Kizashi Club

I bought a 2012 S FWD 3 weeks ago, and am in love with it. 42,000 miles and $13k out the door.

Everything about it impresses me. Suzuki pulling out of the US doesn't concern me in the least. Myself, and my wife, both like it a good deal more than her '10 Camry with 20k miles.

It was sold as an S, but I'm not sure that's accurate. It has the 18" wheels, and if the stereo isn't the RF I'm extremely impressed with whatever it is.

I'm getting ~30mpg mixed, 35-40mpg cruising at 45-55mph (measured with odo, avg speed 26mph according to the dash) and I'm not kind to the gas pedal. No rattles, great road feel, sure-footed, and makes the Camry's handling feel like a Grand Marquis.

The only downsides I can find are that the paint does indeed suck (white), the cvt is sluggish if you baby the gas pedal, and last night the left headlight bulb burnt out.

After 1000 miles I am so enamored with the car that I have decided I will be tinting the windows, having it repainted in a few years, and will otherwise just enjoy driving the crap out of it until the wheels fall off.

Cheers, Suzuki.

Welcome.

Sounds like you have the SE. This would allow it to have the 18 inch alloys, but have the base stereo. The SE was the only trim which was CVT-only.

Not surprised to hear that the Kizashi handles better than the Camry. It was designed to. Though smaller, it's far more nimble so it makes it a more enjoyable car to drive.

Unfortunately, the bulb burning out will induce a headache. The backside of the headlights are very hard to reach and sometimes requires the removal of the bumper to even swap out the bulbs.

Must be an SE then. Are the RF stereos badged? If it's stock it sounds amazing.

It doesn't just handle better, it makes me cringe at driving the Camry, which I used to love. Toyotas have a special place in my heart, I damn near cried when I had to put my LS400 down.

Hopefully the bulb won't be too difficult. I'm a DIY guy, replaced the headgaskets on my Ranger (RIP) 6 months ago in the driveway.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Chiral wrote:Must be an SE then. Are the RF stereos badged? If it's stock it sounds amazing.

It doesn't just handle better, it makes me cringe at driving the Camry, which I used to love. Toyotas have a special place in my heart, I damn near cried when I had to put my LS400 down.

Hopefully the bulb won't be too difficult. I'm a DIY guy, replaced the headgaskets on my Ranger (RIP) 6 months ago in the driveway.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Yes, the RF stereo is badged right on the head unit and even over the speaker covers. The RF system is a 10 speaker system. The stock is a 7 speaker system in the USDM. If you open your trunk, you'd see a RF sub woofer rear cover if you had the RF system.
Basically, it's very easy to tell if you have it.
You're not the first person to praise the stock stereo system. Others have thought it sounded very good and weren't sure if it was the RF system or not. I have a GTS and therefore the RF system. I absolutely love it.

If you are a DIY guy, then the bulb replacement should not be too hard. I did a write-up for a HID kit installation. It also serves as a write-up for removing the bumper, the headlights, and accessing the bulbs. Others have stated that bumper removal is not necessary depending on which bulb needs to replaced. Given the difficulty of accessing any bulb, I'd advise replacing both sides together, especially if the bumper has to come off.
Here's my write-up if you'd like a preview.
http://kizashiclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=2861

Again, thanks, that's exactly what I needed.

Good cars breed good owner communities, it seems.

Chiral wrote:Again, thanks, that's exactly what I needed.

Good cars breed good owner communities, it seems.

We're very small though we are an international car forum. Suzuki only sold close to 30,000 total Kizashis in North America. That's a very low number compared to most other rival cars. The plus side is that the Kizashi is a global car that's sold around the world so we have members from nearly all English-speaking nations. This forum is full of Americans, Canadians, Australians, and we have others from the UK, New Zealand, India, etc. We also have members from non-English speaking nations.
This global network makes this forum interesting.

Chiral wrote:Again, thanks, that's exactly what I needed.

Good cars breed good owner communities, it seems.

Any plans for mods? HIDs and RRM's rear sway bar are quite popular

bootymac wrote:

Chiral wrote:Again, thanks, that's exactly what I needed.

Good cars breed good owner communities, it seems.

Any plans for mods? HIDs and RRM's rear sway bar are quite popular

Indeed. I have both and recommend both.

I dont want to mess with the engine, but those both sound delightful

I guess I have plans now.

Chiral wrote:I dont want to mess with the engine

Oh good, because there's not a whole lot you can do to it