2009 Suzuki SX4: What's It Like to Live With?
Read the latest updates in our long-term road test of the 2009 Suzuki SX4 Crossover as our editors live with this car for a year.
About two years ago I wrote a full test of the Suzuki SX4 and thought it was charming.
Well, it hasn't changed much for 2009. It could still use more power for its weight. Merging onto the freeway is less than spectacular. But once it gets going, it's fine. It's more than adequate for skipping around town running errands. And with the rear seats folded, you get 54 cubic feet of cargo space.
I think it's cute as hell, especially in Vapor Blue Metallic.
(Photo by Kurt Niebuhr)
Acceleration
0-30: 4.1
0-45: 7.1
0-60: 11.7
0-60 (with 1 foot of rollout like on a dragstrip): 11.4
0-75: 17.5
1/4 mile (ET / MPH): 18.3 @ 76.3
Comments: Yikes it's been quite a while since I've driven something this slow. It didn't matter what I did (esp on/off, brake torque or not) it produced 12-sec 0-60 times. Gear spacing seems quite wide for such a torque challenged vehicle.
Braking
60-0: 125 feet
30-0: 30 feet
Comments: Noticeable dive and ABS action, but good fade resistance.
Skid Pad
.78g
Comments: Steering feels a little "springy", but offers some road feel as well. Understeers on the limit even in "Auto AWD" mode. Some marginal ability to rotate/steer with throttle.
Slalom
62.3 mph
Comments: Pretty lenient / sophisticated ESP system when on. Subtle and early corrections. Shutting it off, the rear will step-out considerably left in FWD, switching to Auto AWD settled it down a bit, but then you really need to know how to throttle while sliding. The mere fact that this is possible is pretty remarkable and says something about its tuning.
Tires: Bridgestone Turanza EL400 205/60R16 91H
Weight: 2,982
This is going to be an issue. I just know it.
Our little Suzuki SX4 has a little fuel tank; I believe it's just under 12 gallons. Combine that with (relatively) dismal fuel economy and you get a sane, usable range of around 200 miles. If your last name is Jacquot, you might see 280 miles before having to fill up. But I doubt anyone will get 300 miles on a tank with this car.
What's the big deal with that? Well, this idea of 'pain at the pump' comes from always finding yourself at the gas station, constantly having to fill up your car. It's a psychological thing more than anything else, but when you buy a cute, little four cylinder car you might have it in your head that you won't be filling it up all the time. With the Suzuki, you'd be wrong.
For the record, I was the one who recorded our best fuel economy for this car at 23.2 mpg. That was in 2WD, with 80 percent open highway driving. Maybe there's a Z06 endurance tank option we missed?
I noticed this weekend that our long-term SX4's airbag/seatbelt warning light came on and stayed on. At first I thought it was sensing my heavier-than-necessary laptop bag, so pushed the bag to the floor. But nope, the light still glared at me from the instrument panel, all red and warn-y. That's when I realized that there's a separate warning light at the top of the center stack for the passenger airbag warning light. The one pictured (just above the odometer) is the more general "something's up with the airbags and/or seatbelts" light. We'll get it checked out and report back on what was causing it. Stay tuned.
Our SX4 suffered some damage in traffic recently when it was the victim of a love tap to the bumper. That's right — we were rear-ended. The impact was pretty minor and no one was injured, but since the at-fault driver was behind the wheel of a Chevy Express, our little SX4 did not escape unscathed. We're waiting to hear from the claims adjuster, and hope to have the car in the body shop by early next week.
We called to schedule a service appointment after Bryn noticed the airbag warning light lit on the IP of our 2009 Suzuki SX4.
So what was our first impression of Suzuki service? There aren't many dealerships. We racked our brains to recall a local shop. Nothing. On the Suzuki website we found the nearest dealer in Van Nuys, 10 miles away. Not bad. But the next-closest was 25 miles, then 35 miles. We chose Cerritos Suzuki since a handful of us live nearby.
Our advisor was polite. He called us an hour after we dropped it off to report that it was likely parts would need to be ordered. And since it was an airbag issue they weren't comfortable returning the car to us until the problem was fully diagnosed. The next morning our phone rang.
"Your car is ready for pick up. When we lifted the seat cushion to check the problem we found the ground pin wasn't fully connected. We plugged it back in. No charge."
Days out of service: 1
Cost: None
Here's were I was going to poke fun of Suzuki for equipping this car with an archaic 4-speed automatic transmission. I was going to make some bad jokes like, "A 4-speed? Cool, my IROC Camaro has one too."
But I'm not.
Turns out I like the automatic transmission in our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4. Sure it's geared a bit tall compared to the more modern five and six-speeds out there, but it's responsive enough that the gearing isn't a problem. This thing is never lazy with a throttle induced downshift, plus you can choose the gears yourself with this cool gated shifter.
