On the verge of joining this club

[mcyclone]

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

[Woodie]

Welcome mcyclone !

It's a very nice car with no major faults, Suzuki in general is a reliable brand, although you need to consider the lack of official dealers.

The paint on the hood and wheels is prone to chipping, I think the darker colors are worse, but with 65K miles that should be obvious if it's an issue on the one you're looking at.

There was an issue with the rear shock absorbers going bad, if you don't hear clunking noises coming from the trunk when going over bumps then you're cool.

The automatic transmission is a little weak for the engine, and they originally said it needed no maintenance. Ensure that the transmission fluid has been changed and continue to change it every 30K miles.

[WESHOOT2]

I'm on my fourth......

[mcyclone]

Welcome mcyclone !

It's a very nice car with no major faults, Suzuki in general is a reliable brand, although you need to consider the lack of official dealers.

The paint on the hood and wheels is prone to chipping, I think the darker colors are worse, but with 65K miles that should be obvious if it's an issue on the one you're looking at.

There was an issue with the rear shock absorbers going bad, if you don't hear clunking noises coming from the trunk when going over bumps then you're cool.

The automatic transmission is a little weak for the engine, and they originally said it needed no maintenance. Ensure that the transmission fluid has been changed and continue to change it every 30K miles.

Thank you for the insight, exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

The CVT is the only thing that's making me a bit nervous but it seems as long as the fluid is regularly changed as you mentioned it's fine. Also I'm in the UK so I do have a dealer not too far away, I'm running out of reasons not to take the plunge!

Hopefully my next post is officially introducing myself as a new club member

[Woodie]

Suzuki is a strong competitor in the UK, so that does away with a concern we in North America face. Apologies for my self-centered assumption, you know how we Yanks are.

Old Tech, a member here who specializes in servicing Suzukis has a fix for one of the weak spots in the CVT, replacing some balls with pins that have larger contact area so are less prone to wear. Don't know if this is a mod of his creation or if it's based upon someone's technical bulletin. Often manufacturers will come out with alerts telling the mechanics better ways to do things. I know Nissan used a lot of the exact same Jatco CVT model, maybe it's their idea. Here's a link to Old Tech's post about the CVT, part of his "Cheap Fix" series: https://kizashiclub.com/forum/viewtopic ... fix#p52158

[old tech]

This is what Ive learned. A happy Kizashi owner knows where or how to get his car serviced affordably and doesnt mind putting a little effort into part search.The unhappy one lets the dealer or repair facility dictate the path of repair and cost...If you want it, have a plan for future repairs. Learn of troubles others have had and posted here, their fix.The Kizashi has been a fantastic buy with very few problems but its still a car, it will fail . With that being said, the Kizashi with sport trim is becoming a sought after model. It might even be a good investment depending on asking price and condition.

[KuroNekko]

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.

[KlutzNinja]

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.

[SAEED_KIZZY]

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,

If you want to drop the CVT oil pan yes probably not a good idea to DIY but changing oil is a pretty simple task also I suggest changing the oil filter cooler if your car is over 100K.
I personally can not trust anyone to service my CVT tranny

[KuroNekko]

I have no experience servicing a CVT but have replaced ATF on traditional automatics, including dropping the pan, changing the filter, and cleaning the pan and magnet. Is the process really that different for a CVT? I understand that the kind of repairs pros like Old Tech do are complicated but I can't imagine that a fluid and filter change is really that complex or different than traditional autos with ATF. That being said, I'm speaking from ignorance pertaining to the Kizashi's CVT as I personally drive a manual trans Kizashi.

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.

I think what you saw was someone who had a blue-tinted halogen bulb that mimics HID/Xenon in color temp. These tinted bulbs are often made by low-end aftermarket brands that don't offer good service life. I wouldn't be surprised if one bulb blew out so the owner just replaced it with a standard halogen they had on hand instead of replacing both bulbs. HIDs (Xenons) use different connectors and power supplies so they aren't interchangeable with halogen bulbs.
My understanding is that all UK Kizashis were top-spec and came with HID (Xenon) low beam bulbs. HIDs are now obsolete as newer cars use LEDs that are cheaper, brighter, and have even longer service life than HIDs. I simply prefer HIDs over LEDs for fitting into projector lenses designed for halogen bulbs, such as the Kizashi's low beams.