Hello from Australia

[SamirD]

Lovely color! I love them in red.

[Luke Kizashi]

Thanks samir. This is my favorite car to date. I had a skoda vrs before this and had nothing but problems. The engine had to be replaced after 9 months and it still wasnt right. Japanese cars for me from now on. This car is amazing. Superb quality and tight as a drum. Love it

[coref1]

I'm a bit surprised to hear that about your Skoda, I was under the impression they were more reliable then other VW group cars like Golf, Polo etc.

[bmw&kizzyownr]

Welcome "Mate". As someone already mentioned....'can't have enough Aussies" on this forum.

Don't blame you for being in love with your Kizashi. Mine is also red (SLS-AWD), is a 2011, and looks 'similar' to yours. Happy Motoring!

[murcod]

I'm a bit surprised to hear that about your Skoda, I was under the impression they were more reliable then other VW group cars like Golf, Polo etc.

I'd love to have a new Octavia RS wagon, but they certainly have had engine issues (along with the VW Golf GTi which shares the same engine.) From memory some component in the variable valve timing was prone to failing - resulting in valves hitting pistons and your engine being destroyed. It was impossible to tell if your particular engine had the problem part in it IIRC. No action would be taken (no recall) until when your engine failed and then people were having to fight to have their engines rebuilt under warranty.

Glad to hear you're liking the Kizashi Luke.

[Luke Kizashi]

hey guys

in short, the vrs had oil consumption issues (a common problem for vw and skodas). it was using 4l for every 800km. the engine was replaced under warranty but suffered the same problem. poor fit and finish, and pings and rattles in the engine sealed the deal for me. after 18 months I ditched it and parked a Suzuki in my driveway

the kizashi sls awd is class. does it have the 10 speaker Rockford stereo? how does it feel to drive? a good competitor to Subaru.

[murcod]

it was using 4l for every 800km. the engine was replaced under warranty but suffered the same problem.

That's extreme oil consumption.

VW/ Skoda seem to have an undeserved reputation for being upmarket/ "quality" products here in Australia. All the local magazines rave about their new models, but I guess being a consumer - and having to live with one- is a different matter.

[Luke Kizashi]

agree. the media seem to talk vw up all the time regardless of the quality issues. Suzuki are ten times better in my book but i think they need a better PR machine.

you cant beat the Japanese for quality

[SamirD]

Thanks samir. This is my favorite car to date. I had a skoda vrs before this and had nothing but problems. The engine had to be replaced after 9 months and it still wasnt right. Japanese cars for me from now on. This car is amazing. Superb quality and tight as a drum. Love it

Glad you're loving the Kizashi. Here in the US the Skoda VW equivalents have their share of problems as well. Hence why the tuning scene for those cars is by fairly rich people (relatively speaking in the car world).

[aranciata-oz]

Hey guys,

Thought I share a problem (and solution!) I unexpectedly encountered today .. when I started the car for a work lunch break, the Garmin unit surprisingly reset itself - it was almost as if someone had disconnected the battery. The only thing that automatically updated in a minute, was the time, presumably via the GPS signal. I had to reprogram the radio stations, sound settings, bluetooth etc.

But the biggest problem was the Garmin had "lost" its maps ... the Nav simply wouldn't fire up ...

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... so don't bother even trying to re-enter the Home Address ...

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Anyway I rang Suzuki Australia's help line and left a message, not expecting much, but to my pleasant surprise they rang back within the hour ... they were a bit perplexed by the problem, and suggested I reinstall the software update via the Suzuki Garmin website (I had done the SD card procedure thing previously and successfully).

Just to tell you that did the trick ... so in future if you come across this problem, just update the software. To make things easy, I've left the SD card (preloaded with the software update) in the car with a printout of the instructions from Suzuki Garmin website, so there's an immediate fix by sticking the SD back in the unit if this problem happens again (I hope it doesn't!!!).

The interesting thing was prior to the SD card update again, I noticed the version of the software had reset itself back to v2.7, when the latest software was 3.9:

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No maps were available at that stage before the update:

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And after the update .....

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... to version 3.9, the maps thankfully returned:

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Finally, in case you're wondering why I haven't updated the 2012 maps, the local Suzuki dealer actually recommended not to waste money on the update until the maps were at least 5 years old because at most a few streets have been added since ... well that's a nice change of honesty from a dealership!

So there you go ... I've hopefully contributed something back to the Kizashi forums ... now I just need to trawl through the site to investigate how to work out and run audio and 12v/trigger wiring from the Garmin unit to install an underseat sub in the side of the boot (where the old RF amp would have sat in the previous model), or a Pioneer or equivalent "tyre well" sub in the the tyre well ... speaking of which, my biggest dislike about this later 2013 model was the omission of the old RF system in pre-2012 models - I much prefer a good sound system over a GPS that does not have traffic info (Suzuki advised they don't have the licence for traffic plug in). The sound quality of the Garmin and paper mache speaker in this car is CRAP!!!!!