Suzuki SX4

The SX4 is not something Suzuki can be especially proud of. It’s a not-very-good smaller Nissan-Dualis-type-thingy.

• Comfort

  The ride in the SX4 is too harsh for a car that purports to be an urban SUV, and any efforts to isolate driver from road have been woefully off target. There's plenty of space inside, however.

  

• Performance

  What with the SX4's lack of mid-corner competence, speed is seldom something you'll want to factor into your daily drive. Which is handy, as it'll only get to 100km/h in around 11 seconds.

  

• Cool

  Come off it. You can have it standard, which is an ugly supermini. Or you can have the off-road look, which is an ugly supermini with unconvincing plastic mouldings hung on. No-one sees the point.

  

• Quality

  It might be a joint venture with Fiat, but the Hungarian factory where the SX4 is built has the hand of Japanese quality control on it. So the cars come out squeak-free and nicely finished.

  

• Handling

  Behaves as you'd expect a jacked up supermini to behave. It's all over the place. Too tall for its short wheelbase and narrow width, you'll take one corner at speed and then spend the rest of your life backing off. And that's the 4wd version. The 2wd has all that plus added wheelspin in the wet.

  

• Practicality

  Despite its modest dimensions the SX4, courtesy of a high roofline, is big enough inside to be a useable family car. But not if your family has any possessions, as the boot is tiny.

  

• Running costs

  Depreciation is an unknown quantity at the moment, but expect a car that makes precious little sense to anyone to take a hammering in its first couple of years.