It's a Suzuki, mate!

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"What the...!" and "Wow, that's beautiful!" Two common reactions when friends see our new car for the first time!Last year I was unfortunate enough to have my first serious car accident and broke my back, requiring major spinal surgery and leaving me with five vertbrae fused together with Titanium rods, ties and rather large screws. It was a sobering, (not to mention extremely painful), experience that came as a shock! I was in town driving to work along my usual route, a route I took daily for months and knew well. I was travelling at less than 50km/h and driving according to the wet conditions. My much loved Toyota Estima van had just got its WoF and was fully up to scratch. The SCU concluded I slipped on oil on the road that I couldn't see in the pouring rain and apportioned no blame to either myself or the vehicle. No other person was involved and no other vehicle damaged as I spun into the curb and rolled on my right side. I'd been driving for 40 years and counted myself a safe and competent driver including being a keen motorcyclist since the age of 12, so to nearly kill myself at low speed doing everything right, was a real shock and took a lot of time to come to terms with. The result was that I had to sell our beloved Nissan Pulsar that we bought new in 1999 and had owned for 12 years of trouble-free, and very economical motoring, as the seating position and ergonomics were not suitable anymore and I required a more upright and higher seating position. Hence the title above.I considered second-hand and new begining with a short list of specific requirements. Firstly was seating position and comfort, of course. secondly, as far as new, I wanted the latest in technology and efficiency, which eliminated new cars with outdated technology. I also considered fuel efficiency, deciding I wanted no worse economy than the Pulsar which was rated at about 8lt/100km or 35mpg in the old money. (Yes, I could get 40mpg out of it on a trip).Thirdly was features and value for money overall, what was I getting per dollar, and of course the final requirement was that my wife liked it... I took several weeks to analyse a lot of cars, most makes and models with sizes from small to medium, looking at the specs, road tests, the independent fuel-economy runs and talking to a lot of people in the trade. My short list in the end was the Honda City, (a brilliant small car and the best of them!), the Swift, (not as well appointed but NZ's best selling small car for a reason!), and the Honda Insight, a very well appointed and good value hybrid with unbeatable running costs. I worked out running costs as $ per 1000km and included RUC's for the diesel vehicles.I gradually moved away from diesel as in the smaller to medium bracket the running costs were the same as for petrol. Where diesel is better is in the bigger SUV's simply due to the petrol engines' inability to come close to the diesel mileages. Diesels are brilliant by comparison to what they were and are now powerful, smooth and clean, but in my price brackets and economy needs the petrol's just had the edge in lack of hassles, ie: no road tax to worry about. Even Ford's brilliant wee Fiesta diesel lost out in overall economy to the Honda Insight and as with the RAV4 can only be had in a manual. I needed an auto.So small cars came down to the City, Insight or Swift. The City has a huge boot, but it is deep and low which is not goods for my back. My wife didn't like the Insight and the passenger seat was not adjustable and was as bad as the Pulsar so I couldn't passenger in it anyway, although averything else was good and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them, especially the economy, there simply isn't a cheaper car to run in NZ.The Swift became the first choice for comfort and really would have taken the prize but for one other car. The Suzuki SX4i AWD is a great small SUV and unique in NZ being smaller, cleverer and cheaper to buy and run than any other SUV, alas, it was too noisy despite very impressive comfort and ride, with good power. The wind noise around the side mirrors was a bit intrusive.The medium sized cars, all about 2.4lt, included the Toyota Camry, the Hyundai i45, the VW Passat, the Honda Accord Euro and the Suzuki Kizashi Ltd./AWD. The Camry is a nice, smooth and comfy car but a bit plain-jane and dearer than the Kizashi with less features and not as good economy. The Accord likewise was rather pricey and while well specced I decided against it on price, also not quite as economical as the Hyundai and Kizashi. The Hyundai was my early favourite as my wife and I both liked the styling and it was the most powerful on paper, had the latest tech and matched the Kizashi for economy but was a few grand dearer. It was superbly comfortable and would have taken the prize until we tried the Suzuki Kizashi Ltd...On every count, it was at the top. I decided that with ABS, EBD, ESC and EBA, the extra $$$ for the Sport AWD was not worth it and the LTD. had a slightly softer ride as well. The Kizashi uses the well proven Vitara engine uprated for the Kizashi and matched to a CVT tranny with paddle-shift as well as Tiptronic, but in Auto mode it is so well sorted, you just leave it in drive. Dual-zone climate control meant Jill could have her side warmer than mine. Auto wipers were brilliant and not only came on in the rain but automatcally adjusted speed from variable intermittant to flat-out depending on how heavy the rain was! Honestly it was intuitive and accurate!All the usual stuff, cruise, fully featured trip computer, auto-headlights and auto-dipping rear-view mirror, auto- heated outside mirrors, 18" alloys, front and rear parking assist and cubbyholes and cupholders galore. Heated leather seats with 10-way electric adjustment and a 3-way memory for the driver's seat, tilt-slide sunroof, and on our car optional tinted windows. Extendable sunvisor's to block out that sun behind the mirror and of course lighted vanity mirrors. Have I missed anything..? Oh, yes the amazing Rockford Fosgate sound system with sub and the KYB suspension and Akebono braking system.Coupled with the fact that is was the cheapest to buy and we chose the demo car which is the only Ltd. in NZ in this shade of dark blue and we got it $3k off with 2k on the odo... Stole it from the Manager as it was his... So he had to take his child-seats out of it... Never mind, I'm sure he'll find another one... Not in this colour though!It's a limo to ride in, the cruise control is very accurate and it beats the Pulsar for economy! Oh, and just by the way, it is bliss for my poor back! We love it and recommend anyone looking for a new car that matches or beats the smaller 2lt cars for economy, do take one for a test drive! Tell James at Winger Suzuki in Glenfield that Ed sent you!

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