Suzuki – Driven To Write

Unforced Errors

The author wonders why some automotive designs end up being not as good as they should or could have been.

In the field of automotive design, there is always a degree of tension between the designers and the body engineers charged with making their designs a reality. Many designs, when first revealed as concepts, are loaded with details that might look beautiful, but are difficult or impossible to incorporate into the body engineering for viable and economic series production. That, and the need to comply with the raft of motor vehicle legislation and regulations, is why production cars are often a disappointment, typically described as ‘watered down’ from the concept.

If the designer is unconstrained, then the result is, for example, the bonnet of the Jaguar E-Type. While undoubtedly beautiful, it was a nightmare to fabricate from many separate pieces of steel, laboriously welded together then lead-loaded and smoothed off to Continue reading “Unforced Errors”

How Many Melodies there are to Forget.

Oh, dear. It’s another Suzuki article.

Suzuki Ignis Mk2. All images: the author

How can I introduce this cheeky, useful, honest and endearing car without alienating readers who prefer uncouth, useless, dishonest and off-putting cars? This time it’s the Mk2 Ignis, which I considered to be quite horrible when I first happened to see one many years ago, but which I now consider quite attractive. What changed? Obviously my own opinions and values shifted and I came to see the inherent worth of a car that made credible efforts to Continue reading “How Many Melodies there are to Forget.”

So Glad they Bothered vs. Why Did they Bother?

We debate substance versus style.

Basic Dacia Jogger in UN White (Source: Byri)

On the 9^th February 2022, first drive reviews of two quite different yet similarly priced new models featured on the home page of a certain influential car magazine’s website and caused something of a debate chez DTW. One of them gives me cause to believe that there is again room in the market for an honest car that offers fantastic value to potential buyers. The other is a disappointing replacement of an existing city car that just makes me wonder why they bothered?

Let’s start with the positive: all hail the Dacia Jogger. OK, so the name is daft, but then so was Roomster, the moniker given to the car of which the Jogger reminds me so much. Sadly, Škoda has long abandoned this corner of the market, and with it has gone its most distinctive and playful of designs, which must also include the Yeti. Both of these Ingenlath-influenced cars are firm favourites for most, if not all, on this site. Continue reading “So Glad they Bothered vs. Why Did they Bother?”

Is that a Vourdoulakas in the Potting Shed?

Celebrating the unexceptional.

Reasonably priced car in Aarhus, Denmark. Image: the author

Much of what gets recorded is either data with no texture, or the exceptional. In between is where real life happens and it goes by undocumented. Today, an ordinary car on an ordinary street on an ordinary day.

The Suzuki Liana doesn’t strike one as …. well, it doesn’t strike one very much. So anonymous is the Liana that Top Gear used on as for their ‘Star In A Reasonably Priced Car’ feature. The Liana is very much the kind of car I see littering my part of town, and I usually ignore them. But, when I saw this one, I decided I could not resist the voice that told me to Continue reading “Is that a Vourdoulakas in the Potting Shed?”

Iced Gem

Hamamatsu does it again.

From Turin to Tamworth, from Minato to Michigan and elsewhere besides, the mid-1990s sports car revival was in full swing. Leading the charge from an emotional and commercial-savvy perspective was Mazda, who just prior to the new decade had perhaps unwittingly created not just a durable global phenomenon, but as the passage of time would illustrate, the default (relatively) inexpensive 2-seat roadster – the MX-5 Miata.

Decades after Europe had started to Continue reading “Iced Gem”

空と、風と遊ぼう

The Suzuki method: Just add joy.

What’s Japanese for ‘Jazz-hands’ again? Suzuki.co.jp

Venturing onto Suzuki’s Japanese Domestic Market web portal is not only a journey of discovery in itself, its colourful site is quite the joy to behold. And should you find the succinctly melodious Alto not to your liking, there’s a whole host of radical, sophisticated and downright interesting models to whet those with a JDM appetite.

Our Western values place freedom, and power alongside that ole chestnut, sex appeal – not to forget the wonders of that new-fangled electricity in brand advertising. Add in easy terms at every opportunity. That’s our way – the choice is yours to accept them or not. The Japanese, to eyes unaccustomed to such a varied culture, appear to promote fun, safety and economy, alongside more subtle allusions to attracting the attention of whomever one is attracted to. Having had electrical cars since Adam was a lad, Suzuki wish to Continue reading “空と、風と遊ぼう”

Play, The Adolfe Way

For such a wee car, the Suzuki Alto packs a musical punch.