Obviously designed by somebody like me, a guy that likes to shift his automatic manually, the Suzuki's simple shifter is proof that the manual gate found in most cars these days is nothing but marketing. In the old days (you know, the sixties, seventies and eighties and even the early nineties), every Mercedes had a gated shifter much like this. Even the 1992-1994 Mercedes 500E/E500, which is one of my favorites, had one. It worked then and it works great now.
No I'm not kidding. Look, you slide it to the left for the first gear down and pull it back for the second. Each shift, up or down, has a hard stop. Brilliant. Plus the shifter's action is nice and tight, as are the gear changes.
The Suzuki SX4 may not be sexy but it gets the job done. Grocery getting and commuting are handled with ease and the interior remains fairly quiet even on the freeway. I also like the cargo cover that keeps whatever you have behind the rear seats out of sight.
The weak point is the four automatic speed transmission - it needs a five speed. There's just too much hunting at about 40-45 miles per hour. It's especially bad in slow traffic - a little on the gas and it down, then upshifts EVERY TIME.
A base wagon with navigation (like ours) has a starting price of about $16,000. Add a five speed auto and I'd say get this 'zuki instead of a Honda Fit.
I'm still reveling in our Suzuki SX4's high-tech features. While I don't exactly need a navigation system on my daily commute (I've driven this route approximately 3,000 times in the past 7 years), I like having the screen up for several other reasons.
First, I like seeing my relative position to upcoming landmarks. Second, I love how it tells me the upcoming cross street (even when it's not in route-guidance mode). Third, it's cool that it knows the existing speed limit on whatever stretch of road I'm traveling. Finally, it tells me my current speed and direction of travel.
Again, this is all default information provided by the Garmin unit without hitting a single touch-screen button. For tech geeks (like me), that's pretty cool. To have it provided in a sub-$20,000 economy hatchback? Impressive!
I love that our Suzuki SX4 Crossover has satellite radio. Kid Space Live has saved my fanny more than once on a cranky drive home from day care with a toddler who's had a long day. I just wish that the SX4's radio display screen gave me more than 10 characters of information about the artist or song that's being played. The Toddler asks, "Who is singing this song, mommy?" I reply, "Dinosaur R-something, um, I'm not sure what they're called."
I realize that they've got limited real estate on the screen, but there's space for a couple more characters on there, don't you think? I recall systems in other cars with similarly limited space giving you the option of pushing a button or turning a knob to scroll through the rest of the text, but I couldn't find the same functionality in our SX4. Obviously, it's not a problem unless I'm broadening my horizons and listening to a genre of music I'm not already familiar with. Guess I'll just stick to First Wave.
My colleague Josh is rather discerning when it comes to armrests. If it's a thinly padded deal, he'll call it out. I'd hate to think of what he'd say if he saw the SX4's! Although I have no complaints with the rest of the Suzuki's cabin — it seems well put together and is attractive enough, though like most economy cars it is comprised chiefly of hard plastic. But for the armrests?!
Suzuki needs to take a lesson from Hyundai here and realize that the areas of a vehicle that people come into constant contact with ("touch points" in car design lingo) should be finished off. They should give an impression of quality, not one of "did they forget to install the padded armrest tops here?"
There's a lot I like about our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4, but its color is not one of them. Whoever chose it should be killed...twice, then we should all go after the fool's family.
Yes, it's that bad. But even covered in that horrific robin's egg blue (or is that seafoam green), I like the way the Suzuki looks. Park it next to a Honda Fit or a Nissan Versa or any other little econo wagon of the kind and I believe the SX4 is the hottie of the group. I like its bulldog proportions, its aggressive wheelwell flares and I like how its sits on those oversized 5-spoke wheels. It's the only car in its class with any stance and I think it looks far more masculine than its competition.
Paint it black, or silver, or any other boy color, and a guy can drive this thing without a bag over his head.
According to the most recent Automotive News, "Booming sales of the Suzuki SX4 have created a potential problem for dealers: a car shortage." March sales of the SX4 reached 4,795 units. That is up almost 50 percent from March 2008. The shortage is expected to last until new vehicles are shipped to the U.S. mid- to late May.
I wonder how much we could get for our SX4 on craigslist...
Obviously this is not our long-term Suzuki SX4, but it seemed relevant. I also think it was good that is was rated good.
Though almost all new cars now come with an auxiliary audio jack, the 2009 Suzuki SX4 isn't one of them. I use my iPod a lot while driving, so not having an input jack on our long-term SX4 has been a little disappointing. Thankfully, Suzuki does offer a regular input jack or a specific iPod adapter (stock photo below) as dealer-installed accessories. For the iPod adapter, though, I think the head unit's poor text display capabilities would hamper its appeal.
There's something about windshield-mounted portable navigation systems that just looks a bit goofy. When I spy another motorist with a black-plastic blob suction-cupped to his car's windshield, it's like he's proclaiming to me: "I have no sense of direction and I don't know where I'm going!" Might as well sign an "L" on your forehead, dude.
