Suzuki Newcastle
Looking to buy a Suzuki? Find out what's good, what's bad and what to watch out for from Honest John.
The saloon SX4 takes up to five people and their luggage with its 515 litres trunk. Turning circle of 10.6 metres. Electric power steering. Rear seats set slightly higher than front to give passengers a better view. Seatbacks fold 40/60. Read on and find more details about this car in Newcastle.
Good: Cute little Citroen C1 clone offering low emissions, low tax, good fuel economy and a proper 4-speed automatic option. Decent to drive.
Bad: Thrummy 3-cylinder engine. Not as sophisticated as a Hyundai i10.
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Good: Cute looking, like old model SWB RAV-4. Useful low, flat luggage area with side opening door.
Bad: A bit cruder to drive than RAV-4, yet still a vast improvement on old Vitara.
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Honestjohn's impartial car review of Suzuki Palette (2008 - ) with good points and bad points, reliability, car performance, car fuel consumption, car engine options and car technical information.Searchable list of car reviews by manufacturer and car model and derivative.
Good: Small, tall 5-door city car clone of Vauxhall Agila. Makes best sense in 1.0 petrol and 1.3 diesel low emission versions. High seats.
Bad: Okay, but no better than a Hyundai i10, yet costs more money and has a shorter warranty.
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The new 1.0-litre aluminium engine will be produced by Maruti Suzuki India, and a manual transmission for it will be manufactured by Suzuki Powertrain India, another SMC subsidiary that’s based beside Maruti Suzuki India’s Manesar plant.
Good: Very cheap, reliable, undemanding and reasonably roomy. £35pa tax and congestion tax exempt.
Bad: Indian build not quite up to Japanese or Euro standards.
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Good: Cute little Citroen C1 clone offering low emissions, low tax, good fuel economy and a proper 4-speed automatic option. Decent to drive.
Bad: Thrummy 3-cylinder engine. Not as sophisticated as a Hyundai i10.
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Good: Cheap and should be reliable if it has been looked after.
Bad: Mediocre road manners at best. Rust can be a problem.
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It turned out that what I was looking at was the Nissan Pixo version of the new Suzuki Alto, a car I was first alerted to by the boss of Hyundai as a serious competitor to his excellent i10.
Good: You can pick one up for peanuts and always find somewhere to park it.
Bad: Noisy, cramped, slow and not very well built. Rust and saggy suspension.
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Good: Undemanding, reliable and fairly well equipped. Owners rate them.
Bad: Characterless.
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Good: Cute-looking roadster with an eager, high-revving turbocharged engine.
Bad: Not all engines last the distance and rear brake calipers are susceptible to leaking.
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Honestjohn's impartial car review of Suzuki Concept S (2004) with good points and bad points, reliability, car performance, car fuel consumption, car engine options and car technical information.Searchable list of car reviews by manufacturer and car model and derivative.
Good: Useful off-road and keenly priced. You can fold the seats down to make a double bed in the 5-door.
Bad: Fairly crude road manners. Heavily criticised in 2002 JD Power Customer Satisfaction Survey.
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Good: Cheap way to get a soft-top 4x4. All versions are capable off-road.
Bad: Fairly unrefined on the road. The 1.6 engine needs to be worked hard.
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Two years on from my first test of a pair of Grand Vitaras, a 1.6 petrol SWB and a 1.9 diesel LWB, Suzuki sent me its new 2.4 ‘silent chain cam’ petrol model to complete the hat trick. You can actually get this new engine in both sizes of Vitara.
Suzuki Grand Vitara LWB is quite low geared too, for a diesel. Just 25mph per 1,000rpm. But unlike the 3-door it comes with lockable centre diff and low range gears as standard. So you can go off-roading, if you can find an off-road.
Good: Good looking. 3-door very like previous model RAV-4 3-door. On road handling many times better than previous version. Comparatively cheap.
Bad: A bit crude compared to the more expensive opposition.
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It may not go down well with everyone, but I really like the styling of the 3-door Vitara. The car is about as close as it possibly could be to the old 3-door RAV-4 without infringing some sort of artistic copyright.
Good: Cute looking, like old model SWB RAV-4. Useful low, flat luggage area with side opening door.
Bad: A bit cruder to drive than RAV-4, yet still a vast improvement on old Vitara.
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Good: Seven seats and a decent V6 petrol engine. Good off-road and easy to manoeuvre in town.
