Kizashi Club

Suzuki in Japan is now involved in a fuel economy scandal following the Mitsubishi scandal.
While it likely won't affect models sold outside Japan due to different ways governments, agencies, and companies measure fuel economy, it was recently unveiled that Suzuki employed an unorthodox fuel economy measurement in Japan.
They have since publicly apologized (that old guy with the bushy white eyebrows in the article below is Suzuki's CEO) and their stocks took a hit.
While the US EPA is examining Mitsubishi vehicles sold in the USA for fuel efficiency fraud, they don't have to worry about Suzuki automobiles for obvious reasons.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/suzu ... nance.html

When GM does it, it somehow falls short of being called a scandal. Rather, it's an "inadvertent error" due to "an internal error in our system." That's some good PR spin!
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/busine ... /84340896/

I read it had to do with how they conducted the testing rather than changing the results. They tested individual components indoors and combined results rather then the requirement to test the whole "system" outdoors. Suzuki said that the gusty, windy conditions were giving them inconsistent results. Anyway you slice it, it has no bearing our our Kizashis.

I find the fuel economy ratings to be bogus anyway. They bear so little relation to real life they're near meaningless. When you can tune an automatic transmission to deliver better mileage on the test than a manual, it put's the lie to the whole thing.

LPSISRL wrote:I read it had to do with how they conducted the testing rather than changing the results. They tested individual components indoors and combined results rather then the requirement to test the whole "system" outdoors. Suzuki said that the gusty, windy conditions were giving them inconsistent results. Anyway you slice it, it has no bearing our our Kizashis.

Fun fact: the test center that supposedly had a lot of wind was at the Sagara plant which is where all Kizashis were made. The plant has a giant oval track around it.

I basically get EPA estimates on my Kizashi from various conditions. I can exceed the highway MPG estimates in optimal conditions, but I'd say that the 20 city, 29 hwy rating for my car is quite valid in real world driving. I've never gone below 21 MPG even in frequent city traffic but I also don't drive it like a maniac.