1988 1/2 Suzuki Samuari on 2040-cars

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Suzuki calls in 26,000 Daewoo-built Veronas for overheating lights

Suzuki is recalling yet another Daewoo-built model due to possible problems with the daytime running light module in the instrument panel. This time it covers about 25,899 units of the Suzuki Verona from the 2004 through 2006 model years that need fixing. Like the repair campaign of the Forenza and Reno in May, it's possible for the part to overheat, melt and potentially cause a fire.
According to the Chronology of Principal Events section in the defect notice submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, this recall was actually a direct result of the Forenza/Reno campaign. After finding the problem in those vehicles, General Motors Korea started investigating for more affected models and discovered that the Verona was also at risk. However, the report says that no cases of melting or fires have been found in the Verona.
Obviously, Suzuki will be notifying affected owners and will replace the DRL module free of charge. Scroll down to read the recall request or check out the full defect notice in PDF format, here.

The Suzuki Misano is a concept car inspired by motorcycles

Lately, concept cars have become showcases of touchscreens and batteries, but remember not that long ago when they used to get you excited about automobiles, driving, and design? Now Suzuki, of all companies, has unveiled a concept that brings us back to the stirring show cars from a bygone era. The Suzuki Misano is a low-slung, open-top sports car that asks the question, what if there was a four-wheeled motorcycle? Inspired by the Japanese firm's long history of high-performance two-wheelers, the Misano seeks to "merge the adrenaline rush on two wheels with the driving experience on four." The Misano caps off a thesis project for 24 students of transportation design at Istituto Europeo di Design Torino with collaboration from Suzuki. It has a footprint of 157 inches by 69 inches, or about the length of a BMW i3 and the width of a VW Polo. Its height, however, measures only 39 inches, about 50 percent shorter than a Toyota Yaris hatchback. Like concept cars of old, the Misano does pack in one wacky idea that has no chance of making it into production. It offers a tandem 1+1 seating position, even though it's wide enough for a side-by-side construction. Not only that, but the seats are off to one side. We would've expected a side-mounted motorcycle engine on the other, but it actually contains a trunk and small battery pack. Presumably, the Misano is an EV. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Strictly speaking, it's a barchetta because it has no mechanism for covering the cockpit and barely a windscreen. In lieu of a steering wheel, the car is controlled by what the IED statement calls a motorcycle-inspired yoke. Clear openings in the doors provide a view of the road that only a motorcycle can match. It's not the first time Suzuki has answered the question of a four-wheeled motorcycle. In 2001, it showed the Hayabusa-powered GSX-R/4 concept, which featured a more traditional seating position. The Misano is just the right amount of beautiful design and bonkers-ness that makes you wish for an alternate universe where it would make it into production. But alas, we know it'll be a miracle if Suzuki ever makes a sports car again. If you happen to be in Italy and want to check out the Misano for yourself, it will be on display at the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile di Torino from Saturday May 15th to Sunday June 6th 2021. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party.

Here are a few of our automotive guilty pleasures

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. The world is full of cars, and just about as many of them are bad as are good. It's pretty easy to pick which fall into each category after giving them a thorough walkaround and, more important, driving them. But every once in a while, an automobile straddles the line somehow between good and bad — it may be hideously overpriced and therefore a marketplace failure, it may be stupid quick in a straight line but handles like a drunken noodle, or it may have an interior that looks like it was made of a mess of injection-molded Legos. Heck, maybe all three. Yet there's something special about some bad cars that actually makes them likable. The idea for this list came to me while I was browsing classified ads for cars within a few hundred miles of my house. I ran across a few oddballs and shared them with the rest of the team in our online chat room. It turns out several of us have a few automotive guilty pleasures that we're willing to admit to. We'll call a few of 'em out here. Feel free to share some of your own in the comments below. Dodge Neon SRT4 and Caliber SRT4: The Neon was a passably good and plucky little city car when it debuted for the 1995 model year. The Caliber, which replaced the aging Neon and sought to replace its friendly marketing campaign with something more sinister, was panned from the very outset for its cheap interior furnishings, but at least offered some decent utility with its hatchback shape. What the two little front-wheel-drive Dodge models have in common are their rip-roarin' SRT variants, each powered by turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engines. Known for their propensity to light up their front tires under hard acceleration, the duo were legitimately quick and fun to drive with a fantastic turbo whoosh that called to mind the early days of turbo technology. — Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski  Chevrolet HHR SS: Chevy's HHR SS came out early in my automotive journalism career, and I have fond memories of the press launch (and having dinner with Bob Lutz) that included plenty of tire-smoking hard launches and demonstrations of the manual transmission's no-lift shift feature. The 260-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder was and still is a spunky little engine that makes the retro-inspired HHR a fun little hot rod that works quite well as a fun little daily driver.