Used 2003 Suzuki Aerio Wagon Consumer Reviews
Simplicity wins again.
Simple design, simple layout, simply genius. One of the all time best cars I have ever owned. Rugged, dependable, useful, economical, easy to work on, and FUN! It only had one dangerous problem. I bought it for cheap 18 months ago in the summer and put 2,000 miles on it by winter. Everything went well until it got really cold, and then the brakes literally "froze up." Rock hard pedal and no stopping! Scary! My brother suggested I plumb-in an extra length of heater hose and wrap it around the brake-power-booster. I did. No more hard pedal, not even at 25 degrees below zero. Now this little wonder is closer to perfect than it ever was! Update: It is now the fifth of March, 2017, and "Rattles," as my humorous wife calls the yellow ray of sunshine, is still going strong, although I had to finally break down and put struts, rear brakes, and rear anti-sway bar bushings on it. Small price to pay for all it does for us. It is our parts runner, loaner car, occasional clean metal scrap delivery mule, and otherwise general gopher and ever-ready default vehicle. It's like a Swiss Army Knife on wheels. I can't say enough good things about it. Precise Japanese engineering and eye-catching Italian design. What more could anyone ask for? Oh, and did I mention? It's good, clean fun! UPDATE 09/06/2017: Still going strong, although it might be time for a front end alignment because it's pulling a little to the left. Also, the plastic headlight housings must be about as el-cheapo as you can get because I have to work the cloudiness out of them about every three months. I looked up the price of new ones and found that they average $220 for the pair. Ouch. I watched a video about changing them, and discovered it takes several hours because you have to remove most of the front end body parts to do it. So I guess I'll keep sanding and polishing the old ones. But it's worth it. My wife and I took it (it took us, whatever) on a long drive through the countryside as part of our 33rd wedding anniversary celebration, and I was reminded of how good it sounds when downshifting to climb a hill or pass a farm tractor. Fun, fun, fun. And when we finally got home, the gas gauge needle had hardly moved. UPDATE 09/06/2018: Since the brakes aren't dangerous anymore in cold weather, we got to drive it enough last winter to really see how it handles snow. Despite it's overall lightness, low ground clearance, strictly street tires, and slightly over zealous first gear ratio, it did better than expected, even through as much as 4-5 inches of wet stuff, as long as we slowed way down, planned ahead for turns and stops, and prayed continually. During blizzards and such we used our 4x4 truck. Less white knuckles and prayers for our hearts to slow down. The little guy is still a blast in the summer though! UPDATE 03/06/2019: We are in a record breaking nasty winter with lots and lots of snow which has utterly overwhelmed our Aerio. It has spent most of the last four months buried under a fluffy white mountain. Before it disappeared I discovered it's factory alloy wheels must leak air in cold weather, but so slowly I didn't notice because I (shamefully) didn't check them regularly. When I filled them to proper pressure, most of the feeling that it needed an alignment went away. I will do better with that if I ever see it again. UPDATE 09/07/2019: Still going strong. Cold AC, hot heat, always starts, always goes. Loaded it down with multiple bags of garden dirt the other day, and it just squatted a little and soldiered home no problem. Occasionally it has a slight ticking sound in the engine for about two minutes after cold starts. I have come to know over time that means it's time for an oil change. The alloy wheels are now leaking air at all temps, all the time. I have tried to just clean alloy wheel rims in the past on other vehicles with limited success, so I located new Toyota steel wheels that are supposed to fit, on the internet, for $250 including tax and shipping. Is our Suki worth that? Oh yeah! 03/09/2020: Alas, our Suki threw a timing chain, and since it has an interference engine, we fear the worst. It is sitting on our car trailer until we either try to fix it, or convert it to an all-electric car; or sell parts off of it, and then scrap it. We never ordered the Toyota wheels for it, and we won't unless we are going to do the EV conversion. This could have been avoided if I were a better DIY mechanic..
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Fantastic
I bought this 2003 Suzuki Aerio as brand new. WoW. a lot to say about good thing. very roomy, so comfortable, very very good on gas on FWD vehicle. I had few problems on this car too. The wheel alignment goes bad so frequently. at least every year I have to do wheel alignment. Breaks are very good. Engine is so super. less noise compare to other cars on its class. The other problem is, The quality of the body, They made in cheap material. The front bomber get damaged easily. The side skirt that came with it as original also very cheap material. I don't have them in my car right now. They were flew away years ago. High way drive in fantastic. very comfortable view. Totally its a super car.