Bad: Not a great drive on the road. Rearmost seats children and midgets only.
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Good: Undemanding to drive and a doddle to manoeuvre. High off ground. Good access load area. Reasonably well equipped and roomy in the front.
Bad: Poor ride quality and top-heavy handling. Quite cramped in the rear seats.
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Good: Perky engines, good build quality, decent cabin space. High off ground. 4x4 useful cheap transport in rural locations.
Bad: Unsettled ride. Auto is available on front-wheel-drive models only.
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Good: Useful ability off-road and cute looks, especially as a soft-top. Cheap to buy.
Bad: Noisy, unsophisticated and cramped. Poor ride and handling.
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Good: Undemanding to drive and own. Easy to get in and out of the roomy cabin. Well equipped for the money. Long body warranty.
Bad: Will never win Rear of the Year, especially the saloon. Doesn't ride that well.
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Honestjohn's impartial car review of Suzuki Palette (2008 - ) with good points and bad points, reliability, car performance, car fuel consumption, car engine options and car technical information.Searchable list of car reviews by manufacturer and car model and derivative.
Good: Cheap, unpretentious 4x4. Its light weight makes it useful in snowy winters. Capable off-road.
Bad: Extremely crude road manners and surprisingly thirsty. Rust and cracked cylinder heads.
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Good: Small, tall 5-door city car clone of Vauxhall Agila. Makes best sense in 1.0 petrol and 1.3 diesel low emission versions. High seats.
Bad: Okay, but no better than a Hyundai i10, yet costs more money and has a shorter warranty.
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Under the boot floor there’s a huge, removable ‘wet bin’ for wellington boots, poached salmon, road kill, or whatever you may care to throw in it. And, under that, a spare wheel. A space saver, yet nevertheless a wheel rather than a can of shaving foam. Read on to learn more about the car available in Newcastle.
Good: Easy to drive. Very cheap now. GTi is quick and was rated one of the best small hot hatches in its day.
Bad: They're all old cars now. Cracked cylinder heads on 8-valve 1.3s and 1.6s.
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Good: Low prices. Quite perky around town. The GTi is the pick of the range but getting old now.
Bad: Felt dated and cheap, even when new. GTi apart, doesn't handle or ride very well. Cylinder heads can crack.
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Good: Well liked by owners. Chain cam Toyota engines. Astonishingly good handling. Fun to drive.
Bad: A little bit tinny. Not as spacious as a Yaris.
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The 3-door is only a 4-seater (the 5-door has seats for 5), yet there’s stacks of headroom in the back and the seats are very comfortable. You can fold down the seatbacks very easily and they make an almost level, carpeted floor.
Good: Reasonably spacious five-seater with a decent boot. Strong, economical diesel. Tidy handling in 4WD.
Bad: The boot has a high loading lip. Originally you could not get a diesel with four-wheel drive but from 2008 you can.
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Now that Toyota has abandoned the short wheelbase RAV-4, Suzuki has come up with a new 3-door Vitara with very similar looks. And, in collaboration with FIAT, also presents us with this cute and chunky 5-door hatchback called the SX4, built in Esztergom, Hungary.
The saloon SX4 takes up to five people and their luggage with its 515 litres trunk. Turning circle of 10.6 metres. Electric power steering. Rear seats set slightly higher than front to give passengers a better view. Seatbacks fold 40/60. Read on and find more details about this car in Newcastle.
Good: Miniature two-seater with cute looks. Front seat folds for extra luggage room.
Bad: No rear hatch, just an opening window. Not available in the UK.
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Good: Capable off-road. All have power steering. Easy to get in and out of.
Bad: They don't like corners (slowly does it) or bumpy roads. Unrefined.
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Good: Cheap 4x4 with decent off-road ability, even though most never go there. Available as a soft-top.
Bad: Not the most refined or sophisticated of drives. You need to take corners gently. Problems with cracked cylinder heads.
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Good: Surprisingly roomy, economical and rated highly by owners. Undemanding to drive and the 996cc is a screamer.
Bad: Ridiculous looks. Wants to plough straight ahead in corners. Numb steering.
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Good: Cheap, roomy, urban runabout with a perky engine. Far better styling than the previous version. Owners rate it.
Bad: Unrefined outside city limits. Ride and handling still below par. Reports of a problem with the autobox.
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Good: Cheap. May appeal to someone, somewhere.
Bad: As appealing as a holiday with a Big Brother evictee.
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