Suzuki SX4 sedan test drive since 2006 sedan

Review of the new car Suzuki SX4, 2006

On July 4, 2006, a new Suzuki SX4 model for the Japanese buyer appeared on the Japanese market. Why is it important to emphasize that this car is a novelty for a Japanese buyer? Because before its appearance, the car has already been sold in Europe. This kind of sequence of actions directly indicates that the new car was made mainly in the calculation of the European buyer. Indeed, no one in Suzuki denies that this machine is the third model that has strategically important, world significance. Of course, there is, in view of the desire of Suzuki, to mean its presence in foreign automobile markets, and to strengthen its influence there. But what features this new model differs, which is called only as a car of the new generation Suzuki brand of the Suzuki brand. Read about this in the material of our journalist.
 
A strategically important model with a slope towards Europe.
If in a nutshell to determine the place that, in theory, should take the new SX4 car among other machines of the Suzuki family, then this is, in all likelihood, there will be a niche that formed between the compact SWIFT car and an outdoor car for outdoor activities (SUV) Suzuki Escudo.
It is easy to assume that in the conditions of a favorable situation, when the sales of micro -lines are quite successful, Suzuki decided to make a breakthrough from micro to a small lice, which succeeded and manufactured in such machines. In fact, you can’t rest on the laurels, you need to constantly make yourself felt by others! The result, or better to say, the embodiment of this strategic idea was the SX4 model.
As already mentioned, this new car will be sold not only and not so much in Japan. The main task of making it rather competitive in the European and North American market. Not only was his first phenomenon not in the domestic market, but in distant Europe, and an agreement was also concluded with the Fiat company on the release of a certain limited number of such machines as part of the generally accepted practice of authorized borrowing (OEM). All these circumstances indicate that the main emphasis in the development of the new SX4 model was not at all on the domestic Japanese market, and not even to the North America market. No, the main competition, according to strategists from Suzuki, should unfold precisely on the European bridgehead.
Indeed, the development of events quite favored the implementation of this plan. Judge for yourself: the European buyer perceived the appearance of the SX4 model quite favorably, which immediately affected the volume of sales. And it is possible that Fiat is about to make an offer to increase the production limits of these machines under the OEM agreement. And you know what suddenly came to my mind in this regard? It is generally accepted that the most exemplary implementation network is built by Toyota. This is true. However, in some cases, for example, when it is necessary to immediately respond to newly opened circumstances of the conjecture plan, Suzuki will give one hundred points ahead.
And how can you determine the niche in which the new Suzuki SX4 model will have to be? It is said that this is a sports hatchback of high passage (Sport Crossover Hatchback). Honestly, I do not remember that such a classification definition has ever been used before. The length and width of the base model are 4165 mm x 1730 mm, respectively. By the way, it was originally planned that the length of the car would be no more than 4 meters, and its width is 1.7 meters. However, some additional considerations appeared. In particular, it turned out that in such overalls it was not possible to fully implement a planned plan regarding the design of the new machine. Yes, and adjusting the size of a new car to European standards was also very useful. And if so, Down with the previous restrictions, you give a world level! So the car received some increase in both length and width compared to what was conceived at first.
The interior of the salon, which was developed jointly with Italian designers, seems to me extremely interesting. I must say that in the process of working on the design of the SX4 car, which was entrusted to the studio headed by the designer Mr. Jujaro, a considerable number of amendments and comments were made from Suzuki, sometimes it came to serious disagreements. Nevertheless, the authors of the project do not regret at all that the design of the new car was developed on a joint basis. The point here is not only that the design studio has assumed the main part of the work. The reason lies deeper: without such complicity from European experts it was impossible to seriously count on the fact that the machine would acquire a European flavor. And without this, the very idea to make a car that would be in mass demand among European buyers would be difficult.
It should be noted that Swift and Escudo cars are exactly the same strategically important for Suzuki. But the fact is that Swift was intended mainly for Japan, and Escudo was oriented primarily to America. Unlike these two machines of the Suzuki family, the SX4 car initially tried to make the most similar to the European.
A worsened review, but good maneuverability.
Compared to the SWIFT car, the new SX4 model is more than 40 cm longer. However, a strange thing is visually perceived more compact. The front door is equipped with a triangular window, the lower edge of which, as it were, completes the line of the body waist. And suddenly at the very last moment she jumps up sharply. This technique is a successful designer find, because it gives the appearance of a kind of highlight. Another same highlight can be considered the color design of the back of the main and rear additional rack. The back of the additional stand is darkened, and the main back stand is painted in the color of the body.
Due to the fact that the construction of the body provides an additional front stand, the doorway has a slightly elaborate configuration. I immediately paid attention to this when I opened the front door from the driver's side to get behind the wheel. He sat down, and immediately felt some inconvenience. The fact is that the main front stand has a rather massive shape, it is too forward and therefore significantly increases the zone that remains outside the limits of visibility (dead zone). This becomes especially obvious when the driver begins to turn to the right.
By the way, Suzuki plans to make a sports car on the basis of this model to participate in the world rally championship next, 2007. In this case, I want to ask: and not happen so that the presence of such a dead zone will be a serious test for the driver of such a serious competition? I believe that this is one of the significant flaws available in the new SX4 car.
