On the verge of joining this club

[SamirD]

Greetings!

I'm close to pulling the trigger on buying a used 2012 Kizashi Sport, with about 65k miles on it.

Before I do I thought I would come to you guys and ask 1) Is this a good idea? and 2) what issues should I be on the look out for, anything that could come up in a test drive that I should be wary of?

Appreciate any advice and insight <3

Depending on the price, it sounds like it should be a good deal. Most others have posted about the small things to watch for.

The UK only got the top-spec AWD models with the CVT. The mileage of your vehicle is low so that's a good thing. Listen carefully for any odd noises from the transmission during test drives. Changing the CVT fluid ASAP after purchase is highly recommended. As the others stated, the Kizashi otherwise has relatively minor issues and is a very solid car for the money thus making it a really good value.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the CVT fluid change lately, because my car was probably driven pretty roughly for the first 51+k miles before I got it. It’s a little scary not really knowing how it was treated before. I’ve had it for over 17k miles now. I was reading some of the fluid change procedure threads here and it seems really more than what I can do. It also seems more complex/intricate than what the average independent mechanic can do assuming they don’t have the service manual handy. Maybe I’m underestimating their abilities. I’m not really sure how that works with mechanics; is there some database they pull this info from? Or do they just wing it every time lol. I wouldn’t want someone, even a mechanic I’d normally trust, to just wing it on something as important as this. There’s a lot of torque specs for this and that,
removing this part in the engine bay to get to that part, etc. I’m afraid that if they don’t botch the process of removing everything that’s needed, they might forget to put everything back and apply proper torque specs.
So what do you do when you’re not capable of this procedure yourself, and you don’t have a Suzuki mechanic handy? I was thinking of perhaps a Nissan specialist since some models use variants of the same transmission, but I’m still on the fence about it. I’ve asked about this before, but I figure it could be good to bring it up again; maybe others will give their input. I’ll go look at what the responses were from last time.

Sorry for the thread hijack. I’ll try to contribute. I think I’ve seen UK/European models have both halogen and xenon headlights? If so, the halogen bulbs tend to burn out faster than average, and the replacement process is a pain in the butt at least the first time. There are threads here that can help with it, thankfully. And there are also threads for HID or LED conversions if you’d rather go that route.
Speaking of xenon/halogen bulbs, I saw a last-gen Nissan Altima with one halogen bulb and one HID bulb and it was the biggest automotive eyesore I’ve seen in a while. Like the car version of heterochromia. Yuck. I hope no one here does that with their Kizashis. Heterochromia in humans and animals is cool, though.

If you are unsure about changing the CVT fluid, I would just look at the condition via the dipstick and monitor that instead. You are absolutely right that having the wrong person mess with this will cause a problem versus prevent one. It seems that most cars these days are ruined by bad service than anything else.

[KlutzNinja]

@Kuro: after looking into it more, I agree you’re right about UK models having xenon low beams exclusively. What I must have been thinking of was the Polish website that shows up here periodically that offers tons of parts for the Kizashi, but seemingly only for those in Poland. I recall it had both xenon and halogen headlight assemblies. Apparently the rest of Europe got halogen at least on lesser trims. While xenon bulbs last longer, they still die out eventually, no? Since they’re installed roughly the same as the halogen version, I’d imagine the replacement process is still a pain for the uninitiated.

I’ve seen on Amazon the halogen bulbs that burn bright white, similar to some HIDs; didn’t know they have blue tinted ones. I wonder if the headlight situation is similar to ours with that Altima, where it’s easier to get to the right side, so he just replaced that one instead of being proactive, taking off the bumper, and replacing both. Would be funny if he went to a shop to convert his halogens to HIDs, could afford only one side, and went with it anyway

@ Samir: thanks for the tip! Honestly I’ve never tried the other dipstick besides the motor oil one. Wasn’t sure what it was lol. I’ll start there, and see how much I have to fret about it from that point.

[SamirD]

Unfortunately here in the US, we got the short end of the stick with the halogen bulbs because xenon ones typically don't burn out but maybe a decade at a time. Unlike the halogen ones that don't have as much life.

Yep, just check the dipstick and look at the color of the fluid and smell. Then do some reading online and you should get a good idea of what's bad. (Generally if it is a clear color (red) and clean (no particles), you're in good shape.)

[KuroNekko]

@Kuro: after looking into it more, I agree you’re right about UK models having xenon low beams exclusively. What I must have been thinking of was the Polish website that shows up here periodically that offers tons of parts for the Kizashi, but seemingly only for those in Poland. I recall it had both xenon and halogen headlight assemblies. Apparently the rest of Europe got halogen at least on lesser trims. While xenon bulbs last longer, they still die out eventually, no? Since they’re installed roughly the same as the halogen version, I’d imagine the replacement process is still a pain for the uninitiated.

I’ve seen on Amazon the halogen bulbs that burn bright white, similar to some HIDs; didn’t know they have blue tinted ones. I wonder if the headlight situation is similar to ours with that Altima, where it’s easier to get to the right side, so he just replaced that one instead of being proactive, taking off the bumper, and replacing both. Would be funny if he went to a shop to convert his halogens to HIDs, could afford only one side, and went with it anyway

@ Samir: thanks for the tip! Honestly I’ve never tried the other dipstick besides the motor oil one. Wasn’t sure what it was lol. I’ll start there, and see how much I have to fret about it from that point.

My understanding is that Suzuki imported only top-spec AWD models to the UK which included features like folding mirrors and low beam HIDs. Basically they got the Sport SLS with even more luxury features. Other European countries got different trims including FWD manuals. I think Germany is one of those countries.

As for HID bulbs, they tend to last a lot longer than halogens, especially the OE bulbs from name brands like Philips, Denso, and Matsushita. I imagine that it's a pain to replace OE HID bulbs on the Kizashi as well but my point is that they are not interchangeable so you can't run HID on one side and run halogen on the other unless it was someone using an aftermarket HID kit and reverting back to halogens for one side only. The more common thing is that people get blue tinted halogen bulbs that output a more white light to mimic the color output of HIDs. However, these bulbs don't last as long as stock halogens so some are left reverting back to a stock halogen for the side that burned out. This gives the car that odd half halogen, half HID color output look.

While I'm not sure why the Kizashi blows out halogen bulbs faster than usual, while having a frustratingly complex replacement process, an HID or LED kit to replace the halogen bulbs has been a good way to circumvent this annoyance while getting a brighter headlight output, assuming you get bulbs that are optimal in proper output.