Belgian, Adolfe Sax patented the saxophone back in 1864. A lifelong inventor, any influence upon the nascent motor industry he may have had is doubtful, shuffling off this mortal coil, penniless in 1894. Fast forward to 1909, when Michio Suzuki founded his Loom Manufacturing Works – another 28 years passing before becoming a motor manufacturer. Again, it’s somewhat unlikely that he himself (then aged 92) had any input in the naming or gestation of what became his eponymous company’s smash hit selling vehicle in 1979. But this little car was destined to Continue reading “Play, The Adolfe Way”

Kei Car Compendium – 2005 Suzuki LC Concept

As Suzuki prepares more Kei car retro-conceptual joy for Tokyo, we dip into their toybox. Gosh it’s fluffy in there…

2005 Suzuki LC Concept (c) supercars.net

Scribed within the official automotive aficionado manual, [chapter 37, paragraph 8, subclause 14.7] is the injunction that both interest and enthusiasm for that unique Japanese phenomenon, the keijidōsha, or light vehicle is a prerequisite for full and unfettered admission.

Here at DTW, we’re not exactly slavish in our fealty to motor-enthusiast norms, tropes or mores, so it would, you might imagine be in our purview to take a less than conventional position on the subject. Believe me, we tried, but faced with such an unrelenting tsunami of Kwaii, it takes a very firm resolve indeed not to Continue reading “Kei Car Compendium – 2005 Suzuki LC Concept”

Lapin Daze

Readers not wishing to indulge our predilection for all things diminutive, Japanese and fluffy might perhaps wish to look away now.

How predictably Driven To Write, you might suggest, for us to fawn over some cute and unobtainable Japanese Kei car. After all, it’s not as if Suzuki doesn’t also offer a multitude of the SUV and crossover things we’re so frequently critical about on these pages.

Fair point, and I have no intention of singling out Suzuki as a bastion of elevated values. But with the proviso that other, perhaps equally endearing Kei cars are available (in Japan), Suzuki have nevertheless gone to the trouble to Continue reading “Lapin Daze”

All And All Forgotten, Remembered

2018 is very nearly over and in many ways it was another dreary waste of all our time. The only thing to be said for 2018 is that it wasn’t as bad as whatever 2019 will bring.

In previous years I have provided our readers with a run-down of new car launches and a digest of the year just gone. Simon A. Kearne has informed me that the considerable time and vermouth required to do this is not justified by the dismal expected viewing figures.

So this year I will just open a bottle of Marsala* and invite readers to struggle to remember what was launched. I remembered three for certain: the Ford Focus, the Suzuki Jimny and Rolls Royce Cullinan. I had a look around for a definitive list of new cars and did not find one that I believed was able to satisfy my need for certainty that it could Continue reading “All And All Forgotten, Remembered”

Settling Back Into The Deep, Familiar Ruts Of Despair

December 1998: what was being reviewed in those sunny, happy times?

As luck would arrange it, dear old Car magazine took it upon itself to review the Suzuki Jimny 1.3 JLX as well as the Skoda Octavia estate and the Alfa Romeo 166 2.0 (is really 20 years since the last big Alfa appeared on the scene?). The Jimny is the most germane review subject as the new one has only been launched. Having read the reviews, I think the UK press has been more circumspect about their comments this time around, saying that the Jimny is for off-roading and not biased to the road so, yes, it does a very fine job of that former task. By the end it had become a legend.

In 1998 the critiques did not take account of the Jimny’s (shout it) off-roading focus. Roger Bell, normally a voice of sanity, got this one wrong on behalf of Car. He began the review as follows: “Suzuki’s almost legendary ability to Continue reading “Settling Back Into The Deep, Familiar Ruts Of Despair”

The Scent Of The Diorite, The Smell Of The Gabbro

It really has been a busy September. That said, I don’t know how I missed this. The new Jimny appeared to the world in the middle of the month and I only found out last night.

And it is something of a huge relief to see someone give it a clear and fair review. Quite plainly, after twenty years of not caring what the press thought, Suzuki now have a legend on their hands. Thus Autocropley accepted that the Jimny is for swivelling, skidding and slopping around in mud and not about 10/10ths blatting around Castle Combe.

All the downsides the car has, such as they are, are there because it is a vehicle designed to Continue reading “The Scent Of The Diorite, The Smell Of The Gabbro”

The Desert Has No Summit

Like our old friend the Suzuki Jimny, this little fellow seems to be a very long lived and stable design.