The distance between the upper edge of the driver’s seat (hip point) and the surface of the road is 620 mm. At the same time, the hood line and the lower edge of the side glasses are located quite low, therefore, in general, both the front and lateral review of the driver is wonderful. Of course, the minimum turning radius, which is 5.3 meters, cannot be called record small. But since the dimensions of the machine are visually determined very clearly, it seems that in fact this radius is much smaller.
Now a few words about the design of the salon. It is clear that if the developers defined the class of a machine as a car of increased patency, it goes without saying that the salon will be deliberately uncomplicated. However, getting inside, for some time you feel like somewhat deprived of decorative signs of attention, everything is so simple in the cabin. The front panel visually seems overly angular, the quality of its manufacture does not cause special complaints by the standards of a 1.5-liter class machine. But the panel does not clearly reach the level of the class 2 liter model.
The color design of the cabin is represented by one single option dark gray. In general, I will express my assessment in a somewhat ornate form: in the future it is planned to expand the SX4 lineup due to the development of additional modifications. And there is every reason to believe that the interior of the salon will also be modified. And this means that the time of interior to endure the final verdict has not yet come. Only this pleases.
The difference between SX4 and SWIFT.
For testing races, the organizers of the event prepared two SX4 lineup machines: 1.5XG model with the front wheel drive, and the 2.0S machine, equipped with a 4WD all -wheel drive system. To get started, I chose a car with a 1.5 liter engine.
At the very beginning of the movement, the car seemed to me unexpectedly frisky. No, I can’t say that it fell off, but it was mistaken that the engine of this car has an extra 200-300 cubes, it was still possible. It was so much that the initial torque would have pulled it, which at the time of the start developed its engine.
Then everything returned to normal, and on my actions the gas pedal, the machine showed such a receipt that is usually characteristic of machines with one and a half liter engines. By the way, the active power output at the beginning at the beginning at the time of the start and its tangible decrease to the normal level subsequently, such a metamorphosis is characteristic of machines, the engines of which are equipped with an automatic change in gas distribution phases.
The steering mechanism is equipped with an electric amplifier, but a sense of controllability of the front wheels is still at a fairly decent level. At least, when you sharply turn the steering wheel at low speed, the steering wheel drive comes more actively, without sticking. And this is a new machine different from the Suzuki Swift model.
On the other hand, when I tried to act quickly and sweepingly in the rifling mode in the garage mode, I unfortunately discovered that the efforts transmitted to the steering drive are clearly not enough. Having taken this note, I decided to check myself and completed exactly the same actions, already, while driving the SX4 2.0S car. Checking, I must say, gave similar results.
The ability of the suspension to provide wheels constant contact with the road, following all the irregularities of the road surface, can be evaluated satisfactorily. The course of the car is quite soft, although not as graceful as the SWIFT car. I will express my thought differently: when I first got behind the wheel of the Swift car, the smoothness of the move simply struck me. So, at the first acquaintance with the new SX4 model, I did not feel anything like that.
It can be easily assumed that the machine that is equipped with a 1.5 -liter engine and which is driven by front -wheel drive, and will be the best -selling SX4. It turns out that in this regard, the new model is not much different from the SWIFT machine. In this case, what separate existence can we talk about? So it is possible that these models will be in the role of competitors.
The second number I had a SX4 2.0S model. Its traction characteristics were noticeably higher, and this is not surprising. After all, its engine has a larger one 500 cubic meters. See working volume. And even if the difference in weight is a little more than 100 kg, this does not change the matter. Therefore, to me, who had just drove a car with a one and a half liter engine, the 2.0S model seemed an order of magnitude more powerful. However, on the other hand, I can’t help but note that the transition of a 4-speed automatic transmission from one transmission to another was accompanied by sharp changes in engine speed, and the amount of torque changes very noticeably. Even according to formal signs, a combination of a 2-liter motor and only 4-speed automatic transmission currently seems to be some kind of misunderstanding, right?
Of course, 17-inch wheels, combined with a low-set suspension, give the machine a more sporty character, this is good. It is only bad that in return this body sometimes experiences unexpectedly sensitive shocks, when, due to defects in the road, the suspension is forced to act randomly. And here I will once again compare a new car with a machine standing in the Swift lineup, namely, with the SWIFT Sport model. And you know, the comparison is clearly not in favor of the SX4 model. I already hear objections that, they say, Swift Sport is, first of all, speed, while when developing a SX4 car, the task was to make it as stable as possible. Yes, all this is so, and, nevertheless, even if the cars were conceived for different purposes, to say that in the case of SX4 to maintain comfort at a decent level, I would not dare to. There is a certain success, but this is not what is called an entry into an apple.
It was noted above that the SX4 car belongs to a group of completely new cars. Maybe this is precisely why his character did not fully decide. At least for me, he remained mostly unclear. Now it remains only to wait for what verdict the domestic Japanese market will bring this international model.
Technical characteristics of the Suzuki SX4 1.5 XG model:
Length 4135 mm x width 1755 mm x height 1605 mm.
Wheel base: 2500 mm.
Machine weight: 1190 kg.
Drive: front wheel drive
Engine: 1.5-liter, 4-cylinder with a vertically in order of cylinders, a DOCH gas distribution mechanism with 16 valves, maximum developed power of 110 hp. at 6000 rpm, the greatest torque is 14.6 kg/m at 4000 rpm.
Basic price: 1 million 648.5 thousand yen
Technical characteristics of the Suzuki SX4 2.0S model:
Length 4135 mm x width 1730 mm x height 1570 mm.
Wheel base: 2500 mm.
Machine weight: 1310 kg.
Drive: all -wheel drive
Engine: 2-liter, 4-cylinder with a vertically in order of cylinders, a DOCH gas distribution mechanism with 16 valves, maximum developed power of 145 hp. at 5800 rpm, the largest torque is 19.7 kg/m at 4000 rpm.
Basic price: 2 million 37 thousand yen
 
 
 

Source: Webcg.net