Test Drive Suzuki Aerio (Liana) Sedan 2001 - 2007 Sedan

Minivan-boom

It is this subtitle that I found the minivan boom in one old, the release of the mid-nineties, a foreign road directory. Then the fashion for various minivans, minibuses and other universal passenger vehicles only nascent. The famous Renault Espace and Chrysler Voyager continued their triumphant procession and Chrysler Voyager, almost on each major auto show, a few conceptual karov of such a focus was exhibited, but the real revolution will write later by historians, was still ahead.
 
That subspecies of microminivans, which we have already become accustomed to see, appeared on the conveyors of individual firms and on the roads of the world only due to the efforts of engineers and designers of Renault. It is they first that the whole series of concepts-karov, and then with the production since 1996 quite nontrivial, moreover, simply avant-garde for its time, the Renault Megane Scenic model has shown the world, as far as miserable and uncomfortable cars we still bought and exploited. All the genius of the idea was that the comfort and passenger capacity of a good minivan in this car were combined with practically passenger controllability, maneuverability and minimal external dimensions. In general, it can be said that Renault Scenic was at that time almost an ideal vehicle, especially for family people. Naturally, such a successful and timely idea found quite justified support in the ranks of buyers - since then Scenic remains a permanent leader in sales in its rapidly developing segment.
 
Attempts to create an alternative to minibus and a passenger car at the same time were taken before. Even at the beginning of the eighties, the Japanese put into conveyors similar models, the most massive and popular of which were Nissan Praie and Honda Civic Shuttle. Moreover, Toyota at its time quite a long time released an analogue of a very popular Scenic RX4 today - all-wheel drive tercel 4WD, but none of the three above-mentioned cars could have gained great popularity. Today - other times, the fashion came to unusual and non-trivial models. Therefore, the modern reincarnation of the same Japanese models issued, possibly under other names, is very timely: they are just like inventive demand.
 
Naturally, in such a situation, many automakers did not resist the temptation to have such a model. The results of their zeal we have the opportunity to observe almost every major car dealership. And today, competition in this sector is high as anywhere. Over the past six months, only the Japanese submitted a number of models, and some have shot themselves at once with several cars of different classes. For example, Honda introduced the solubular models of Stream and Jazz, and Toyota generally developed microminivans on the basis of each of its models of European gamut - such popular cars such as Yaris, Corolla and even Avensis today have verso modification. But this is not even part of the market - Nissan Almera Tino, Mazda Demio and Premacy, Misubishi Space Star are already being actively sold. You have not forgotten that we are talking only about Japanese models? All this, I lead to the fact that from the very moment of the appearance on the market of our today's experimental - microminivan Suzuki Liana, the debut of which took place for less than half a year ago, he will be waiting for a tough competitive struggle. Naturally, in order to successfully conquer the market Olympus, in addition to the good reputation of the parent and a low price, it will take at least a couple of trumps. And it seems that he has something to conquer the heart of buyers ....
 
And everything begins with external design. It is logical to judge that the next faceless family car is unlikely to be able to take possession of the market and minds of buyers, the creators of Suzuki Liana were not very limited to the flight of designers' thoughts. And it gave its results. Liana is a rather pretty vehicle.
 
Rearly the car is very original - large lanterns and interesting decoration of the fifth door make it visually lower than it is in fact that she gives it similarity with a sports station wagon. Although Suzuki Liana, in essence, is: in height, it clearly does not reach the usual minivans already offered on the market. However, it does not prevent her from being beautiful and at the same time practical. After all, despite the greater height, the same Scenic is also a five-seater car, and it's not much more. The only advantage that Scenic has a larger volume of the luggage compartment, but it is hardly useful if all the advantage is achieved only by the height of this luggage compartment.
 
Salon Suzuki Liana, especially the dashboard, is incarnated in life, more precisely, in mass production confirmation of the thesis all ingenious simply. While the remaining automakers are trying to create a tidy, an informativeness is not inferior to the Volkswagenovskaya, but at the same time it is not completely copying it completely, the creators of Liana returned to a very popular and even fashionable combination of devices.
 
After turning the ignition key, the driver is surprised at the digital speedometer and the tachometer performed in the form of a graphics - such things were in fashion from American and Japanese automakers for ten years to twelve. Unusually, let's say right, although, as the further test showed, it is very convenient. Bright numbers with a height of about four centimeters is always more noticeable than the position of the white arrow on the militant different colors and the numbmeter numbers. Moreover, somehow it turns out that the driver sees the speedometer testimony all the time, and for the removal of the testimony from the traditional arrow device takes some time. It is also strange that the Japanese did not place the tidy in the middle of the panel, as it is now fashionable to do in all new and original models, and limited to its avant-garde appearance and stuffing. No less convenient, from the user's point of view, that is, the driver was landing behind the wheel and the ram - the thickness of it in the section is almost optimal, and the ergonomics of the driver's workplace turned out to be at the height.
 
