Suzuki Celerio 2015 Review

Suzuki Celerio
Road Test

Suzuki’s Alto replacement is a slightly bigger, more spacious, more refined and well equipped entrant at the very bottom of the new-car market. The engine is essentially unchanged, but a few kilograms saved, plus the addition of an optional CVT, promise better performance and improved fuel economy. The Suzuki Celerio is priced at $12,990 (plus on-road costs) for the five-speed manual and $13,990 (plus ORCs) for the CVT.

Suzuki has traditionally focussed attention on the smaller end of the passenger car spectrum and generally made a pretty good fist of it. Arguably more than anyone else, the Japanese car company knows how to design vehicles that have meaning for customers chasing minimum financial outlay for maximum gain.

So any perusal of the bottom end of the market will invariably involve a look at what Suzuki has to offer. Often the company has had the distinction of fielding the cheapest new car available.

That distinction can vary depending on market activity at any particular moment, but the new five-door Celerio hatch model that slipped onto the market in February 2015 with a driveaway price of $12,990 (in manual transmission form) is a difficult one to undercut.

The position-consolidating, four-seat Celerio follows the previous Alto hatch model with a little more of everything including passenger space, equipment and overall refinement.

And it achieves the seemingly impossible by being even lighter than the outgoing Alto with kerb weights quoted at just 830kg for the five-speed manual and 860kg for the new CVT (auto) version. By comparison the porky manual Alto weighed 895kg, while the auto saw the scales registering 920kg.

These stats put the Celerio at the pointy end of weight efficiency in the category (it’s lighter than Mitsubishi’s Mirage for example) and theoretically offer a bit of help in terms of on-road performance too.

Certainly the adoption of a CVT to replace the Alto’s conventional four-speed auto option has provided benefits in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The former is now quoted at 4.7L/100km and the latter at 112g/km (auto Alto 5.2L/100km and 124g/km), although the 4.7L/100km manual Celerio is a little behind the 4.5L/100km of the equivalent Alto – although the CO2 figures are virtually equivalent, at 108g/km and 107g/km respectively.

All incremental maybe, but generally heading in the right direction for sub-light car buyers who tend to be more economy-conscious than most.

A point to consider is that all this comes despite the Celerio’s use of an essentially carry-over 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine. Although the power and torque figures are identical at 50kW and 90Nm, some fiddling with the throaty little powerplant has seen that maximum torque figure produced at lower rpm than before, dropping from 4800rpm in the Alto to 3500rpm in the Celerio. This points to a slightly more willing mid-range that would be especially appreciated in the manual version rather than the torque-maximising CVT.

But where most people are going to be looking when measuring up the new micro Suzuki is how passengers and luggage fare.

Suzuki tells us the Celerio is not just 100mm longer in the body (with an attendant 65mm wheelbase stretch), but also a solid 70mm higher, which means the seats have been arranged for a higher hip point that not only makes the car marginally easier to get into and out of, but also makes better use of available legroom by giving more vertical depth for passenger’s legs. A claimed 10 per cent increase in overall interior space means more headroom and legroom, plus a 60mm increase in rear shoulder-room.

Like the Celerio’s improved economy these are incremental improvements, but all add up to a more user-friendly sub-light hatch that out-does the likes of Mitsubishi’s Mirage and Holden’s Barina Spark in terms of luggage capacity. An interesting fact is that, despite the 254-litre boot being bigger than the previous Alto’s miserable 110 litres, the 726-litre seats-down quoted luggage capacity is ironically slightly less than its 754-litre predecessor. Go figure.

There’s only one trim level of Celerio available right now, but the interior sells itself pretty well with a modern sweep to the instrument panel and few signs of being bargain-basement apart perhaps from the consistently unyielding plastic and the little row of blanks to the lower right of the steering column where who-knows-what additional functions might be allowed for.

Like the Alto, there’s only height adjustment for the steering wheel but at least there are buttons between the left-hand spokes to manipulate the Bluetooth functions and the central speedometer is flanked by a trip computer on the right and a tiny, 6200rpm redline tachometer on the left. Not surprisingly, there’s no cruise control for Celerio at this time.

The seats are pretty fair too, with height adjustment provided for the driver’s side and there’s enough fore-aft movement to comfortably suit front passengers up to at least 185cm tall. The realistically two-seat-only rear isn’t bad either, certainly up for a challenge against anything in the micro class and the split-fold backrest flops down to offer adequate space for a (wheels removed) mountain bike.

The Celerio is perky around town with plenty of response via the CVT and the throaty little engine’s torquey eagerness. About the only rough edge is the CVT’s sometimes-abrupt clutch action when moving from a standing start.

Otherwise the single-litre, long-stroke three-cylinder is pleasant if omnipresent, and tends to mix in with road and general noise at speeds of more than 100km/h where the Celerio begins to show its limitations as a long-distance cruiser. It’s noisy enough in there – particularly on coarse-chip surfaces – that you need to be serious if you really want to listen to the radio.

The steering offers reasonable feel, although it isn’t exactly quick with 3.5 turns of the wheel required to go from lock lo lock. But then again the turning circle is pretty nifty at 9.4m from kerb to kerb (although the Alto was less, at nine metres exactly).
On the road, the Celerio tracks steady and true, without the straight-line nervousness often felt in micro cars.

The tyres have grown from 155/65R14 in the steel-wheeled Alto to 165/65R14 but although the (also steel wheeled) Celerio responds and grips well, there are the natural limitations to the overall road holding and handling you would expect. That said, the car rides well despite its short 2425mm wheelbase (Suzuki points out it’s not far short of the Swift’s 2430mm) and basic MacPherson Strut, torsion beam suspension.

Our Celerio averaged 5.6L/100km on test. Not quite the 4.8L/100km claimed, but still pretty miserly and suggestive of a cruising range of around 500km provided it wasn’t loaded to the hilt and hammered mercilessly.

The Celerio gets a total of six airbags, and all the usual suspects when it comes to passive and active safety, but rates only four stars from safety authority ANCAP with a total of 32.49 points earned out of a possible 37 – mainly resulting from its 13.58 points scored in the frontal offset test (out of a possible 16). It scored maximum points in side impact testing and its pedestrian protection capabilities were judged as “acceptable.”

With a warranty period covering three years or 100,000km the Celerio rates as average but the six-month/10,000km capped-price servicing schedule could deter some customers looking to contain maintenance costs. Mitsubishi’s five-year warranty and 12-month/15,000km capped-price service intervals for the Mirage look more attractive.

All up, the Suzuki Celerio is an endearing little car. It underlines the company’s proficiency in catering for this market segment and in every way is a step ahead of the Alto that preceded it. It is a prospect that should not be ignored in the Barina Spark/Mirage/Micra segment.