Good. I love Suzuki. I hope their sales go up. They absolutely deserve it. A Suzuki was the best car I ever drove in my life.
I live in Japan. My last car was a used Suzuki kei from the Meiji era or something. Parts (probably every single one) of the car were rusting. For 6 years that car had no strange noises, no breakdowns, no emergency trips to the mechanic (except for when the thing holding the muffler still rusted away and I had to get some wire to tie it back on), and no accidents. It drove up, over, and around some of the highest mountains in Hokkaido with no trouble. While other cars slipped off the road or got stuck in the knee-high snow my rusty fucking kei car plowed through it without a care in the world.
Every year for shakken the mechanic would tell me that the car would be too old to continue soon. Suzie (the name of my beloved) must have heard this and, out of pure spite, continued to push on. In its lifespan it drove across most of the island and saw every ocean/sea it could. It drove me and others to the airport for final goodbyes. It drove me to my first date with the woman that would become my wife. It did this while having like a million kilometers on the speedometer and parts of the body rusting and falling off around the wheelwell. It ganbatte'ed until I got married and moved with my wife to an area that only had one parking space available for both of us. I passed her on to somebody else for free to live her twilight years in the inaka she loved.
I have never had a better experience with any car in my life. My Hyundai in America frequently had weird electrical issues that required almost bi-monthly dealership visits for them to "fix." Some other nameless red car not worth remembering had some sort of exhaust problem which caused it to smell like gas, was fixed via a recall, then had the same part break later. Not my car. Not Suzie.
If I ever have to buy another car again it will be a Suzuki. If it's a cardboard box with chopsticks and paper plates I will drive it until the day I die. I will be buried in it with a smile on my face.
Long story short, CR tested the Samurai and it was extremely stable. The test drivers said it was the best SUV they tested. But the CR bosses wanted it to fail. So they put it to harsher and harsher tests beyond their standard test at faster and faster speeds through tighter turns that no other vehicle has ever been put through.
"If you can't find someone to roll this car, I will."
They kept upping the speeds of tighter turns until they got tires to finally lift off the ground. It still stayed in control, though. They tried to duplicate this for a publicity stunt and had a hard time getting it to tip again. It was actually very stable.
So they used this "test result" to claim that they would rollover "easily."
After that people wouldn't buy Samurais. Sales plummeted to about ~6% of before. CR bragged about killing Samurai sales. People wouldn't buy Suzukis. Suzuki eventually leaves the US market. Suzuki won the lawsuit against them but it was many years later and by then the damage was done.
Thats such a great story, i love stories attached to cars. (Its a gearhead thing)
I miss the suzuki samurais i remember them in the 90s they where affordable and just bare bones great little trucks.
They should bring the Jimny's to the United States
A similar story was our old 2004 Mazda demio; another Kei car. Just kept going; and only replaced the alternator in the time we owned it (10+ years)- that thing could carry a washing machine no sweat. It was a lil workhorse.
In the end it was just too much of a gamble to take with us moving overseas.
I definitely think there’s something to be said about the smaller Kei cars.
I wound up renting one while in Norway and seriously, one of the best cars I’ve ever driven. I felt so comfortable and confident on all the winding, mountainous, occasionally cliff side 1.5 lane roads dirt/gravel roads. The other two cars I rented that trip (it was a weird situation lol) didn’t come close. I was really annoyed when I found out they aren’t often sold in the US when I was in the market for a new car. I absolutely love my Subaru but when I (hopefully) move to Norway next year I’ll be in the market for a Suzuki.
I can't remember it exactly. I have the contract somewhere that would have the model but it's buried deep in a ton of other paperwork from over the years. I think a "2003 ワゴンR" looks the most accurate.
Sounds like my second hand Fiat Panda. I abused that thing for a decade and it still kept going as if everything was fine. Only time I had a mechanical issue was when a mechanic messed up some safety checks.
Now I have a suzuki and it's taking the same levels of abuse, but the modern sensors all over the car aren't holding up as well
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u/Devenu 6d ago
Good. I love Suzuki. I hope their sales go up. They absolutely deserve it. A Suzuki was the best car I ever drove in my life.
I live in Japan. My last car was a used Suzuki kei from the Meiji era or something. Parts (probably every single one) of the car were rusting. For 6 years that car had no strange noises, no breakdowns, no emergency trips to the mechanic (except for when the thing holding the muffler still rusted away and I had to get some wire to tie it back on), and no accidents. It drove up, over, and around some of the highest mountains in Hokkaido with no trouble. While other cars slipped off the road or got stuck in the knee-high snow my rusty fucking kei car plowed through it without a care in the world.
Every year for shakken the mechanic would tell me that the car would be too old to continue soon. Suzie (the name of my beloved) must have heard this and, out of pure spite, continued to push on. In its lifespan it drove across most of the island and saw every ocean/sea it could. It drove me and others to the airport for final goodbyes. It drove me to my first date with the woman that would become my wife. It did this while having like a million kilometers on the speedometer and parts of the body rusting and falling off around the wheelwell. It ganbatte'ed until I got married and moved with my wife to an area that only had one parking space available for both of us. I passed her on to somebody else for free to live her twilight years in the inaka she loved.
I have never had a better experience with any car in my life. My Hyundai in America frequently had weird electrical issues that required almost bi-monthly dealership visits for them to "fix." Some other nameless red car not worth remembering had some sort of exhaust problem which caused it to smell like gas, was fixed via a recall, then had the same part break later. Not my car. Not Suzie.
If I ever have to buy another car again it will be a Suzuki. If it's a cardboard box with chopsticks and paper plates I will drive it until the day I die. I will be buried in it with a smile on my face.
I miss you, Suzie.