2011-2013 Low Mileage Kizashi SLS AWD are Good Investments?

[yoshi2012]

I plan on buying a 2nd Kizashi SLS, trying to find a 2013 with AWD but they seem very hard to come by. I want the fully loaded metallic blue with beige leather interior or Beige color Kizashi with under 10k miles with any luck. I'll keep that baby stored away like a Ferrari and sell it in several years. I have a feeling it will bring in a nice return. If I had unlimited funds I would buy every fully loaded SLS available and then sell them later.

I think in 5-7 years $20-30k for a used car will be the normal based on inflation and other factors. I know Suzuki hates the Kizashi, but to me the car snobs are the ones that really complain. I always hear people say "a car has to have a V6 , V8 or v12 with 10000000 horsepower to be considered "good". Thats just plain nonsense! I think once the final Kizashi is produced and no more is made , this car will be appreciated in the years to come.

I remember in the 90's and early 2000 where Porsche's cost $30k and Hondas were half the price, and now look at them, you're looking at $30-35k for new Honda's and Toyotas. Loaded SLS Kizashi's will definately be sought in the used car market in my opinion. What are your thoughts on this?

[paininthenuts]

I plan on buying a 2nd Kizashi SLS, trying to find a 2013 with AWD but they seem very hard to come by. I want the fully loaded metallic blue with beige leather interior or Beige color Kizashi with under 10k miles with any luck. I'll keep that baby stored away like a Ferrari and sell it in several years. I have a feeling it will bring in a nice return. If I had unlimited funds I would buy every fully loaded SLS available and then sell them later.

I think in 5-7 years $20-30k for a used car will be the normal based on inflation and other factors. I know Suzuki hates the Kizashi, but to me the car snobs are the ones that really complain. I always hear people say "a car has to have a V6 , V8 or v12 with 10000000 horsepower to be considered "good". Thats just plain nonsense! I think once the final Kizashi is produced and no more is made , this car will be appreciated in the years to come.

I remember in the 90's and early 2000 where Porsche's cost $30k and Hondas were half the price, and now look at them, you're looking at $30-35k for new Honda's and Toyotas. Loaded SLS Kizashi's will definately be sought in the used car market in my opinion. What are your thoughts on this?

Is the SLS the top of the range in the U.S. In the UK we only got the sport, which I believe is the fully loaded version.

[Woodie]

I think you're dreaming.

[Engineer60]

I did mention this in another thread as only 503 cars were sold in the UK all Sport AWD models (bar 2 manuals so Im told). Although it may take many. many years and I will be dead by then

[bootymac]

It's not exactly a niche car that does a single thing particularly well so I doubt it

[KuroNekko]

I hate to add to the pessimist chorus, but I agree with the others that the Kizashi will not return any favorable profit in the future. The car is only great to actually own and drive and is otherwise a resale value disaster. Keep in mind Suzuki left North America and is likely never coming back given their refocus on their global market niche (cheap subcompacts). This means that parts, service, warranty coverage, and support are only going to get worse here. Also, the Kizashi is an excellent car, but is rather old-tech. The competition now have Direct Injection, turbochargers, hybrid systems, etc. In several years, the Kizashi will feel ancient compared to available cars on the market with more power and better efficiency.

Also, inflation is not going to work in favor of the Kizashi, much like most cars. Cars are among the worst investments you can possibly make for a monetary value because they rapidly depreciate. The only cars that appreciate are very rare expensive exotics or limited edition cars that were highly coveted. You need to own something like a Bugatti or a rare spec sports car (Corvette, GT-R, etc.) to see a good return later on. Oh yeah, they can't be driven much either. Even expensive European luxury cars like Rolls-Royce, BMW, Mercedes, etc. are 10 to 25% of their MSRP in about a decade if they were driven normally. A Kizashi, regardless of mileage, is worth little now and will be worse later.
Also, the reason why Toyota and Honda midsizes command near 30K these days is because they are much nicer than in the past. Fully loaded, these cars are bordering near-luxury and even often share the same platform with their luxury variants. Also keep in mind a V6 Camry is a sub-6 second 0 to 60 vehicle. Say what you will about a Camry costing near 30K but a V6 model will dust many cars out there including any Kizashi.

I honestly think the Kizashi will go the way of the Isuzu Vehicross. Ever heard of it? Many people have never heard of it, much like the Kizashi. The Vehicross was only produced for a few years and Isuzu has since left the US market. It was a rather good car that was critically acclaimed and owners liked it. However, it wasn't popular and now, many people don't even know it existed. While hardcore fans may want to get their hands on a low-mileage one tucked away in a garage, most people will stay away given it's an unknown vehicle produced by a company that left the US market years ago. I truly believe the Kizashi will be like this. Only fans like us will care, but it will be a hard sell years to come.