That's why I've come to enjoy our Suzuki's SX4's factory-portable Garmin navigation system. When you don't need it, it stays hidden. When you do need it, just push down on the dash-mounted lid to pop it up. It's
discrete
discreet and always-available navigation for the directionally challenged.
"Look Momma, the car is the same color as my backpack," she says.
I dig the Suzuki SX4, but might opt for a more grown-up color.
This pisses me off. Today our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4 picked up this nasty door ding in its passenger side quarter panel. I'm not really sure when or where it happened, all I know is it wasn't there yesterday and it's there now.
It's this kind of thing that makes me question the future of the human race. If we can't even open our car doors without complete disregard for car parked next to us, how can we save our children's future? Sad.
Whatever, somebody out there has some bad karma coming their way.
Yesterday the airbag warning light lit up the instrument panel of our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4. You may remember that this had happened before. It was an easy fix last time, hopefully it will be again. We'll let you know.
In this shot, you can obviously see that the Suzuki's airbag warning light is on, but so is the low fuel light despite the car having traveled just 215.4 miles on the tank of regular. Not good.
It may not be the quickest car in our fleet, but our all-wheel drive 2009 Suzuki SX4 will get you where you're going.
With 16 cubic feet of luggage space and maximum cargo capacity of 54 cu ft, it can carry a lot of stuff, too.
There have been mixed reviews on the paint color choice. But I happen to think it looks rather nice in Vapor Blue Metallic. And ours only cost $18,000 and some change with the Technology package.
In case you haven't guessed, our 2009 Suzuki SX4 is car of the week.
We've already extablished several times that our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4 doesn't go very far on its small tank of fuel. Drive it like a little old lady and you're lucky to cover 200 miles before the low fuel light is glowing.
This blog post is not about that. It's about the SX4's range readout. This neat little luxury is rare in a car at this price point. I just checked, our long-term Honda Fit doesn't have one and I remember complaining that our $40,000 long-term Subaru STI didn't have one either.
You know, the more I use the SX4 the more I like it. It's packed with a lot of little things I'd appreciate if I were spending my own money on a car in this class.
There is a lot to like about our 2009 Suzuki SX4. It's cute (I know you don't all agree), it's comfortable, it has good visibility, satellite radio, lots of nice features.
But it's painfully slow. Excruciatingly, frustratingly slow. For tooling around town on city streets, that's fine. When running errands, it holds all my crap, groceries, dry cleaning, potting soil, anything you can think of. It's easy to park. Lots of pluses.
But forget it on the highway. Merging into traffic, foot down, and it takes its sweet old time. I find myself yelling at it to hurry the heck up. When you finally get up to a comfortable cruising speed, the SX4 handles it without much vibration and noise. But try to pass a Camry and it stubbornly climbs the speedometer at a snail's pace.
Argh.
After a 250-mile weekend in the 2009 Suzuki SX4, these gauges could be a deal breaker. Two problems:
1. The gauges look orange-ish in this photo, but make no mistake, they light up in bright red. There is no relief from this color scheme, save for the green dot (amber for R) for the automatic transmission's gear selection display. It turns out monochromatic red is very hard on the eyes at night.
2. Excessive markings on the speedometer. I don't need to be able to tell a peace officer, "Why, yes, I was going 71 mph." The old "about 70" answer will do just fine. Having all these markings makes the gauge pack unnecessarily chaotic — the speedo looks like a protractor. A mark every 5 mph would do just fine.
P.S. We're not ignoring the airbag warning light. We're still waiting on a replacement driver-seat cushion from Cerritos Suzuki, and as we reported, the dealership maintains that the airbag remains functional and capable of deploying in a collision.
It's been 3 weeks and nearly 1,000 miles since the dealer ordered a new seat cushion to correct our falsely illuminated airbag light, and still nothing.
At this point, the IP will look strangely unfamiliar when the light is off.
If you have any interest at all in the imminent arrival of Fiat in the U.S. under the umbrella of the reborn Chrysler Corporation (or is it the other way around?), you don't have to look further than the Suzuki SX4.
The SX4 is the product of a co-development project with Fiat, and the plant in Hungary that assembles this Suzuki for Europe also builds the Fiat Sedici. This Fiat is the most popular all-wheel-drive crossover in Italy. (Sedici translates as "sixteen"; 4x4, get it?)
So it's no surprise that the Suzuki's elegantly drawn exterior and practical yet stylish interior look as if they're straight from one of the leading design houses in Italy, as Giorgetto Giugaro's ItalDesign did the work.
Compared to the turgid appearance of pseudo-crossovers like the Dodge Caliber and Kia Rondo, the SX4 is a miracle of good taste. It makes practicality seem smart instead of cheap. It's Italian.
More small vehicles that look as good as the Suzuki SX4 would be a good thing.
Ever have one of those days when you feel like the whole world is against you? Well I had that every day I was in our 2009 Suzuki SX4 this weekend. Every day I had someone go out of their way to cut me off. From Ford Explorers to Kia Spectras to even Toyota Priuses. It was uncanny. Every time, whether there was a merge lane when it was my turn to merge FYI or I was just driving in rush hour traffic, the other driver would duck in front of me, nearly slicing off the SX4's nose. And of course when I honked at them "Hey, I'm driving here," I'd get flipped off. Every. Time.