My reliable, can-do hatchback
This car has been with me through 4 different house moves in 2 states. What impresses best is that the read seats fold down truly flat. I have fitted a washing machine and love seats, and a rolled futon mattress into this baby. Noisy ride - can't hear radio very well at times. Mechanically reliable for past 12 years, only clutch needed attention at 100k miles. I hope to get an even 200k miles out of this. Great value for the price!!
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A Life Saver
I have been hit by 13 deer while driving this car. It has had its front bumper. hood and either fender replaced atleast 8-9 times. A racoon took out the front bumper once...The body could be of better material. The rest inside and out is original. After all this I have not been hurt and it is still running. 200,000 miles and all I have done is changed the oil regularly, the occasional alignment, new tires and just had the radiator flushed. Drove it 1800 miles to see family and am driving it back those 1800 miles. I expect to get another 100,000 miles.
Little Car, Many Annoyances
The car is fun to drive especially around the city. Being small it isn't comfortable on long trips. The interior storage is well thought out. It has never stranded me fortunately, but I don't trust the car much. It's annoying and costly to own. It goes through tires every 20,000 miles max, even with alignments and rotation; the rear alignment lacks a key adjustment; brake rotators warp easily and brakes need replacing often; fuel economy of a big V8, and the AC belt tensioner is hard to replace and doesn't last long before it gets really noisy. The interior clock light goes off when the headlights are turned on and there other annoyances. The black velor door panels are hard to keep clean.
America's best kep secret
Got a 5Sp- hard to find but worth the perseverance (not that the auto is bad, I just like to shift).
This Car Has Been A Great Friend To Me
Just as rare as it is to find that loyal, reliable and trustworrhy friend, you will find the 2003 Suzuki Aerio Wagon SXD. They stopped making these awesome cars but only God knows why. I love this car, it has been refreshingly reliable, fuel economy is awesome and I have only needed routine maintenance on it, and at 145k mi. that is great. Parking in SF is easy. I pick up all kinds of things with the cargo space. I will never buy a sedan after having a wagon. He sure isn't a looker, but old Gilbert has kept me safe and gotten me places in life- and I love the old boy for that.
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Wonderful Car...LONG LASTING!
Purchased used instead wasting money on a monthly rental after my Jag crashed and had to fight tooth and nail to get paid from Allstate Insurance. So this was meant to be a temporary or lets say a fill-in car. So lets see I purchased it with 150k miles on it. Currently, at 200,000 on a car that was supposed to be meant to be basically a fill-in and disposable. I've changed the oil to full synthetic, had one $140 dollars repair to a RR Axle other than that, no-problems to speak of a great little car with more than enough room! Engine light have a tendency to stay on..but its a just a touchy fault mechanism. Leaving the hatch open no reason you couldn't move a sofa or furniture if needed. Pulled off a few points for lack of arm-rests for the driver and passenger, does makes it uncomfortable for exceptionally long rides..but hey, still a great car for short trips. Love the hatch compartments in the floor.
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Amazing Dependability and Practical
When it comes to dependability and longevity there are very few auto makers that can hold a candle these JAPANESE little gems. (Not Korean but JAPAN BUILT). ITS 2018 with Many of Suzuki's 2003 AERIO's are daily drivers with 300000+ miles are still going strong. Few US made as a result Demand still warrants a strong retail price. Maintainance cost is very very low. Change oil,,, brakes as needed, this car, will be around long time.
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OK car but bad for the cold weather and snow driving
I bought this cat at 55K and sold at 92K miles on it when the bearing and brake pads needed change. The car is OK, but the engine light was on and off several times during my ownership of the car. Nothing serious was found and it looked like a computer glitch. The worst part is that the car is simply not designed for the cold weather and snow driving. At freezing temperatures all pneumatics go off, like locks, windows etc, and driving under snow is a lot of stress. Overall, the cars worth its price as long as you live in the warm climate all year around.