To my eyes it looks like a vehicle derived in part from the basic architecture of the Fiat 127, launched in 1971. A bit of research reveals that its designers wanted to create something equivalent to a Renault 5 with four-wheel drive. Its inception is credited to a call from the USSR’s political leadership for a utility vehicle for rural areas. Readers may be surprised to
Continue reading “The Desert Has No Summit”

Re-1998 Part 4 : Suzuki Grand Vitara

DTW seems to really like Suzuki. Autocropley hated the 1998 Ignis. We like it anyway because we like Suzuki.

It´s bigger than you think: 1998 Suzuki Grand Vitara

Today we will get our loafers muddy as we venture off road in order to Continue reading “Re-1998 Part 4 : Suzuki Grand Vitara”

Boys Keep Swinging

“Heaven loves ‘ya, the clouds part for ‘ya, nothing stands in your way, when you’re a boy…”

“Boys always work it out…” Image credit: (c) my.reset.jp

David Bowie’s 1979 single, Boys Keep Swinging is perhaps best remembered for its somewhat transgressive music video, but lyrically it stands as a sneering subversion of contemporary masculine culture and male entitlement.

Now before continuing, the author feels duty bound to Continue reading “Boys Keep Swinging”

Obscure Alternative

Better known for their two-wheelers as much as a range of small economy cars, the 1985 Suzuki R/S1 was pretty as it was bold. So of course they never made it. Or did they?

1985 Suzuki R/S1. Image credit: (c) allcarindex

For a time during the mid-1980s, it really did appear as though the automotive future was being dreamt up in Japan. With the mainstream European carmakers for the most part mired in creative and technical retrenchment, not to mention chronic overcapacity (some things never change), the Japanese manufacturers had it seemed, invested wisely and emerged as a power to be reckoned with.

Certainly, this period proved to be perhaps the great flowering of Japanese creativity and ambition when carmakers demonstrated to their European (and American) rivals that there really was nowhere to Continue reading “Obscure Alternative”

A Few Photos For Sunday: Suzuki Cappucino

Driven to write has something of a jones for these tiny cars. Hell would be being asked to choose between this and a Bristol 411.

Well, I say Driven to write likes the Honda Beat as if we are a gestalt consciousness devoid of personal preferences. But DTW isn’t really, it’s a concatenation of different automotive tastes that miraculously seems not to be in conflict (except about chrome and brightwork and maybe fake wood in a car interior). We don’t talk about that much.

Today’s car lives in Dublin, Ireland (hence the grey lighting of late March ’18). I’ve seen this example before and indeed, the only other Cappucino I’ve set my eyes on also crossed my trail in Dublin (a black one). Ireland’s roads and traffic conditions being what they are (bad), the Capuccino is a surpassingly intelligent choice alongside a Rover, Cadillac or Jaguar. The roads and country lanes can be narrow. High speed matters a lot less than the sensation of high speed. Being so low to the ground and so Spartan, the Cappucino must Continue reading “A Few Photos For Sunday: Suzuki Cappucino”

Far From the Mainstream: Suzuki Farmworker

In a couple of weeks, Suzuki will present the latest generation of their enduring and hard-working Jimny family. As we eagerly await the new arrival, we look at one of the odder twigs on the extended family tree.

The subject’s identity crisis is manifestly obvious. It’s sold as a Suzuki, yet there’s a Maruti badge in the centre of the grille. The Japanese masters were content to sell it to New Zealand farmers as one of their own, but it’s an Indian-built Maruti Gipsy, in 4WD, 1300cc petrol specification, and therefore based on the 1982 SJ410 in all its live-axled, leaf-sprung primitiveness. Continue reading “Far From the Mainstream: Suzuki Farmworker”

Say Hi To The Sailing Moon

As regular readers will know, DTW is quietly supportive of Suzuki. But friends also need to be politely critical sometimes.

Part of me likes the 2017 Baleno for its unpretentious grasp of the vernacular. The car has no clear trope to express. Then it has a few bright bits here and there and nods towards the Swift. I’ll have to consult Wikipedia or Suzuki for dimensions. Yet I want to Continue reading “Say Hi To The Sailing Moon”

Micropost: Vastness Rescinded

DTW has a lot of time for Suzuki. Here we see a Jimny in its natural habitat.

The Austrian Tirol asks for a car like the Jimny. The roads can be narrow, steep and snowy. Like the long-lived Defender, the Jimny has evolved and readers can use a lot of mental disc-space on the details of these. You should know it has a ladder-frame chassis (can we Continue reading “Micropost: Vastness Rescinded”

Not Now, Mr Loos

We’ve already had a little look at the Suzuki Ignis now let us look at a little bit of it.