So what I'm basically trying to say is that the only reason one should get another Kizashi is to store for themselves. It should be because you like the car and want to keep driving one after it's time to let go of the first one. Forget any notion of preserving one and trying to sell it for good money later. Even I wouldn't buy one several years from now compared to what would be available on the market by then. Only for a dirt-cheap price would I consider it. If it wasn't for the price I got on my current one, I wouldn't have bought it.
Also, AWD is growing in popularity given Subaru's recent smashing success so more and more segment rivals offer it. It's really not something too unique anymore for a sedan and certainly won't be in the future.

Lastly, there are no consumer-market Beige/Copper Kizashis. That picture is the one and only Beige colored model I've ever seen because it was the press-release prototype. It's the Kizashi that ASMC (American Suzuki Motor Corp.) revealed to the press when they introduced the Kizashi for production. Note the wheels. Those were never production type much like the car color. Every photo I've ever seen of this Beige one is on a cliff (in California, I think) where ASMC gave a press-conference on the Kizashi. Here's a photo showing that with this very Beige-colored Kizashi.

[Moto]

Agree, you will not make a favorable return on a Kizashi other than they are a relatively cheap AWD car to own.

If you find a cheap SLS drive it until the wheels fall off.

My Saab 92x was similar in that it was AWD and only a few were made (4300). The only ones that are holding their value is the 2006 in which only Around 200 aeros were sold. The people propping up the price are the current aero owners. All of the 2005s are worth even less than the counterpart Subaru WRX.

The Kizashi has even less of a following. I might be willing to buy a nice one if I see it sitting around, but most people will not know what they are. You need people to value them for them to be valuable. With the exception of the people who already own them there is not a huge base of people looking for a kizashi. I even see it in the traffic on this web site. We get about 2/3 the traffic we used to. (Albeit better traffic.)

[sx4rocious]

I totally agree. I would also like to add that you won't find one in the US with few enough miles to get anyone to consider it a collectable anomally. I watched a program recently about the Ford GT that proves this point. While a "nearly new" example in a sought after color brought upwards of $350K, some "driven" models were bringing just under the original MSRP of about $135K in the same color. The driven example they were talking about only had about 6,000 miles on a 2004 model year and had the EXACT same option package as the "nearly new" car. The only difference was the mileage with the nearly new car having about 40 miles on it. Both cars were kept in impecable condition.

First off, you'll never find a "nearly new" AWD SLS in the US. They just don't exist. Secondly, the Kizashi is not considered a collectable car and never has been when compared to the Ford GT. Even some of the Limited Edition high-powered sedans out there like the Nissan Altima SE-R Spec Vs I've seen are having a hard time bringing anything more than their non-limited counterparts. Same with used "R"-type Volvos which are considered MUCH higher quality than Suzukis. Third, most vehicles commanding large $$$ at auctions are EXTREMELY limited production cars. Even the 1991 VW Corrado G60 I owned that was beautifully unmolested and cared for it's entire life wasn't considered rare in the collector world with slightly over 1500 units sold that year. The numbers I've been able to find concerning the Kizashi state somewhere around 23,000 units were shipped to the US total. It is extremely small numbers considering Chevy sells that many Impalas in a month, but not even close to actually be considered "rare" in the eyes of the collector world. MAYBE if you actually owned the Copper pre-launch example in the picture above and kept it below 100 miles it's entire life, you may command purchase price in a few years, but that's even debateable.

[redmed]

I don't think Kizashi's will be collectable in the near future, maybe fifty years from now they might. I do believe that increased government regulations especially the increased MPG requirements will make older vehicles desirable. Soon stop/start will be commonplace and vehicles with any guts (hp) will be rare and expensive. Keeping this in mind I have been researching late model vehicles thinking of getting something for future use. I have never driven a vehicle that shuts off at every stoplight then restarts again when the light turns green but doubt that I would enjoy it or other changes I read coming for vehicles. I expect there will be a dark age of vehicles for ten-twenty years before something emerges as a improvement. My guess today is fuel cells.

[Woodie]

I'm with you redmed, actually ahead of your because I've been bemoaning the gov't ruination of the car for twenty years now. I'm completely disgusted by the airbags I'm forced to buy, amongst other things. The cars are fantastic now, but just think how great they'd be with 1,000 lbs and $5,000 less safety bullcrap on them?

I have a firm grasp on the concept of turning my headlights on when it gets dingy and checking my tire pressures every three months, thank you very much. I really wish that concepts like the Elio would gain more traction, even if only for this reason, more freedom of choice.