I have to confess to being a little reluctant to drive this car to a first date. Not that I really care what a stranger thinks about the car I drive, but I'm more concerned with how the car I drive makes me feel. Decidedly, while driving to a first date, I want to feel confident and sexy. I wouldn't think that driving a Suzuki would make me feel that way, but after a few more dates with the same fellow, he confessed that I looked extra adorable in the Kizashi. Can I keep it a little longer? I think a color other than "did-we-forget-to-paint-the-metal?" silver would also make a big impact on the aesthetic appeal.
Climbing in and out of the Kizashi for my little ones was a breeze thanks to its low step-in height. The trunk release, however, was a pain to figure out. There's a release button of the key fob, but it was touchy and didn't seem to work all the time. There's also a release button on the lower left side of the instrument panel, but that took me more than a week to find. This is a perfect example as to why you should actually read your car's owner's manual when you buy it. There's tons of trunk space in the Kizashi — enough room to hold three sets of golf clubs for our first golf lesson of the season.
The Kizashi has a 180-horsepower, 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. With an EPA-estimated 23/30 mpg city/highway, we got quite a few trips to and from the golf course on just one tank of regular gas.
SENSE AND STYLE Family Friendly (Not Really, Fair, Great, Excellent): Fair-Great Fun-Factor (None, Some, Good Times, Groove-On): Some-Groove-On
Styling
The Grand Vitara has been around in its current form since the 2006 model
year, and its exterior design has aged quite well. It's one of the more
conservatively styled crossovers out there, with a ...
A Stereo of Note
As a longtime audio freak as well as a car reviewer, I know that speaker
counts, wattage claims and the term "premium stereo" mean nothing in the real
world. I like to highlight when an ...
Quality Interior
The interior is where observers were most pleasantly surprised, thanks to a
clean design, good materials and construction, and a mostly quiet cabin,
excepting the occasional engine rumble mentione ...