Suzuki Cars

Suzuki’s internal alternative to Swift. Design and cabin architecture aren’t as good as Swift. Baleno also has fewer airbags on the lower trims, compared to Swift.

Baleno is all about the highway and inter-provincial cruising performance. Its 1.5-litre 4-cylinder engine is a low more powerful than Swift’s 1.2-litre 3-cylinder. That means better overtaking performance and cruising momentum even when fully packed with people and luggage.

Baleno’s 4-speed automatic option is decent in city traffic, but not amazing at highway speeds. Luggage space is nearly a quarter more than Swift, which makes a difference for that long weekend or vacation journey.

Popular sub-compact hatch from Suzuki. Very light, which means you can get terrific cruising fuel economy. But the 32-litre tank limits range.

Same platforms and engines as S.Presso, so it’s not great at long distances and overtaking trucks on the highway. Especially with a full complement of adult passengers onboard.

Has about 20% more ground clearance than legacy VW compact hatchbacks, so that 170mm of underbody clearance makes a difference for Celerio’s ability to deal with rough roads when required.

Dynamic safety spec is notable for the price: with ABS and ESP standard throughout the range.

Uber and fleet mobile, rarely owned privately. Proven Suzuki mechanical bits and build quality, which means very low risk long-term ownership, regarding maintenance costs.

Vanilla design, but it’s all about space utilisation. Ciaz is a compact sedan, but it has a huge 480-litre boot. That’s luggage space to rival most large crossovers and SUVs.

Safety spec is average. No ESP on any of the variants and only dual front airbags, without the option for side or curtain airbags.

An amazing spec factoid is that the GL base models have a CD player, if you are into 1990s retro music formats.

Sedan version of the Swift, offering much better value than VW’s Vivo 4-door. ABS and ESP are standard, proving Suzuki’s commitment to dynamic safety spec in the budget segment.

Compact sedans still have a place in the South African market. Why? Because they offer a lockable metal luggage area, which is less vulnerable to theft risk than a hatchback’s tailgate, with all that glass.

Dzire mixes Suzuki’s durable 1.2-litre 3-cylinder engines and lots of luggage capacity. If you need safe storage for that laptop or kids’ sports kit, its 378-litres of boot capacity is great. Pity there isn’t a more powerful engine for long-distance vacation and weekend-away driving.

Charming and hardworking near Kei-car spec van. Built for businesses that need a short haul logistics vehicle with a secure cargo area, that’s reasonably smash-and-grab proof. Suzuki’s 1.2-litre K12N engine is also terrifically durable.

Compared to the Super Carry mini truck, Eeco offers a lot more dynamic and passive safety features. It’s equipped with standard ABS, ESP and dual front airbags. And that's why it's an amazing, affordable, and durable choice for vanlife conversions.

If you want a climbing, surfing, or mountain biking support camping vehicle on the cheap, there's nothing to rival Eeco.

Another Suzuki favoured by Uber and mobility fleet towners. If you need a 7-seater on a budget, Ertiga does it all, with proven Suzuki mechanical durability.

Has surprisingly ample ground clearance (180mm) for travelling on poorly surfaced tar or gravel roads. Rolls 15-inch wheels too, so tough tyre options are plenty.

Debits? No ESP, which is a safety spec oversight for a vehicle that will mostly be travelling fully laden with many passengers. No touchscreen infotainment either, but you get an old-school CD player instead.

Best buy is the base model 1.5 GA, rolling steel wheels, which have superior pothole strike survivability compared to alloys.

High riding version of the Baleno, which does a lot of things South Africans need from a compact crossover.

With 170mm of ground clearance, it has decent rough road ability if you want to explore some gravel travel destinations. Fronx’s 1.6-litre engine is reliable, but the 4-speed automatic transmission feels very old-tech.

All versions have standard ESP, which makes Fronx safer to drive on wet or gravelly roads. The GL trims only have dual front airbags, while GLX adds side and curtain airbags.

Fronx GLX 5-speed manual is one of the best buys you can make.

No longer the hardcore stealth 4x4 it once was, but Grand Vitara has become a very competent crossover.

