Suzuki SX4 S-Cross

The Suzuki SX4 S-Cross is a rival for the Nissan Qashqai, with efficient engines, plenty of space and the option of four-wheel drive.

The Suzuki SX4 S-Cross might have emerged onto the crossover scene much later than most of its rivals, but it’s still a worthy competitor to the increasing crop of stylish SUVs.

Shunning its more utilitarian roots with the old SX4, the smarter SX4 S-Cross follows the trend for fashionable, high-riding family cars and brings a versatile cabin, sharp drive and plenty of kit to the party. On top of that it should be cheap to run if you opt for the frugal 1.6-litre turbodiesel. There’s also a 1.6 petrol, but unless you’re dead against driving a diesel-powered car, we’d recommend going for the more efficient alternative. 

Two-wheel drive and a manual gearbox are standard, but there is the option to upgrade to a CVT automatic (depending on engine) and four-wheel drive. This range of engine and transmission options spans three different trim levels: SZ3, SZ-T and SZ5 (the reason there’s no SZ4 is that Suzuki deleted this variant from the range at the end of 2014). 

Equipment specs are fair in the entry-level SZ3 car – with cruise control, stop-start, air conditioning, Bluetooth and steering wheel mounted stereo controls coming as standard – but the real benefit is the S-Cross’ price.

SZ-T trim offers the best balance between affordability and kit, featuring keyless go, sat-nav, rear parking sensors and camera, dual-zone climate control, a DAB radio and an upgraded speaker system.
If you really want to push the boat out, the top-spec SZ5 model adds leather, front parking sensors, automatic headlights and wipers, a panoramic roof and LED running lights. It brings a more premium feel to the car, too, but there’s still no getting away from the Suzuki’s budget focus compared to some of its rivals.

Mixing rugged underpinnings – especially if you go for the proper four-wheel drive system – with inoffensive styling the SX4 S-Cross is a worthy contender in the family crossover sector.

Our choice: SX4 S-Cross 1.6D SZ-T 2WD.

While it’s not the most distinctive-looking crossover around, the SX4 S-Cross is a modern and well-proportioned design. A prominent grille is flanked by large, high-intensity discharge headlamps, plus there’s the usual SUV-inspired plastic body cladding.

All versions come with alloy wheels, as well as body-coloured bumpers and door mirrors. SZ5 spec adds 17-inch rims with a polished finish, practical roof bars and those eye-catching LED running lights.

Climb aboard and you’ll discover a neatly styled and logically laid-out cabin. The simple dash design is easy to get on with – particularly if you opt for a model with Suzuki’s intuitive touchscreen infotainment and sat-nav system. As with the exterior, the cabin isn’t the most eye-catching around, but the blue-ringed dials and silver trim for the air vents help lift the ambience.

As we’ve come to expect from the latest crop of Suzukis, quality is superb. The plastics have an upmarket look and feel, while the fixtures and fittings feel robustly constructed. It’s easy to get comfortable behind the wheel, as there’s plenty of seat and steering column adjustment, and the flat-looking seats are surprisingly supportive.

You don’t normally expect a high-riding crossover to deliver driving thrills, but the Suzuki is surprisingly engaging from behind the wheel. Despite its large size, it feels agile on twisting back roads and responds much more eagerly to the steering than rivals.

As you’d anticipate, there’s more body roll than with a standard family hatch, yet it’s no worse than the Nissan Qashqai and less pronounced than the Kia Sportage. And while the steering is a little light, it delivers decent feedback. A snappy six-speed gearbox and progressive brakes are further dynamic highlights.

The good news is that the Suzuki’s nimble handling doesn’t come at the expense of comfort. Supple suspension means the SX4 soaks up bumps that send a shudder through the Sportage, while the interior is well insulated from wind and road noise. The only fly in the ointment is a slight waywardness on the motorway, which requires constant small corrections with the steering wheel.

There are two 1.6-litre engines to choose from in the SX4 S-Cross – one petrol and one diesel. Both produce 118bhp but there is a massive difference in torque as the petrol produces just 156Nm (less than half of the diesel’s 320Nm output), which means that the diesel is much more relaxing to drive. The petrol comes with a five-speed manual gearbox (the diesel gets the six-speed) or a CVT automatic, but feels strained and often underpowered when driving up steep inclines or when loaded with passengers.

There are no complaints about the 118bhp 1.6-litre diesel, which is a smooth and punchy performer. More importantly, with a muscular 320Nm of torque available from a mere 1,750rpm, the SX4 delivers effortless real-world pace and is able to power up hills that leave the Qashqai and Sportage a little breathless.

