Sure, our 2010 Suzuki Kizashi may fool even the Beverly Hills valet on first glance, but, unlike editor Warren Clarke, I'm inclined to think that once you get in and get a closer look and feel at the interior materials the car's budget-ness will reveal itself. Not that that's a bad thing. It is what it is.
More macro snaps I took of various surfaces in our Kizashi after the jump. They feel how they look.
Cloth panel on the door.
Steering wheel.
Cloth on the seats.
Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor @ 9,207 miles
adamb1 says:
10:55 AM, 08/12/10
Wouldn't those be Micro looks at the interior materials. Macro implies an "overall/big picture view." This is an upclose, detailed view.
caroscuro says:
10:58 AM, 08/12/10
That would be "macro" as in "macro photography."
acbayard says:
11:00 AM, 08/12/10
@adamb1: No - macro photography = close shots.
@Caroline: I'm not sure what these shots show?
dougtheeng says:
11:01 AM, 08/12/10
Caroline is right - macro is the term.
Most of the materials look pretty good, imo.
caroscuro says:
11:08 AM, 08/12/10
acbayard,
The descriptions of each photo is above each photo. But I guess this would also make a good, "Guess what/where this is?" game.
dougtheeng,
They don't feel all that good but I suppose they could be worse.
fundango says:
11:09 AM, 08/12/10
For the benefit of those of us who have never inspected our dashboards that closely before, perhaps it would help to do comparison macro shots against higher-priced cars?
adamb1 says:
11:13 AM, 08/12/10
Got it. Photography term. I had my accounting hat on.
wobbly_ears says:
11:14 AM, 08/12/10
Lest we forget, it is a 20k sedan. I'd bet that your 'premium' BMW 3 series has far worse quality than this mass-market car.
acbayard says:
11:15 AM, 08/12/10
@Caroline: I guess I lack the imagination necessary to compare how something looks vs. how something feels :)
caroscuro says:
11:16 AM, 08/12/10
fundango,
Good idea! Only thing is we currently don't have any "higher-priced" sedans in our long-term or short-term fleet right now. But I'll keep it in mind for future posts.
felonious says:
11:25 AM, 08/12/10
Audi A4 - gone? It's "sedan-ish" enough.
throwback says:
11:28 AM, 08/12/10
caroscuro says:
dougtheeng,
They don't feel all that good but I suppose they could be worse.
Caroline, that is true of many things!
caroscuro says:
11:35 AM, 08/12/10
felonious,
A4 is out somewhere til the 23rd.
dougtheeng,
LOL good point.
caroscuro says:
11:36 AM, 08/12/10
Oops, I meant that for @throwback.
pat1usmc says:
11:56 AM, 08/12/10
Interesting shots. I like looking at the different interior materials in different cars. Its funny how new cars have so many different types of colors, plastics and textures.
These pictures don't really strike me as cheap though.
feloniousmonk says:
12:09 PM, 08/12/10
You IL folks are so spoiled! :) That's still a helluva nice interior. I tend to judge cars on their price point and intended mission and the Kizashi seems to exceed its price in many areas, but there is a form of diminishing return here. Despite what Suzuki wants us to believe, one must think of the Kizashi less as "entry-level lux" and more as "fun-ish to drive sedan". Compare a Kizashi S' interior (base model) starting below $20,000 with anything else at the price and the interior is mucho impressive (think Ford Fusion S which the Kizashi's decor definitely outclasses). As the price increases, moving up model, the interior begins to lose some luster. At $25k it's still better than average, but the TSX, Golf and Jetta are reasonable competitors here. At $28k... well, it slips to "on par", but remains nice nonetheless.
Me? I'd be perfectly content with that interior at $25-28k, but at $20 grand, it's a genuine bargain.
albinodigits says:
12:19 PM, 08/12/10
I like this! A shot-by-shot comparison to similarly priced cars that you have in the fleet would be great. How do these different spots compare in appearance and feel between the Kizashi, GTI, Mazdaspeed3, Sonata, and Fusion Hybrid?
bimmerjay says:
12:19 PM, 08/12/10
"I'd bet that your 'premium' BMW 3 series has far worse quality than this mass-market car."
... and you'd bet wrong. :) The 3-Series may not have a particularly exciting interior design, but its materials are top-notch for its own $40-50K price-point and the build quality is excellent. The switchgear is extremely dampened and refined and the wood and metal trims are all real.
feloniousmonk says:
12:28 PM, 08/12/10
Oops! I typo'd on my price point comparo: I meant GTI & GLI/whatever it's called now at $25k and who knew the TSK starts at 29 grand!? Every time I've been in one it's struck me as a 25k car.
cr_driver says:
12:30 PM, 08/12/10
Its the girls attack!
First Donna, now Caroline, telling us how much a cheap ride it has and now revealing us the budget-ness of this car.
equ says:
12:56 PM, 08/12/10
Since touch-o-web and smell-o-net are not present technologies, we have to make to do with pictures of texture to give us a sense of the feel. Neat idea and photography, thanks!
hybris says:
03:05 PM, 08/12/10
Honestly I would say that Kizashi has the same quality and same looking interior as my mother's 03 Ford Taurus SE when we bought used 3 years ago.
Neat idea for a post though.
jederino says:
06:03 PM, 08/12/10
Shades of black. Looks fine, though. Think of the interior luxury of 80's cars, with the modern style. Those cars were fun! Prelude, Integra, Supra - the interiors had "modern" sensibilities, but the plastics were nasty. How big a deal was that?
church123 says:
08:58 PM, 08/12/10
I'm not surprised that on close examination the Kizashi maybe isn't as nice as it first appears. But honestly, for a car at this price, that's a feature, not a bug.
In this class, you've got to design to a pretty hard and fast price range and these days you really can't scrimp on the safety, emissions or space side of things. That tends to leave things like horsepower, brake hardware (minimum basic function), suspension and materials. That Suzuki has managed to provide such a great feature set and still make the car look good (at more than first glance it seems) is pretty cool.
In some ways, it reminds me a bit of of my first experiences with Hondas in the late 80's/early 90's. Those cars were designed to a price, but they did a good job of not looking like it, or feeling like it too often. Suzuki has got themselves on a good trajectory. Hope they continue.
chugabug says:
10:47 PM, 08/12/10
Great post and comments. I like the idea suggested of comparisons between competitor cars and also super luxury compared to lower end to understand how they differ (if at all)
Textures are one thing (the Kizashi looks good, except for the seat trim which looks grim) but panel fit is another. I've seem BMW's with poor fitting trim, this Suzuki looks good from the photos supplied.
Any others in the fleet with particularly tight fitting trim?
cello_one says:
07:13 PM, 08/14/10
I like the post and comments - I agree, perhaps with the discussions of the Honda gaps and quality of the GM? products more of these could be done. I vote assign the intern with a budget camera capable of macro shots and a Groilla tripod.