TeamSwift

Suzuki Cultus Nomenclature

The family of cars derived from the original Suzuki Cultus have been manufactured in seven countries, in four body styles under nearly a dozen nameplates worldwide, chiefly Geo Metro, Chevrolet Metro, Suzuki Swift, Suzuki Forsa, Suzuki Cultus, Pontiac Firefly, Chevrolet Sprint, Subaru Justy as well as nameplates in Japan, Pakistan, China and India.

There are two primary ways to organize the vehicles: Mark (Mk) or Generation. Each method is appropriate in a certain context, just be aware which system you are using.

The Mk System:
Mark or Mk : vehicles distinguished by global region -- marking cosmetic restyling changes or mechanical changes but ignoring other global regions or current production in other regions. Outlined here are Mk systems for North America, Europe and Australia:

NA Mk: (North American Mk)

Teamswift is structured around the NA Mk system:

Mk1 85-88 (Boxy body + Boxy dash) (through 2004: South America)
MK2 89-91 (Round body + Boxy dash)
MK3 92-94 (Round body + Round dash)
Mk4 95-97 (Guppy mouth)
Mk5 98-01 (Razor mouth)




EuroMk:
MK1 - 86 to 88 (Through 2004: South America)
MK2 - 88 to 92
MK3 - 92 to 96 (styling refresh)
MK4 - 96 to 01 (styling refresh)
MK5 - 01 to 02 (styling refresh)
MK6 - 05 onward

The EuroMk's:


Australian Mk:

MK1 - SA310 / SA413 (1984-86) (through 2004: South America)
MK2 - SF310 / SF413 / SF416 (1989-92)
MK3 - SF310 / SF413 / SF416 (1993-99)

MK1 Introduced March 1984, the SA Swift was front wheel drive, with a solid axle and drum brakes on the rear, with front disc brakes. Models: GA, GL, GC and GLS.
MK2 New rounder body shape with mechanicals similar to the SA model and the solid rear axle replaced by a trailing arm setup. Models: GA, GL, GTi 3-door hatchbacks; GL and GLX Sedans, with 4WD available between 1990-91.
MK3 Remodeled interior, revised front and rear bumper fascias. New rounded dashboard. Models: GA, (later replaced with the City Car), the Cino, GL and GLX Sedans, and the GTi


The Generation System:
This is a single global system that distinguishes the cars by major exterior styling change + major engineering change... and may overlook intermediate styling facelifts and local idiosyncracies. The Wikipedia Suzuki Cultus article uses this system:



Generation I 1983-1988 (through 2004: South America)
Cultus based, 3/5 door on 88.4 in & 92.3 in wheelbases
First marketed in the JDM as the SA310, followed by
Cultus, Forsa, Sprint, Swift and Firefly nameplates.

Generation II 1989–present
Cultus based, Co-designed with GM
3/4/5 door + convertible on 89.2 in and 93.1 in wheelbases
Still in production today in Pakistan and China (5door),
includes Cultus (JDM), Swift, Metro, Firefly, Subaru Justy, Cultus (Pakistan),
Chevrolet Sprint (Colombia), Holden Barina, Suzuki Lingyang (China) nameplates.

Generation III 1995-2001
Cultus-based, North America only, Co-designed with GM
3 door and 4 door sedan only, 95-2001 only, 93.1 in wheelbase only
Structurally re-engineered not just re-styled, twin airbags,
Geo Metro, Chevrolet Metro, Pontiac Firefly, Suzuki Swift nameplates.

Generation IV 2004-present
Non-Cultus based, Europe/Oceana/Asia only (so far)
The Suzuki Swift, one nameplate worldwide.

_________________

For the optical differences:

MK1: box like model
MK2: rounded model, seperate taillights, box like dashboard
MK3: 1 long taillight with the mid section also red (commonly used for fog lights), round dashboard
MK4: top deck of the rearlight cover the mid section of the taillights, also the red & white (light & blinker) are switched, different headlights, front blinkers from bumper are now next to the headlights
MK5: different front bumper with round fog lights
MK6: complete make over

_________________

Whisperer... do you have years associated with your list? Also, What do you mean by Mk 6... is that available in Europe only?

_________________

Yes, MK6 is the latest model, in North America known as Generation IV but not for sale there.

