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Introducing: Myself

Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2019 2:46 pm
by Bagheera93
Hello people,

My name is Bagheera, I'm 26 and currently in possession of an Audi A3. Why am I here? I'm here to learn about the Kizashi as I'm planning on getting rid of my loyal German stud and going back to Jap! My previous car was a Suzuki Swift 2007 1.3, simple model no extra's or anything, but loyal.

As I stated before I'm looking for information about the Kizashi. I'm looking to buy a seconhand model with around 80k - 100k km's from 2012/2013 or higher if my budget allows it.

Can you provide some common issues, recalls, things to look out for when checking out a secondhand Kizashi.

Looking forward to your replies. I love the car and hope to join your owners soon.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Introducing: Myself

Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2019 11:46 am
by Woodie
Welcome Bagheera

It's a very nice car, more sporty than most small sedans with excellent driving dynamics. I often describe it as much like a low end Audi or BMW. Doesn't get very good fuel mileage for the amount of power that it has, not terrible, but in this era you would probably expect a little more of either power or mileage. Suzuki is generally conservative with their engines, giving up a little cutting edge performance in favor of tried and tested reliability.

Some of the 2010's have a weak spot on the engine block, it might crack. Never heard of this actually happening but Suzuki extended the warranty on the block itself to 20 years or something huge like that.

The Rockford Fosgate subwoofer on the 2010's would get loose and rattle, easily fixed by just removing the center cover that says Rockford Fosgate and throwing it in the trash, it's just cosmetic. This is almost certainly fixed by now, it would drive you crazy. Occasionally the volume increases on it's own, mine still does this but only when it gets good and hot. I don't usually turn it up very loud so it's not a big deal to me. Again that's just on the very early cars. I'd look for a car with the Rockford Fosgate stereo, it's very good. The ones with navigation are not near as nice, plus navigation works better on a phone than any in dash version.

There was a problem with the rear shock absorbers, caused by water getting trapped behind the bump stop and corroding the shaft. The bump stop was redesigned and the shocks are available at a reasonable price. Not going to happen in a dry climate and most likely fixed already by 80K km.

In North America there is a recall for the gas tank vent tube getting clogged up by some crazy spider that likes the smell of gas and builds a nest in there. Seems unlikely to me and probably a regional thing.

The CVT transmission is the only thing I would absolutely not have. It costs you power, mileage, and reliability besides the fact that it feels strange and reduces the sporty nature of the car. Quite a few people have had failures and there's no fixing it. If there's a problem they replace the entire transmission at great cost. They originally said no service necessary but now have gone completely the other way and are saying to change the fluid every 50K km or something like that. If you're going to get an automatic get it good and hot on a test drive and listen for a whining noise. That's the first sign of trouble.

This might sound like a lot of trouble when written out like this, but avoid a 2010 or a CVT and most of it doesn't apply.

Re: Introducing: Myself

Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2019 5:36 pm
by Ronzuki
CVT is plenty fun to drive IF you have paddle shifters. If not, there's always the stick in manual mode. I use both constantly. IDK, my 2010 GTS AWD (CVT) seems to be just fine even after waiting 80,000 miles to change out the severely abused CVT fluid. I drive the car hard routinely and am not at all shy about winding it up to redline before popping the paddle up a click (or down for that matter). I'll also counter that I would suggest to avoid mid-to-late 2011 and newer CVTs since it appears, to me anyway, many failures being reported are of the newer MYs containing the (Chinese or Taiwanese built Jatcos) as opposed to the original Japanese built units in the 2010s and early 2011s.

I've had all the issues described above resolved over the life of my car. The RF's amp replaced for the volume wandering in hot weather (warranty), the shocks and bump stops replaced (warranty), the spider vent fix Part I (recall), serp belt tensioner pulley replaced (warranty/recall), and my original RF woofer is still going strong. Thumping away nicely yesterday in fact. Everything stills works as it should...A/C blows cold, handles as if on rails still, no squeaks or rattles to annoy me, and fairly quiet in the cabin when the windows are closed. Door gaskets are beginning to allow wind and road noise to enter the cabin though. CVT is still pretty darn quiet since the fluid change and is running smoothly. Still on the original Akebono brakes all around (yeah, I'm a huge fan of throttle control and engine braking, hence the continuous use of the paddles). The only thing not mentioned in this thread is the Kizashi chews through tires if driven the way the car was designed to be driven in order to fully enjoy it.

Re: Introducing: Myself

Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2019 7:51 pm
by KuroNekko
Woodie gave a very good synopsis of Kizashi ownership. There are issues like any car, but it's generally holding up well and is very nice to drive for the price you can get one.
The only issue I will add is that the darker color models tend to chip the paint easily. The paint on the Kizashi is very soft and thin and paint chipping is quite common for black, blue, and red painted models.

Re: Introducing: Myself

Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 6:48 am
by SAEED_KIZZY
If you want to buy CVT kizashi car mileage is important unfortunately car mileage can be changed by some owner so you cannot trust it it 100% is better to ask owner for maintenance receipt.

Re: Introducing: Myself

Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 9:38 am
by Woodie
Ronzuki wrote:I would suggest to avoid mid-to-late 2011 and newer CVTs since it appears, to me anyway, many failures being reported are of the newer MYs containing the (Chinese or Taiwanese built Jatcos) as opposed to the original Japanese built units in the 2010s and early 2011s.
:lol:

So there you go Bagheera;

Ask for advice, one guy says avoid the early models and another says the earliest ones are the only way to go. Just goes to show you that there are no clear cut answers, and a lot of this is just a matter of luck. Kizashi is a very good car, and people tend to seek out a forum like this only when they have a problem, so our point of view might be a little bit off because of that.

Even though we've seen some problems with the CVT, as Ronzuki points out there are a lot of them out there working fine. My comments are probably harsher than they deserve because of my dislike of automatic transmissions in general and hatred of CVT's in particular.

Re: Introducing: Myself

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 11:46 am
by Bagheera93
Thansk for the elaborate responses. I'm not interested in the CVT model, I prefer manual anyway. My current daily has a DSG 7 speed automatic transmission so we all know how shit those are, rather not upgrade to a luxury vehicle with a shitty transmission lmao.

Im test driving a Kizashi tomorrow,

2012 build year
94.000KM milage
Manual

its at a suzuki dealer so should be fine, gonna test the salesmen on his knowledge. I was aware of the spider thing, (creepy lol) and the tire wear too. Shock bumps is new to me but I can replace those myself easily so I wont be worried about that. Genuienly excited for the test drive. Been looking forward to this moment a lot.