Buying used Corolla Estate, should I consider Swace?

[BigWorm]

Wife and I are pretty much set on going for a Corolla Estate second hand for about £16k. Seemed to be plenty of option and have read the different posts here about 1.8 or 2 litre engine. However, I have seen the Swace mentioned a few times and in my car searching you seem to be able to get much newer, lower mileage second hand ones compared to what you pay for a Corolla. So now Im wondering if this is an option I should be considering - are the Swaces pretty much Corolla's in all but name or will that sort of talk get me kicked out of here quicker than I joined!

Otherwise would be good to hear what current Corolla owners would avoid or look out for when picking a second hand Corolla - seems like there are plenty of option around a '20 or '21 with about 50k miles.

[FROSTYBALLS]

The Swace is a clone of the Corolla Touring Sport to help them achieve their fleet average emissions. Both built by Toyota at Burnaston. There are some differences in specs.

If you intend servicing the car via a main dealer, Suzuki's service generated extended warranty is different to Toyota's Relax warranty and is for up to 7 years rather than 10.

Suzuki will stop new Swace sales together with 3 other models, from early 2025 as part of their electrification plans.

 

[taxidriver50005]

It's near as dammit a corolla bar a few trim bits and tail light is illuminated differently, warrenty is different but as it's probably the most reliable car you can get anyway I wouldn't worry. 

They are defo worth a look. 

[BigWorm]

Thanks for the input. I think the Toyota warranty only kicks in for card registered after June 2021 and I think those tend to be higher priced, or much higher mileage. The concern was hearing the discontinuation of the model but Im guessing if its all Toyota the parts will be easy to get.

[FROSTYBALLS]

18 minutes ago, BigWorm said:

I think the Toyota warranty only kicks in for card registered after June 2021

No. The Toyota Relax service generated extended warranty applies when the new car warranty (5 years/100,000 miles or 3 years/60,000 miles) expires or is near to expiry, and is activated when the car is serviced by a Toyota dealer. Applicable up to when the car either reaches 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

The Suzuki has slightly different servicing intervals - 12 months or 12,500 miles, whichever occurs first.

[TonyHSD]

The Suzuki one will make more sense for those who doesn’t really care about warranties, dealer service or sourcing parts as all that can be done via either dealer or as aftermarket. 
The 1.8 variant offered by Suzuki and Toyota are the safer bet since 2.0 are known to have issues that can end up as expensive repairs, engine replacements and warranty hassle. In my humble opinion if you find a good Suzuki at much better deal and mileage in generally good conditions can make it even better buy. Some of these even comes better specs than Corolla equivalent. All down to personal preferences and choices. 

[BigWorm]

Thanks for the confirmation on the warranty Mike, thats good to know.

Thats what Im finding Tony, about 40-30k miles less for only a drop more cash! There are less Suzukis available generally though.

The warranty feels fairly important to me as we want reliability and not too expensive repairs and we plan to take it to Italy to see the inlaws probably a couple of times a year so will get some mileage added.

[BigWorm]

Am I reading the warranry right, that it will also cover brakes??

[FROSTYBALLS]

As with the majority of warranties, cover is for manufacturing and assembly defects, but not wear and tear.

[Willss]

2 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

 

The Suzuki has slightly different servicing intervals - 12 months or 12,500 miles, whichever occurs first.

Don't get caught out by Suzuki servicing. The Swace is every 9000miles or 12 months. If you want to benefit from the up to 7 yrs don't exceed this.

Suzuki's website is unclear/misleading on this. Swace service interval is shorter than corolla by 1000miles.

Different sources say different things but Suzuki UK confirmed it is definitely every 9000k miles.

[Heidfirst]

You should consider a Swace depending upon what specs. are important to you & also your annual mileage (as already referred to by people re. difference in service intervals). Whether a Corolla or Swace is better for you though is something that only you can decide.