The years I used we're from the European system so this list:

MK1 - 86 to 88
MK2 - 88 to 92
MK3 - 92 to 96 (styling refresh)
MK4 - 96 to 01 (styling refresh)
MK5 - 01 to 02 (styling refresh)
MK6 - 05 onward

_________________

as far as a reliable source, wikipedia is for crap IMO.

teamswift is a north american based web site and as such, it tends to use the definitions of the N/A market models.

if you look at the changes from the mk1 to the mk2 the cars are easily distinguished as mechanical systems as well as styling were reworked. the change from mk2 to mk3 are harder to notice but the electronic controls had changes that were serious enough to make swaps from 91 to 92 difficult. late mk3 cars (1994) started to have some bastardization of the engine controls. i've seen some 94 models that used a wierd ecu and a 4 wire o2 sensor. from 94 to 95, the chassis and body styling were retooled while the electronic controls were in the process of being redesigned. in 95, the controls were more enhanced but were still obdI through part of the year's run. in 96 the ecus were obdII compliant. while the 95 model year is referred to as mk4, the real meat of the change came with the obdII controls. the mk4 cars basically lasted as long as the suzuki/ gm joint enterprise. in 98 the mk5 metros were badged with chevy bowties and had the most refined engine controls including servo style idle motors and enhanced obdII compliance. in 99 and 2000, you could get the sohc 16 valve with multiport injection and the final year's production went to satisfy a rental car business' contract.

abroad, it doesn't appear that the variants adopted the reworked chassis and body that north america went to and instead, continued the mk3 car with extremely tasteful styling changes. the factory in eastern europe cranked out older body swifts right up to the time the plant retooled for the latest model. the north american market never got the new swift. instead, canada got the swift+, the usa got the aerio, and chevy picked up the aveo (which isn't really even a suzuki product.)b

_________________
1991 Blue Geo Metro Convertible highly modified 1.0L Turbo3 5 spd. - 1991 Red Geo Metro Convertible customized with a Twincam 5 spd.

My Turbo3 Project
My Cardomain Page -Ol' Blue
My YouTube Channel
My Photo Gallery
SAAB Sonett II

1) Did you mean wikipedia isn't reliable, or do you mean the Suzuki Cultus article isn't reliable? The Suzuki Cultus article seems to be pretty tight, with many verifiable references (a usual Wikipedia pitfall). Wikipedia articles are supposed to be global in nature, with a non country-specific viewpoint... hence a North American Mk system wouldn't work there.
2) Ok, we think Teamswift uses a Mk system that overlooks other markets.
3) Does this site really use two Mk's to cover 1995-2001... it appears there is a category named that way.
4) Also, could you break the following into a list, or confirm the list I have in my opening post?

_________________

The old Suzuki Swift wikipedia page was horribly in need of a rewrite, and had been flagged for over two years (I flagged the old article). I'm glad someone stepped up to the plate and rewrote the whole thing. But nonetheless vigilance should still be used to verify information you find online (not just at wikipedia).
My understanding is that MK5 was never a factory designation. The use of MK5 designation probably originated here on this forum due to the massive differences between the '95-'97 & '98-'01 models, necessitating a better way to distinguish them.

_________________

Unless you keep it specific to region/location it is pretty difficult to define models and years of production/release, but the info collected above is very good.

Where does this Swift fit in in the generation scheme of things? Generation 3.5?
http://www.suzukisport.com/news/030613s ... sport.html
http://www.suzukisport.com/special/swif ... index.html



Sold as an Ignis Sport in Australia/Europe, Swift Sport in Japan.

Geez Sam rain on the parade why don't you?

Also the is difference between the early early swifts, the GA and twin carb GS models circa 1985. Not GT's but they must be generation 0.5. Those GS swifts were 1.0 litre 4 cyl and with the twin carbs used to go like stink. They also came out as Holden Barina's here as they were built by GM.

_________________
Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car and oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car.HP is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how much you push the wall out.

Lin I can't say I have seen any 1.0 4cyl swifts, were these alloy or steel blocks? what do you call the early mk1's with the leaf springs, 85-86? surely they are as different from the 86/87-88 coil sprung models as a mk2 is from a mk3? the difference in the mk1's is quite substantial, gearbox internals are quite different, the whole rear end including hatch, axel, suspension is different.

