The new 2005 Suzuki Forenza wagon has more stamps in its passport than Kofi Annan. OK, not really, but this little five-door was styled in Italy; it's built in Korea and it's sold in America by a Japanese company.
It sounds like the making of an international disaster to us, too, but all those cultures have meshed nicely. The Forenza wagon, while not perfect, looks good, feels solid and delivers a lot of features for short money.
Italian Styling, French Performance
With a body done by Pininfarina, the same design house that has penned Ferraris for ages, the 2005 Suzuki Forenza wagon looks more like an upscale European sport wagon than an economy car — which is good, because this is no economy car.
Granted, we spent a lot of time battling L.A.'s infamous perpetual gridlock, but we averaged only 18.9 mpg, which is ridiculous for a 126-horsepower "economy" car. Even the typically optimistic EPA numbers stand at just 20 city and 26 highway — 4 to 9 mpg less than the more powerful Ford Focus wagon and Hyundai Elantra five-door hatchback.
We might forgive that thirst if the tradeoff was performance. It isn't.
If you've seen the online Forenza ad, then you know Suzuki uses the adjective "fast" to describe this car. Um, we don't think so, guys. The best 0-to-60-mph time we could muster was 11.9 seconds with the quarter-mile taking 18.6 ticks. And that's slow in anybody's book.
When we drove a Forenza sedan with a five-speed manual last year, we found it had plenty of pep as we indicated in that full test: "Rarely, in fact, did we wish for more power, even when passing and merging." Sadly, when you throw a four-speed automatic and another 200 pounds into the mix, things just ain't the same. Compared to that manual-shift sedan, around-town performance for the automatic wagon is fair at best.
Nice Inside
Inside, padded door panels, attractive textures and faux-aluminum accents add enough upscale flare to back up the Suzuki's Italian flanks. Opinion on the upholstery, however, varied, with one staffer stating that it "looks 1980s."
Functionally, it all works well, the seats are supportive, the controls are intuitive and the audio controls on the steering wheel are a nice and unexpected feature. Designers even included a "power" button so that you can easily shut off the tunes to take a call or yell at a passenger.
Max cargo capacity, at 62 cubic feet, should be more than ample for most small families, even factoring in their occasional Costco trips. With the rear seats up, the Forenza wagon offers 24.4 cubic feet of cargo room. These are midpack numbers for the class, besting the Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe (at 54 and 19.3 cubes, respectively), but falling short of the Focus wagon (73.7 and 35.6 cubic feet, respectively).
The one big ergonomic boo-boo is, strangely enough, the horn activation. If you want to blast the horn at that goofball who just cut you off, you best thumb one of the top-spoke buttons. Laying into the large semicircular pad gets you nothing.
Hitting its Stride
As with the sedan, the Forenza wagon's all-independent suspension is tuned more for comfort than apex-strafing performance, which is fine for this class. Families who take long road trips will appreciate the smooth ride quality of the Forenza. And drivers should be pleased with its competent handling. Around the bends, the car feels well planted and holds a line without wallowing.
Another strong point for road trippers is the Suzuki's long legs — the Forenza is a great highway cruiser that settles in at 75-80 mph. So it's not a sprinter but it sure likes to run once up to speed, and it's pretty quiet in this mode.
The brakes, equipped with standard discs all around and optional ABS, performed well when put to the test. At 132 feet, the Forenza's stopping distance from 60 mph is respectable. Pedal feel is soft but progressive.
Packing Everything but Power
Bottom line, we think the Forenza is a pretty good value.
Our midlevel LX wagon came with plenty of standard features, including air conditioning; tilt steering wheel; cruise control; power windows, locks and mirrors; and a CD player. There were also unexpected perks thrown in, too, such as heated mirrors, front side-impact airbags, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, power moonroof, alloy wheels and foglamps. The one option our car had was antilock brakes.
For a little over $17,500, that's a lot of stuff; plus, Suzuki backs the Forenza with a confidence-inspiring powertrain warranty good for seven years or 100,000 miles, and it's transferable to the next owner.