Unlike the same Scenic, in Liana, you do not need to look for an optimal posture or rebuild adjustments when changing the motion mode. Riding on the highway with cruising speed or boron - almost an easy landing behind the wheel of Liana provides a quite worthy level of comfort and with a long journey, and when there is a need and the possibility of active handling with interception. By the way, Suzuki Liana, unlike most competitors, is initially felt as a more adder model, with the appropriate adjustment of the driver's landing and the cabin architecture at all. But this does not mean that the spaces in the cabin are not enough: with this, almost single-viscous, silhouette for the internal space of Suzuki Liana, is little inferior in comparable to the size of the minivans of the semi-abnormal layout.
 
The car is available only in a five-seater version as Renault Scenic and Mazda Premacy, but if desired, it would be possible, to the detriment of the comfort of the rear passengers, make it seven-seed - length and layout allow. However, to turn such a superbly tuned car into a seventeent semblance of a minibus would already be superfluous, because it is good Suzuki Liana, which is the most successful transitional option between the usual passenger model and a full-fledged minivan. And many of the future buyers of this car will probably prefer him precisely for the fact that behind the wheel of the Japanese microminivan does not arise at all the complex of inferiority and inexpensiveness inherent in all passenger models of the single-volume layout. And about it in more detail.
 
Liana, in view of the fact that it is at least a hundred kilograms lighter than its main competitor Renault Scenic, in the driving process is felt like a well-sharpened car golf class. You can even say how the sports version of the passenger car. If under the hood stood 2.0- or at least a 1.8-liter engine, it would not be for this car to hang the GTI title. Furious overclocking, sensitive steering, stability - all these indicators from Liana are at the level of a good sports accumulation, even if we take into account that he has a much higher severity.
 
If desired, and, naturally, if there is an appropriate experience, the car can make a turn in the controlled drift - the tires are cling to the road covering to the last, but the limit of their coupling properties occurs much earlier than Liana is really tamed. In a large extent, such a hot driving style contributes to the cooler of the steering - from the stop until the stop is less than two revolutions, so even on the snake you can actively steer without interception. And the higher the speed, the more Liana is likened to the passenger car: when there is a hundred oidometer, and under the wheels there are relatively smooth asphalt, this microminivan in terms of comfort is not much different from the middle class machines
 
The only thing that did not like is - the poor noise insulation of the wheeled arches. Plowed out of the wheels of the pebbles talked with such a sound, as if he got into an empty bucket. Well, maybe not so loud, but against the background of absolute silence, reigning in the Liana cabin when moving on cruising speed, he seemed unacceptably loud. It did not have any other claims: both for the convenience of landing and by the driving qualities of Liana seemed to me quite an adult car, and childhood diseases (such a term automakers are called design flaws in new models) I have not been detected. And it would be surprising if it turned out otherwise: Suzuki Liana was made on the basis of the Baleno model for a long time ago. Therefore, the chassis and the engine of this car are already devoid of childhood diseases. The novelty placed almost everything from Baleno, therefore, the all-wheel drive transmission with the rear wheel drive connected using a multi-digit clutch is also proposed.
 
Minivans, including such a colib, like Suzuki Liana, in our territories there is still a very large wonder. Most perceives them either as utilitarian transport, or, at best, like a car for women. To break such the foundations overnight will not work, but with the advent of such models like Suzuki Liana, it becomes more and more real. Beautiful cars, regardless of class affiliation, always enjoyed good demand, and a visual example is Chrysler Pt Cruiser. But before that time, most buyers decided to buy more versatile than ordinary sedan or hatchback, models were forced to put up with more than a calm character of microminivans. And if the powerful and dynamic models were produced, then find microminivan with good handling was quite difficult. Now it's much easier: Suzuki Liana appeared - a light minivan with sharp steering and suspension settings, which allows not only to transport the whole family with extensive folding, but, at the event case, arrange a good delay on the winding track. So the case is now only for you ...
 
Subjective opinion:
 
(+) The well-thought-out ergonomics of the driver's workplace, acute steering, a spacious interior and trunk.
 
(-) Lack of torque on low revs, poor noise insulation of wheeled niches.
 
Text: Pavel Kozlovsky
 

A source: Autogase / N 32 (335) from 10.10.01