Suzuki SX4

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Suzuki SX4 overall verdict

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‘A descendent of our dear-departed reasonably-priced Liana, but has a four-wheel-drive option. Can’t see the point, unless you’re Sir Michael Gambon.’
Our buying tip

Think hard, really hard, about why you’re buying an SX4. Then write it down in a well-argued, concise form. Because no-one else understands this car so you’re gonna have a lot of explaining to do.

The Suzuki SX4 is the separated-at-birth twin of the Fiat SX4, but apart from a good Fiat diesel engine, the pair are basically all Suzuki. Not something Suzuki can be especially proud of though. It’s a not-very-good smaller Nissan-Qashqai-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 60mph 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. Though we'd expect buyer sentiment to mean the ‘Japanese' version (the Suzuki) to hold its value a little better than the ‘Italian' (the Fiat Sedici).