There are a number of firsts for this month’s First Car Finder. It’s the first month I’ve recommended a car from a private seller, I tend to prefer dealing with traders as the car has to come with at least some warranty. It’s also the first time I’ve searched for a car and of all the options, in this case, 56 cars came up and only one appealed to me.
This Months Rules
The rules for this month were simple:
- £3,000 – £4,500 pounds cash price.
- Automatic
- Within 10 miles of S1 1AA
About the Suzuki SX4
The one that jumped out was a 2010 Suzuki SX4 1.6 SZ4. It’s a Euro5 engine, which is fine for a car but not for a van. Euro5 vans fall into the Clean Air Zone and it costs £10 a day to take them inside the Sheffield inner ring road. This doesn’t apply to private cars.
The SX4 was a joint venture with FIAT. The Italian brand sold the same car as the Sedici but it’s a Suzuki-engineered joint venture. You’ll have few of the reliability worries that come with a FIAT.
The Suzuki SX4 is a small family SUV, similar in size and class to the Hyundai Kona I use to teach. It offers reasonable space for 5 adults, a decent size boot and rugged SUV styling. The SZ4 specification was the top-spec when the car was built, so the specification is generous.
That being said, the SX4 was one of the last cars Suzuki produced before the tech revolution came into cars. Things like cruise control and SatNav are missing but there are a number of pleasant surprises hidden in the kit list. Bluetooth-enabled stereo is standard, it’s also MP3 capable, and there is also a USB port. MP3 via Bluetooth is missing.
One nice feature is the Speed Sensing Volume Control, which increases the volume of the music as the car goes faster, accounting for the road noise.
Safety as Standard
All the usual safety features are included as are 16 inch five-spoke alloy wheels. Pleasantly, there is a space saver spare wheel as standard. Most cars of this age had switched from a spare to a tyre repair kit.
There is automatic air conditioning, it’s not proper climate control but it’s close enough. Keyless entry and keyless start are also feature.
118bhp isn’t going to set the world alight, but the car is very light at just 1140kg dry kerb weight. That’s the weight of the car with no fuel or fluids. 115lbs/ft of torque should be more than enough to handle the 7 hills of Sheffield.
What you will find is that it might be a little bit juicy. 32.5MPG around town is low compared to the performance turned out by the small capacity turbos which would power the SX4s replacement, the S-Cross. 50.4MPG on the motorway is a much more acceptable figure for a CVT automatic.
The current owner has fitted a full set of winter tyres so it’s ready to go into the snow and ice which has just arrived in Yorkshire. The owner is asking £3,860 for the car which has only done 68,924 miles in it’s 13 years. It’s had six owners but that’s not unusual in a car of this age and from the photos it looks to be in good condition inside and out.
My Thoughts
Firstly I should declare an interest here; as a brand new salesman working in the motor trade, I worked for the Suzuki dealer in Leighton Buzzard. I’ve got a soft spot for the brand, at least the brand as it was 15 years ago. I’ve owned 3 Suzuki Swifts of a similar vintage.
If I were to look at this car I’d offer £3,500 and see if they take it. Private sellers are a little more likely to do a deal as they don’t have the overheads associated with the motor trade.
You can find out more on the car on Autotrader by following this link: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202311204139043?sort=relevance&advertising-location=at_cars&page=2&postcode=s11aa&price-from=3000&price-to=4500&radius=10&transmission=Automatic&fromsra
