Oct 18th, 2009 by Ross Edwards
The 2010 Suzuki Kizashi has officially launched. The company’s new mid-size sedan is designed to offer more features and better value than competing cars in its segment, a strategy that Suzuki points out it has already used on the SX4 and the soon to be brought to America Swift. The Kizashi has push-button ignition, built-in USB port, a 185-horsepower four-cylinder engine and either a six-speed manual or paddle-shifted CVT transmission. The Kizashi will be available in U.S. dealerships by the end of the year.
One of the cooler features of the Suzuki Kizashi is the available all wheel-drive system. Like most AWD systems, the Kizashi’s is connected via computer to the traction control system and will automatically activate when needed to keep the car on the road. Unlike most cars with AWD, the Kizashi has a switch on the instrument panel that allows the driver to activate all four wheels at will for performance or bad weather driving.
The well-equipped Suzuki Kizashi base model will start under $20,000. The most economical Kizashi model will be the base “S” model with 16-inch wheels and the optional CVT transmission, which will get 23 mpg city and 31 mpg highway.
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That’s a really nice looking car! I had seen the concept car at an autoshow already. It was a real looker… very flashy and sleek, but maybe a bit too outlandish for an actual production model. Suzuki did a great job at toning it down while at the same time still leaving alot of the design elements intact. This car will age really well.
One thing that this article didn’t mention though is all the engineering that went into this car. There is nothing else like the Kizashi in this catagory of car on the road today!
For starters show me another car in the segment that has: aluminum pistons with low tensile force rings, forged connecting rods, forged crankshaft, timing CHAIN (not a belt), balance shafts, hydraulic valve lifters AND coil-over ignition. There are none.
If you don’t know what all that means, trust me, it means this car will be a great performer and is better engineered than anything in its catagory and price level. The prices are going to start around 19k, and go up to 25k for a totally loaded version complete with AWD! To get anything even close to this car you will have to spend ATLEAST 10k to 20K more that you will with Kizashi.
Suzuki tends to put it’s money where you can’t see it, unlike other brands that sell a fancy interior on a dinosaur chassis. Multi-link fully independent suspension too, no lame-o semi-trailing arms or torsion beams to be found on this car.
Combine all those features w/ the AWD option and there’s plenty to differentiate this car from Honda’s, Toyota’s, VW’s and Subaru’s, etc.