In which the characteristics of the Suzuki Aerio are enumerated.

In My Humble Opinion
1

There have been a lot of threads lately in which someone asks everybody’s opinion on what new cars are interesting and reliable before going out and buying a Honda, and I’ve found myself responding to every darned one with a description of the features of the Suzuki Aerio. It’s like a compulsion or something.

So, to save time, I am starting this thread, so that the next time someone asks for information on cars before going out and buying a Honda, I can simply link to this thread instead of typing the same things over and over again. That’ll let me have more time to surf the internet looking for cult movie reviews and pictures of Meg Myles. It’s a win-win situation.

I purchased a 2003 Aerio in November 2002. At the time, Suzuki was offering $2000 cash back, so I paid roughly list -$2500. I bought the sedan.

Good points:
Amazing amounts of interior space; loads of rear legroom even with the seats pushed back, and lots of headroom. Enormous trunk. Large door openings, so it’s easy to get in and out of. Split folding rear seat to allow one to carry long things.

Powerful engine; 145 HP at the time, 155 HP nowadays. Five-speed transmission, good clutch action. Nice steering feel, very agile in traffic; it’s point-and-squirt. Good mileage; on my mostly rural commute, it gets 29 mpg.

Good selection of options. Mine came with a six-disc CD changer (mounted in the dash) with six speakers (new ones have seven, I believe). Power windows. Power locks with a remote.

The engine has a timing chain, instead of a belt. Belts have to be replaced every 60K miles. No plug wires; the engine has separate coils for each spark plug, mounted directly on the plugs. Engine is all-aluminum, with steel-sleeved cylinders.

Bad points:

Sensitive to crossinds; it’ll wander a bit on windy days. I suppose it’s the slab-sided body.

R he door lock/unlock remotes have poor life; I’m on my third set.

There’s a buzzy rattle in each rear door that I haven’t been able to get rid of.

All in all, though, I’m very very pleased with the car. A couple months after we got it, Mrs. R needed a new car. I told her to drive mine for a few weeks, and if she liked it, we’d get her one. She did, and we did; hers is the hatchback. The trunk space is a little less, since the hatchback is shorter than the sedan, but there are a bunch of cute bins under the rear floor, and the rear seats fold down flat to make a pretty big load platform.

Here’s a forum where you can listen to other owners talk about the car.

2

My GF’s brother is looking at a new car…and I have to admit as a car buff the Aerio didn’t even show up on my radar as a possible car :smiley:

I myself drive a new Matrix and he loves how my Matrix looks/feels. We went to talk to my Toyota dealer but the order time for an AWD Matrix XR is 3-6 months!

So now we’re looking at the Mazda 3 Sport. Although I’m slightly troubled by the close ties with Ford, I think it’s still a great car although maybe a little too much for a first time driver. Other cars in the running are the Corolla, Imprezza TS or even an Acura 1.7 EL (not available in the US).

Can I ask you Rocketeer, what made you look at the Suzuki in the first place? And over say, an Echo? Was it simply a matter of price? Or have you have good luck with Suzuki’s in general?

3

What got us to the Suzuki in the first place was the Seattle International Auto Show. We were kinda sorta in the market for a car to replace my trusty old Dodge Omni, so we spent an evening walking around the auto show, sitting in various cars. It was a good way to compare a lot of cars back-to-back; of course, we couldn’t drive them. We meandered over to the Suzuki booth and sat in an Aerio; we were really impressed with the ease of entry, the interior space, the nice sightlines out, and when the salesman showed us the trunk, we were blown away. (The trunk is really really large.)

So we narrowed it down to the Protege and the Aerio, and visited dealers and did test drives. The Protege was more money and had an odd lump in a bad place in the back seats and was a bit slower-feeling. I think the Protege might be a little better highway car, though.

Why not an Echo? The Echo kinda gave me bad vibes. 1. I have the feeling that the Echo is a bottom-of-the-line Toyota, whereas the Aerio is a top-of-the-line Suzuki. 2. My sister has a Tercel, and it’s had some problems that I don’t think a Toyota should have; and my feeling is that the Echo is the spiritual successor to the Tercel. That led us to skip the Echo and comparison shop the Corolla vs. the Aerio, since I think the Corolla is a little better car than the Echo. 3. Toyotas tend to be expensive; the Aerio was a better buy.

A lot of people see the Matrix and the Aerio as direct competitors; if he’s considering a Matrix he ought to drive the Aerio hatchback.

As far as previous experience goes, I’ve never owned a Suzuki before. It was kind of a leap into the dark for us. So far so good!

4

I’m a fan of Suzuki autos. My current car is a 1994 Suzuki Swift GT that I bought used in 1996 (but it only had 6900 miles on it - basically a new car then). It’s got somewhere around 120k on it now, and it is still running great.

Once I finish grad school and am in a position that I can look at a new (well, new used) car, I am seriously considering the Aerio. With no major problems with the Swift (sure, it’s needed maintenance, but all cars do), I don’t have a problem considering another Suzuki.

The only problem I’ve had with the Swift is the tires: the original tires are an odd size that were expensive to buy and are now no longer made by Bridgestone. I’ve heard that there is an off brand (Kumo? something like that) that is now producing the tires, but luckily I don’t need tires at the moment. Rocketeer, how common a tire size is on the Aerio? The one thing I know I don’t want is another car that is a major hassle to buy tires for.

5

Just so you know, Kumho makes good tires.

6

Thanks for the correct spelling, Mr. Moto - I’d only heard the brand, not seen it written, so I’d been unable to locate any information about them (which clouded my judgement a bit).

7

The tires, according to Edmunds, are P195/55R15 (I’m too lazy to go down to the parking garage and check personally :wink: ). Tire Rack lists candidates from Goodyear, Goodrich, Bridgestone, and Yokohama, so availability shouldn’t be a problem.