The SX4 is made in partnership with Fiat, which will sell the SX4 – restyled and with standard 4x4 underpinnings – as the Sedici.
It is built on a stretched version of the Swift’s platform, which means that Suzuki engineering underpins both cars rolling out of the firm’s Magyar factory in Hungary.
Fiat’s chief contribution to the project may only be an engine (a 120bhp 1.9-litre Multijet turbodiesel unit), but it’s a fine one. Suzuki’s supporting 1.6-litre VVT petrol motor powers the four-wheel-drive SX4 4GRIP GLX tested here and develops a more modest 107bhp.
Even so, that’s competitive in a class that comprises only the VW Polo Dune (£12,645, 75bhp), the Citroën C3 XTR (£12,040, 97bhp) and the smaller 4x4 hatch, the Fiat Panda (£9195, 90bhp).
None of these cars, SX4 included, has been designed as a serious mud- plugger. They’re ‘soft-roaders’ – cute urban chariots with a grafted-on 4x4 design personality but no more than ‘occasional’ off-road ability.
That said, the SX4’s electric 4WD is quite sophisticated. It gives the driver three options, accessed by a switch. The choices are front-wheel drive (best for economy, especially around town), ‘auto’ four-wheel drive (the default all-weather setting) and ‘lock’ (if the going gets tough).
Under the floor, an electronically controlled nine-plate clutch pack takes drive to the rear wheels. Select auto and when the system detects a disparity between the speeds of the front and rear wheels, it clutches in the rear drive.
The third setting simply locks the front and rear axles together until you exceed 37mph, or try to corner too energetically, whereupon it allows the clutches to slip. And there’s always the Electronic Stability Program to mop up any untidiness.
Although the SX4 indulges in a fair bit of stylistic posturing (the sham underbody protection plates are the most obvious example), the overall shape, developed in collaboration with Giugiaro’s Italdesign, looks appropriately chunky and funky.
