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Outside

The Liana had lots of headroom and passenger space by means of placing occupants in an upright fashion. Given this method of styling and design that was carried over to the SX4, the sedan might appeal to a slightly older crowd of buyers.

The front is differently styled, where the bumper and front grille looks rather peculiar. Moving back, the A pillars look similar to that of the hatch, while the rest is history.

The wheels on our test car looked alarming small, and the vacant space in the wheel arches looked equally alarming.

Inside

The story is a little bit different here. You'll find yourself seated comfortably in leathers that do not appear to have been an afterthought. That's a relief, considering the bad quality of leather that we have seen in a few well regarded Korean, even Thai manufactured models.

Here you will find a tilt-adjustable, electrically assisted steering wheel, electric windows with driver's auto down function, electrically adjustable mirrors, an eight-speaker CD audio system with MP3 functions and steering remote controls, a trip computer, air-conditioning with pollen filters, dual front airbags and a full barrage of brake assist systems like ABS and EBD.

The Mechanicals

A 16 valve, dual overhead camshaft 1.6 litre found in the SX4 produces a rather standard 109 bhp at 5600rpm and 140 Nm at 4000rpm. The transversely mounted power plant is mated to the front wheels is by a "standard" four-speed automatic.

The chassis gets MacPherson struts up front and (surprise!) a torsion beam in the back. Not that it doesn't work, but with cars already adopting the independent rear suspension layout, Suzuki's philosophy of fixing "proven" parts to its cars might cause it to lose out in the long term.

The upside though, would be that the car has a boot capacity of 515 litres.

Driving Impressions

The first thing that needs getting used to is the upright driving position. It felt as if we were piloting something much bigger and taller than expected, but this uneasy feeling of height soon disappeared the minute we presented the SX4 with a series of bends.

The SX4 corners like an angry Italian wife with a ladle in hand. Steering feedback is more than adequate, and turn in is crisp, precise and very, very predictable.
It does the century dash in 11 seconds on a hot day, but it feels rather lethargic. Aside from engine noise at high rpms, the car cruises wonderfully well at normal highway speeds, and it will put most continental rivals to shame in this respect.

The instruments and dials are highly legible, and everything is in the right place should you require them.

Why?

It's price is really good in terms of value. I might have to add that I could hardly find anything lacking in terms of performance abilities and equipment levels, especially when compared to the Mitsubishi Lancer EX 1.5, 4 speed automatic. Pair it up with cars like the Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Avante and Nissan Latio, and you get what we mean.

Perhaps the SX4 might not be as handsome as the Lancer EX, but for the buyer who doesn't care whether a car has drum brakes or not (a good bargain point), the SX4 goes beyond what one might expect.

Specifications

Price

: $54,900

Engine

: 4 Cylinders 16-valve M16A

Power

: 109Bhp @ 5600rpm ( 68.7bhp/litre)

Torque

: 140Nm @ 4000rpm

Transmission

: 4 -speed Auto

Length/width/height

: 4510 / 1730 / 1545 mm

Wheelbase

: 2500 mm

Kerb weight

: 1205 kg

0-100km/h

: 12 sec

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