Now before you say that that's just how L.A. drivers drive and I shouldn't take it personally, there was this one BMW 135i convertible with a "WRKMGC" vanity plate.
I was driving on Walgrove Avenue toward Santa Monica. A road I usually take to work. But since it was a Sunday and there wasn't much traffic on the road, I was just enjoying it and leisurely left about three car lengths between me and the BMW. But when we got to Ocean Park Boulevard where the road splits into two lanes only to merge again after the stoplight on the other side of Ocean Park, I signaled that I was going to turn right.
The BMW saw this and at the last second he straddled the two lanes and sat there at the redlight so I couldn't get around him. Huh?
When the light turned green, he creeped his way slooowly forward. So I honked at him to get going. Well, naturally he honked back at me. What a nimrod. What was his problem? I'll never know. But all the jerky driver encounters made me hate piloting this car around L.A. Not only because of that but also for its lack of power and its loud engine that revs to 4,000 rpm when you're going 65.
I think the Suzuki SX4 would be fine for the docile driver, someone who is tolerant and patient. OK, yeah, that's not me. But I've driven many different cars, cars you'd think people would dislike more, and have never consistently been hated on like I was in this car. It has a friendly blue-green color and is very innocuous-looking, why get in its face?
Sometimes, to get this Recaro kid seat to fit properly (it's the tallest child safety seat in the universe), I have to remove a car's rear headrest because it doesn't allow the back of the Recaro to sit even remotely flush with the seatback. But occasionally — as seen here in the SX4 — the head restraint isn't removable, and I end up having to cram the Recaro underneath the maxed-out head restraint to get it all to fit. This is why it's so important to take your child safety seat(s) with you when you test-drive a car.
I'm kind of a visibility hog. I don't like wishing I could sit up taller in a car's seat so I can see what's happening around me, so whenever there's seat-height adjustment available in a car, I take advantage of it, even in SUVs. And though our long-term Suzuki's airy greenhouse gives the car a nice, open feel to it, without a seat-height adjustability, all that room above my head does me no good when I still feel like I'm sitting on the floor. It's something I've gotten used to, it wouldn't stop me from buying the car (I actually like almost everything else about the little crossover quite a lot), but I still wish I could be just a bit higher.
Also, a follow-up to my post last Friday about not being able to remove the headrest for child seat installation: Thanks, subaru123 for suggesting that I just tilt the seatback forward. That did the trick; instantly plenty of room to remove the headrest completely. Now I've got a well-installed kid seat.
This is a sad day in the world of Suzuki service. Over a month ago we special ordered a part to extinguish the airbag light on our SX4's dash. Our service advisor at Cerritos Suzuki informed us it would likely take 2-3 weeks for its arrival. That timeline had come and gone. So we contacted the dealer again.
"I'm very sorry, sir. Your order was suspended. You may want to order parts elsewhere."
Shocked as to why the order was cancelled and we weren't notified I dug deeper. What did order parts elsewhere mean? They owed us an explanation. But his polite, matter-of-fact response made me feel a little guilty for asking.
"Sir, parts are on hold because there is question as to how much longer this will be a Suzuki dealership."
Oh. Well, that sucks for everyone involved. Back to square one.
(And yes, that bench is as crooked as it looks)
As I was driving the SX4 home last night, I realized I really like this little hatchback. Lightweight, inexpensive cars like this sometimes feel lightweight and inexpensive on the road. Not so with the SX4 — it feels solid and composed in most circumstances. It's reasonably quiet, as well.
I even like the look of its cabin. This is an interior that makes no attempt to transcend its status — hard plastics abound, and there's not a lot to capture visual interest. Still, it works for me — the black-with-metallic-accents color scheme strikes me as masculine and kinda industrial-looking. And I like the simple, straightforward layout of the knobs and buttons on the center stack.
Overall, this is one very cooperative little hatchback — and cooperativeness is a big plus in this segment.
I'm not sure how, why or where it happened, but I drove our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4 to Pomona and back (about 120 miles) this morning and I couldn't help but notice that the car's steering wheel has become cockeyed. When you're driving straight, the wheel looks like you're making a slight right.
We'll get it fixed when the airbag part comes in or at car's the next scheduled service, which ever comes first.
By the way, please refrain from commenting on my lame photo and/or hairy arm.
I grew tired of driving the SX4 on Saturday and decided to swing by the office to pick up "my sister's car" (Thanks Scott). But thanks to the SX4's removable Garmin navigation system, I was still able to find my evening's destination despite driving an 11-year-old roadster. There wasn't exactly a good place to put the thing, but the same could be said for a Thomas guide.
