Toyota Yaris VS Suzuki Swift

The Yaris is small on the outside and small on the inside, too.

This means two things: Firstly this car is a breeze to park and it fits in lots of places, making it ideal to drive around the confines of a city.

On the other hand, there's been a clear design choice here to make the Yaris far from as boxy as it could be, focusing on the curvy looks at the cost of interior volume.

The Kia Rio, for example, does a great job of hitting both tight exterior dimensions with big interior ones, making it perhaps a better choice for those with families, although the Rio is set for the great scrapyard in the sky before long.

The inside of the Yaris adds up to a space which is clearly primarily constructed for the space and comfort of front occupants.

Adjustability is good, with telescopic and height adjust for the steering, relatively large comfortable seats, and a set of two surprisingly decent bottle holders in the doors with two more running down the centre console.

There's no armrest box, as it would impede the function of the centre airbag, so there's nowhere to rest your elbow, and the rare inclusion of a manual handbrake lever precludes the addition of further storage between the seats.

The dial-based climate control panel is welcome, and there's a small bay underneath for the storage of your phone, although, like every other storage nook in the cabin, the base is not rubberised, so objects will simply slide around when you're cornering.

The back seat feels very closed-in, especially in the ZR grade, which makes things worse with its dark headlining and heavy window tint, and while I still like the seat trim and large bottle holders in the doors, it's not hard to feel forgotten.

My knees have just a tiny amount of room from the driver's seat set to my own driving position (I'm 182cm tall), and even the so-so door trim is instead replaced by a plain plastic panel. There is also no centre drop-down armrest, nor is there a power outlet.

A caution for those with kids: The rear door doesn't even open very far, so it strikes me as being difficult to work with for the placement of child seats.

The boot also offers a tiny 270 litres, just big enough for our largest CarsGuide demo case but not the other two in the set, which is actually only 124 litres once you include the thickness of the case itself and the wheels.

At just over 4.1m long the MG3 is around 250mm longer than the Swift and not surprisingly its wheelbase is 120mm up on the Suzuki.

And there’s more than enough room up front in the MG and storage is good with bins in the doors and space for medium-sized bottles, as well as multiple cup/bottle holders in the centre console with movable dividers to structure the spaces as you see fit.

There’s a box between the front seats with a sliding tray inside it, alongside another partitioned oddments space and there’s a decent glove box.

For power and connectivity you’ve got USB-A and USB-C sockets with a 12-volt socket between them.

Important to note the MG’s steering column only adjusts for height which is a throwback to the 1990s, while the Swift’s adjusts for rake and reach, as you’d expect.

In terms of storage in the front of the Suzuki there are bins in the doors with room for bottles and cup/bottle holders in the centre console with an oddments tray in front of them (this becomes the wireless charging tray in the top-spec GLX).

No centre box/armrest between the front seats, just a low surround for the (manual) handbrake with a single cupholder at the back of it, more for backseaters than those in the front.

Again, there’s a generous glove box and this time around for connectivity there are two USB-A sockets (one for media) and a USB-C with a 12V next to them for power.

The rear of both of these city cars is surprisingly accommodating. Sitting behind the driver’s seat set to my 183cm position I have good foot, leg and headroom in each. Slightly less shoulder room in the Swift, which, after all, is 62mm narrower than the MG3.

Telling that neither car has map pockets on the front seat backs or a fold-down centre armrest with cupholders. But there are door bins in the MG3 with room for bottles while the Suzuki’s back doors have wells in them with just enough size for a mid-size bottle.

Big tick for the MG’s adjustable air vents for those in the back seat, with a small oddments tray and an additional USB-A outlet for power underneath it.

Boot space is surprisingly close with each of these minis able to hold the large and small cases from our three-piece luggage set. The MG3 offers 293 litres of volume with the Swift at 265L.

Worth noting the Suzuki’s rear seat splits and folds 60/40 for extra space and flexibility while the MG’s is a not as flexible single-piece folding backrest.

When it comes to a spare tyre, a repair/inflator kit is your only option for both of these cars, which is less than ideal.