Kizashi Club

My 95 Oldsmobile Silhouette after 22 years was getting too old and decrepit so I started my journey to replace her. I test drove a Subaru Forester, Subaru Outback, Honda Pilot, Kia Sedona, Ford Escape, Ford Edge, Toyota Rav4 and Toyota Sienna. I bought the 17 Toyota Sienna. I compared each to my Kizashi and after each my appreciation of the Kizashi grew and grew. Bad rides each in their own way. To little, to slow, to noisy and to rough riding. Of them all I settled on the Toyota Sienna because we are going to travel cross country and the Sienna has the room and ride to do that comfortably. So far I only have less than 50 miles on the Sienna but I know I will choose to drive the Kizashi over the Sienna.

This is the quandary for Kizashi owners...make 'em last fellas!

My parents had a Silhouette growing up. We called it "The Spaceship". I took my drivers license test in it. Had roughly 12 acres of dash and windshield. Car designs have really come along since then. Hard to replace a mini van of that size with some of the small SUV's you mentioned. We had a Ford Edge. I hated that thing. It was basically just a tall car. Now we have an Explorer which is better. My wife wants me to get a new car and give the Kizashi to my step-son. I told her I'd rather buy him a nice used car and keep the Kizashi for myself.

DiggerDerrik wrote:My parents had a Silhouette growing up. We called it "The Spaceship". I took my drivers license test in it. Had roughly 12 acres of dash and windshield. Car designs have really come along since then. Hard to replace a mini van of that size with some of the small SUV's you mentioned. We had a Ford Edge. I hated that thing. It was basically just a tall car. Now we have an Explorer which is better. My wife wants me to get a new car and give the Kizashi to my step-son. I told her I'd rather buy him a nice used car and keep the Kizashi for myself.

We also called it "The Spaceship". Yeah we priced the Edge with Z plan pricing. What a joke. The Toyota dealer beat the Zplan price. Twelve years ago when I shopped at the Honda dealers I could not get them to budge on list price when I bought our Corolla I could only get a couple hundred off. This time after our first look at the Toyota as we walked out the door they offered $4k off the RAV4 and $5k off the Sienna. A couple days later we we went to buy, the $5k price was the starting point and went down from there.
I agree the Edge was a kind of tall car. But I did like Escape over the RAV4 but I would not buy ether.

Speaking of minivans, my brother recently got a Chrysler Pacifica. I mentioned the vehicle to him a while back when he and his wife were looking for a 3rd row SUV (her choice) but I was talking them into a minivan for the safety, comfort, and practicality. After all, they don't tow anything and live in Southern California so AWD/4x4 isn't necessary. However, they have 3 kids so the 3rd row was a necessity. They looked at a number of minivans and SUVs and decided on a new Pacifica. They were given a decent deal and then he used the savings to buy an extended warranty (wise for a Chrysler product).

The Pacifica itself is impressive. It's been getting very good reviews and is rated among the top minivans right now. I drove it last month when I visited and must say it feels upscale. Chrysler did a very good job making the Pacifica feel like an upscale and luxury minivan. They've had it for a few months and their only complaint is the fuel economy. However, they've only owned smaller 4 cylinder vehicles prior to it so it's somewhat relative. I told them to go for the PHEV version, but they needed it before those even debuted (not even sure if they are actually on lots yet).

For me though, the Kizashi is totally fine. I have no kids and my rear seats are seldom used for people. In fact, I've had a dog hammock cover in there for months now. My only real gripe about the Kizashi is the fuel economy but a lot of that has to do with my commute in heavy traffic. I average around 22 MPG which is pretty poor for a vehicle of its size by today's standards. That being said, I own the car so operating costs and insurance is all I pay. All things considered, it's still saving me a lot compared to getting a newer car. Given I really like my Kizashi and it's been very reliable, I'll keep it for quite a while and then move on to an electrified vehicle like a hybrid or PHEV CUV when the time comes. I feel that getting something quite different is the way I can justify letting go of the Kizashi.
Driving the Kizashi, it's astonishing to me how much Suzuki got right in their first attempt at a car like this. Too bad it was unpopular despite its positive technical attributes. Had it debuted at a better time with options on the powertrain, it may have been successful. That being said, I have absolutely no regrets buying this car. I too appreciate my Kizashi.

