2010 Suzuki Kizashi SLS AutoWeek Long-Term Wrap-Up: Running Ragged

Our long-term 2010 Suzuki Kizashi earned its stripes with sharp handling and styling during its year in our garage. But eventually, the car's creeping harshness took its toll.

A year and 19,178 miles in a Kizashi revealed some noticeable changes in powertrain character and ride quality that we typically don't see in a 12-month test drive. In particular, staffers reported a considerable increase in engine noise, and as time went on, our notes reported that the ride seemed to go from nicely taut to unbearably harsh. Maybe we just grew tired of the Kizashi's ways, but we suspect that an owner might, too.

And while the CVT, a $1,000 upgrade over the standard manual gearbox, was rated by staffers as one of the best in the business, even regular use of the manual mode and the steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters couldn't mask the tranny's underlying dullness. The rubber-band feel of CVTs in general is depressing. That we opted to spend a year with a CVT versus a perfectly good stick struck some of us as borderline psychotic.

In general, our year started out with kudos all around for the car's anti-me-too styling, sharp and functional interior and excellent ride and handling. Power was rated as underwhelming, exacerbated by the aforementioned CVT. The jury was mixed on the steering, with most loving the taut feel and responsiveness, while others felt the setup was overly heavy and tiresome to wrangle on a regular basis. All agreed that the car's brakes were superb.

As the year went on, the brakes and handling continued to earn stellar reviews, while reports of interior rattles appeared with regularity (possibly related to dealer-installed satellite-radio antenna wiring), and complaints of ride harshness and engine noise grew in intensity. Dealer fixes and our own resourcefulness (cardboard in the headliner) cleared up most of the interior creaks, but the gradually more grating noise from engine, wind and road were solved only by dialing up more volume from the car's crisp and thumping Rockford Fosgate audio system.

The car was never out of service from its own failings but did spend one day out of the fleet for satellite-radio installation and three days for repair of rear-end accident damage. Aside from swapping winter tires on and off the car and paying the accident-damage bill, our general maintenance costs totaled just $85.34. Not bad.

At year end, the suspension was still winning kudos for keeping the car well controlled in corners, with impressive grip and composure for a front-drive sedan.

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