Cars.com's Dave Thomas takes a look at the 2010 Suzuki Kizashi. It competes with the Honda Accord and Subaru Legacy.
Transcript
(upbeat instrumental music) <v Narrator>Cars.com Auto Reviews. (upbeat electronic music) Hi. I'm David Thomas. With cars.com. And this is a 2010 Suzuki Kizashi. Now Suzuki might not be a brand on every car shoppers mind.
And good-looking sedans, probably aren't really acquainted with Suzuki if they do know the company, but that's what they have here. It's got really impressive handling, sporty, dynamic driving, optional all-wheel drive, but it comes at a price. (upbeat electronic music) What are the biggest surprise about the Kizashi? It's just how good looking it is. I've actually been stopped by people asking, "What car is it?" It kinda reminds me of the Volkswagen Jetta a little bit. It's about that same size too. But it's start at $19,000. It's priced with larger sedans, like the Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Camry, and Subaru Legacy. Suzuki really wanted to infuse some of that motorcycle heritage of theirs into this sedan because the class is kinda boring, and they do that terrifically. Even though it only has 185 horsepower with a manual, and a 180 horsepower with a continuously variable transmission, all the fun driving dynamics, come from the steering and the handling. It is terrific to drive. It's a lot of fun on curvy mountain roads, or just on your commute. Well the base trim level starts at $19,000. I don't know how many shoppers are gonna opt for that? 'Cause it comes with a manual transmission standard, only comes in three different colors. Think most shoppers are gonna opt to move up to something like the SE trim level we have here. Starts under $22,000. And everything's included in that price, including the CVT transmission and larger wheels. As you move up through the trim levels, you get more and more stuff included with a larger price tag. However, all Kizashi's come with a lot of great standard equipment. Namely, tilting telescoping steering wheels, keyless entry and ignition, which is really unusual for this class, and a seven speaker sound system, with a USB port, and a little cubby up here in the front, which is really handy, useful, easy to reach, and it fits a really large MP3 player. There's definitely less backseat room, and trunk space in the Kizashi compared to some of its competition, like the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Hyundai Sonata. As you can see here, there's really plenty of space. And then the trunk you can fit tons of groceries, and other cargo. So you're really just giving up that extra space, and convenience you might need, to get a lot more sporty handling. <v Narrator>For more car related news, go to Cars.com or our blog, KickingTires.net
