Kizashi Club

My story is I currently own a VY SS Commodore M6. I have been a mad V8 person for as long as I can remember. After an exhaust and mafless tune my SS is putting out 230kw at the rear wheels.
I love this car but it is getting old, I am starting to have some issues with it and after moving from the country into the city it is killing me financially on fuel.
My wife is at me to get ride of it so on the weekend we went and test drove a few cars. They were and my thoughts on each were:
2012 VW Jetta 118TSi DSG, smooth ride and steering, very plan interior and quality not as good as expected. Imposible to drive smoothly due to DSG, no back seat room, massive boot. Overall I was dissapointed and expected more.
2010 Mazda 6 Classic, 17,000km, great features such as Bluetooth and wireless audio streaming, flash looking dash, heaps of room, hatch convenience, fairly quick for a 4cyl,Iikes to rev, smooth gearbox. Felt tinny though, not solid, plastics marked very easy and seat material felt thin and cheap. Overall felt older than it was.

2010 Mazda SP25, grat features as per Mazda 6 plus satnav. Really quite quick which I loved coming from the SS, felt more solid than Mazda 6 but overall just to small for our needs.

2010 Suzuki Kizashi XL CVT, 13.000km. Surprise packet of the lot. Was expecting cheap and crappy but was pleasantly surprised. Smooth ride if not a bit jiggly, great steering feedback, cvt smooth. Relatively quick, but a bit slower than others tested - didn't seem to want to rev past 5,500rpm. Quality plastics the best out of all ars tested, but most of all it felt solid, the car felt brand new which after the Mazda 6 was extremely impressive.

After going over all cars the kizashi was by far the favourite only it doesnt have Bluetooth which in my job is a big thing.

I am after people's opinions who have owned them for a while, how the hold up? What the cvt is like to live with? Would u buy something different if u went back? Fuel economy in the real world?
Thanks for all and any help, I may be joining you all very soon.

After a little more than a year, I am satisfied. This is a high quality car that holds up. The cvt may take a bit of getting used to, but I am fine with it. It seems sluggish starting off, but once you are going, the acceleration curve is excellent. Passing on the highway is a pleasure. Mileage is very good on regular gas. I have Bluetooth on the Nav unit, so see if that is available.

Right now my car is sitting at 23000km after 1 year and 5 months. pretty satisfied with the car but there are some small problems.

Pros: great handling, gas mileage isn't too bad, lots of standard features for what you pay for, high end interior

Cons: sound insulation isn't so good, rear suspension squeaks when temp is near 0 celsius, occasional grinding noise near gear shift, brake screeches when braking, a bit underpowered

Northernstar wrote:Cons: sound insulation isn't so good

after coming out of a Rubicon Wrangler w/ Goodyear MTRs, I find the insulation to be FANTASTIC!

Seriously though, it's far superior compared to the 2012 2.5SE Jetta I just spent time in, or the 2011 Hyundai what-ever-it was SUV I rented a while ago. I don't agree that it's a Con in any way.

Agree relative to a lot of other similarly priced cars sound proofing is better.

LOL, I came out of a 04 camry and even at 8 years with 120k km, it is quieter than the kizashi. I guess it's all relative not absolute

I've always been very impressed with how little road noise there is while riding in the kizashi. I've ridden in many cars including mid 2000's camry's and they were no where close to it. Maybe the door seals on your kizashi are bad?

LOL, i am pretty sure my door seals are perfectly fine. You have take into consideration that 2000 and 2004 camry are two totally different generations of camry so that prob can make a difference.

I'm sure they are different. I said mid 2000's. Either way...the kizashi isn't a loud car and that is likely one of the last things I'd complain about with it. subpar initial acceleration, thin paint, small dealer network....sure. Cabin noise? not so much

It is not a loud car by all means, just louder than my camry for my liking. non the less, kizashi is still a great car with its pros and cons