This is a good point: a rebadge of the Suzuki Ignis... this is an altogether different discussion, but what in the ham sandwich is Suzuki thinking with their brand recognition?

What is a Suzuki really, when they can:

• put different nameplates on the same product: Cultus, Forsa, SA310, Swift
• put anybody's brand name on their product (the Cultus: Suzuki, Pontiac, Chevrolet, Geo, Subaru, etc)
• put one of their nameplates on several different products (Swift becomes Cultus or Ignus)
• put their name on someone else's product (Daewoo Kalos becomes Suzuki Swift+ in Canada).

What in the ham sandwich? Suzuki has no one to blame if they are poorly understood in the marketplace, that's for sure.

_________________

Ignis is the same story as the Suzuki Baleno, based on the Cultus in Japan and kept that name up to the release of the new Swift (MK6). So its a different car, but named after previous models in Japan, both Baleno and Ignis are based on the Japanese Cultus. The Baleno looks a bit more like the 3th gen US swift don't know if they used MK for it, but there are 2 types of it, biggest difference between them is the facelifted front. They we're fitted with a 1.3, 1.6 and 1.8 liter engine.

Old series:

Baleno Sedan:

Baleno Hatchback:

Baleno Estate:


2nd series:

Baleno Sedan:

Baleno Hatchback:

Baleno Estate:

_________________

As the Metro et al were first known in the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) as the Cultus,
The Baleno/Esteem were first known as the Cultus Crescent: these were based on a slightly enlarged Cultus platform with different exterior styling. We received these nameplated as the Esteem.

Cultus Cresent, aka Esteem and Baleno in export markets:

_________________

Don't forget the reason Suzuki here, and pretty well anywhere that GM had a signifigant presence ended up being rebadged, was due to GM having bought a rather large interest in the company.

Suzuki recently has been free'd of the shackles of 'shared design' I believe this or the next is the last year the contract with GM is in place. This is why GM went over to Korea and bought out the cheapest, lousiest most useless car maker there, and started selling them here. Suzuki got stuck, they didn't want GM to have access to the new Swift, so we got saddled with the 'Swift+'.

Our North American 95-01 models were a creation due to the pressure on Suzuki to put out a Swift more suited for the needs of your average American, taller and wider, and a squishy suspension. The design concessions were a mixed bag and this is why after 95, only N/A had this Swift. Mainly due to the heavier weight of the car, the old 8V SOHC was ditched and the newer 16V SOHC was dropped in. IIRC this was the second car that recieved this motor and the design was only a couple of years old. But the extra torque and fuel efficiency of the new motor made the 98-01 cars much nicer then the 95-97 model years. Sadly there were no changes for the little old G10, which would have seen huge benefits from going to a electronic sequential multipoint fuel injection system over the throttle body.

On the plus side of the N/A MK4/MK5 Swifts is the fact they are a much stonger design, safer(side impact beams), newer/better engine(more torque/hp/economy), the least amount of squeaks, and roomier on the inside(6'2 and I have to lean the seats back in my mom's Turbo-Fly). On the down sides, it's a heavy bastard, the stock suspension is about as rolly polly as a Grand Marquis, it sits really high, the guppy mouth(mk4) , and a few other easy to change things.

_________________
My cars:

J. McBean: '98 Suzuki Swift 1.3L 16v SOHC 5sp+ "Mk5" Made in Canada
The Mini Rattler: '94 Suzuki Swift .993L 6v SOHC 5sp+ "Mk3" Made in Canada *The Winter Beater*
B. Berry: '90 Chevrolet Turbo Sprint 1.0L 6v SOHC 5sp+ "Mk2" Made in Japan

I got 18MPG in a 3cyl with a 5 speed manual 4dr, '93 Metro!

The Guppy Mouth's (Mk4) sat higher?

_________________

Ow yeah, we also got the very ugly Swift Sedan in europe (MK2/MK3)



And another big difference from the american swift is the front end compared to the european model used for MK2 an MK3, not those crazy eyes Citylight next to the headlight and front blinkers in the bumper



(my own little Swift )

_________________

This is absolutely not correct.

What we call the 'Ignis Sport' in Australia, is called the 'Swift Sport' in Japan.

The Baleno was called the cultus in Japan (I have brochures), the Ignis was never called the Cultus in Japan, it was called the Swift.

