What if you were to lose your Kizashi?

[Knightstruth]

If I lost my Kizashi today I would cut off my right leg. JK. I find it interesting most people are mentioning more upscale cars to replace vs the usual accord, camry, altma, etc.

[KuroNekko]

Sales figures from the year Renault bailed them out would be a lot more relevant. (Along with profit figures for that same year - but there's no prize for guessing which company was making more profit.)

No, not really because 2013 figures go to show the relevance of each brand in the alliance today. Simply put, Nissan sells much more and is a bigger brand than Renault. However, they were near bankruptcy when Renault came in and joined them to save Nissan.

Keep in mind that the bigger you are, the harder you fall. It is possible Nissan was making a greater revenue than Renault back in 1999. However, because they are much bigger, their profit margins were different due to operating costs and Nissan was in the red. That would lead them to bankruptcy if they did not make profit over operating costs for consecutive years as was the case.

This nearly happened to all 3 American auto companies following the economic crisis of 2008. All three faced bankruptcy as their sales plummeted quickly and sharply.
However, Mazda was also in the red for 5 consecutive years, but they weren't nearly in such dire circumstances. That's because they are much smaller and have lower operating costs. It's only recently they started making profit again.
Basically, the size of the company has a lot to do with how you will fare when sales plummet. Bigger you are, harder you fall.

I'm simply writing all this because many people incorrectly state that Renault owns Nissan. They don't. Nissan is also much bigger than Renault and global sales figures clearly show this.

As it relates to our cars:
The failure of a similar kind of proposed partnership/alliance is the very reason our Kizashis only have one engine. Suzuki was looking for a partner in VW so they could get some access to powerplants and technology. VW was then going to own a near 20% stake in Suzuki and have access to their small cars for Asian markets.
When Suzuki executives saw how little and slowly VW was providing for Suzuki, they bailed out on the partnership. This is the reason why the Kizashi only has the base engine though it was intended to have multiple engine offerings like other Suzukis of the past (through GM).
This factor greatly contributed to the demise of the Kizashi and Suzuki overall with their larger cars. It made them uncompetitive and sales declined. We all know how that went with Suzuki in North America. However, it is unlikely now that VW can tap the Asian small car market very well given Suzuki was among the best for that.

In an ironic twist of fate, VW sales are plummeting in North America as well much to the dismay of VW who desperately wants to dethrone Toyota has global sales king.

[KuroNekko]

If I lost my Kizashi today I would cut off my right leg. JK. I find it interesting most people are mentioning more upscale cars to replace vs the usual accord, camry, altma, etc.

That's probably because those cars are appliances compared to the Kizashi in driving dynamics, especially handling.
Those cars are pretty nice, but aren't as fun to drive. I think the closest one would be the Mazda6 which has always been more of a driver's car than the rest of the pack. However, there is no AWD version offered with the 6.

Sport compacts, sports sedans, hot hatches, and the like offer better performance and handling than cars like the Camry so this may have to be the route if you don't want to miss your Kizashi too much once it's gone.

[paininthenuts]

If I lost my Kizashi today I would cut off my right leg. JK. I find it interesting most people are mentioning more upscale cars to replace vs the usual accord, camry, altma, etc.

That's probably because those cars are appliances compared to the Kizashi in driving dynamics, especially handling.
Those cars are pretty nice, but aren't as fun to drive. I think the closest one would be the Mazda6 which has always been more of a driver's car than the rest of the pack. However, there is no AWD version offered with the 6.

Sport compacts, sports sedans, hot hatches, and the like offer better performance and handling than cars like the Camry so this may have to be the route if you don't want to miss your Kizashi too much once it's gone.

In short, you can buy a mid ranged 2 wheel drive car with a lower spec for more money. Alternatively you can buy a car with a slightly higher performance, with a lower spec, but doesn't give you the comfort of the Kizashi. Let's face it, if you want a car as good as the Kizashi, looks as good as a Kizashi, drives as well as a Kizashi, has a similar performance and spec as a Kizashi, you need a lot of dosh, or another Kizashi !!

[SteveYoung]

I was looking to trade my Kizashi this week for a Mazda 6 Sport Nav. Until I got the value of the Kizashi, rarity does not help residual values! I love the Kiz but not the fuel economy, reckon I could almost double it in a Mazda 6. But as it is worth so little I might need to run it a while longer - I mean it can never be worth nothing - can it?

[SamirD]

I was looking to trade my Kizashi this week for a Mazda 6 Sport Nav. Until I got the value of the Kizashi, rarity does not help residual values! I love the Kiz but not the fuel economy, reckon I could almost double it in a Mazda 6. But as it is worth so little I might need to run it a while longer - I mean it can never be worth nothing - can it?

I would hold onto it as I think the used car market has figured out the Kizashi is a great deal. I think we could sell our SLS sport for more than we paid for it even after 8 months and 4k miles of ownership.

[ah_Perth]

My next I think would be a Lexus, ...probably a hybrid. I will keep this for some time so what I would be looking at is probably not even on the road yet.

I am in Australia.

I dont have AWD ..... thats not important to me.

I am very happy with the car. 2010 XLS (with all the fruit..except TPMS!). I am happy for the following reasons ....

(i) all the extras,
(ii) the rarity
(iii) the look (best view is the 3/4 view from the rear and oddly enough, the top view (which is not an readilly accessable opportunity!). When you do get the chance, cop a gander for yourself, I think you will agree.

What I'm not so keen on (but its not a big deal) relate nasically to the trip computer and the display...including....
(i) the 80's pixelation on the display
(ii) the sliding scale on the instantaneous fuel usage (would prefer a numerical display)
(iii) wildly inaccurate "distance to go (till empty) " reading.

Silver 30000k. No problems. Consumption between 7.9 L/100 km (country and driving like a grandpa, {which I could be as I "qualify", but I'm not as yet} and 10 ish around town. Determined not using the trip computer but by filling the tank. Trip computer optimistic by between 5-10%. Consumption is nothing to write home about but not bad.

I enjoy this site. I dips me lid to the regular posters.

Cheers and good health to all!

[newworld2004]

if I had to go with another vehicle beside kizashi, I would relay think about new Mitsubishi Montero which they promise sometimes in 2016, as I really hope Mitsubishi stay in U.S and not bag their pack they way Suzuki did.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/mitsubishi- ... -2016.html

[murcod]

We get them here (Pajero's). Hopefully there's a new updated model coming out soon - the current one doesn't get exactly outstanding reviews.
http://www.carsguide.com.au/car-reviews ... view-12724

[KuroNekko]

I'm hoping for Mitsubishi to step it up too. They claim they are working on becoming a more alternative technology automaker with a focus on SUVs and CUVs.
They've made the Outlander PHEV which is apparently pretty good, but is not scheduled to come to the US until later.

The current Pajero/Montero is rather old from what I can tell, much like the Lancer. However, Mitsubishi is apparently working on a new one so when it returns to the US, it should be all-new and probably have some kind of electrified technology like being a PHEV. Their concept was a PHEV so that's pretty much a sign of things to come (Kizashi pun!)

When the concept debuted at the 2013 Tokyo Auto Show, a lot of people hated on the styling. I actually really like it, but I'm rather liberal on conceptual styling and generally like everything. What I like about Mitsu is that they usually try to be different with their designs more than the other Japanese brands who like to play it conservatively. I'm excited to see what the new Pajero ends up looking like for production.

Here's the Pajero/Montero concept called the GC-PHEV:
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/11/21/mits ... 013-video/