Safety spec is good, with standard ESP and six airbags. Infotainment features a 7-inch touchscreen, and at 328 litres, it offers more luggage capacity than any other Suzuki crossover or SUV.

With 210mm of ground clearance and an All-Grip on demand all-wheel drive system in the top GLX trim, Grand Vitara is capable of very confident gravel road exploration. And light sand dual track driving.

All Grand Vitaras roll 17-inch wheels. This gives you plenty of tyre options for upgrading to more hardcore all-terrain casings and sizes, for adventure travel into Namibia, Botswana or the Karoo.

Suzuki’s design department executed the ‘compact-cute-crossover’ brief excellently with Ignis. But it’s not perfect.

Beyond the charming design details, there’s a useful 180mm of ground clearance. That means decent underbody clearance when driving on South Africa’s extensive network of rural dirt roads.

The issue is that it has a high centre of gravity, proportionally slim tyres, a short wheelbase and narrow track. That means it’s not terribly stable at high speeds or on corrugated dirt roads.

Ignis is also the only compact Suzuki without ESP, so there’s no electronic intervention system to save you if it gets out of control.  

Excellent at some things, but very poor at others.

Phenomenal inner-city parking hero, with a tiny turning circle and ability to easily roll up and over pavements when needed. Unrivalled off-road ability, if you are an experienced driver.

But the Jimny’s short wheelbase, ground clearance and high centre of gravity make it very vulnerable to crosswind instability. The five-door version with a longer wheelbase offers better cruising stability. But none of the Jimny models have side or curtain airbags…

All Jimny versions feel very slow at Gauteng altitudes. Full-throttle driving is a given to compensate for the lack of power, and with very poor aerodynamics, it has heavy highway fuel consumption. Tiny fuel tank limits driving range for exploration off-roading.

Long-distance driving fatigue is real, especially with underpadded seats that become uncomfortable after a few hours.

Mechanically simple and tough, Jimny is popular beyond its faults. Almost no depreciation makes it an excellent long-term ownership deal.

Budget car that feels cheap, but has a competitive price point and reasonable standard equipment.

Designed and engineered for the Indian market, it handles poor road surfaces reasonably well. Having 180mm of ground clearance helps. But it also makes it feel top-heavy.

S.Presso can require a lot of steering guidance at highway speeds in windy conditions.

The 1-litre engine feels underpowered at Highveld altitudes when all five seats are occupied by adults. So don’t think about cruising the far right-hand lane on Gauteng highways.

To Suzuki’s credit, S.Presso is one of the few ultra-budget cars with both ABS and ESP. But structural crash safety is poor.

Late-1990s Kei trucks are all the rage in America as special imports. In South Africa, you can own a new one.

Tiny wheels and live axle rear suspension mean you feel every road surface bump without a load. But there’s nothing that can move 850kg of high-volume cargo for less money than a Super Carry.

Noise, vibration and harshness levels are high, but if you only use the Super Carry as a city delivery vehicle, it is brilliant at what it does. Excellent mechanical reliability but absolutely no safety features. Not even ABS.

Very credible Vivo alternative, offering more standard features and safety equipment than VW’s hatchback. Much lower theft risk than Vivo.

In a like-for-like spec comparison, Swift is about 20-to 25% cheaper than Vivo, which is a huge value proposition in the budget hatchback segment.

Swift has much better in-cabin infotainment, device syncing and comfort than Vivo. And dual front, side and curtain airbags on all trim levels.

Only one engine option, which isn’t amazing but is durable. Swift’s 1.2-litre 3-cylinder is robust, but at 60kW and 112Nm, it's no overtaking hero at high altitudes, fully loaded with people.

Vivo offers more powerful engines, but you pay a lot for the performance.

Possibly Suzuki’s most underrated car for large families. Has 6-seats and clever interior architecture to make moving many people reasonably easy.

More luxurious than the utility-focused Ertiga 7-seater, the XL6 features standard 7-inch touchscreen infotainment across the range. Safety spec is reasonable, with standard ESP, but only dual front airbags.

With 180mm of ground clearance, it can cope with light-duty dirt-road driving. For families that need the space, are on a budget, and can’t live with owning an Uber-mobile like Etriga, the XL6 is a smart buy.