The above links are to the SuzukiSport Japan website and it is called the 'Swift Sport'. To my knowledge it's the first car Suzuki labelled as a Swift in Japan, was then followed up by what is shown above as the MK6, which they also called the Swift/Swift Sport. Both are M-series motors.

Additionally this 'Swift' isn't a rebranded Ignis, it's the other way round. The Ignis is a rebranded Japanese Swift.. it was then rebranded again after a nose re-jig and AWD added by GM as the cruise.

Japanese brochure for the 'Swift' that Australia/Europe calls the Ignis


Japanese accessory brochure for this 'Swift'


UK Brochure for the same car.


Australian Brochure:


This is contrary to the naming of what Australia calls the original 'Swift'. Here is MK1/MK2/MK3 Japanese brochures for the Cultus:

MK1:


MK2:


MK3:


So you are correct in saying that the Baleno was a 'Cultus' in Japan (will dig that brochure up), but that is where the Cultus naming stopped. It appears as soon as they switched to the M series, it was Swift.


Here is another interesting brochure, has both the 'Swift' (in red to the left), and 'Baleno'. Is from the UK, so 2 different variations of the Japanese 'cultus', available in the same year.

Baleno is very similar to US Suzuki esteem not US swifts.

No, the Baleno is the US Suzuki Esteem... see my earlier post re: Cultus Crescent.

_________________

Worded wrong, but yes thats what I meant. Missed the earlier post in all the pics. I did learn something new from the europe end. Didn't realize the swift got another reface in europe for 01-02. NICE

Just to muddy the water a bit, there is a Japanese 'Cultus Crescent' that is the MK2/3 Sedan, I will dig up a brochure I have of it.

-edit-

Apologies, smells from old brochures are getting to my head, they are all Cultus Esteem (does that muddy it even more?).

Our Suzuki Baleno is US's Suzuki Esteem
Japan's Suzuki Esteem is our Swift Sedan

I've thought about referring to them as MK0..

_________________

Sounds like a good plan to me, I've been pulling a few mk0 and mk1 gearboxes apart and even though they look identical from the outside they are quite different inside, different countershaft, input shaft, shifter forks etc, driving me nuts trying to find mk1 3.52 FD's as the boxes look identical it's not until I have disassembled the box can I tell what type it is, I now have several mk0 3.52's

BTW I have seen several 'Chevy Cruises' around town, next time I will check to see if they are 4wd.

Sam I am humbled by your suzuki obsession and knowledge

.
The Aveo Is the old Dawoo line GM needed a small car and Dawoo went out of buisness
So GM bought the whole lot lock stock and barrel
.
In my world 1984-1995 Sprint/Forsa/Metro/geo Is called a
.
"Hooptie"
.
.
.----GV&S
.

.

_________________
.

This is something I hadn't put much thought into earlier.. but it is very interesting.

My understanding has always been (in Australian models anyway) that the only MK1 model that we could buy with coil rears was the GTi? Do you have any non-GTi MK1's with coils in the rear there?

This is the 'Hard Touch' (GTi) Cultus MK1 brochure, as you can see, they are making a big deal it is coil in the rear.


That being said, you come from the land of the Bizarre (see. Barina GTi.. 4 door GTi?)

I know there was some lead time between the standard model MK1 -> MK1 GTi (much the same as the current generation Swift / Swift Sport) but wasn't aware of the 'base' model getting upgrades from the leaf spring rears to coil. I think all the MK1's getting around badged as Barina's are all leaf in the rear.

Something I don't have a lot of brochures on, have a couple of very early MK1 brochures.. will need to look at them in more detail.

It would be also be very interesting to do a comparison between the original 'Suzuki Hatch' 800 and the early leaf rear MK1's.. I have a feeling they would have a fair bit in common.

One thing I didn't mention about the Ignis Sport, it was the first to run the M15A (also used in the MK6). The M15A in the Ignis Sport is higher compression though. This relationship is very similar to the relationship between the original Swift GTi's G13B, and the Cultus GTi's G13B.

-edit-

Well looks like I had the information, just needed to read it!

This brochure from the UK printed in 1987 shows that all models have coil/torsion beam rears. Key difference with the GTi is ventilated discs up front.

So looks like the leaf rear is reserved for the very early MK1's like you've said, wonder if the R&D for the GTi was just adapted to the wider range of MK1's to keep production costs down.

So MK0 it is then? lol