YOU couldn't make it up. Waiting for the water board team to mend the leak somewhere in our area I decide to check progress via my newly installed - and superfast - fibre Internet line.

Ha! Yes, you've guessed. That's bust too. The pipe menders cut it as they searched for their leak. At least there's enough water in the kettle for a cuppa, if not enough in the mains for a shower.

So, sitting in my dressing gown (there's a picture) thoughts turn to matters motoring and a quality road testers tend to pass over when they're beetling about in a car for just a week - reliability.

The sort of virtue you only really appreciate when it goes AWOL, flashing the warning lights on the motorway or failing to kick the engine into life on a frosty morning.

Some cars makers are better than others in providing the sort of taken-for-granted assurance we want in our personal mobility. And Suzuki is one of the good ones.

Not that you might think so on first meeting, where you'll notice hard plastic and a general lack of plush inside the car, all going to show that reliability is more than skin deep (ask the owners of some posh off-roaders about that).

Perhaps it's this lack of flash in the Swift that's part of the reliability recipe and you'd reckon the Japanese origin helps too, even if the car is put together in Hungary.

Whatever weaves the magic, it underpins a car that's been winning friends for its cheerful approach to minimal motoring for several years and is most recently available in the machine you see here.

Badged (rather tackily in stick on plastic, it must be said) as the Swift Attitude it's really the existing car with some added temptations in the shape of 'go faster' trim items, from rear upper spoiler and carbon look skirts front, side and rear to polished 16in alloy wheels.

Beneath this added glitz sits a Swift in SZ-T trim, which comes with air conditioning, DAB radio, satellite navigation, cruise control and rear view camera.

The sat nav screen leaves little space to show where you're going but got us there anyway but I wish there was a digital speed reading (there's plenty of room) instead of a speedometer that carefully ignores 30,50 and 70mph markings.

Beneath the add-ons sits the same car that will entertain an enthusiastic driver more than you'd expect, with a snappy gearchange and equally enthusiastic response to a push of the throttle pedal.

A ride that turns firm in towns, and positively uncomfortable on some speed bumps, undoubtedly helps the fun factor on corners and the Swift's modest dimensions dilute the worries of crowded town work.