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I had my first drive in one of these today, and it was the first Suzuki I have driven since the dreadfull Vitara of the 90s. It is shame that the UK market does not get the 2 litre engine that the Aussie's do because with the bigger engine it gives the car reasonable performance. I was honestly very surprised, and as I was looking at possible replacements for my '01 Impreza (AWD for me is a must), I would rate it above the 2 litre Impreza (shock!). Congratulations Suzuki.

A lucky wee girl who stables her horse at the same livery as my partner has just got one of these. I say lucky because it was purchased by her Mum And Dad. I had to smile when she told me she HAD to have a four wheel drive because of the bad weather. The strange thing is her previous two wheel drive Swift made it up the farm road to the stables every day of the bad weather of November and December which quite impressed me esspecially as she's just a teenager and hadn't long passed her test.

That aside having seen the little Suki close up I've got to say in spite of my usual disdain for this sort of car and the people who drive them I've got to confess that I quite like it.

tannedbaldhead:

That aside having seen the little Suki close up I've got to say in spite of my usual disdain for this sort of car and the people who drive them I've got to confess that I quite like it

Yeah, I went with my Mum 3 years ago for a test drive in a two wheel drive GLX. Was pretty decent, although the visibilty at the sides was pretty poor, caused by the extra pillars of the little side windows by the wing mirrors. That's quite common though these days, especially with thick windscreen pillars to have poor visibility.

Nice little car although seemed a lot of road noise. The 3 door RAV4 she ended up with was much quieter inside.

Nice 2nd hand buy those SX4's. Agree about the 4wd. Probably pointless for most people but they look nice and chunky, if that's what you're after.

The SX4 and Fiat Sedici sibling have always been the sort of cars that are relatively expensive and unatractive - the sort of cars where there is always something better to be had at the price - when new but as soon as depreciation takes hold, become fantastic second hand buys.

The build quality and reliability are good, as is the overall package.

Looked at one the other day on a forecourt (first one I'd seen in ages) and though what a fantastic buy it would be.  Chunky, robust and not overly 4x4 enough to use every day.

Drove a Nissan Tiida/Latio 1.5 CVT today. Everything just feels right in this car - the engine's quiet, smooth and responsive, the electric power steering is nicely weighted and the car handles well enough. It's such an effortless thing to drive and Nissans are utterly reliable too. Tiida simply feels light years ahead of my '09 Grande Punto. Now I understand why the Japanese are selling more cars worldwide than the folks from Turin.

...and I think, sadly, auto journalists are out of touch with reality. Cars with bags of character/soul alone won't shift in loads.