Faults:

The car has really been quite good. The brakes made a clicking noise in reverse, this was fixed under warranty. That's it.

General Comments:

The car has proved to be a good purchase. This summer we drove it across country, back seats folded down, and filled with our stuff, of which my wife brought way too much! With the Aerio loaded down, and two mountain bikes on the roof, we averaged about 8L/100KM. The engine never complained or felt strained, and had no difficulty maintaining speed even through the mountains.

Faults:

Radiator seam split at about 10,000 k, replacement of entire unit required. Also a potential problem is no protective grille to prevent flying rocks hitting the very thin and fragile radiator core. If damaged, it cannot be repaired, replacement is about $600.

Exterior mirrors not designed for this car, obviously off-the-shelf add-ons. They provide a better view of the interior of the car than the rear exterior. After repeated complaints to the dealer and Suzuki, they wrote back that they had "found a solution to my dilemma". This comprised of a kit that when installed gave the mirrors an acceptable range of view at their maximum extension. Suzuki is obviously aware of this problem, but must be pressured before they will do anything about it.

General Comments:

The manual gears are quite clunky and do not shift as smoothly as they should. This is especially true for 1st and 2nd. I mistakenly thought they would loosen up over time. This is a design fault, nothing can be done by way of adjustment or repair.

The rear seat back is non-adjustable and too vertical for comfort other than on short drives.

The velor cloth finish on the interior doors is not really suitable. It is hard to clean, and already worn on the arm rest.

There is a high pitched rattle coming from, I believe, the seat belt enclosures at shoulder height on each side of the car. This is quite annoying and aggravated by uneven road surfaces. The dealer could not find the source of the noise.

I wanted ABS brakes which are availble only on the top model, but I simply could not stomach the top model's ridiculous and pointless plastic fender extensions.

Due to its low price, this car is good value for the money. Apart from the above problems, I like the car for its overall design and performance.

Faults:

Nothing yet.

General Comments:

I wanted to post something about the Aerio since I didn't see any postings for it yet. I only just purchased this car today. It's a 2003 GS. I obviously haven't had any problems with it since I've only drove it home.

The people at the dealership were very friendly and much more willing to work with me than the Toyota dealership. I was originally interested in the Toyota Echo. The Aerio is much sportier and has more options. I hope I made the right decision. Anyone else have anything to say about the Aerio?