Suzuki is known for its reliability, and both the engines on offer (although tweaked for efficiency) have been used elsewhere in the Suzuki range with a proven track record. Inside, the cabin feels fairly robust – part of the appeal of its basic design – and it feels sturdier than rivals like the Vauxhall Mokka.

Suzuki finished a disappointing 31st out of 32 overall in our 2015 Driver Power survey, but its cars scored well for reliability with a 10th place result. The S-Cross certainly feels built to last, while many mechanicals are shared with other established models in the brand’s line-up.

Safety was a priority when developing the car, which helped to earn the crossover a creditable five-star Euro NCAP crash test score.

All versions get seven airbags, stability control and tyre-pressure monitoring, while SZ5 adds high-intensity discharge headlamps as well as automatic lights and windscreen wipers to help improve vision and therefore safety.

The S-Cross is slightly shorter and narrower than the Nissan Qashqai and Kia Sportage, meaning it can’t quite match them for interior space. Even so, thoughtful packaging results in a useful 430-litre boot, which can easily be extended to 875 litres by folding the rear bench flat – although there are no remote release handles in the luggage area.

Elsewhere in the boot you’ll find a number of handy shopping bag hooks, a 12V power supply and a neat false floor that lifts to reveal extra storage. There’s also a pair of lidded cubbies hidden behind the rear wheelarches.

Little separates the Suzuki from its closest contenders when it comes to legroom, but the S-Cross loses out on headroom if you go for the panoramic roof as it eats into space. Because the car is narrow, the rear bench is more of a squeeze for three adults, too.

At least there’s plenty of room up front, while the glass roof lets in a lot of light to help create a bright and airy atmosphere. Unfortunately, the Suzuki is let down by its lack of useful storage. Not only are the door pockets shallow, but you get just a small dashtop cubby and an average-sized bin ahead of the gearlever.

Unlike most crossovers in this segment the SX4 S-Cross should be very affordable to run – all but the petrol four-wheel-drive model produce less than 130g/km of CO2 and diesel models get stop-start as standard, which helps to drop that figure to just 110g/km for the front-wheel-drive car. Economy varies but even the petrol versions manage a claimed 51.3mpg, while the diesel variants top 70, with a best of 76.3mpg on paper.

There are drawbacks, though. For instance, Suzuki doesn’t offer a pre-paid servicing pack, so routine maintenance will cost you more. Also, our experts predict that the S-Cross will retain only around 40 per cent of its value after three years, which is some way behind rivals like the Sportage and Qashqai. 

Suzuki Vitara

The new Suzuki Vitara offers good value, loads of kit and a decent drive, but falls short in some areas.

The new Suzuki Vitara is finally here, and it's hoping to abandon memories of the dated previous car with Range Rover Evoque inspired styling and much more advanced equipment. There's also more dynamic ability on offer, but it's not quite up with the class best.

The new Vitara hares its platform with the SX4 S-Cross, the other mid-sized crossover in Suzuki’s range. Thanks to a raised ride height and more rugged angular styling, the Vitara is the more overtly off-road looking model, but a 100mm shorter wheelbase and a smaller boot mean it’s more of a Nissan Juke rival, while the S-Cross takes on the Nissan Qashqai.

Suzuki has a long history of building hard-wearing, affordable small 4x4s, so its no surprise that the Vitara is offered in both front and four-wheel drive configurations. There’s a choice of a 1.6-litre petrol or 1.6-litre diesel engines, both of which feel sportier than you'd expect, as well as manual and automatic gearboxes.

A wide choice of exterior paint, a contrasting roof and a variety of interior trim colours add a high level of personalisation, while safety equipment includes an auto braking function, adaptive cruise control and seven airbags as standard. 

Our choice: Suzuki Vitara 1.6 VVT petrol ALLGRIP 

Park the Vitara side by side with the SX4 S-Cross and they look virtually the same size, but the stat sheet reveals the Vitara is actually 125mm shorter overall with a 100mm shorter wheelbase.

It’s still 40mm longer, 10mm wider and 45mm taller than the Nissan Juke though so it has a sizeable presence on the road. The chunky styling is fairly modern and fresh and we particularly like the chrome grille that lines up perfectly with the headlights, the squared off rear wheel arch and the interchangeable front and rear bumpers.

