Suzuki Kizashi XL 2010 Long-term review - 1

The measure of a long term tester is when you hop back in behind the wheel. After a week or two away driving all manner of cars, so far the Kizashi hasn't disappointed. This has even been the case when the 'holiday' away from the midsize Suzuki has been a larger, ostensibly more luxurious carriage.

The fact the Suzuki holds up so well in such cases is proof positive of its strong basics.

We've said it before but this is a quiet and cultured car. There's a solid hush to the cabin that belies its pretty modest roots.

Jump back in after driving something bigger and 'softer' and you may notice the Kizashi is more firmly sprung but equally you'll often notice that that firm springing comes in concert with a well resolved damping curve. Combined, the two provide better, less crashy performance over suburban roads than some top-shelf badges.

Long termers rarely get pampered. The next time I jump in one and find a banana peel in the door pocket or a mix of mud and sand on the carpet mats won't be the last. Nonetheless, after a quick tub and vacuum the Suzuki comes up a treat.

Some sub-$30K cars look old very quickly thanks to cost-conscious carpet and the like. I've every reason to believe this is one 'cheapie' that will weather the family storm better than most.

In fact it's the quality of the interior plastics and fabrics that is another thing that impresses with the Suzuki.

But this shouldn't be a surprise yours truly -- many moons ago the family trickster was a Baleno GTX five-door. Though overpriced at the time, the 'Sportswagon' (Suzuki's label not mine!) deserved to sell better than it did. We snapped one up at a fraction of its new price with less than 8000km on the clock and owned it for three years. More than 10 years later that car is still in family and has never missed a beat -- and weathered the storm of family and pets. Despite rampaging grandchildren, weimaraners and bull terriers, the 'loud' multicolored cloth upholstery in Maitre's Baleno is still in one piece!

Kizashi is an altogether more accomplished car than its ancestor. In most departments it's a match or betters its midsize competitors. What's interesting though is its proportions still trick people into believing it's smaller than it is. One family friend who drives a Corolla sedan thinks the Suzuki might be the perfect replacement.

The one area the Suzuki is not so impressive is fuel consumption. It's still stuck resolutely north of 9.0L/100km. It seems almost immune from my efforts to reduce its consumption. Full-on economy efforts go almost totally unrewarded.

Overall the fuel number isn't too bad, but I can't help but think perhaps the manual version, or better still, a nice, precise dual-clutch tranny would yield better results than the slurry, standard CVT.

Though it's by no means a bad gearbox, the CVT doesn't suit the crisp and tidy nature of the rest of the Kizashi. A week in the recently released all-wheel-drive Kizashi Sport reinforced this impression. Even the latter's steering wheel mounted gearshift paddles didn't really help.

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