At a time when everything seems to be getting smaller cars seem to be going in the opposite direction. Perhaps it’s down to the rise of SUVs and MPVs but even so-called small cars seem to be the size of the family saloons of twenty years ago. Manufacturers may say they are only responding to our demands for more space inside our cars, but there’s still only a finite amount of road width outside them.

Especially in a city like KL where streets can suddenly fade from four line highway to single lane pot-holed track with little warning, and where the first drop of sky juice turns the city into a grid-locked cell. Which makes small cars the perfect antidote to KL traffic: manoeuvrable, easy to park and with better mileage and emissions than larger cars.

Like the Suzuki Swift Sport, for example. The standard Swift is an exceptional town car but the sub-RM100k sport version turns it into a fully loaded urban go-kart. Squeezing a respectable 125bhp out of the high-revving (6,800rpm) 1.6 litre VVT engine, those modest figures are given a massive boost by the dieting-obsessed Swift’s kerbweight of close to an even tonne.

That flat belly helps to speed the Swift from a standing start to 100km/h in under 9.0 seconds. Not so critical on kilometre-crunching highways but all-important in the battle for the urban jungle. And it’s a performance that allows this car to hold its own against much more powerful and expensive rivals, especially where nimble acrobatics and quick bursts of focused speed are called for.

But the real beauty of the Sport is not in the figures; it’s in the driving. At this price you don’t get all the fancy drive modes and differentials and computer sequencing that have sent the dashboards of cars like the Nissan GTR into Xbox fantasy realm, what you get is sharp cornering, responsive steering, endlessly responsive brakes and the genuine feel of a raw 1980s hot hatch.

For some though, there’s more to it than a seat and a steering wheel. A car should not only sound great, it really ought to look great. And if there’s one thing that Alfa Romeo has always excelled at, it’s making jaw-dropping autos. That said, Alfa’s take on the turbo-charged supermini, the MiTo, is quite a stubby little thing, but this front-wheel-drive stormer knows how to chuck itself through a bend.

It’s long been said that you can’t be a true petrol-head unless you’ve owned an Alfa and as recently as ten years ago buying one was like accepting a high-maintenance and slightly deranged beauty into your life. That’s all changed and build quality and reliability are what you’d expect for RM150k and change

What really elevates this turbocharged 155bhp producing 1.4 litre powered box is its DNA (Dynamic, Normal, All Weather) driving system. But even in town it’s more fun to keep the controls set to Dynamic: the steering sharpens, the suspension stiffens and you feel in total control of this flying can as you aim at gaps in the morning jam.

But despite the MiTo’s joys there’s truly nothing that can beat the Volkswagen Golf GTI in today’s car market. Priced at the RM210k mark you really do get what you pay for, and the Golf is a proper pedigree racer. Outside Malaysia you might opt for the more explosive Renaultsport Megane 250, the mind-numbing Ford Focus RS or even the dinky Fiat 500 Abarth, but as far as Kuala Lumpur is concerned, the Golf sets the bar for the others to follow.

With a combination of pace and space the Golf GTI is refined enough for execs who should know better and roomy enough for speed kings with small families. With a firm, planted ride, it eats up highways like a proper tourer but it can quickly turn off the charm when you need to do some good old-fashioned aggressive driving.

That’s because its 2.0 litre TSI produces 200 horses and propels the car to 100 km/h in under 7 seconds. And that’s fearsomely fast inside the city walls. It’s not only down to the engine – it’s partly thanks to its twin-clutch Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG), a device that allows the driver to nonchalantly crank up the kind of rapid gear-changes that would make Alex Yoong proud.

Which is why it sometimes seems that every other car in traffic is a Golf GTI. For that, and other reasons, for our money, the Swift Sport, with all its base energy, is a more satisfying drive. It doesn’t top the Golf in any direct comparison test but if you’re all about the ride and the road, you can do no better than Suzuki’s Swift Sport. Just not with that bright yellow paint job.

Prepared by Kulturpop for The Malaysian Reserve / Redberry Launch