You can select Urban or Rugged styling packs, which feature attractive additions such as extra chrome trim, a tailgate spoiler or tougher skid plates. Metallic paint is £430, while a contrasting roof colour can be specced for a further £370. However, none of these customisation options manages to disguise some of the Vitara’s heavy-handed details and rather awkward proportions.

Inside, the interior design is lifted by a large central clock and a smart, seven-inch touchscreen that’s standard on mid-grade trims and above. The instrument cluster is simple and easy to rear, while a strip of plastic that stretches across the dash can be ordered in a variety of colours and textures.

The only issue (a major one for some) is the interior trim quality. It feels relatively hard wearing in most places and there's plenty of toys, but the plastics are hard and scratchy and the lower parts of the centre console feel very flimsy. It's fine in the cheaper models, but as top-spec cars nudge £19k we'd be looking for more upmarket materials.

If you want to emphasise the feeling of space, a panoramic roof with a large 560mm opening is offered as an option, although on our test car it suffered an irritating rattle (early test cars sometimes have this issue).

Suzuki says its aim with the Vitara was to make it drive like the Swift supermini, and it’s not as far off as you might think. The extra weight and higher centre of gravity means it doesn’t change direction quite as quickly and rolls a little more, but it still clings on to the road eagerly when you up the pace.

The diesel model sounds a bit agricultural on anything more than half throttle, but provides plenty of punch and a broad spread of torque, while the petrol engine sounds sporty and loves to be revved. Curiously, the diesel model has a slightly softer suspension setup than the petrol so it’s the one to go for if comfort is top of your list of priorities, but both models ride well and deliver decent refinement at motorway speeds.

The raised driving position and light steering make it well-suited to driving around town, but if you do order the optional ALLGRIP four-wheel drive system and fancy some light off-roading, it’s more than happy to oblige.

Four transmission settings - Auto, Sport, Snow and Lock – change where the power is sent, ranging from a two-wheel drive fuel-saving mode when you’re cruising in Auto, to permanent four-wheel drive modes like Snow and Lock that help extricate you from sticky spots. Sport sends power to the rear tyres when needed, according to throttle inputs.

Suzuki has traditionally boasted a strong reputation for building durable cars, but a 31st-place finish in our Driver Power 2015 satisfaction survey suggests that the brand has hit trouble.

Still, the Vitara uses many parts from other models in the line-up, while its 1.6-litre diesel has been developed in cooperation with Italian giant Fiat. And in the event there are any problems, buyers will be reassured that the brand’s dealers finished a respectable 16th in our 2014 poll.

There’s even better news when it comes to safety, because the Vitara was awarded a five-star rating in Euro NCAP’s tougher 2015 tests. All versions get seven airbags, stability control and tyre-pressure monitoring, while adaptive cruise control and autonomous braking are standard on SZ5 cars – although it’s not even optional on other models.

Because it’s 125mm shorter overall, and with a 100mm shorter wheelbase than the SX4 S-Cross, the Vitara doesn’t have the same amount of interior space, but is still a spacious family car.

The high-sided design means there’s lots of rear headroom and legroom is generous enough for all but the tallest adults. The boot space of 375 litres (increasing to 1,120 litres with the rear seats folded) is 55 litres less than the S-Cross, but 21 litres more than its main rival, the Nissan Juke.

It’s a well-thought-out shape - square with a wide opening and a moveable boot floor creating a loading area that’s level with the boot lip, plus a covered storage space underneath. Up front, there’s large storage bins in the doors, although the glove box is a bit on the small side.

As an all-seasons car, the four-wheel drive version is a practical choice – it might not climb a mountain or cross a river like the Land Rover Defender, but it’s perfectly capable of crossing a muddy field or finding traction when two-wheel drive cars will be scrabbling for grip on icy roads.

Because it weighs relatively little (1,160kg in four-wheel drive petrol guise, and 65kg less for the two-wheel drive version), the Vitara’s running costs should be among the lowest in the class. It can’t quite dip under the 100g/km barrier for CO2 emissions, but it’s close – the most efficient 1.6 DDiS diesel returns CO2 emissions of 106g/km with the six-speed manual transmission, or 111g/km if you order it with ALLGRIP four-wheel drive.

The two-wheel drive petrol model returns 53.3mpg with the five-speed manual transmission (51.3mpg with the six-speed automatic), while the four-wheel drive petrol model returns 50.4mpg and 134g/km with the manual ‘box and 49.5mpg and 138g/km with the auto.

Suzuki offers a range of fixed-cost servicing packages, and by fitting even the entry-level models with air-conditioning, Bluetooth, DAB radio and alloys it’s working hard on improving residual values.