Morning Everyone,
LOVING my Kizashi and just hit 20,000 miles in it! At 20,100 miles the AC started working and here in Las Vegas its hell without it.
I took it to the last remaining Suzuki dealer here in town, they called yesterday to tell me the compressor went bad, its covered under warranty but will take a week to get.
Anyone else have AC issues?
The AC blew up
Just curious how does the car feel @ 90k? Does it still feel "tight" and drive nice?! My last few cars, a Mazda 3 and Jetta started getting that annoying steering wheel shaking/twitch past 65mph, no matter how many new tires, balancing or alignments they still did it. Hows the Kizashi do? I really want it to drive as smooth as it does now forever lol.WESHOOT2 wrote:Zero so far past 90k........
My car feels tight-n-right; it is the best car I've ever owned, and I treat it poorly and barely maintain it.
I smash it down unpaved surfaces, hammer it on unimproved back roads, and generally treat every moment I spend in it like I'm in the Baja 1000 or Pikes Peak Hillclimb; know what I mean?
My last tank of Sunoco 93 returned 30.2MPG. That includes time spent in excess of 100MPH.
It reeks of cigarette and cigar smoke, and while the interior is smoke-tainted, nowhere has it come apart (often 'smokers', cars of smokers, will have interior pieces literally deteriorate from the sun-and-smoke mixture).
It has no rattles or undue noises.
The doors still line up (man this thing is rigid).
I had to replace one headlamp bulb, wiper blades, tires, and now I've completed replacing all rotors and pads. Only other services have been for fluid changes (which I willfully neglect).
But please, it's just a car, another piece of painted metal. A really really good one; at least the one I got
I smash it down unpaved surfaces, hammer it on unimproved back roads, and generally treat every moment I spend in it like I'm in the Baja 1000 or Pikes Peak Hillclimb; know what I mean?
My last tank of Sunoco 93 returned 30.2MPG. That includes time spent in excess of 100MPH.
It reeks of cigarette and cigar smoke, and while the interior is smoke-tainted, nowhere has it come apart (often 'smokers', cars of smokers, will have interior pieces literally deteriorate from the sun-and-smoke mixture).
It has no rattles or undue noises.
The doors still line up (man this thing is rigid).
I had to replace one headlamp bulb, wiper blades, tires, and now I've completed replacing all rotors and pads. Only other services have been for fluid changes (which I willfully neglect).
But please, it's just a car, another piece of painted metal. A really really good one; at least the one I got
The A/C compressor going out at 20k is disappointing, but at least it's covered by warranty.
My Kizashi is nowhere near the mileage of Weshoot2's, but I have previously owned a Mazda3 and have a Jetta in the family that I drive often.
Both the Mazda3 and Jetta have their plus sides, but I really believe the Kizashi will be a better car comparatively at 100k. The Kizashi is definitely more refined and the chassis appears to be more carefully constructed.
While I didn't have the vibrations and etc. you had with your cars even after my Mazda3 hit 100k, the car just wasn't all that comfortable. It also had wheel bearings (2 sets) and rear shocks go out sooner than any of the cars I've owned before.
The Jetta in the family is a diesel and that is its only saving grace. Otherwise, it's full of cheap plastics far inferior to that used in Japanese cars. They break and scratch like a cheap toy. The electronics are also worrisome. The stereo is horrible despite being the Monsoon system in this fully loaded model. The ride is too plushy in this Jetta and I have little confidence in the corners. It's really only good for straight highway cruising (which is where the diesel engines shines anyways).
The car that reminds me most of the Kizashi is my former 1995 Subaru Impreza LX. That car rode very smoothly and the chassis was very solid even after putting 200k on it. The ride quality was more like a bigger and heavier car and quite different from the others of its class like the Honda Civic. I remember driving my old roommate's Civic and thinking that it drove like a tin can compared to my Impreza. He admitted it too.
I think the newer Mazdas are better. This brand new Mazda3 looks very promising and same with the Mazda6. The newer Jettas are worse than before and are the subjects of VW's cost-cutting for sales dominance. I prefer Mk. IV (our TDI) and Mk. V Jettas to this current one.
