Suzuki SX4 S-Cross Review (2014)

The SX4 S-Cross is the new ‘C’ segment crossover model from Suzuki, designed to compete with the likes of Nissan’s popular Qashqai model and the Skoda Yeti. It went on sale in October 2013 priced from £14,999 for the entry level SZ3 1.6 petrol manual.

The Suzuki S-Cross is available with either front-wheel-drive or as the ALLGRIP four-wheel-drive model.

There is a choice of two engines, a 1.6 litre petrol or a 1.6-litre DDiS diesel unit both outputting 120PS but with 156Nm and 320 Nm of torque, respectively. -The petrol engine is available with either a five-speed manual gearbox or as CVT automatic, where the diesel receives a six-speed manual.

There are four trim levels ‘SZ3’, ‘SZ4’, ‘SZ-T’ and ‘SZ5’ with core equipment across the range comprising seven airbags, ESP, Tyre Pressure Monitoring,� Daytime Running Lights, 16 inch alloy wheels, cruise control with speed limiter, air conditioning, heated door mirrors and black protective skid plates. All models have cruise control with a speed limiter function.

What we tested

We tested the top-of-the-range petrol Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 1.6 ALLGRIP CVT SZ5, which at the time of testing cost £22,449 plus £430 worth of optional extras. -Our test car featured the optional Crystal Lime metallic paint, which everyone seemed to love.

We tested the petrol powered 1.6-litre with CVT transmission; this unit outputs 120PS and is capable of delivering 156Nm of torque at 4,400 rpm. You may wish to look at the diesel model if you doing a lot of mileage and where it has the same power output it offers nearly twice the torque but is only available with a manual transmission.

The 1.6-litre CVT ALLGRIP has a top speed of 102 mph and will achieve 0-62 mph in 13.5 seconds, opt for a manual box and this becomes 108 mph and 12.0 seconds, so not really noticeable.

The official NEDC fuel consumption figure on the combined cycle is 49.5 mpg (47.8 mpg manual) for the ALLGRIP edition. The two-wheel-drive models have a rating of 51.3 mpg, so there is not much of a drop by choosing four-wheel-drive.

CO2 emissions are recorded 130 g/km for the ALLGRIP CVT petrol model, which is lower than the 5-speed manual model with a figure of 135 g/km.