Sluggish Kizashi

Hawkzilla · Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:34 pm

I agree 100% with the Freak about gladly sacrificing a few mpg to hear the engine rev and push the Kiz to it's limits. I've tried driving like a gramma and it's simply not in my DNA. lol

As far as Suzuki bragging up the CVT for fuel efficiency, they should have to have a disclaimer that you can't floor the gas even once... that instantly kills your MPG. I still get impressed when i'm on a flat interstate and set my cruise to 80 mph and still get around 32 mpg. That makes for big savings on road trips!

~tc~ · Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:27 pm

Northernstar wrote:Suzuki Canada claims that Kizashi CVT does 32 MPG in city......I wonder how they arrive at this number....... = =
Right now I am prob at 19 in the city......almost only half of what Suzuki claims @@

32 CITY? Sure about that?

Here in the US, by Federal mandated testing methods, they claim 31 MPG highway. They generate this data by driving a "preset" routine on a dynomometer. The profile/calculations was changed last year to make the "EPA Estimate" numbers more closely reflect real world conditions, especially for hybrids.

My dash-o-meter usually says about 26 MPG in my mixed driving (technically highway, but with traffic, more like city) and I get between 22 and 26 when calculating it at fill-up.

While I can't claim to drive like a grandma, I will say having the "instant" fuel economy show right in front of me probably helps me get a few more MPG than I would without it.

KizashiSLS11 · Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:53 pm

Has anyone tried Lucas Fuel Injector Cleaner in their Kizashi to improve gas mileage or performance? Is the Kizashi's compression ratio considered high at 10:01 or is that normal for today and still using regular gas. Has anyone tried higher octanes?

~tc~ · Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:57 pm

I can't image FI cleaner making a huge difference on such a new car.

Seafoam really helps smooth out the idle on my '93 4Runner, though. No effect on mileage/performance.

10:1 is reasonably high for regular gas.

Boatman79 · Thu Apr 21, 2011 7:47 am

Well, I am sorry to those of you who are having problems... Hopefully they will be fixed soon and resolved... I bought my car with over 16000 miles on it about six months ago.. that many miles was put on it in eleven months... when I got the car... it road perfectly... still does accept the alignment is kind of out... I hav had it aligned three times now... Maybe it is the person doing it.. but I will not give up... Car still drives great... picks up speed good and still gets really great gas mileage... I hope I do not have to go through the trans problems that some of you are having... Onve again... I hope your problems get resolved because the car is a really nice car...

KizashiSLS11 · Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:22 pm

Well I've written a letter to Suzkui Automtive Customer Relations about my concerns. We'll see what happens with that. And of course she encourged me to go back to the dealership...I told her once they received my letter we'll coordinate my return back to the service department.

I included the suspension noise issue that was not fixed with the right engine mount replacement of course that's a whole other thread.

To think I traded in my 2007 Mercedes C230 with 42K miles on it and no issues for a new car with issues...

Northernstar · Fri Apr 22, 2011 2:55 am

~tc~ wrote:
Northernstar wrote:Suzuki Canada claims that Kizashi CVT does 32 MPG in city......I wonder how they arrive at this number....... = =
Right now I am prob at 19 in the city......almost only half of what Suzuki claims @@
32 CITY? Sure about that?

Here in the US, by Federal mandated testing methods, they claim 31 MPG highway. They generate this data by driving a "preset" routine on a dynomometer. The profile/calculations was changed last year to make the "EPA Estimate" numbers more closely reflect real world conditions, especially for hybrids.

My dash-o-meter usually says about 26 MPG in my mixed driving (technically highway, but with traffic, more like city) and I get between 22 and 26 when calculating it at fill-up.

While I can't claim to drive like a grandma, I will say having the "instant" fuel economy show right in front of me probably helps me get a few more MPG than I would without it.

Yup, it says right on the Suzuki Canada web site: 32/45 mpg city/HWY. I am not sure how they come up with that number in Canada but I begin to think that is inaccurate......I dont drive like a grandma but I dont pedal to the metal either. All I get is around 19 mpg = =

Hawkzilla · Fri Apr 22, 2011 7:27 pm

Unless there is a Kizashi hybrid offered in Canada that we are not aware of, no way is that rating anywhere close to accurate. Everything I have seen on the Kiz is around 32/23. The 32+ is very reachable on the interstate, but I would have to drive extremely conservative to pull of 23 in the city.

In my experience, it would be literally impossible to get over 30 in the city.

Northernstar · Fri Apr 22, 2011 7:59 pm

LOL, that's what I thought.....got tricked when I bought the car =_=

KIZAWDinKC · Sun Apr 24, 2011 12:42 am

I do a perfect mix of highway and city driving. I've been getting about 23.1 mpg.

I'd say with the CVT transmission in high gear on the interstate, the kiz might get over 30 since the gear ratio simulates a 6th gear judging by the RPMs at 65mph.

But overall, my 4 cyl. toyota camry I owned prior got slightly better gas mileage. It was a 157 hp engine. The Kizashi engine is about 185 hp and has AWD, so as I expected, it gets a little better gas mileage than a decent V6, but yet a little less than an efficient 4 cyl. It's about right in between if you do a mix of city and highway.

I wish it did a little better in the city.