While my Kizashi is only at 16,000 miles, I have the confidence that it will be a pretty solid ride even at 100k. I just feel that car was built that way and its ride goes to show that. You also have folks like Weshoot2 who are already up there in mileage and affirm that the car is still excellent.
My Kizashi is nowhere near the mileage of Weshoot2's, but I have previously owned a Mazda3 and have a Jetta in the family that I drive often.
Both the Mazda3 and Jetta have their plus sides, but I really believe the Kizashi will be a better car comparatively at 100k. The Kizashi is definitely more refined and the chassis appears to be more carefully constructed.
While I didn't have the vibrations and etc. you had with your cars even after my Mazda3 hit 100k, the car just wasn't all that comfortable. It also had wheel bearings (2 sets) and rear shocks go out sooner than any of the cars I've owned before.
The Jetta in the family is a diesel and that is its only saving grace. Otherwise, it's full of cheap plastics far inferior to that used in Japanese cars. They break and scratch like a cheap toy. The electronics are also worrisome. The stereo is horrible despite being the Monsoon system in this fully loaded model. The ride is too plushy in this Jetta and I have little confidence in the corners. It's really only good for straight highway cruising (which is where the diesel engines shines anyways).
The car that reminds me most of the Kizashi is my former 1995 Subaru Impreza LX. That car rode very smoothly and the chassis was very solid even after putting 200k on it. The ride quality was more like a bigger and heavier car and quite different from the others of its class like the Honda Civic. I remember driving my old roommate's Civic and thinking that it drove like a tin can compared to my Impreza. He admitted it too.
I think the newer Mazdas are better. This brand new Mazda3 looks very promising and same with the Mazda6. The newer Jettas are worse than before and are the subjects of VW's cost-cutting for sales dominance. I prefer Mk. IV (our TDI) and Mk. V Jettas to this current one.
While my Kizashi is only at 16,000 miles, I have the confidence that it will be a pretty solid ride even at 100k. I just feel that car was built that way and its ride goes to show that. You also have folks like Weshoot2 who are already up there in mileage and affirm that the car is still excellent.
2025 Mazda CX-50 Preferred Hybrid
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Sold)
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Sold)
Ok, so I got the compressor swapped out but I am convinced the rate of cooling down the car is just not as good. I took it back to the dealer and they said the refrigerant was about an ounce low so they added some.
I took it to an outside mechanic and he said the high pressure was an unreal 450 psi. Although on the way back to the dealer it was blowing ice cold, so I turned around as to not look like a nut.
I wonder though, we have had some monsoons roll through town and its the first time in Las Vegas I have had the car with an over 30% humidity rate and was wondering if AC performance is decreased in hot and humid air vs the 2% humidity we normally have.
I took it to an outside mechanic and he said the high pressure was an unreal 450 psi. Although on the way back to the dealer it was blowing ice cold, so I turned around as to not look like a nut.
I wonder though, we have had some monsoons roll through town and its the first time in Las Vegas I have had the car with an over 30% humidity rate and was wondering if AC performance is decreased in hot and humid air vs the 2% humidity we normally have.
I've got about 120K miles on my Mazda Protege5 and I would have no problem taking it up to the limiter.WESHOOT2 wrote:jettas are junk.
mazdas get flimsy with age.
But I did have to spend quite a bit of time getting some alignment issues adjusted after I replaced the struts, breaks, and front wheel bearings.
Engine has no leaks and the thing still revs like a champ. It is starting to have some paint issues, but not too bad given that it is a mazda. Defiantly wouldn't call Mazda flimsy.
All that said the car was not driven in the salt and the car is a handful on ice even with good tires. Mazda sets their car's up to be fun on blacktop, but that doesn't translate well when you put them on snow or loose gravel.
The Kizashi feels more like subarus which does well in nearly every environment.
Thread Jack
Sorry to hear about your AC... A week probably isn't all that bad, but It wouldn't be happy if I lived in Vegas.