Brendan Seery
HERE are two things that have never ceased to amaze me about Suzuki’s small cars: how well made and economical they are.
I have never forgotten my surprise the first time I was behind the wheel of a Swift, which had a 1.4-litre petrol engine. I reset all the trip computer readings at the start of any test and was still crawling through Joburg traffic when I saw the fuel consumption was showing less than 6 litres per 100km. From a petrol engine!
By the time I got home, it was still hovering at about 6.0l/100km. Even with a lot more stop-start motoring, the consumption was still in the mid-6s after a week.
The make also felt well-made, as though it would last. I have also seldom heard any complaints about Suzuki reliability and, in many overseas customer surveys, the vehicle is always highly rated.
A Swift 1.6 Sport we had as a long-term test car was always a blast to drive, with a lively, rev-meplease engine.
So I was really looking forward to getting my hands on the SX4 SUV.
The vehicle was once a hatchback with a part-time allwheel-drive system and was a quirky standout in our market, with only Subaru’s Impreza models having similar specs.
TThe new SX4, which debuted about two years ago, is quite a significant departure from the previous version.
It is now a full-on small SUV, with all that entails in terms of raised ride height and macholooking black cladding.
What has also changed is the drivetrain: you only get the AWD system – dubbed AllGrip by Suzuki – in the top-spec models. The others are now front-wheel-drive.
That’s an acknowledgement that most people buy SUVs because of what they say about the purchaser – look at me, I’m adventurous – rather than for their ability. In most cases, a vehicle like the SX4 will be bought by a young, urban family which will seldom go further off the beaten track than a trip to a game reserve.
Having said that, though, if your family does do that sort of thing, then the AllGrip will definitely be more appropriate.
The other benefit of FWD is, of course, lower fuel consumption.
And the two-wheel-drive GLX SX4 we had on test didn’t disappoint, returning some of the best figures we’ve yet got from a small SUV or crossover vehicle. On my regular highway test route, the SX4 averaged just on 108km/h and gave 4.9 litres per 100km – and this is not a misprint. It is better than quite a few diesels we’ve had over the years, emphasising once again that Suzuki engines run very efficiently.
The 1.6-litre engine produces 86kW and is a version of the one used in the Swift Sport which, in that application, pushes out 100kW. As you’d expect from a motor which doesn’t have a turbo, it struggles at highveld altitudes and has be be revved to extract the best from it. That’s not a problem (apart from bumping up the consumption) because the 1.6 sings eagerly to the 6 500rpm redline.
As far as the interior is concerned, the SX has a decent amount of passenger space and a bigger boot than some of the small SUVs in its class. But it is not huge.
Equipment levels on the GLX version we had are generous: Bluetooth; automatic, dual-zone air conditioning; auto-on lights and wipers, push-button start and parking radar.
In practice, those features are not always top drawer. The Bluetooth system, for instance, appears to be sourced from the