So I was transporting this 20-foot tall olive tree through the moonroof of our new 2010 Suzuki Kizashi GTS this weekend, and boy, was it ever the right long-termer for the job. My camera sometimes has trouble with low-light situations, but I was admiring our new Kizashi's paint at sunset in my driveway this weekend. Many manufacturers offer metallic silver, but our Suzuki's $380 premium paint looks especially deep, lustrous, and well, "premium."
Aside from our GTS's excellent manual shifter and intuitive clutch uptake, I also noticed the brakes in our car were less abrupt with a more intuitive jump-in compared to the first preproduction Kizashi SLS I drove (mostly at our test track). Good omen.
Yet, this car has the same solid build, same nimble compliance, same "seems-like-a-more-expensive-car-than-it-is" feeling. I know this is the car nobody saw coming, but I suspect our staff are be going to be pleasantly surprised and will have a hard time picking its nits.
Chief Road Test Editor, Chris Walton @ 1,660 miles
mtaylor3 says:
12:17 PM, 03/15/10
Agreed! I have an Azure Gray Metallic GTS that has this beatiful shimmery molten lead quality. Just returned from a 500 mile road trip and the only nit I can pick is a little too much wind noise around the A-pillar. Overall, this feels like a much more expensive car than it is...feels like I got a 35-40K car for 24K. It has a carved from a solid chunk of granite feeling. Wonderful steering, awesome seats and stereo, great mpg (averaged 31mpg on said trip), quiet engine at cruising speed...what's not to like? Mine happens to have a CVT, which took a little getting used to, but the more I drive it, the more I like it. For all the naysayers who won't give the Kizashi a chance because of the Suzuki name, you're really missing out!
bc1960 says:
12:44 PM, 03/15/10
I was bummed that my preferred color, Deep Sea Blue, is only available on the SE and SLS, but not the GTS which would be the only version on my shopping list. Red, black, "silver," and grey (even though it's a blue-grey) isn't much of a variety. Same with the SX4--no dark blue on the GTS sedan or SportBack. I guess Suzuki doesn't think dark blue is "sporty." VW seems to disagree, because they recently added Shadow Blue to the red and choice of greys on the GTI.
audisport says:
12:59 PM, 03/15/10
Not a bad looking car. Too bad I can't recall seeing a Suzuki dealership over the past ten years.
stovt001 says:
01:05 PM, 03/15/10
My favorite LT tests are the ones where a car turns out to be a pleasant surprise. The Focus kinda turned out that way. It is a shame so many people let past brand problems stop them from accepting that things can change and formerly bad brands can turn out good stuff.
fuhteng says:
01:23 PM, 03/15/10
+1 audisport: even on this page, every time I see Suzuki I think Subaru. Suzuki has such a tiny hold on the American market, I don't even know why they're here.
bkochuk says:
01:23 PM, 03/15/10
silver is a hard color to do well.
daddiod says:
01:33 PM, 03/15/10
Didn't VW buy Suzuki? Or at least a major stake in Suzuki.
I guess it will only be a question of time for Suzuki to either make a comeback in the U.S. or completely disappear....who knows what VW is planning globally
sm424 says:
04:07 PM, 03/15/10
They bought 19% of the company, which would be a partnership stake, not a controlling stake. The deal was mainly to give VW access to Suzuki's small cars that they sell in the asain markets, and in turn Suzuki would receive diesel and some other tech from VW. I don't think the deal will have much of an affect on Suzuki's NA operations.
cr_driver says:
07:15 PM, 03/15/10
Thumbs up
majin_ssj_eric says:
07:57 PM, 03/15/10
This car looks great but desperately needs better wheels *hint, hint*
seppoboy says:
08:19 AM, 03/16/10
Very nice looking, and another surprisingly impressive car. There are lots of Suzukis in the area where I work, especially the SX4 and older XL7s and Grand Vitaras and the like. They are popular with the folks who struggle to afford a new car or SUV, although Hyundai and Kia are making inroads these days.
I hope they are successful, because this degree of product improvement should be rewarded whenever it occurs.
jederino says:
09:57 AM, 03/16/10
Good paint is so important. And, I think the wheels are just fine in this pic. Perhaps they look a little busy, which tends to make them resemble wheel covers, but these look upscale.
makakio says:
03:35 PM, 03/16/10
Would like to see you guys do a comparo with a Jetta...
mtaylor3 says:
04:09 PM, 03/16/10
For those harping on Suzuki's previous bad rep, keep in mind that for the past several years, under GM control, most of Suzuki's cars here in the U.S. weren't really Suzukis but rebadged Daewoos and are those are not indicative of true Suzuki quality. It would seem that with the SX4 and now the Kizashi, it is apparent that Suzuki can design and build really good, maybe even great cars. If the Kizashi is indicative of what they're capable of, then GM really blew it by not using their expertise for their own small to midsize lineup.
anythngbutgm says:
05:23 AM, 03/17/10
Good looking car but Zuk's dealership network is pretty much non-existent around here.