T HERE'S a video on Youtube that I like to show people when illustrating that a car's power isn't everything. It features a Porsche Cayman on the Nurburgring race track in Germany. The driver is clearly working hard at the wheel but his rear view mirrors are full of something upright and red and it won't go away.

A Suzuki Swift Sport.

The Cayman is squealing its tyres and leaping over kerbs in a vain attempt to shake the little Japanese box, but to no avail.

Granted, the Swift is stripped, caged and has had a light tune but it's a testament to the rightness of the formula.

The reason I know how fast that Swift was moving is because it was me at the wheel of the Porsche.

The Swift Sport is the default option for a number of driving schools at the Ring, drawn to its reliability, its excellent chassis setup and the size of the grin it paints on the faces of those who've never driven the track at speed before.

But the Swift Sport has never been about pure power.

Suzuki could easily shoehorn a 200bhp engine into the thing if it pleased, but that would just make it uninsurable for younger drivers.

Instead, and rather sensibly, engine power has been modest, the latest car massaging peak horsepower up from the old car's 123 to a still distinctly manageable 134bhp.

Straight-line performance improves marginally, but Suzuki has devoted much of their attention – and rightly so – to developing the Swift's chassis dynamics so it offers even more poise and control.

Modifications to the steering and gearbox bracing, suspension subframe and front wheel bearings all improve rigidity and allow the front suspension to work without having to cope with chassis flex involvement.

The result is handling that's even more faithful than that of the previous Swift Sport.

We'll have to wait a little while for full UK specifications, model details and pricing but we've been assured that it's not a radical diversion from that of the outgoing model and continues to campaign in a market sector where both budgets and margins are tight.

The outgoing model was pitched at £12,995 so tack a little onto that and you shouldn't be too far wrong.

Even a car as focused on fun as the Suzuki Swift Sport can't escape the fact that many buyers look to economy and emissions when drawing up a shortlist of contenders. Fortunately, it scores fairly well with carbon dioxide emissions being trimmed from the old car's rather unspectacular 165g/km to a more manageable but still not class-leading 147g/km.

Fuel economy improves as well, with the combined fuel figure easing up from 39.8 to 44.1mpg.