Wife wants an SX4 CUV (1 Viewer)

[RufusTheDufus]

Anyone here have experience or thoughts to share about the SX4 Crossover? My wife wants one. We test drove a 2010 hatchback AWD with the 6 speed manual. Seems to be a decent little car. We're in northern Maine so we're looking for something that does well in the snow and these vehicles are very common in Quebec. (About as common as Subarus are here in Maine.)

Yes, I know that Suzuki pulled out of North America and all of the associated issues. I'm primarily interested in feedback about the experience of driving it, mainteance troubles, reliability concerns, that kind of stuff.

We travel a bunch of dirt roads around here year-round. We'll plan to put the 2" lift on it and slightly larger tires. Lifts it up to 9 inches of ground clearance for dealing with our 300 yard long driveway and snow.

 

[bhicks]

Sorry for the delay. Just saw this thread. I have owned two SX4s. They are FANTASTIC little cars. I owned an 08 and put 130,000 on it before I bought a 2013. It now has 74,000 on it. Never had a mechanical failure of any kind on either of them. My 08 had the RRO 2" lift and skid plate. The lift is terrible. I kept my 2013 stock due to all the issues with the lift. I love these little SX4's. Here's my two:

 

[RufusTheDufus]

We ended up buying the 2010 w/6speed. She loves it. Not great gas mileage but a great little car. I did install the RRO 2" lift. Still has stock tires for now. Waiting for them to wear out before changing to the new size. No skid plate yet, not sure I'll do it. The car doesn't really go off-road other than the dirt roads and logging roads around us.

I think we've put about 20k miles on it since we bought it. Just regular oil changes so far. It had new brakes, rotors and tires when we bought it. We're considering buying another one.

 

[bhicks]

We ended up buying the 2010 w/6speed. She loves it. Not great gas mileage but a great little car. I did install the RRO 2" lift. Still has stock tires for now. Waiting for them to wear out before changing to the new size. No skid plate yet, not sure I'll do it. The car doesn't really go off-road other than the dirt roads and logging roads around us.

I think we've put about 20k miles on it since we bought it. Just regular oil changes so far. It had new brakes, rotors and tires when we bought it. We're considering buying another one.

Be careful with that RRO lift. It's famous for snapping front struts. I went through 3 broken struts before I yanked it off and went back to stock.