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Suzuki Samurai lives on with new Jimny facelift

The Suzuki Jimny is "sold across 188 global markets," but one of them isn't ours. For UK buyers who can buy a Jimny in SZ3 or SZ4 trims, the 2013 model has just been introduced with tweaks peppered throughout the vehicle. First among them is a soft redesign up front, a new bumper, grille and hood updating the face and adding an extra 30 mm to the length of the little SUV. Breeze Blue metallic paint is a new hue but it's only available on the more expensive SZ4.
Inside, customers will find new headrests and ISOFIX child seat fasteners for both Jimny versions, and for the SZ3, new seat fabrics. The 1.3-liter engine with variable valve timing growls out 84 horsepower and 81 pound-feet of torque, returning 39.8 Imperial combined mpg if fitted with a manual, 38.7 Imperial mpg combined in the automatic.
On-the-road prices are £11,995 ($19,016 US) for the SZ3, £12,900 ($20,451 US) for the manual-equipped SZ4, £13,800 ($21,877 US) with the automatic. More information can be found in the press release below.

Junkyard Gem: 2010 Suzuki Kizashi SE

American Suzuki Motor Corporation filed for bankruptcy in 2012, and new Suzuki-badged cars stopped being sold here the following year (meanwhile, Suzuki went on to create one of the biggest-selling cars in its home market). While many of the United States-market Suzukis of the previous decade had been Daewoos beneath the emblems, the Kizashi sedan was designed and manufactured entirely by Suzuki. There were high hopes – at first – that it would revive the brand's American fortunes. Here's a first-model-year example, found in a San Francsico Bay Area self-service yard a few months back. The word Kizashi means "something great is coming" in Japanese, but the Great Recession and the decreasing popularity of non-truck-shaped new vehicles in the United States kept sales of these cars low (even as Monster Tajima broke the ten-minute barrier in a Suzuki at Pikes Peak). You could buy a new Kizashi here until American Suzuki folded its tent and left in 2013, leaving just two-wheeled Suzukis available here for highway use. That was unfortunate because the Kizashi provided a lot of value for the price. This Kizashi SE had an MSRP starting at $21,499 (about $27,085 in 2021 dollars), and it had a pleasant interior and a bunch of unexpected standard features. You got keyless ignition, power seats with memory, 17" alloy wheels and a pretty decent seven-speaker audio system with USB and Bluetooth inputs (both of which were still uncommon in lower-priced cars at the time). If you upgraded to the GTS or SLS trim levels ($22,499 and $24,399, respectively), you got goodies including a thumping 10-speaker Rockford Fosgate audio system, a power sunroof and 18-inch wheels. But unless you were selling Hayabusas or KingQuads, 2010 wasn't a great time to have a Suzuki sign in front of your American showroom. The days of Geo- and Chevrolet-badged Suzukis roaming every American road ended with the Metro and Tracker; by the end, only the Kizashi, SX4 and Grand Vitara remained here. It appears that a Ford dealership in Pennsylvania sold this car at some point prior to its migration west. The 2.4-liter four-cylinder made 185 horsepower, better than its four-cylinder Mazda6 and Altima rivals. Smaller-displacement versions of the J24B engine went into the Aerio, Esteem, Sidekick, Tracker, and Vitara; the Grand Vitara got the 2.4. A six-speed manual transmission was available in the Kizashi's other trim levels, but SE buyers had to take the CVT. This content is hosted by a third party.

Future Classic: 1996-1998 Suzuki X-90

SUVs are absolute cash cows, and because of that, automakers don’t often take risks in their design and execution. Oh, sure, the occasional Evoque Coupe or Murano CrossCabriolet slips through the cracks, but by and large most SUVs have four doors, two or three rows of seats and a hatchback for your cargo. But in the 1990s, carmakers were still experimenting with SUVs, so things occasionally got weird, and nothing embodied weirdness quite like the Suzuki X-90. Half SUV, half coupe, half roadster (three halves – see, super weird), the X-90 was all about fun in the sun. It was wild and had lots of personality. SuzukiÂ’s liÂ’l guy was unlike anything else on the road. Why is the Suzuki X-90 a future classic? The X-90 was SuzukiÂ’s followup to the ill-fated Samurai – you know, the SUV that was “easier to flip than a toilet seat,” according to reports from the time. The X-90 was much safer, with standard features like driver and passenger airbags, as well as antilock brakes, but it still fully embodied the SamuraiÂ’s have-fun-anywhere ethos. “Cute utes” were a growing subset of small SUVs in the ‘90s, and wow did the X-90 fully lean into this demeanor. It was tiny – only slightly longer and taller than a modern Fiat 500 – with two doors, two seats, a removable T-top roof and a sedan-like trunk with a spoiler for added flourish. Its 6.3 inches of ground clearance gave it a tiny-tough trucky stance, and you could get it in vibrant colors like purple and teal. It even had seat fabric that looked like ‘90s jazz cups. So cool. What is the ideal example of the Suzuki X-90? Since it was a low-volume product that was only sold for a couple of years (adding to its scarcity today), there werenÂ’t many differences between the X-90s that came to the U.S. All of ‘em were powered by a 1.6-liter inline-four engine with a blistering 95 horsepower and 98 pound-feet of torque. Buyers could choose between rear- and four-wheel drive, as well as a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual transmission. Going for the stick-shift gave you a slight edge on fuel economy, with the EPA rating both RWD and 4WD X-90s at 24 mpg combined, compared to 22 mpg with the automatic. Considering its core mission was all about having a whale of a time, the smartest way to spec an X-90 is with the five-speed manual and four-wheel drive.