2017 Suzuki Ignis 4wd. All photos by the author

Overall, the Ignis is a neat little car with a robust appearance that belies its size. I am a little unsure if I am as enamoured of its reference to earlier Suzukis as I was originally; the previous Ignis was delightfully, eccentrically its own. Continue reading “Not Now, Mr Loos”

Behold

While I poked around Suzuki’s Japanese homepage I found the Hustler interior which is worth another look.

That is the power of orange. However, the iPhone white interior is good too. I notice they offer two orange shades. That’s an interesting and odd thing to do. Why not a cool shade? Or black or boring grey?

There is a 4wd version of this as well.

Ignis Inspection

As promised… a closer look at the new Suzuki Ignis.

These photos are very grey and very dank and really only serve to prove I did go to take a look at an Ignis with its wrapping still on. Curiously, all of the cars at the dealer had darkened rear windows so I could not see the interior properly. So, in the metal is the new Ignis going to live up to the burden of expectations? Continue reading “Ignis Inspection”

Tomorrow We Do Ignis

Curiosity overcame me so I went to a Suzuki dealer, writes Richard Herriott (who has hijacked this post).

On the way I saw the Mk 1. First, this is a public service as the Mk1 is not so well photographed. Second, it’s a chance to share my current morbid fascination. Until recently I hadn’t noticed the Mk1 Ignis (2000-2006). It shares similar themes with the Mark 2 which means Suzuki liked the idea and were planning an evolutionary approach. There is slightly raised third window at the back and the distinctive groove running around the middle of the lower body. The headlamps are not so distinctive as on the follow-up car. Why do I like this car? Continue reading “Tomorrow We Do Ignis”

As Promised

This diagram is a timeline of the Suzuki Cultus, Ignis and Swift.

The period of confusion is 2000 to 2008 when the Ignis appeared and was sold as the Swift, in Japan, replacing the Cultus. Suzuki produced two generations of Ignis: 2000 to 2004 and 2003 to 2008. In Europe the Swift appeared in 1988, the same as the car known in Japan as the Cultus. I don’t think we got the first generation. In Europe the Ignis and Swift overlapped from 2004 to 2008. Continue reading “As Promised”

‘Tis Not Enough That Every Stander-By No Glaring Errors In Your Steps Can Espy

Harder than string theory, this. Can one clearly recount the Suzuki Ignis story?

There are two product lines made by Suzuki. One is a line of small, quite conventional five and three door cars called the Swift or the Ignis or Cultus. And the other is a line of three and five door cars called the Ignis or Swift. Continue reading “‘Tis Not Enough That Every Stander-By No Glaring Errors In Your Steps Can Espy”

Reminders, Part 2

Last week DTW reminded readers about the last, the final Mitsubishi Galant. Below is the car that inspired it.

The Galant’s designers weren’t allowed a wholesale replication. The mechanicals had the usual tough Mitsu character and the engineers packaged it well. The shaky Fordesque shapes undersold a decent product. So apart from being quite good actually, it looked quite bad – the malformed secret twin of the handsome 2000 Ford Mondeo (above). To make that point I would like to have had a clear side profile of the Ford in saloon, sedan or notchback format. None appeared on Google’s image results, none that I liked anyway so I decided to Continue reading “Reminders, Part 2”

I know It’s Gonna Happen Someday

So sang Morrisey who was copying Bowie* who returned the compliment by covering the song.

2017 Suzuki Swift: Car — 2017 Suzuki Swift: (c) Car

What’s gonna happen? For one thing that a good car design will be replaced by a less good one sooner or later. It would appear that the fashion for blacked out C-pillars knows no limits. The 2017 Suzuki Swift now sports one. Continue reading “I know It’s Gonna Happen Someday”

Green Cars and Night Photography

Our correspondent in Sweden, Niels Moesgaard Jorgensen, spotted this green Suzuki recently.

We’ve been logging green cars as the colour looks like a minority taste yet metallic mid-greens can be very flattering. Additionally, the image prompted me to think about how difficult (for me) it is to get good night time images of cars, or rather cars under street lights. My photos end up murky and lack the deep black of this image.
Continue reading “Green Cars and Night Photography”

2017 Renault 4 Revealed at Paris

Or rather Suzuki showed the 2017 Ignis. Or rather they presented same car the Japanese public saw at the Tokyo motor show in 2015.

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The new Suzuki Ignis has two marketing points. One is the possibility of 4wd and the other is the robust and chunky styling. The 4wd option sets it apart from the Renault Captur. The sensible and tough look sets its apart from the Nissan Juke. The Ignis won’t replace the Jimny which has quietly become one of those reliable, steady sellers that won’t die. We wondered here about a Renault 4 for our times. Is the Jimny really that car? It’s cheap, efficient, useful and simple. Maybe the Ignis also meets the brief. Continue reading “2017 Renault 4 Revealed at Paris”

Micropost: 2014 Suzuki Alto Lapin Chocolat

This rather festive and cheery car shows how much colour and material can add to what is a very basic concept.

2016 Suzuki Lapin Chocolat. (c) autoblog-com

I’d be the first to agree that this is not for everyone. On the other hand, having looked at a thousand grey interiors with bits of brightwork thrown about, this is a refreshing view. I’d argue that a lot more work needs to be done to explore acceptable alternatives to grey and black interiors which are now as tediously predictable as the all-beige or light-grey interiors that were once dominant in the 90s. Continue reading “Micropost: 2014 Suzuki Alto Lapin Chocolat”

Yet More Japan – When Suzuki Stumbled

Much has been learned from last month’s Japan-fest, perhaps most of all that anything we assume about this extraordinary automotive industry is probably wrong, or at least far more complicated than imagined.

Suzuki 1-38-1

For example, most people imagine Suzuki were a confirmed K-car specialist until GM took a modest 5.3% stake in the business in 1981 and promoted the development of the Cultus SA310 supermini – its names were legion; who’s heard of the Isuzu Geminett?

Then, in the depths of the Japanese Society of Automotive Engineers enlightening website I found this forgotten beauty: The 1965 Suzuki Fronte 800. Not to be confused with the big-engined export Kei-car from 1979, more familiar as the Alto and Maruti 800. This one had a long gestation. Continue reading “Yet More Japan – When Suzuki Stumbled”

Theme: Suspension – Not Quite De Dion

I spotted this on the Suzuki stand at Geneva. It’s the rear axle of the Vitara, the Hungarian-built Poor Girl’s Evoque.

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At first I thought that it was a De Dion axle, on closer examination it turns out to be a torsion beam with driven rear wheels. Possibly other manufacturers have done this before, but it’s the first I’ve encountered. I’d have expected to find a live axle, or a multi-link or double wishbone fully independent system. Continue reading

Suzuki’s 2015 Mighty Deck Concept

….shows BMW how to do a modern interior with wood accents. Take a look at this interior, shown at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show.

2015 Suzuki Mighty Deck interior: topspeed.com

There is not much that’s “concept” about this, though that’s not to say it’s not both good and original. What I particularly like is the information strip around the base of the windscreen, the symmetry of the dashboard and the excellent wood deck on the top roll. I have in the past suggested Lancia could have had a future doing this kind of calm modernism. Continue reading “Suzuki’s 2015 Mighty Deck Concept”

The European D-Sector – So Long, Farewell…Sayonara

Having sniffed the exhaust pipes of the French and German marques within Europe’s D-segment, we make one last visit to wave a fond adieu to our friends from Japan.

Toyota Avensis - get 'em while they're hot - image via infoziare — Toyota Avensis – get ’em while they’re still hot – image via infoziare

A facelifted Toyota Avensis bowed in at Geneva, featuring front-end styling eerily familiar to current Auris and Corolla owners. It probably represents the last opportunity to purchase one of these while they’re still warm because Toyota has broadly hinted that they may not replace the model once it breathes its last in a couple of year’s time. Continue reading “The European D-Sector – So Long, Farewell…Sayonara”

Unforgetting: 1995 Suzuki Baleno 4×4 Three-Door

Walking around the other day I noticed this little vehicle. Tucked away on the tailgate was the clue that this was no ordinary bland, three door hatch. This was a candidate for Unforgetting. The 1995 Suzuki Baleno 4×4.

1995 Suzuki Baleno: it´s neat and tidy, you have to hand it that. And these days neat and tidy is rare. So, we like the Baleno.

The car we all know as the Baleno enjoyed life under several different names, depending on the large number of markets Suzuki offered it in. In Europe, the Baleno name is the one we recognise. For those who appreciate dull and forgotten cars, the Baleno saloon (or estate) has an impressive reputation as a car so ordinary and unremarkable it stands out.

There are only a few vehicles in this class of Continue reading “Unforgetting: 1995 Suzuki Baleno 4×4 Three-Door”