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Junkyard Gem: 1996 Suzuki Swift SLOKYO DRIFT Edition

General Motors sold plenty of rebadged Suzukis over the decades in the United States, starting with the Chevy Sprint in 1985 and continuing with various Geo- and Chevrolet-badged machines into our current century. The one we remember best remains the fuel-sipping Metro, successor to the Sprint and available here through the 2001 model year. The Sprint and Metro were based on the Japanese-market Cultus, and Suzuki put its own badges on this car in the United States for the 1989 through 2001 model years. That was the Suzuki Swift, a car we know best today for its factory-hot-rod version, the Swift GT. Normally, I wouldn't bother to document an ordinary Canadian-built Swift found in a boneyard, but today's Colorado-found Junkyard Gem boasts some interesting custom touches that make it worth our attention. Get ready for… SLOKYO DRIFT! While countless American owners of Integras and Lancers and 240SXs went nuts with JDM-influenced car decor following the release of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in 2006, drivers of the tiny and miserably underpowered Metro/Swift econo-commuters felt left out of the party. The owner of this car knew what to do, though: buy some stick-on mailbox letters and slap them on this Swift's hatch. Junkyard-acquired badges adorn every surface of the SLOKYO DRIFT Swift, because why not? It turns out that many Reddit regulars in Colorado spied this car on the street, and so you'll find many references to it on that site. Since any 24-year-old econobox with a manual transmission and a salvage title will be nearly impossible to sell, we can assume this car spent its last few years just one broken part away from The Crusher. Once it needed an expensive repair, it wasn't worth fixing. The original owner's manual and documentation remained in this Swift until the end. It appears that Colorado TV-advertising legend Dealin' Doug moved this iron off his Cherry Creek Dodge lot when it had a mere 5,920 miles on the clock, based on this "Phoney Monroney" I found in the glovebox. 168,925 hard miles later, here it is. At some point, it got totaled, put back together, and stamped with this REBUILT FROM SALVAGE lettering on the door jamb. We think of the Metro/Swift as a three-cylinder car, but many of the later versions got this 1.3-liter "big-block" four-banger under the hood. That's 70 raging horsepower right here. The 5-speed made it more efficient and fun to drive, but killed whatever resale value it may have had.

New Suzuki Swift Sport to be lighter and torquier

The Suzuki Swift Sport has been one of the most interesting hot hatches of the last decade, well at least outside the United States. Its first iteration was released in 2005, leaving behind its crummy Geo Metro guise in favor of something more in line dynamically with the segment best. Though it may have been an underdog from day one, the Swift Sport proved itself to be both fun and reliable The new car promises to up the ante with a stiffer structure and a footprint increased courtesy a 20 mm-longer wheelbase and a stance that's 40 mm wider and 15 mm lower. Power comes from a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder Suzuki cheekily calls the Boosterjet, ditching the old 1.6-liter naturally aspirated inline-4. The downsized, intercooled 138-horsepower turbo engine gives the Swift Sport only four more horsepower than the old unit, but there is a lot more torque available and at lower revs. Another major improvement is a weight loss of nearly 180 pounds -- definitely a big deal in a small car like this -- as the new model tips the scales at less than 2,140 lbs. Suzuki says the feel of the six-speed manual shifter has been improved, too. "It's lighter, sharper, quicker. It's more aggressive and emotive, but we've also refined the elements that make it practical to use every day," said Suzuki chief engineer Masao Kobori. "The clutch feel, the manual transmission shift throw, the seats and steering wheel -- everything that puts the driver at the heart of the experience." Sounds neat, though with Suzuki gone from the U.S. market, it'll remain forbidden fruit for American customers. On the other hand, you can apparently rent these in Germany. Nurburgring rental anyone? Related Video:

2014 Suzuki V-Strom 1000 ABS

Motorcycle trends come and go like fashion, and the latest two-wheeled style du jour is the adventure bike. Chunky and rugged, these (sometimes) dirt-ready rides often take cues from the massive, Armageddon-ready rigs you'd find on the Dakar Rally. In their most neutered form, they can start as street bikes and adapt for adventure duty by adding taller suspension setups, removable saddlebags, bigger fuel tanks, and better wind protection.
Lying smack in the middle of that dirt/road matrix (and leaning toward the tarmac side) is the 2014 Suzuki V-Strom 1000 ABS. A venerable fixture in the adventure scene, it developed a primarily urban following after the model bowed in 2004, though it's also proved itself worthy of tackling trails and light offroad scenarios. For automotive folks not steeped in the vagaries of the motorcycle world, the V-Strom is the two-wheeled equivalent of the late, great Mitsubishi Montero: capable, no-nonsense, and a bit of an unsung hero in the face of more glamorous offroaders like the Land Rover LR4 and the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen.