About to buy a kizashi...advice needed

[Ehibb034]

TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THIS THREAD.... I MOVED THE TEST DRIVE TO YESTERDAY AND BOUGHT THE CAR!!!

I ended up getting the car for 19,500 with 9750 on my trade. The car is the metallic silver color, 2011 sport GTS automatic so unfortunate. I traded my manual Scion XD to get the car. The Kiz has 20k miles on it, is in mint condition. It has the blue tooth/navigation package with back up camera and DVD player.

I started out my trek yesterday at a chevy dealership. I want to test drive a manual chevy 2lt with the body kit RS package. I got the price down to where I was ready to at least drive the car. I was really hoping for alot from this car. Needless to say, I did not like it one bit. The clutch had a really far push down distance and a really high engage distance from the push down. What made it more difficult was that the shifter was set up to be like a short shifter so they contradicted one another. the car felt cheap inside which is surprising because I came from a really cheap car.


I went to test drive the auto kiz. At first look I was in love to say the least. Add to that amazing car about 10,000 dollars in options that could be added to a Cruze at a price that was less, it made a lot of sense. Super comfortable to drive. Soundsystem is decent. Seats with all sorts of features. Steering wheel controls and a sunroof. Not to mention a info-tainment center in my dash!.
The ride was nice. The CVT is awful to say the least. Not in terms of just normal driving around it was great.... but when I stepped on the gas I almost fell asleep waiting for the car to haul itself forward. The lag is soooo significant. I will most likely drive agressively 3% of the time I own this because fuel economy is the name of the game for me.
I heard the reports of people getting 23 miles to a gallon on this car. During my 20 mile test drive of hilly back roads I got 30.2 MPG easily. I drove the speed limit and stepped on the gas once or twice to see the performance.
I take delivery on Friday so I will be anxious to see what this is like owning full time.

[NiteRider]

Congrats on the new car. You'll get used to that CVT soon enough. Use the paddle shifters to get more out of the car is sluggishness is an issue. On a side note, this car goes faster than what it seems. The engine may sound like it's dragging, but take a look at the speedometer and you'll see that you're accelerating more than you thought. Also notice this on the highway. You'll be cruising at 60, go to pass a car, and all of the sudden you're going 90 when you think you were only going 70. These are signs of a well built car.

[Blackbelt]

Congrats on your purchase and best of luck with the new Kizzy.
Don't put a lot of faith in the average MPG display numbers, they tend to be 1-2 MPG optimistic. That said, you will still be able to get over 30 with basic hypermiling techniques. If you use the manual mode, you can keep the car in the higher gear(and thus the RPM's down) much longer than if you were driving in automatic mode. That will help.
Don't waste your money putting premium in your Kizzy. It won't get you any benefit. If anything, use a mid grade in hotter weather, but otherwise regular is fine.
Try to find out if the rear diff oil was changed in yours. If you cannot determine if it was done, have the dealer do it before you get the car, then you know you wont have to worry about it. It is supposed to be changed at 7500 miles.

[Ehibb034]

thanks for the advice black belt. I am happy to see that people are getting better fuel economy than others who have posted before. My scion and tiburon's trip computers were generally liberal with the mileage as well.

[chazyouwin]

Congrats! Now for the warranties - everything is fully transferable, I understand. Read them, frame them, worship them (not really, I'm a lawyer so I do things like that).

[Ehibb034]

awesome to hear about the warranty being transferrable. Do I need to do anything to get them transferred, or just show up at the dealer?

[chazyouwin]

I did not have to do anything to transfer the basic warranties when I bought a 2002 XL-7 back in 2006. I don't think the warranties have changed in this regard. If there now is a transfer requirement, which seems quite unlikely, it should be stated in the warranty documentation.

So not only are the warranties fully transferable, they do not require payment of deductible/co-insurance.

[chazyouwin]

Here's what Suzuki is saying about the warranties: http://www.suzukiauto.com/owners/warranty.php I asked the dealer your transfer question back in 2006 and he comfirmed that no registration was necessary.

For comparison, here are Hyundai warranty representations: http://www.hyundaiusa.com/assurance/ame ... ranty.aspx You'll see that one of the features is a reduction of the drive-train warranty upon sale to a second purchaser.

[chazyouwin]

Suzuki of Australia apparently requires the filling out of a warranty transfer card: http://www.suzuki.com.au/owners/frequen ... -questions Could now be the same here check the docs.

[Ronzuki]

Congrats! You'll grow to actually love the CVT once you get used to driving it....it took me nearly 8,000 miles before I stopped 'thinking' about it while I was driving. As was mentioned earlier, the paddles are your friend to liven up the ride. Also be aware you need not be in manual mode for the paddles to operate. However, while accelerating in auto mode, 6th 'gear' will not engage unless you're above 40-42mph.

enjoy!