This is a fantastic idea for multi-car households, as I'm sure most folks could make due with only one navigation system split between two cars. It would certainly be a boon for folks who own an older weekend car. Obviously this goes for any store-bought, Garmin-style navi, but the fact the Suzuki's is built-in for a reasonable price (standard on the Sport) is an added advantage.
I realized just how much I hate regular radio last night. While facing a 45-minute, 11-mile drive to pick up my girlfriend, I was channel surfing FM. But my efforts to avoid obnoxious commercials and equally obnoxious DJs to actually find some music were mostly fruitless.
When I noticed the SX4's satellite radio button, I was psyched! But when I pushed it...no dice. Seems we don't have a subscription in force. "No biggie, I'll just plug in my iPod" I thought. But nope, as Brent pointed out, there's no auxiliary jack, let alone an iPod hookup unless you get it at the dealer. This is rather strange, considering the SX4''s other unexpected upscale and modern features (such as those handy steering wheel-mounted audio controls and the removable nav system). Sadly, without a CD at hand (remember those?) I was at the mercy of FM.
I like the simple to use, yet feature packed and removable navigation system that came standard on our SX4. The only problem for me is that it's nearly out of reach, perched as it is rather far away towards the base of the windshield. When I try to use it (after pulling over to the curb or into a parking lot), it was a stretch to put fingertip to touch screen. And this from someone who, at 5'-5", has the driver seat scooched up closer to the dash than most.
As the navi is portable, I would usually just disconnect it and chipmunk away at the screen, then put it back into its mount after I'd inputted my destination and motor away. Is it just me or was this thing designed for use by those with a Phelpsian wingspan?
Our long-term Suzuki served shuttle duty this week, easily carrying me and a set of overnight luggage from L.A. to a press event in San Diego. I filled up the night before so I wouldn't have to deal with fuel stops on either of 130-odd mile legs, but then I forgot about the Suzi's limited range. Though the tank is smaller on our AWD model (11.9 vs. 13.2 gallons), I'm not sure if we're ever dipping into its full capacity.
The needle was below the "E" and the fuel light had been on for some time before I finally caved and hopped off the 405 in the midst of rush hour traffic to top it off. As you can see from our fuel log on the right (that's miles and gallons), our mileage has varied, but we seem unable to get within a gallon of the stated capacity, so maybe we've got a slightly pessimistic fuel needle. Better safe than sorry, but I bet I could have made it home...
If there was no Honda Fit to fight for your dollar, we'd probably never shut-up about the SX4. It's all ate up with practical, and unlike the Fit, is available with all-wheel drive (AWD). Running errands around L.A. all weekend doesn't really require the AWD, however, and if you live where the snow is rare, you'd probably be perfectly happy with the FWD SX4 and its larger gas tank.
The heat was on this weekend, so the reasonably effective A/C was on full bore most of the time, and you notice the power sap especially when lounging away from lights. The Suzi also needed a scrub, and though not exactly the most butch color ever, the sea foam highlights do look best on the car when it's clean. The SX4 may not be the kind of performance car to boil you blood, but day to day, it's tough to beat for a runabout — save the Fit, which adds frisky to the SX4's otherwise stoic resume.
So Frank calls me yesterday and tells me that he's thinking about getting a Honda Fit. I ask if he is nuts.
Apparently the expense of commuting back and forth to the Valley in his Dodge Ram pickup is getting a little pricey, and he really admires the practicality of the Fit's interior packaging. You see, he wants to be able to carry an engine block when he has to.
That's because Ed Pink Racing Engines builds the Toyota inline-4 racing engine for USAC midgets, and the last time I was at the shop Frank also showed me a Toyota V8 NASCAR-spec engine, a turbocharged Ford-Cosworth V8 Indy-car engine (27 of them, in fact), a flat-12 for a Ferrari 512BB endurance racer, a V12 for the Jaguar XJR-5 IMSA GTP car, and the straight-8 from the first-ever Duesenberg passenger car of 1920. Hence the whole thing about carrying around engine pieces.
But I tell him that he doesn't want a Honda Fit.
The Fit is a brilliant car, but like me Frank has trouble with a driving position that's meant for Japan, a place where you don't often see an American-size guy with feet so smashed up from a couple of race car crashes (plus an unintended leap into a service station grease pit), that he's comfortable only in either cowboy boots or Simpson racing booties. If you like to drive with your legs outstretched as if you were in a racing cockpit, the Honda Fit is not for you.
When Frank suggests the Toyota Matrix as a possibility, I warn him off for the same reason.
Instead I suggest the Suzuki SX4. The same basic money buys you a far more comfortable people package, and the driving position is meant for those of the American-size persuasion. Plus you could carry not just one engine block, but maybe two.
Me and the girls went out Sunday for a short little trip to do girly things.
I offered to drive as I usually do because they are always interested to see what car I'm driving.
This time I was piloting the Suzuki SX4. We had two passengers in the back seat so I told them it was their job to give me a back seat review.
They felt they had enough room but doubted that taller passengers would find it comfortable. "It's perfect for children in car seats," said one.
