Hayabusa-Swapped Suzuki Swift GTi Lives Up to Its Name

Suzuki’s cars were known for being cheap and fuel-efficient, not for their driving excitement. Suzuki’s motorcycle division, on the other hand, routinely builds some of the highest performing bikes ever created. What happens when you combine both? You get cars like the Suzuki Swift hatchback powered by a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine that’s currently for sale on eBay Motors in Miami, Fla.

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Hot Rod Suzuki

Suzuki, which stopped selling cars in the US in 2012, is one of Japan’s largest automakers. It routinely ranks third or fourth in the number of cars sold globally, putting it ahead of well-known marques like Subaru, Mazda, and Mitsubishi.

The Suzuki Swift—along with its GM-badged twin, the Geo Metro—was marketed as a mileage champ. In its most miserly trim it returned a Prius-like 38 mpg city, 45 mpg highway back in 1989. Unlike a Prius, the Swift did so without the benefit of a hybrid system.

Base models relied on a 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine that produced 55 horsepower. Suzuki also offered a hot-rod GTi model. Its twin-cam 1.3-liter four-pot generated an even 100 horses. Suzuki claimed a zero-to-60 time of 8.5 seconds, which is on par with a similar-era Porsche 944. The Suzuki Swift GTi also came with electronic fuel injection and four-wheel disc brakes, equipment reserved for cars costing far more than the Swift GTi’s $8,995 starting price.

High-Revving Beast

At the other end of the performance spectrum is the Suzuki Hayabusa. It, too, is powered by a 1.3-liter four-cylinder. But it’s a high-revving beast good for 197 horsepower. When the Hayabusa launched in 1999, it cost $10,500 and broke the record for the world’s fastest production motorcycle by achieving a top speed of 194 mph.

Combine the two and you get a Swift GTi that the original builder called the Swiftabusa. By transplanting the 11,000-rpm engine, the subcompact’s horsepower is effectively doubled. Much of the motorcycle’s equipment had to come along as well, including the gearbox.

As a result, the Suzuki Swift’s front-wheel-drive layout has been converted to rear-wheel-drive. The gear lever now shifts only up and down sequentially, like a motorcycle.

Custom Build

The seller says the car was completely stripped and covered in new paint and weatherstripping when the custom build was done in 2016. Inside it looks even more spartan than the original Swift. It has a single bucket seat, bare floor pan, and the motorcycle instrument cluster mounted to a sheet metal bezel. A custom switchboard on the center tunnel houses auxiliary functions like wipers and lights.

The Swiftabusa looks more like a race car than a street car. It’ll definitely raise an eyebrow in states with strict roadworthiness inspections. However, if the thought of a tiny hatchback that absolutely rips is appealing to you, there are few better combinations than this.

This is not the kind of thing you can drive every day unless you’re a madman, which may explain the claim that fewer than 5,000 miles have been clocked since the build was completed. For this unique experience, the seller is asking $19,900, or about the price of what a Suzuki Swift GTi and Hayabusa cost separately when new.