Well-assembled the Suzuki Celerio interior may be but it leaves much to be desired in terms of its tactile qualities. Dashboard plastics are hard and look like they may be prone to scratching in some areas too.

What could further disappoint buyers looking at alternatives to the Celerio is that there’s been little done to add a dose of cheeky charm to the interior: no brightly coloured and unusually shaped mouldings, no modern infotainment touchscreens or digital instruments either.

One suspects Suzuki knows its core buyers very well and subsequently the conservatively-styled Celerio’s dash is unlikely to be too radical for Alto and Splash owners trading up for one. Styling-wise the dash is similar to that of the larger Swift and feels easy enough to use, taking little time to learn the position of the buttons and controls.

Visibility all round is fine, with a large glass area and big door mirrors offering a decent view of what’s going on behind. Our only minor concern was the internal rear view mirror, which vibrated at higher speeds making it trickier to monitor the progress of traffic coming up behind, although that could have been a malady in our particular test car.

Finding another small car that rivals Suzuki Celerio comfort levels will prove a difficult task, particularly if useable interior space is a prime consideration.

With the largest cabin of any small hatchback, the Celerio can provide space for four six-foot adults without any of them feeling they’re playing commuting sardines. That might not be the case if all five seatbelts are in use, though. If you’re going to travel five up, the back seat is best occupied by three kids who have grown out of car seats; for anyone much larger, the car’s narrowness is going to impinge on comfort.

Boosting comfort levels further is the well-judged suspension, which offers a bounce-free ride and handles low speed city driving and higher speed cruises on motorways with equal deftness.

There’s a decent amount of adjustment in the driving position to make it comfortable, the seat moving in six directions, including for height, although the steering wheel can only have its angle altered, with no function to bring it nearer the driver. All the major controls are within easy reach but steering wheel buttons are limited to those for the Bluetooth-connected phone rather than other audio settings.

Although comfortable for short journeys, we’d need to test the Celerio for longer stints to determine how supportive they are over higher mileage drives.

Air-con keeps the Celerio’s cabin cooled effectively, although it’s worth noting there’s no glass roof option for the small Suzuki to boost the feeling of airiness.