Lifting the hood of our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4 I was half expecting to see the whole rat and wheel thing. I had been driving the Suzuki for a few days and most of my time in the car is with the throttle down on the carpet.
Yup, this thing is slow. In our track testing it hit 60 mph in 11.7 seconds (11.4 seconds with one foot of rollout like on a dragstrip). Trust me, when the light turns green flooring it is really your only option. And that's the reason we're often recording well under the SX4's EPA fuel economy ratings of 21 mpg city and 28 mpg hwy.
Fact is I had been ringing its neck so much I thought I'd be nice and check the little car's oil level. Which brought me to the lifting of the hood moment.
Surprise. There's a real life internal combustion engine under there, a device once seen as the savior of mankind. This particular example is a 2.0-liter four-cylinder producing 143 hp and 136 lb.-ft. of torque.
None of which is significant, but the ease in which you can check the powerplant's lubricant level is. Notice how Suzuki placed the dipstick front and center where it is easily found and easily accessed.
By the way, the SX4's oil level was fine.
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief
firstwagon says:
01:33 PM, 05/20/09
And for greater convenience, they screwed a handy plastic oil pan to the top of the engine so do- it- yourselfers can change their own oil.
I think I would take it off and store it in the garage until I needed it though.
carguy622 says:
03:59 PM, 05/20/09
Floor it at every light? I think you guys are spoiled by the GT-R, Challenger, 2 Lancers, 2 M3s, FX50... well you get the picture.
greenpony says:
04:03 PM, 05/20/09
And just think, in 2016 this will be the "performance" engine option.
cwc1 says:
07:46 PM, 05/20/09
^Sad, sad, sad. Needlessly so.
autoboy16 says:
09:48 PM, 05/20/09
I think if the SX4 had better mpg, it would be more popular. I think a 6AT/6MT would fix this problem. Oh and possibly a more efficient engine too! One with direct injection and variable valve timing. That sounds like maybe 150hp and 30mpg highway. That or turbocharger option....
awcmtl says:
05:46 AM, 05/21/09
...most of your wishes will be happening for 2010 models.
dougtheeng says:
06:12 AM, 05/21/09
"Floor it at every light? I think you guys are spoiled by the GT-R, Challenger, 2 Lancers, 2 M3s, FX50... well you get the picture."
+1
stapletondoc says:
08:31 PM, 07/10/09
I have to floor it all the time....this thing is the worst car I've ever driven....including a 1994 Saab 900S.