"It's nice and cool back here," said another. "The air conditioner reaches me just fine."
They also concluded that the car is much roomier than it looks from the outside. The cloth seats were comfortable, but for longer trips they wondered if they would feel cramped.
For our next outing, I promised to get a larger car so they could feel the difference.
Have you driven in a Suzuki SX4?
This fuel warning light came on right after I left my house this morning.
I live 20 miles from the office but I wanted to get to the gas station near the office because it has a drive-through car wash.
My old Chevy used to run out of gas right on the empty line. But my Acura will keep going for a while well below the empty line. I wasn't sure what the Suzuki would do, so I kept on driving.
Turns out I didn't reach the line before I reached the car wash. The 2009 Suzuki SX4 has a fuel tank capacity of 11.9 gallons. When I filled up, the car took in 9.228 gallons. So, I needn't have worried.
How low does your fuel meter go past empty?
I scurried away from our Santa Monica offices early yesterday morning to attend an automotive event just north of us in Thousand Oaks, CA. Leaving just after the sun rose, I was pretty much assured of avoiding any of our notorious L.A. traffic, so I decided to tackle my favorite roads above Malibu. These thin ribbons of asphalt wind their way up from the beach, high up into the Santa Monica Mountains, and back down the other side right to my destination.
The SX4 performed much better than I expected. It's steering was communicative and precise, the suspension inspired confidence and the brakes never faded. It was actually, dare I say, fun. One thing I did notice was its cow-like engine/exhaust noise. On the highway it emits a muted mmmmmmmmmoooooooooooooo. Downshifts sound more like a surprised cow - mmmmmmmooooOOOOOOOO! Hard acceleration made it sound like an angry cow - MMMMMOOOOOOOO!
Aside from the bovine histrionics, the overall driving dynamics challenged me to become a better driver. The lack of underhood power encourages go-kart-like driving in the canyons. Lose momentum and the engine bogs heavily. Saw away at the steering wheel and you scrub off even more speed. By the time I reached the other side of the mountain, I was driving smoother while keeping the SX4 in the power.
On a final note, when adjusting the tilt of the steering wheel, the column lacks support - either in the form of friction or weight-countering springs. Once you pull the adjustment lever, the wheel and column drop like an anvil. And boy, that thing is heavy. I'm not sure if something's missing or broken, but it definitely feels wrong. Granted, most owners won't be adjusting their wheel as much as we do in our long-term lot.
Finally. The airbag warning light in our 2009 Suzuki SX4 is off. This time we hope it's for good.
If you recall the airbag light came on before. And one visit after the next to our local dealer failed to deliver a permanent solution. Annoyed and eager to have the issue resolved we contacted Suzuki directly.
A quick scan of the error code (B1318) confirmed the problem. The right-front seat cushion needed a software update. There was no need to replace any parts. Once the reflash was complete the light extinguished and we were back on the road. Just like that. Too bad we couldn't find a dealer to do this months ago.
One of the subtle pleasures of driving an economy car is their lack of complexity. Look at the dash on our SX4. There's virtually nothing on it that needs explanation. Three dials for the climate control system, a few basic knobs and buttons for the radio and a simplified navigation system that folds out of the way when it's not needed.
It got me thinking, if OEMs offered a simplified dash setup as an option, how many people would order it? Would the average buyer forego all the latest gadgets in favor of fewer functions that are useful more often?
My guess is "no", that's why all those gadgets are there in the first place. Manufacturers would probably love to put dashboards like this in their $50,000 sedans, but customers would surely cry foul. They want stuff for all that money even if they don't use any of it. Might be nice to have the option though.
With the stereo off, the steering in our long-term Suzuki SX4 emits a noticeable robotic sound. I can best describe it as the electric motor sound that Robocop (or C3PO) makes whenever they move. It's a high-pitched whine that made me think that perhaps it has something to do with some sort of electric power steering unit - but our SX4 has a hydraulic assist. The sound itself isn't annoying, and with the radio on, you'd struggle to hear it at all. It's just weird.
Our long-term 2009 Suzuki SX4 hatchback deserves credit for its steering wheel design. Not only is this an attractive, three-spoke wheel, it's comfortable to grip at 9-and-3. This is due both to its leathery wrap and the stitching used to join the sections of leather (or leather-like material).
Too often, cars in this price range have rough stitching that scratches against my thumbs. But both the thread and the method of the stitchwork in the SX4 have resulted in a seam that feels smooth to the touch.
It's a small thing, I know, but it really made the SX4 more pleasant to drive during my recent 2,000-mile road trip.
This weekend I was trying to find a theatre on the UCLA campus in Westwood. I knew how to get there in general but I needed help finding the exact location once I got close. I didn't really need the navigation but I wanted the map open.
The Suzuki SX4 has a funny little nav. I often forget it's there because it pops out of the top of the dash.
With such a tiny screen, it takes some getting used to. If you zoom in close enough to see street names, you lose the frame of reference around you because you see such a small area of the map.