Now if only they'd give this wagon the Aerio's spunky 155-horse engine, then they'd really have something to crow about.
It sounds like the making of an international disaster to us, too, but all those cultures have meshed nicely. The Forenza wagon, while not perfect, looks good, feels solid and delivers a lot of features for short money.
Italian Styling, French Performance
With a body done by Pininfarina, the same design house that has penned Ferraris for ages, the 2005 Suzuki Forenza wagon looks more like an upscale European sport wagon than an economy car — which is good, because this is no economy car.
Granted, we spent a lot of time battling L.A.'s infamous perpetual gridlock, but we averaged only 18.9 mpg, which is ridiculous for a 126-horsepower "economy" car. Even the typically optimistic EPA numbers stand at just 20 city and 26 highway — 4 to 9 mpg less than the more powerful Ford Focus wagon and Hyundai Elantra five-door hatchback.
We might forgive that thirst if the tradeoff was performance. It isn't.
If you've seen the online Forenza ad, then you know Suzuki uses the adjective "fast" to describe this car. Um, we don't think so, guys. The best 0-to-60-mph time we could muster was 11.9 seconds with the quarter-mile taking 18.6 ticks. And that's slow in anybody's book.
When we drove a Forenza sedan with a five-speed manual last year, we found it had plenty of pep as we indicated in that full test: "Rarely, in fact, did we wish for more power, even when passing and merging." Sadly, when you throw a four-speed automatic and another 200 pounds into the mix, things just ain't the same. Compared to that manual-shift sedan, around-town performance for the automatic wagon is fair at best.
Nice Inside
Inside, padded door panels, attractive textures and faux-aluminum accents add enough upscale flare to back up the Suzuki's Italian flanks. Opinion on the upholstery, however, varied, with one staffer stating that it "looks 1980s."
Functionally, it all works well, the seats are supportive, the controls are intuitive and the audio controls on the steering wheel are a nice and unexpected feature. Designers even included a "power" button so that you can easily shut off the tunes to take a call or yell at a passenger.
Max cargo capacity, at 62 cubic feet, should be more than ample for most small families, even factoring in their occasional Costco trips. With the rear seats up, the Forenza wagon offers 24.4 cubic feet of cargo room. These are midpack numbers for the class, besting the Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe (at 54 and 19.3 cubes, respectively), but falling short of the Focus wagon (73.7 and 35.6 cubic feet, respectively).
The one big ergonomic boo-boo is, strangely enough, the horn activation. If you want to blast the horn at that goofball who just cut you off, you best thumb one of the top-spoke buttons. Laying into the large semicircular pad gets you nothing.
Hitting its Stride
As with the sedan, the Forenza wagon's all-independent suspension is tuned more for comfort than apex-strafing performance, which is fine for this class. Families who take long road trips will appreciate the smooth ride quality of the Forenza. And drivers should be pleased with its competent handling. Around the bends, the car feels well planted and holds a line without wallowing.
Another strong point for road trippers is the Suzuki's long legs — the Forenza is a great highway cruiser that settles in at 75-80 mph. So it's not a sprinter but it sure likes to run once up to speed, and it's pretty quiet in this mode.
The brakes, equipped with standard discs all around and optional ABS, performed well when put to the test. At 132 feet, the Forenza's stopping distance from 60 mph is respectable. Pedal feel is soft but progressive.
Packing Everything but Power
Bottom line, we think the Forenza is a pretty good value.
Our midlevel LX wagon came with plenty of standard features, including air conditioning; tilt steering wheel; cruise control; power windows, locks and mirrors; and a CD player. There were also unexpected perks thrown in, too, such as heated mirrors, front side-impact airbags, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, power moonroof, alloy wheels and foglamps. The one option our car had was antilock brakes.
For a little over $17,500, that's a lot of stuff; plus, Suzuki backs the Forenza with a confidence-inspiring powertrain warranty good for seven years or 100,000 miles, and it's transferable to the next owner.
Now if only they'd give this wagon the Aerio's spunky 155-horse engine, then they'd really have something to crow about.
Add A Comment »