “Lifetime” (100,000-mile) warranty.
THE FACTS Suzuki Splash SZ4
Tested: Five-door hatchback with 1,242cc, four-cylinder petrol engine, five-speed manual transmission, front-wheel drive
Price/on sale: from £9,495 (as tested £10,535)/now
Power/torque: 94bhp @ 6,000rpm/ 87lb ft @ 4,800rpm
Top speed: 109mph
Acceleration: 0-62mph in 12.0sec
Fuel economy: 55.4mpg (EU Combined)
CO2 emissions: 119g/km
VED band: C (£0 for first year, £30 thereafter)
Verdict: Much better than most would ever think, but too expensive to recommend at a time when there are such cracking deals available for other new cars.
Telegraph rating: Three out of five stars
