- This topic has 8 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 3 months ago by
.
-
Topic
-
I’ve been driving Chevy for the past 15 years. I’ve read a lot of complaints about Chevy but I can’t complain since all my cars have 200K+ miles and have always been fairly easy to fix. At the moment I am in dire need of a new car. My Chevy Impala overheats in the hot weather, despite putting a new radiator in it last winter to keep the heater running.
I have always liked the look of a Suzuki Kizashi. I’ve found a 2013 one in my price range, 50K miles, clean title, etc. I wish to know if anyone has had bad experiences with Suzuki, since I have always been a Chevy driver. I prefer something that doesn’t have a lot of problems (obviously) but will have have a hard time finding parts for it, would it be easy for me to repair minor things like water pump, starter, or other various things I tend to be able to fix on my Chevy?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
-
Replies
-
[quote=”Hockeyclark” post=170617]Well, they don’t make Suzuki’s anymore.
Remember, there is no dealer network to support this vehicle. They didn’t make many of these, so parts probably aren’t cheap, either.[/quote]
Umm, they do make Suzuki cars, heaps of them. Too many really as they’re a plague on the road here.
They don’t sell them in the US any more though, ‘not sell’ is a completely different animal to ‘not make’. 😉
That still doesn’t change the fact that unless the car in question is ridiculously clean, cheap and problem free, it shouldn’t be touched with a 40 foot pole. There must be plenty of options out there that are a far better option and have actual parts support.
Suzuki cars are generally pretty good though. They’re quite reliable, although you give up some of the more up to date engineering replaced with trinkets to attract buyers. I’d not buy one if there was an alternative available myself. Previous car we bought was down to a Suzuki with all the fruit or a stripped out Mazda, and we bought the Mazda because while it was lacking in creature comforts, it was better built and better to drive. Most recently, Suzuki didn’t have anything on offer for us until a year after we were looking, and even then, the Nissan we got was the better choice.
(I’m not a badge snob. Whatever fits the bill is what we get.)
Here in Japan, their full sized cars take the place of what the Korean made cars would in other markets prior to the Koreans getting their act together of late and building some impressive cars with up to date engineering and tech in them.They don’t sell anything Korean here for the same reason they don’t sell Suzuki in the US.
Small cars though, probably 30% of them are Suzuki, 30% Daihatsu and the rest Mitsubishi or rebadged versions of cars made by Suzuki, Mistubishi or Daihatsu.
HTH,
Stu.
Around here there were never many on the road honestly. I’ve never seen any, or heard of any with issues out of the ordinary. If the Sidekicks didn’t rust out, they would never get off the road.
The only thing I would point out is if I’m not mistaken, that car has lots of unique systems. Like a turbo motor and AWD. Systems that only exist in one model generally mean that parts are expensive and dealer only. Take my word on that. Finding random parts won’t be as easy or cheap as it will be for an Impala with a motor that’s been in use for yeeeeears. It also probably won’t be as “easy” to work on.
Even though they don’t have an official dealer network in North america, I think they are responsible for providing certain services for however many years. All I know is there was a Mitsubishi dealership across from the dealer I worked at that did Suzuki related work. I’m assuming they would be able to provide some sort of dealer level support for the next few years.
If you like the car and the price, buy it. People hate on my choice all the time. But hey, it’s your money and your choice. Just get it INSPECTED, BEFORE you buy it. Especially if it’s a private sale, you have almost zero recourse if somethings wrong.
The biggest problem would be that it’s out of the mainstream so to speak. With normal maintenance parts such as belts, brakes, suspension parts, and so on there should not be much of an issue.
Many other parts would likely be dealer only and that can present a problem. This means hitting up salvage yards or eBay to find those odd parts.
You need to take car complaints with a grain or two of salt. Laying a car complaint at the feet of the company who built the car is often not justified. I’ve skimmed the internet reading car complaints and many of them (either outright or reading between the lines…) are the fault of the car owner; not the manufacturer. Just try convincing some of those people that problem was caused by them…..it ain’t gonna happen.
As of the end of model year 2013 or 2014, Suzuki no longer sells automobiles in North America. As such the dealerships have folded, or simply ceased to exist. Not sure on the exact date, but the article below says at the end of the 2014 model year.
[quote=”Bluesnut” post=170674]
You need to take car complaints with a grain or two of salt. Laying a car complaint at the feet of the company who built the car is often not justified. I’ve skimmed the internet reading car complaints and many of them (either outright or reading between the lines…) are the fault of the car owner; not the manufacturer. Just try convincing some of those people that problem was caused by them…..it ain’t gonna happen.[/quote]You can’t say that! All these complaints are entirely valid and legitimate faults because the car makers attempts to make their products ‘idiot proof’ simply fell into the hands of superior idiots than they were aware of… 😉
You could put any product with the ability to fail in some manner in place of a car, and it’d still be valid. Not saying there aren’t some products that aren’t genuinely flawed by design/manufacture as there are plenty of them, but the good manufacturers make efforts to correct those problems and make good those affected products. Those that don’t continue by market inertia and/or perception or they simply fail.
But you can’t please everyone, and some make the possibility of pleasing them impossible.Some you can’t even make things right for them, they’ll stand on their soapbox and scream blue murder for eternity with the ‘fix’ sitting by their feet…
I’m sure some people want to be upset, and are only happy when they find that little nugget that allows them to express their outrage at some small indignity that’s befallen them. That’s how life is these days, for better or worse.
Stu.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.