which one

[thtupid]

Hello everybody. Sorry i'm a little ignorant so please forgive me if i don't participate in the other topics...and if this topic has been covered before. But i'm looking at getting a new car since my dad's car is literally running on 3 cylinders and so i will sell him mine and get a new one...not quite rich enough to give him my old car unfortunately...

What do people think of the Suzuki Kizashi? Anybody driven a CVT? Or should I wait until the next generation camry sportivo and hope that his car doesn't die before then? I really do love toyotas but the kizashi is so intrigueing and looks so good and reviews have been good too...how is reliability compared to that of a camry?

[Martinj]

I would not recommend the Kizashi over a Camry. While the Kizashi is very quiet and well insulated, the degree of insulation in a Camry to road noise is already well above average (try driving a current model Commodore at highway speed on rough bitumen and you will literally hear the difference).

I would definitely not recommend a CVT gearbox. Personally, that was the main reason I chose a Camry over a Maxima (which uses CVT). I have not read one favourable report on CVT. Most reports criticse the slurring, slipped clutch feel of CVT accompanied by a whining noise and poor reliability.

One can only imagine how long a CVT gearbox installed by a budget manfacturer like Suzuki would last (I'd guess 100,000km would be the limit).

The Kizashi is not the same size as Camry/Mazda 6/Liberty. Even the tiny Accord Euro is bigger internally (and much bigger per external dimensions).

The only reason I would recommend Kizashi is to someone who needs all wheel drive (eg: they live at Jindabyne), but they don't want a car as ugly and pricey as the Subaru Liberty).

If price is an issue, then in a few months I'd expect the Camry will start to have a few run-out limited editions with bonus features.

Hope this helps.

[thtupid]

Wow thanks so much. You have completely talked me out of it now. hehe. I can't remember where but i read that that there will be the new camry on show at the ny autoshow at the end of the month so I guess I will wait for a squiz first. Hopefully it doesn't get any larger...the current camry in my humble opinion is quite large already...

btw...did you end up test driving a maxima? If so, what is the drive like compared to the camry?

[Martinj]

I did not actually get to drive a Maxima due to, in my opinion, lousy service at a nearby Nissan dealership. WHile they had many Maximas on the floor, the one and only demo was apparently locked and no-one had the key. This was on a Saturday morning, believe it or not, perhaps the busiest time of any car dealer. The dealership was out in semi-industrial area and looked like a cheap carpet store.

Anyway, in the outdoor heat of the sun I did get a close look at the Maxima. My conclusion was lots of cheap, soft plastic buttons directly exposed to sunlight. Head room nowhere near as generous as Camry.

The Maxima tells people you have a $40k car, while the Camry is much more discreet. Most people associate Camry's with white Altise's on plastic hubcaps. The trade-off is the Maxima is tizzy and has a goofy gear box.