It has some really helpful features, however. Across the top is a green bar that lets you know what street is coming up. It posts every little side street, even if it is not a turn-off. I found this most useful when driving around Westwood. I knew if I hit Sunset Boulevard I went too far. As I was looking for the theatre's parking structure, I could see Sunset just ahead. But then the nav pointed out a little driveway on the left, which was the street name I was looking for. It saved me a lot of time.
In the picture above, you can see in the middle left of the frame, the nav tells you the speed limit of the street you are on. And just below, it tells you the speed you are traveling. Nice touch. In Southern california speed limits can change in the middle of a block with no warning, depending on what town you are in. Cross an invisible border and suddenly you're speeding.
Another cute feature: Your position is marked on the screen by a little car icon. I wonder if this image is always blue or if it is blue on our screen because our SX4 is blue. Any SX4 drivers out there know the answer?
Turn Up Your Volume
As Mark mentioned in an early post, our Suzuki SX4's steering wheel makes a weird robotic sounds when turned.
Here's a video of the steering wheel. It's hard to capture sound on my Flip. Turn up the volume to hear it.
Thanks to its low beltline, big greenhouse and useful little port-type windows by the A-pillar, the SX4 offers pretty good visibility. That might be enough for most manufacturers, but Suzuki takes things one step further by including the hugest side mirrors this side of a Dodge Sprinter. These massive slabs of glass are the antithesis of the skinny little side mirrors seen on cars like the new Camaro — form-over-function mirrors that look stylish, but don't offer much acreage for viewing purposes. Sure, the SX4's mirrors are a bit on the homely side — they're the side-mirror equivalent of dad jeans in that respect — but they're a pleasure to use, and offer a wonderfully expansive picture of the road behind you.
I'm going to have to disagree with Erin's assessment of our SX4's seating. After spending about four hours in the blue box yesterday, I realized that average-sized American males may have issues with the driving position.
I'm 5'10" and of average build, and I could not find a comfortable seating position. The lack of a telescoping wheel was probably the main culprit. With the seat adjusted for leg comfort, the wheel was way too far away from me. With the seat adjusted to have the wheel within comfortable reach had my legs bunched up. I tried a compromise between the two and everything started aching after 45 minutes.
Then there's the elbows. The door armrest is made from an unyielding piece of plastic. Remind me to pick up some elbow pads from the sporting goods store next time. The center armrest is at least cloth covered, but the angle is all wrong and is uneven with the other side's medieval perch. There's also a hard lump under the corner stitching that hits right where my forearm should rest.
None of this bothered me before on shorter trips, but this was the first (and hopefully last) long trip I took in the SX4. For the rest of the day, I'll be popping Advil like PEZ.
Driving around in the Suzuki SX4 this weekend, I noticed the car gets a lot of looks.
I spotted people sneaking peeks in their mirrors or turning heads while walking down the street.
At first I thought it was my new haircut (just kidding, of course) or that they were giving me the stink eye for some reason.
But then I realized, the Suzuki is a good-looking vehicle, especially in its light blue paint.
Passersby were just appreciating its handsomeness in the golden sunlight.
(Photo by Kurt Niebuhr)
Like everyone else here, I'm not thrilled with the pathetic range of our 2009 Suzuki SX-4. It's mostly due to the small gas tank made necessary by the all-wheel-drive system, and could be fixed, for us here in Southern California, by deleting that option. But this Suzuki has a neat little trick up its sleeve that, in a sense, increases the range on the AWD SX-4.
See, what they've done is equipped the SX-4 with an "electronically controlled coupling device mounted in front of the rear differential." There's a switch (pictured) to pick between all and front wheel drive. Power/Fuel economy losses are estimated at 5-10% for all wheel drive vehicles and having the option to use it only when needed — ie: not in your daily commute to work — is a plus.
There are helpful buttons on the steering wheel of the SX4 for the audio and cruise controls.
However, they are not illuminated. So, I can't see them at night.
When I'm listening to the classic rock station (the only tolerable station we have left in L.A. since the Indie station went online only) and a Styx song comes on, I have to reach over to the actual radio to save my ears.
Sorry, Styx. But I had an old boyfriend who tortured me with your music too often in my youth. Bad memories.
Photo by Kurt Niebuhr
This weekend, as we were getting into the SX4 for a marathon session of errands and family duty, my husband said, "Wow, I forgot how much visibility this car has." He was really impressed with how much he could see while in the front seat of Suzuki's little hatchback. I thoroughly agree. With a lot of other modern cars, I feel like I'm fighting with the car to see clearly in all directions. Not so with the SX4.
While reversing into a parallel parking spot, I was immensely grateful to be able to see where the car ended just by looking over my shoulder. Not a surprising trait in a small economy car, but a welcome one nonetheless.
I had a quick biz trip down near San Diego this week. Del Mar, to be precise, which is about 115 miles from our office in Santa Monica. After considering my trio of vehicle options (Ram pickup, Challenger, SX4), I went with the Suzuki. And there were a trio of reasons for my choice: fuel economy, a nav system and Bluetooth. Follow the jump to see how it fared...
