Suzuki Aerio

This car has a lot of zip for a 4 cylinder! This car has personality plus that frankly takes me back to my first car,{ a 64 VW Beetle}nearly 30 years ago. It is strange; Suzuki Aerios have that sort of personality.

Gas milage is quite good on the Suzuki Aerio. By far the most impressive things about this car is the creature comforts. Power steering,FWD, a very nice stereo,power windows, lay down seats (great for a quick nap). I can drive nonstop from Chicago to Kansas City and not get bottom fatigue.For a car of it's size, the interior is spacious with lots of storage space and convenient multiple cup holdersThe lines on the Suzuki Aerio are quite modern, but not angular like the Honda Fit or the Chevrolet Aveo, which are very similar in the looks department. There are a few nagging anoyances. The rear wiper is hard to replace: onoccasionally, the car stereo skips on CDs, and it is difficult to replace the factory stereo with someth1Aerio
ng a bit more common. And it has a tendacy to rust out the o-rings that keep the exhaust pipe connected. Other than these small things the Aerio SX is great. Drive this car, and the last Aerio i owned {another SX Wagon}every day. Very little in the way of problems and lucky thing too. They are easy to work on. Amazing for a car repair idiot(like me}
I will keep buying Suzuki Cars ! Hope you give them a try.

well I bought mine used, with 60k miles on the OD, the ride is firm and handling more of a igher performance car steering quick and the feel great.. we love the roominess of the wagon which is far more any car we ever had including a larger GM wagon.. the flip down seats are grat for hauling things but removing the headrests and trying to get around the center seatbelt is a pain, this could have been done better.. over all fit and finish are great. NOTE a couple of problems KNOWN for these cars, the AWD eat tires (especially the first set), if you find and old school alignment shop they can fix it BETTER then the dealer (which we did)..the next problems we have encountered were front wheel bearing failure two times on both front and one carrier bearing all covered on their 100k warranty (another reason why we bought this) the low front end plastic could be a problem if you go anywheres besides the pave, and though it can haul a lot inside, towing isnt recommended (but you can buy a hitch go figure), gas milage wasnt close to my old swift (35+mpg) but 27-29 isnt bad but could be better.. If you compare the new HONDA FIT you will see similar shapes but the suzuki is MUCH MUCH larger inside,
and the engine a screamer..the digital dash, cruise control and 6 disc CD makes driving easy and enjoyable.. I recommend the stick shift . Suzuki has come a long way and is giving the competition the run in the warranty aspects alone.. too bad GM and the others havent caught on until lately.. sucks to be them!..

Pros:
AWD, Optional ABS w/automatic climate control. The price was right. We paid only $12,000 for our 2004 SX AWD in Aug. 2004 with 10,000 miles on the vehicle. These are the main reasons we bought this car. The 100,000 mile power-train warranty is another plus. I didn't think I'd like the digital dash but it is nice to be able to read how fast you're going without putting on your reading glasses. (newer models have analog gauges) However, the thing I really like most is the car is just plain fun to drive. The seats are firm and remind me of some German vehicles I've been in. You feel like you're sitting up higher off the ground more so than in most cars of this size-almost like a mini-minivan.

Cons:
Front-end styling of bumper & grill. The forced option of the 195x55x15 tires that come with the SX AWD model. Not only that but 2 of the 4 tires were completely worn out at 15,000 miles! I disliked the tires so much that I bought 4 new 14 inch alloy wheels and switched to 185x65x14 tires that cost a lot less than the 195x55x15 tires. We average 28MPG - the vehicle is rated 29MPG hwy but I think a vehicle of this size even w/AWD should do better - at least 32MPG when a heavier Honda Accord gets better and a Toyota Van gets 27MPG. More room in the back for luggage would be an improvement. The ride isn't as good as our 1993 Honda Accord.

Overall Review:
This is a vehicle of contradictions: With the AWD you still get the same low ground clearance. They tell you that the timing chain will save money by saving the cost of replacing a timing belt but then they provide odd-sized tires that cost close to $100 each at most locations. The car has plenty of power and is fun to drive and this is part of it's appeal but they force you to take an automatic transmission with the AWD option - Stick shift would make it even more fun to drive. The vehicle has plenty of power for it's size and weight but the manufacturer does not make any recommendation for trailer towing - in fact they advise against it yet there should be no problem towing a light tent trailer, boat or snowmobile trailer! Still with all the contradictions I love the car. It is fun to drive and there is something endearing about it - sort of like the old VW bugs that were ugly and cute at the same time. Maybe it is because it is such a vehicle of contradictions that I get this feeling???

More:
We use our Suzuki for commuting and for vacations and we drive it in mostly urban highways and small towns. Still love the car which now has 70,000 miles on it. Only problem we had was failure of the Throttle Control Sensor [I think that's what it was called] which controls shifting of the automatic transmission. Only covered by warranty during the first 36,000 miles.