Single Purpose
by David Finlay (28 Jul 08)

I've been stubbing a metaphorical toe against the Splash concept and I'm going to have to sort this out right away. The problem is that Suzuki describes the car a mini-MPV, and while I agree with the "mini" bit I'm not so happy about what follows it.

Strictly speaking, MPV means "multi-purpose vehicle", but it's more commonly understood as a synonym for "people carrier". Well, I don't see that the Splash particularly fits either of those descriptions, so do you mind if I just refer to it as a small hatchback? Thank you. I feel much better now.

The Splash is effectively the same thing as a Vauxhall Agila, though Vauxhall offers a considerably wider choice. There are eight varieties of Agila but only four Splashes, and the one we're looking at here has the 85bhp 1.2-litre petrol engine, a five-speed manual gearbox and the higher GLS+ trim level.

For the sake of completeness I should point out that there's also a cheaper GLS specification (with 15" steel wheels rather than alloys, and without front foglights or tinted rear glass, though you can have all these things as optional extras), a four-speed automatic gearbox and a 1.3-litre turbo diesel engine.

The diesel is the celebrated GM/Fiat unit, which is excellent, but it adds £995 to the price of the car, and given the low mileages that small hatchbacks tend to rack up you probably still won't get that money back through improved fuel economy before all that's left of the human race is a handful of fossils.

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