Kizashi Club

So I still love my Kizashi. It goes fast effortlessly, composed at high cruising speeds. When romping through our glorious twisties it maintains its ability to entertain, dancing with me in perfect unison.
Stutter bumps can upset its composure at the affected wheel, but the car keeps its head, allowing continuous steering inputs to register at both at the tire and up through the comfortable steering wheel.
Like I said, I love it.

Switching to Shell premium I've exceeded 28 MPG with every tank, even the ones heavy with extended 90--105 MPH cruises.


I've already broken off both the in-front-of-the-rear-wheel rocker spoilers; gravel roads.

The tranny whine is more pronounced; I'm going to do what the Suzuki dealer suggested and have the CVT fluid power-flushed and replaced.
Right after the new windshield......








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I just finished a 'mud road' tank; got 25.4 MPG.
Deep sloshy unsteerable mud.



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June 21 60,690 miles got my oil changed.


So the tires work well in the dirt, and I can get some pretty good 4-wheel drifts going, too. I'm about to get them rotated/balanced.
Next Tuesday I'm going in for the CVT fluid service. Windshield when I can fit it in .

Crazy driving = mid-25s, "normal" driving 29+ MPG.








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Looking forward to a detailed report of the CVT fluid service.

Yeah, my tranny is whining a little more than usual lately (50K miles). I asked Firestone to quote me on a fluid exchange and was told they do not work with CVT fluids and to take it to a dealer.

I get servicing from the Suzuki dealer only. I do tires and brakes at my dealership.







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I wonder about using a transmission shop for fluid changes. This is a common CVT used in a lot of other vehicles. I would think that they would have a lot of experience with it. I'm afraid that my local Suzuki dealership either doesn't have or has an inexperienced certified Suzuki tech. Since we're like 3 years post-abandonment, it's totally possible that a good Suzuki tech they once had has moved on to somewhere else and the local one sends someone to school to get certified but has really no experience with Kizashis. Is the dealership going to be straight and tell you their tech's only been certified for a couple of months? Seriously doubt that. If asked, "sure, my tech's been working on these things for years and he's the best one around" would be the answer. At least a transmission shop probably has quite a bit of experience with this tranny but not necessarily in the Kizashi.

Lucky Tim:


The Suzuki dealer's Service Manager used to work at our Mercedes side.
The mechanic who works on my car owned Kizashis.
Since I've had 206,385 miles of Suzuki dealership service they all know me by my first name.







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If I had a CVT Kizashi, I'd seek a Nissan or Mitsubishi dealer if I couldn't get to an Authorized Suzuki Service Dealer. These brands also use JATCO CVTs and Mitsubishi models like the Outlander Sport and older Outlander use the same CVT unit as the Kizashi. If you can find a Mitsubishi or Nissan dealer that was formerly a Suzuki dealer, I think you're in good hands.

6/27/2016 balance / rotate tires

Tomorrow CVT fluid thingy.



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