Almost every manufacturer from Audi (Q5) to VW (Tiguan) has a small crossover, which is a mix of a 5-door hatchback and a sports utility vehicle.
Suzuki, maker of a sporty Kizashi sedan/coupe, Grand Vitara SUV and compact SX4 Sedan, has joined the crowd. Raising the roof on the SX4, the result is a Suzuki SX4 Sportback.
In a market with compacts like Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tuscon/Kia Sportage, Toyota Matrix, Mitsubishi Outlander and other tall 5-door station wagons based on sedans, what’s the SX4 Sportback got? And is it any different than the one we tested a year ago?
Here’s the lowdown.
SX4 scenery – The shape is sure nice in red, penned by ItalDesign and full of cheeky design and a happy face. Its angular nose has a slim mesh grill flanked by upswept headlights over a wide-mouth lower grill flanked by foglights in fake side vents. The short sloping hood meets a swept-back windshield, while gentle fender flares add a bit of depth to the smooth flanks. A nice design touch is the dip the side window takes forward of the large side mirrors, with a “vent” window there. The lower window line then gets a gentle rise along the shoulder-line, meeting a reverse-angle C-pillar before rear side windows that look like they wrap around into the big rear glass on the hatchback. The roofline has a gentle roundness accented by clean black roof rails, while the rear overhang is short, accented by large taillights. Ten-spoke alloy wheels wear 17-inch Dunlop rubber. Despite a bit of added height to the SX4 sedan, it looks sporty and low thanks to body-color side skirts and a rear bumper fascia. My mechanic said it looked “European” before he worked on my Alfa Romeo. Oh, FYI – while Suzuki does make an SX4 Crossover (that’s its name), there really is no design difference between it and our SX4 Sportback other than the Crossover’s all-wheel-drive. Confused?
Suzuki civility – The car gets keyless entry to allow access to fine-weave black cloth bucket seats with a geometric insert pattern and decent comfort and support. You sit almost minivan high here, for a great view of the world around you that isn’t SUV high. The driver gets manual height adjustment too, the better to gaze upon a simple white on black gauge package with a 140-mph speedometer and 8,000-rpm tach framing a white LCD trip computer with odometer/trip meter and instant mileage gauge, and temperature and gas gauge above. Pewter plastic trim rings them, with red gauge illumination at night. One difference from the 2010 model we tested – no standard Garmin satellite navigation unit mounted on a pop-up dash-top door, which was a nice touch, but not installed well. Mobile sounds come from an 8-speaker AM-FM-CD-XM Satellite-ready sound system that sounded good to about three-quarters, but got a bit overloaded at full rock and roll volume. There is an MP3 input on the faceplate, but no iPod interface. The a/c system under it worked just fine, very cooling on a warm spring day. There’s lots of storage space underneath and in the doors, but it’s hard plastic and things rattle. Glove box size is usable, and we liked the front seats’ inboard armrests, although they got in the way of my elbow when shifting. Two adults will fit in the back seat, but the knees of anyone closing in or above 6-foot will impress into the soft back of the driver’s seat. A Honda Fit fits two in back better, as does a Scion xB. For storage, the SX4 Sportback has a decent-size rear cargo deck with seatbacks that split and fold easily, and a deep hidden compartment under the rear deck. The rear window is so big the rear seat head restraints don’t intrude much on rearward vision. The sun-visors also extend to help keep sun out of your eyes on sunny days, but they felt flimsy.
SX4 endurance – With a 150-hp four cylinder engine under the hood, hooked to a precise if long-shift 6-speed manual, the SX4 Sportback felt zippy, although our 2,400-mile-old 5-door took 10.1 seconds to get to 60-mph. That’s a tenth more than last year’s slightly higher mileage tester did it in. Passing power was good, and fuel mileage was an acceptable 27-mpg on the trip computer. Again, for comparison, that zip to 60-mph was 11 seconds for a Honda Fit and 8.7 for a base MINI Cooper with manual. The car – uh, crossover - is certainly sporty enough thanks to McPherson struts up front and a rear torsion beam suspension with firmer shock tuning and nice rubber. The ride was firm, even a bit sporty, yet comfortable over most surfaces. We did feel some chop in the ride over bumps, and catching a ripple in a turn did upset the composure momentarily until it settled back in. Last year, a full load of four back-seat passengers commented about a bouncy ride. Being a kind of crossover, we got a bit of lean in turns, gentle understeer scrubbing speed if pushed, but throttle controlled it, (defeatable) stability control adding more if pushed. A week’s worth of commuting showed the Sportback was agile and fun for most driving duties. Precise power steering helped, while the four-wheel disc brakes had standard ABS and electronic brake-force distribution and stopped the SX4 well. We did get some fade after four hits from 60-mph, though.
SX4 salary – This was about as base as an SX4 Sportback could get, but it wasn’t sparse. Starting at $16,599, our base SX4 had power windows/locks/mirrors, leather-clad steering wheel, fog lights, CD player, a/c, ground effects package, 17-inch alloy wheels, trip computer, six air bags and stability/traction control. With no options, it was $16,724 with destination. The same cars we compared it with last year are still around - a KiaRio5 has the same wheelbase and is close in length, at about $16,000; a Honda CR-V EX is $26,000; and a Honda Fit Sport is about $17,000. The newest competitor is a 2011 Kia Sportage, which starts at $18,000 with a new 176-hp motor and dramatic new styling. The Fit Sport is the athlete in handling, the new Sportage offering more standards.
Bottom line: The 2011 Suzuki SX4 Sportback is still a cute, mostly roomy and relatively inexpensive compact crossover with good standard equipment, nice fuel mileage and sporty-enough driving manners. The low price really brings it into consideration compared to other crossovers, and the ItalDesign is cool enough that some friends actually commented on it. But some of the other crossovers and 5-door compacts have more sophistication, room and power, even better gas mileage.
2011 Suzuki SX4 Sportback
Specifications
Vehicle type - Compact front-wheel-drive 4-door hatchback crossover
Base price - $16,599(as tested: $16,724)
Engine type - DOHC 16-valve in-line four
Displacement - 2-liter
Horsepower (net) - 150-hp at 6,200 rpm
Torque (lb-ft) - 140 at 4,000 rpm
Transmission - 6-speed manual
Wheelbase - 98.4 in.
Overall length - 162 in.
Overall width - 69.1 in.
Height – 61.8 in.
Front headroom - 39.6 in.
Front legroom - 41.4 in.
Rear headroom - 37.6 in.
Rear legroom - 35.9 in.
Cargo capacity - 16 cu.in. loaded to ceiling/43 w/rear seat down
Curb weight - 2,734 lbs.
Fuel capacity - 13.2 gallons
Mileage rating - 22 city/30 highway
Last word – Cheap but decent and a bit sporty too
By Dan Scanlan - MyCarData
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