Tasty Suzuki Swift GT

Along with the Chevy Sprint Turbo (also a Suzuki Swift), we love the Swift GTI and GT.  They’re effectively the same car, but it seems VW wasn’t happy about the GTI name, so it only lasted about one year.


Instead of the usual three cylinder or SOHC four, these featured a DOHC 1.3 liter four that could rev to almost 7K.  100HP sounds puny, but so is the car.

This one’s not too far from HQ and is damn tempting…new clutch and trans already.  If anything, the amount of work required up to this point seems out of whack with the reputation these cars have, but it might have been flogged and/or neglected by the original owner?

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Newbury Park, CA
$1,200 with no bids and no reserve, plus $2,000 BIN price
07/22/2013 update: Seller ended because it’s ‘no longer available’ – might it have sold ‘offline’?  We’ll watch for a relisting…

Such a cool looking little car!

Subtly sporty theme continues in the rear.

Only certain cars can make a 1.3L 4cyl look ‘shoehorned’.

Interior is nice enough, considering the class of car.  The driver’s seat is a bit worn, but it’d be tempting to stick in a racing seat and go autocrossing anyway.  Of course, we’d fix and keep the original…

Ad text:

This auction is for a 1991 Suzuki Swift GT.  The mileage on the odometer is 67,305; however, I purchased the care with 70,000 miles on the care and it has only gone over the one time hence the 167,305 mileage.

The car has recently had quite a bit of work performed on it.  At 151,000 miles the shocks, control arms, outer tie rod ends, inner rack ends and brakes were all replaced. The shocks are KYB GR2, everything else was just stock replacement parts.  The car had a new exhaust installed at 115,000 miles and a new catalytic converter installed at 135,000.  The catalytic converter is an OBDII converter as per California regulations, even though this car is pre-OBDII.  The transmission and clutch were replaced at 140,000. The throw-out bearing went out and so I replaced the clutch, throw-out bearing, and transmission all at the same time.  I replaced the transmission because it had always ground when shifting into second gear.  This was a common problem with the Suzuki Swift midway through 1992.  I replaced the transmission with a 1993 transmission.  It shifts much nicer without grinding in the 1-2 shift even at high rpm. The cylinder head was replaced at 90,000 miles due to a burnt exhaust valve.  It was replaced with a brand new head, not a rebuilt.  The fuel injectors and pressure regulator were also replaced at 90,000 due to the concern that the cylinder had leaned out causing the exhaust valve to burn. The windshield was replace at about 125,000 just due to wear from the mileage and normal rock chips. 

Some of the problems with the car.  As is common with this year swift the driver side window is hard to roll up.  You have to help guide the window up or it will jump out of track in the rear.  The driver side door handle is acting funny, it will probably need to be replaced.  It still locks, but it does not feel right. The drivers side seat the cover material is rotting from exposure to sun light and age. The car has been in too accidents.  Both were relatively minor.  Both were repaired for under $300 actual cost.  The hood has been replaced, the front bumper lower cover should have been replaced, but the GT lower with the driving lights could not be located at the time.  The cover was repainted, but there is still a tear on the passenger side around the turn signal.  The tear is not very noticeable.  The body on the car has never had any structural damage.

The tires are relatively new, but are wearing fast.  The car has just been aligned, but the Falken tires are just that bad.  Plan on replacing them soon.  The tires only have about 3000 miles on them and are showing significant wear.  I cannot say enough bad things about these tires.

The car runs good.  There are no real problems that I am aware of at this time the would limit the ability of someone to use the car as a daily driver.  I have not driven it on a daily basis for a few months now.  

This part probably relates most to potential Californa purchasers: The car is not currently registered.  There are $140 in fees due on the car.  The car has not been smog checked.  I know that it will pass the smog inspection, since I was not driving the car I did not pay too much attention to these issues.  If you are California purchaser, I will take care of the smog check and back fees for you.  The car has not been driven many miles since the last smog inspection (which required the replacement of the catalytic converter) so I would be very confident that it will pass inspection.

Please either email me through the ebay system, or call me at 805.xxx.xxxx if you have any questions. Thank you, Greg Bowles.


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