I did not look at the Pacifica. I will not set foot inside a Chrysler dealership again. My 95 LHS was the worst car (by FAR) I have ever owned and I swore "Never A Chrysler Again". I only owned it for less than 40K miles but had multiple problems with it. Many of the problems where covered under the warranty and I got to know the mechanics very well, but I will not waste my time at the dealership like that again. In the 3,000 miles after the warranty ended I had to replace the fuel rails. Driving my son to his wedding, as I stopped at a light, I noticed smoke coming from under the hood. I pulled over and opened the hood and found gas spraying unto the hot engine. It was a choice of playing it safe and having my son late for his wedding OR drive the rest of the way to the church with fuel spraying on the engine. I drove to the wedding. Kind of hoping the engine would catch fire and I would be rid of the wretched thing. After spending $300-$400 on a new rail and a frozen day spent in our garage replacing the rail. Within the next week I noticed the transmission starting to slip. That was the fifth problem with that transmission. I sold that car and took a bath on it. When I took it to car lots to sell it they asked if my:
Heater Core was replaced,
The transmission was reprogrammed,
Suspension Links replaced,
Engine oil leak,
Window motor replaced,
Seat was repaired,
Wipers repaired,
Something with my rear suspension,
Multiple transmission repairs (that I didn't know what was wrong OR I don't want to remember),
Other things I don't remember.
Those professional car jockeys knew most of the problems on that two year old car.

redmed wrote:I did not look at the Pacifica. I will not set foot inside a Chrysler dealership again. My 95 LHS was the worst car (by FAR) I have ever owned and I swore "Never A Chrysler Again". I only owned it for less than 40K miles but had multiple problems with it.

Can't have gotten any better after being acquired by FIAT, a notoriously incompetent manufacturer.

I must say my company car, a 2010 Caravan C/V was exemplary. Had a little over 100K on it when traded in, and never had a failure. Rear brakes were a little wimpy and needed replacement twice, front brakes once, and twenty oil changes. It still had two factory tires on it when I waved bye bye.

Yeah, not surprised to hear the Chrysler horror story and it's one of many I've heard. It seems like their transmissions are a hot mess and it doesn't seem to have gotten better with the newer ZF-built 8 and 9 speed autos. That being said, I have heard some stories like Woodie's before where the Grand Caravan and some Jeeps made it to high mileage without many issues. I've also heard the Chargers are doing well as police vehicles.
Hopefully, the Pacifica will be a good vehicle, but it's too early to tell. Fortunately, my brother invested in an extended warranty plan in addition to a maintenance package. Also, their other vehicle is a 2011 Kia Sorento which has been very reliable.

In terms of FIAT, their products are notorious and the brand sits rock bottom in reliability ratings for USDM vehicles. That being said, I'm curious to see how their powertrains will fare in not-entirely FIAT products. For example, the Jeep Renegade is available with a 1.4 liter turbo Fiat engine. The FIAT 124 Spyder uses the same engine but the vehicle is built in Japan alongside the Mazda Miata. I guess time will tell.

I have heard both good and bad about Caravan's. I just don't want to take the gamble, to save a few bucks, after what the last Chrysler product put me thru. I have had no problems with my Toyota with 200,000 miles on it. I could tell a lot of thought went into the design of it. The position of the controls, ease of maintenance and just being familiar and comfortable with it from day one. That was the reason I went with a Toyota again. My Kizashi has been almost trouble free for the 70,000 miles I have on it and reading reports here I hope for many more miles out of it. I would have considered another Suzuki if they where still here. Unlike the Toyota there have been a few quirks that we encountered with our Kizashi. One was banging my head on the lip of the trunk for a few weeks until I learned the Kizashi crouch whenever opening the trunk. Learning to shift into first gear before shifting to reverse to avoid having it jump out of reverse and grind the gears. Otherwise I'm very happy with the Kizashi. I especially enjoy other drivers checking it out trying to figure out what brand of car it is, since I debadged it only leaving the Kizashi emblem. I have had a number of Audi and BMW RS's challenging me. A good ride and entertainment along the way!