Front tyres are down to 4mm on the Swift so it's time for a new car.....
Suzuki Kizashi 63-plate, 4k miles - My 12-plate Swift Sport and 4 grand - stickered at £12,999 [nice 9 grand drop from list in 3 or 4 months...] - I reckoned my car was worth ~£8k as p-ex so quite happy with deal.
Bought it on Saturday from a nearby dealer, and funnily enough the guys I bought my Swift from 2 years ago in Stirling 'phoned me this morning to advise me they had a similar spec/age/mileage Kizashi in with a sticker price of £14,000.
Autotrader has a stash around £13-15 grand... mine is same colour as this one:
www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201403082354698
- This one has more pics but different colour: www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201403072330383
Was suspicious that the CVT box would be a turd after reading loads of reviews, but after a couple of hours test drive it's an excellent unit - reviewers really are idiots when they test anything not mainstream or not packing a turbo-disease.
Handling is quite sweet - absorbent ride and turns well enough (not as sharp as the Swift but that was almost 600kg lighter) - on 235/45x18 Dunlops which are nice and quiet (and fairly pricey).
Understeer is obtained from accelerating hard out of a damp mini-roundabout - press the AWD button and it becomes neutral doing the same - feels similar to the CRV I used to have as if you can feel the rear wheels stepping in to cure the front end slipping.
Flappy paddles can be used at any time to use 6-preset ratios with supersmooth shifts, or you let the gearbox make its own mind up.
Floor it and revs rise to ~6,000rpm - it's a 16v VVT unit so it's not exactly rough, although I'm sure Rattle would faint if he drove it...
Don't floor it and it resembles a TC auto (it has a torque converter as well as the variable ratios), and at a cruise it is running around 35mph/1000rpm.
31mpg with a fair bit of 'testing it out' driving is pretty decent for a 2.4 petrol.
Insurance £150 (full comp, over 40, clean licence, max NCD)
Tax £260 as it's 190g/km CO2 or thereabouts - same as out 1.8 auto FRV.
Interior space: think Octavia. Boot is decent at 461 litres and split-fold seats may prove useful. Only downside is the loss of headroom due to the sunroof: seat is on it's lowest setting and if I used 'product' in my hair (which I don't) I'm sure the rooflining would have a stain above my head!
Space-saver wheel under boot floor is adequate for my needs.
Under 13 grand for a virtually new luxury-spec Jap 4wd saloon?
Bargain, but it's going to be worth buttons in a couple of years!
Last edited by: Lygonos on Mon 17 Mar 14 at 22:04
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