Kizashi Club

I have owned my Kizashi from new for 2 years and cannot fault it mechanically or for comfort on long trips of 600kms plus. However the paintwork is the worst that l have ever experienced experienced for chips even from insects and damage from careless shopping centre parkers when they open their doors next to you.

The body panels seem to create dents in them if you stand by the car and sneeze. l had a Toyota for many years whilst working as a roof carpenter and the hammer in my tool belt often banged against the side of the car when l walked past and in never showed any damage. l would not dare approach the Kizashi in the same manner for fear of the destruction it may cause.

I have complained to the agent who sold and serviced the car that the button push on the door only works intermittently and l have changed the battery in the remote but with it being intermittent and always working when it gets to the dealer they have so far refused to fix it. Has anyone else experienced any of these problems?

Disappointed Kizashi owner

I have had my 2010 Kizashi for 4+ years with no dents. I have had a few small paint chips (4) on the front, below the headlights, from stones. My KIzashi is white. Seems that the darker colors have more paint chips than white, from what I read here. I did cover the front quarter of the hood with clear vinyl from 3M when I first brought it home. I also covered the painted section between the two grills with black vinyl last year and did not have any chips in that section.

I have a 13 year old Toyota that has a few small door dings and this year a small rust spot has appeared on the lower panel before the rear tire. When I bought the Toyota the salesman stated the body has a galvanized coating beneath the paint. I hardly considered, at the time, what the salesman said but now 13 years later I am impressed. Driving around I notice rust on Chrysler, Ford and GM vehicles (especially rear hatches of Chrysler Minivans) and notice less rust on Japanese brand vehicles. Twenty years ago Japanese brands seemed to rust before your eyes, They seemed to have corrected that problem. Hopefully Suzuki has also.

redmed wrote:I have had my 2010 Kizashi for 4+ years with no dents. I have had a few small paint chips (4) on the front, below the headlights, from stones. My KIzashi is white. Seems that the darker colors have more paint chips than white, from what I read here. I did cover the front quarter of the hood with clear vinyl from 3M when I first brought it home. I also covered the painted section between the two grills with black vinyl last year and did not have any chips in that section.

I have a 13 year old Toyota that has a few small door dings and this year a small rust spot has appeared on the lower panel before the rear tire. When I bought the Toyota the salesman stated the body has a galvanized coating beneath the paint. I hardly considered, at the time, what the salesman said but now 13 years later I am impressed. Driving around I notice rust on Chrysler, Ford and GM vehicles (especially rear hatches of Chrysler Minivans) and notice less rust on Japanese brand vehicles. Twenty years ago Japanese brands seemed to rust before your eyes, They seemed to have corrected that problem. Hopefully Suzuki has also.

Likewise, mine is white and doesn't have the same problems. The darker colours appear to chip more.

With regards to the central locking, my door button has always been ok, but the key fob opening was a bit dodgy. Changed the battery and all has been ok.

I anticipated the drivers door button wearing out. So when my wife rides she is responsible for opening or locking from the passenger side. So far I have replaced batteries twice.

The Kizashi's paint sucks. It's a well-known issue on this forum. Some colors are worse than others. However, I don't think the Kizashi dents any easier than other Japanese cars made in Japan. I believe the sheet metal on Japanese cars is thinner than comparable American and European cars, but it also allows for them to be lighter.

I'm happy to report that 100% of the Kizashi's unibody on the underside is galvanized. I recall learning about that in a Kizashi promo video. In fact, the same video stated that over 80% of the entire unibody is galvanized.

No

My remote got weak and I changed the battery, but that's about it.

My remote is intermittent. But I've found that if the door button isn't working, neither does the trunk and even a couple of times the Start button. I'll use the remote buttons to unlock but watch the red light on it. It often doesn't light the first several button pushes of the remote. Then it works and the door locks and trunk work as the remote light indicates it should. I took the battery out and tested it and it was 3.6 volts. So I'm wondering it my remote is starting to go flakey.