Fuel economy: B-
For the 230-mile round trip (virtually all highway, and apart from a few miles of slow-moving traffic, moving along nicely at 70-75 mph), the SX4 averaged 26 mpg against the EPA highway estimate of 28 mpg.
Note: The 2010 SX4 AWD automatic will be a CVT, and mileage estimates improve to 23 city, 29 highway and 25 combined, versus our '09 with a 4-speed automatic's 21/28/24.
Navigation System: B
A bit of a reach to access, so if I had an address to enter I would detach it (it's removable from the car) and type away, obviously when I was sitting parked. And thanks to its simple, intuitive layout, entering addresses and finding gas stations and yes, Starbucks, were quick work. The voice prompts, however, sound like they're from a 1980's voice synthesizer. The Suzuki's Max Headroom is certainly not as smoothly spoken as the lady in our Honda Fit's nav system. Then again, the SX4's system came standard as opposed to commanding a near-$2,000 premium as with the Fit.
Bluetooth: C
It's nice that the system automatically downloads your phone numbers (no, they don't all do that). However, the transmission quality was sometimes rather poor. At times, the person on the other end couldn't hear me that clearly, prompting one to say that it sounded like I was underwater. Or that I was Charlie Brown's teacher.
Here's something I like about our SX4: Suzuki hasn't tried to reinvent the wheel with its center stack secondary controls. Both the audio system and the ventilation controls follow accepted industry norms and are efficient and simple to use. The volume knob is on the left and the the tuning knob is on the right. Ventilation adjustments are made simply enough through three knobs and three buttons. Simple and good.
There's room for improvement in this design, but at this price point most manufacturers make it more difficult to use when they change the design. Thanks, Suzuki.
I appreciate cars that have a "dead pedal", that cryptically-named foot rest located on the far left side of the driver's footwell. To clarify, not all cars have a dead pedal. In fact, it used to be only high-performance cars had one so your left foot/leg wouldn't slip while you ripped through some tight corners.
The SX4 has a dead pedal — nothing fancy, just a piece of semi-grippy black plastic that does the job of keeping one's left foot from sliding. But as it turns out, this dead pedal is alive. Press down on it a little and it flexes and squeaks as if it's one of those old-school, floor-mounted headlight high/low-beam switches. A minor build-quality issue, evidently as there's space underneath the SX4's dead pedal that allows the flexing, as opposed to it being affixed solidly to the floor pan.
I'm a big fan of the SX4. I dig its roomy cabin, standard nav system and relatively smooth ride quality; still, it doesn't exactly sprint with the lightning speed of Usain Bolt. With this sort of tepid acceleration, the payoff is usually stellar fuel economy. But the SX4 ain't no champ in this area either, bringing up the rear in its category.
I thought about all this as I was making a recommendation this weekend to a friend who's in the market for a new car in the sub-$20,000 price range. My buddy's goal? He wants a cheap ride that's decent to drive and easy on the wallet at the pump. I love you, Suzy, but in this case, the smart money's on the Fit.
Go ahead. Tell me what's going on in the back the SX4 in this photo. Because I'm yet to figure it out.
"Wait, was I driving with the emergency brake on this whole time?" I chastised myself when I was on the freeway and noticed the "Brake (!)" warning light on the dash. I hadn't noticed the car driving differently from the time I left the Edmunds garage and jumped on the 10 East. And when I went to check the e-brake, it was down as far as it could go. But then the warning light switched off when I pressed the e-brake button.
Later when parked, I pulled up the e-brake to see where its last detent before off was and it was at about a 15-degree angle from off, so it would have been pretty obvious that it was still on. Well that's a relief anyway. That I didn't drive with the emergency brake on.
However, throughout the weekend that brake warning light kept popping on and off, leaving me to wonder if this was my car would I be motivated enough to get this fixed or would I just learn to live with it. It's not like it affects the driving.
It reminded me of how my brother drove around with the "Check Engine" light of his Nissan Sentra on the entire time he owned it. He got the car checked and the shop canceled that light but then it ended up popping on again anyway and he gave up.
Call it a case of killing two birds with one stone. Our 2009 Suzuki SX4 was due for an oil change. I have been encouraged to make more use of video in my posts. Why not document the oil change process on video?
Well, I don't have any experience with video editing software and the only software I have is MovieMaker, the Microsoft default that came on my PC. My "video camera" is nothing more than a mode in my small Canon ELPH point-and-shoot still camera.
But, what the heck. I do have a couple of tripods and the weather is good on this dead-of-winter SoCal morning.
So I trotted down to the local auto parts store for 5 quarts of oil and a new filter. Cost me $28.21.
I was going to add narration, but that seemed time-consuming and I decided the background sounds were interesting in their variety and the ELPH's little built-in mic picked them up reasonably well. I do need to figure out how to muffle the wind noise for next time, however.
