Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 1.6 DDIS Allgrip TCSS SZ5

High spec means a high price for the range-topping version of what’s meant to be a value-led SUV
But Suzuki still knows a thing or two about building dinky SUVs
What Car10 January 2016

Small 4x4s used to be basic, trendy and lightly equipped. They were fun toys for fun people. They had whizzy little petrol engines and simple little manual gearboxes. They were cheap.

And they mainly had a Suzuki badge on their nose.

These days, there are a lot more options in the small 4x4 class. But Suzuki still knows a thing or two about building dinky SUVs.

The SX4 S-Cross, for example. But aside from the badge on its nose, the model tested here is none of the things mentioned above.

What we have is the 1.6 DDIS Allgrip TCSS SZ5. To translate, it’s a range-topping diesel auto with all-wheel drive. So, not ‘basic’, ‘petrol’ or ‘manual’, then.

The auto is a dual-clutcher, but it’s not the finest example of the breed. It doesn’t respond with enough urgency to get the best from a willing little engine whose 115lb ft is yours from down at 1500rpm; it holds its ground too long if you leave it to its own devices, and the shifts are slow if you try to take control yourself – the result being a cabin full of boomy diesel noise.

So, we’re perilously close to being able to cross ‘fun’ off the list of epithets, too.

There’s a three-way drive mode button, and in Sport the throttle gets livelier. But the box hangs on even longer to each ratio, so the racket in the cabin is worse than ever.

It’s spacious enough for people and luggage - as long as you don’t put anyone tall in the back

It does grip like a limpet however you set it up, with a centre diff lock for off-tarmac play (though by no means is it an off-roader in the mould of the original Vitara). And body control is competent. But steering is vague, with a rather unnatural feel to the power assistance, and ride quality is particularly poor.

No, ‘fun’ is not the word. But on the plus side, ‘lightly equipped’ doesn’t apply either. Not with cruise, climate, xenons, 17” alloys, DAB, Bluetooth, sat-nav, rain sensors and a reversing camera it doesn’t.

This in turn puts the kybosh on ‘cheap’, of course. You’re looking at a £25,149 car here – that’s a £1350 premium over the manual version of the same model, and given what we’ve said about the gearbox it won’t surprise you hugely that we’d keep our hands firmly in our pockets.

There’s a three-way drive mode button, and in Sport the throttle gets livelier

There are other reasons for flighting shy of this SX4, though. Because although we’ve already crossed ‘basic’ off the list, that’s how the interior feels – material quality on the dash is miles short of what you should be getting at this money, and when you combine that with the aforementioned engine noise you’ve got an environment that comes over all tinny, even though in truth it’s actually quite stout.

It’s spacious enough for people and luggage alike, too, just so long as you don’t put anyone tall in the back.

But that applies across the whole range. And it’s at the cheaper end that the SX4 makes most sense – up here at this price, you can do much better.

Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 1.6 DDIS Allgrip TCSS SZ5

Engine size: 1.6-litre petrol

Price from: £25,149

Power: 118bhp

Torque: 115lb ft

0-62mph: 13.0 seconds

Top speed: 108mph

Fuel economy: 62.8mpg

CO2: 119g/km

Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 1.6 DDIS Allgrip TCSS SZ5

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