Kizashi Club

I have noticed that Kia, Honda, Hyundai, Lexus, Toyota, etc... have been recalling cars on a daily basis.

Luckily, I haven't seen anything for our Kizashi's. With this in mind, why hasn't the market noticed this? It is clear that the Kizashi's build quality far exceeds that of its competitors. It's a shame that Suzuki was not able to market this car effectively and increase their position in North America.

They should rebrand and re-enter with similar cars and take on the big boys. Much like Toyota did with Scion.

Anyways, that is my rant lol. Happy spring driving Can't wait to shine my car up and make a few road trips.

I am having my car fully detailed next week and Opti Coat 2.0 applied. I will post up pictures as soon as it is done.

There might be no recall cuz not enough people drive it so not enough people to notice or express certain concern

Another dissenter, I find so few people praise the car in this forum.

I've not had any issues in 36k+ miles. I had a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT and had nothing but problems. I loved driving it but it had burnt out both headlights twice before 35K miles. Rear wheel bearing, Cruise control, check engine light that brought the car to a crawl teice and they could never find the problem.. I traded it back to the Subaru dealership.

It was faster but I love driving the Zuki. Both were manual so I can't vouch for driveability in the CVT.

This car has been problem free and my 2005 Legacy turned me off from a loyal Subaru fan.

This car is well built but my only worry is if they used any electrical engineering from VW. Germans and electrical engineering don't mix.

So I for one, see this as a reliable car.

This car has been great for me as well, and I have about 32k miles on it in a year and a half. My family drives Hyundai Santa Fe's and I sent them the recall notice. I also own a Ford F-150, which has been great, but it had a few issues as well that had to be taken care of under warranty. Nothing but good things to say about this car from me and I've owned Subaru's before and probably would have gotten one if I didn't find this Suzuki. I went shopping today and there were two other Kizzy's parked in the lot, so in Colorado I see quite a few.

I continue to be very happy with mine. Keep shaking my head as to why it hasnt "caught on", but, in a way, happy that it is therefore, quite scarce.

22000k 2010 XLS

As I have stated many many times....the beauty of zuks is they rarely need to go in for anything other than routine maintenance. If you are able to do that on your own, then they don't need to go in at all. Mine go in once a year for the required PA annual inspection and emissions testing.

It is truly a shame, for Suzuki anyway, that marketing is what drives people to make decisions (much like politics). Could be the biggest pile of crap out there, but if it's shoved in your face enough the masses seem to eat it up and swallow it whole while happily paying far too much for it.

thanks for the rant anyway!

Everybody has recalls. Kizashi had one for dash compartment lid and one for the engine belt tensioner. I mean look at the Hyundai recall, its for a brake light switch. It is not like all these recalls are for cars that are going to explode. I'm glad manufacturers are on top of these things.

I agree with the sentiment here that Suzuki is unfairly overlooked and underrated. Real Suzuki vehicles are quite reliable and sturdy, offering an excellent value because they are quite affordable. Unfortunately, bad marketing, GM's branding of junk Daewoo's as Suzuki's, and the stereotype of Suzuki owners as financially sub-prime customers have damaged Suzuki's reputation in North America.

Suzuki's hope was that the Kizashi was going to change all that. In fact, the Kizashi was a totally new product for Suzuki in that they were going upscale in terms of refinement and size with the car. In fact, despite many criticizing the "Kizashi" name, it was carefully chosen by Suzuki to represent what the car meant for them. Kizashi means "a sign of things to come" or harbinger/omen in Japanese. It was Suzuki's way of showing that they could make a product totally capable of running with the Accords and Camrys and that their future products were going to be at the level of the Kizashi. If you ever looked at the interior of a new Swift, you will find it familiar. The Kizashi approach helped other Suzuki models go upscale.

As many of us owners know, the Kizashi is a very solid, refined car. For it's price, it is packed with features and has a level of refinement impressive for its class. The way it drives is also a level above the norm for midsizes. Suzuki engineers really worked on making a great sedan.

Unfortunately timing, marketing, and the apathetic consumer market proved to be against Suzuki and their products. In the end, it was more feasible for Suzuki to leave the North American market to focus where they enjoyed more success: Asia.

I've owned rivals to Suzuki that have better reputations, but my Suzuki vehicles held their own very well against them. My Suzuki's are in no way inferior to the Mazda, Mitsubishi, and Subaru's I've owned.

Bobolini wrote: This car is well built but my only worry is if they used any electrical engineering from VW. Germans and electrical engineering don't mix.

No, this car is totally Suzuki designed, engineered, and built. Suzuki was hoping to have VW provide an additional engine for the car in their deal. VW was supposed to get some small car technology from Suzuki for their other markets in return. Basically, VW did not meet their end of the deal and Suzuki got irritated and pulled out of the deal. Hence, Suzuki was left with the one and only Suzuki-designed base engine for the Kizashi. On the plus side, there should be no shoddy VW electronics in the Kizashi. Thank goodness for that. I've got two VWs in the family and electronics are not their forte.

My Kizashi only has 13,500 miles on it, but not a single problem with it yet. The only issues are minor things I caused from carelessness. I love this car and plan to keep it a very long time.

Kizashi BANZAI!

Wow, nice statement. I love my Kizashi as well, handles, steers and brakes well. Nice quality interior with plenty of toys to play with. Easily the best car I've owned and hope to keep it for a long time.

The Kizashi has been one of my favorite cars that we have owned, hence the reason we all have one now lol. My kizzy is going on about 62k miles and my parents are not far behind me and so far we have not had any issues. Such a fun car, built well, is just amazing.