Faults:

Nothing but basic service and consumables in the last year and a half of my ownership.

General Comments:

The Splash is classed as an MPV but feels like a smaller hatchback car; not much space in this car unfortunately. My old Toyota Yaris felt bigger, even though the dimensions are about the same. But it is just a basic run about, not a car you buy for space or comfort. You buy for economy and this car does that just fine, cheaper tax and insurance, repairs won't be too much, and it will do well around 50 mpg all day.

Love the look inside - the rev counter has its own separate instrument. Very well laid out. Shame the car is so small as it is otherwise comfortable enough, but I don't like long journeys, there is too much wind noise and the engine really does feel out of place in anything but a town/city environment.

Rear luggage area is a joke - you wont get much inside.

Still, a reliable smart little run around, recommended for those on a budget that want something different - you do not see many of these cars where I live in the UK.

Faults:

Windscreen wipe mechanism failed. Started making a squeaking noise every time you used the wipers. That was at about 1000 miles.

General Comments:

The car is very easy to drive around town, and on the motorway it will cruise at 60mph. It will do 70mph plus, but starts to get noisy.

Cabin space is good, with storage bins and glove box. The boot is small, but there is a compartment under the floor of the boot as well.

Equipment level is very good; safety six airbags, ABS, EBS, TC, General Nice stereo, intermittent wipers that you can adjust the speed, plastics on the dash are too bad.

The only problem with the car, is when you come to the second service. It will set you back £400, so what you save on fuel and road tax, you spend on servicing. This is due to the 1.0L engine design; instead of hydraulic tappets that most modern cars have got, this one has shims. WHY ON EARTH WOULD THEY DO THAT?

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

This is a review of the Suzuki Splash, which I test-drove in March 2008. There only seem to be professional reviews available, and I haven't seen a single one on the road, so I thought it might be desirable for a real person to give an opinion.

I had it for about an hour of mixed driving and going over with the tape measure etc. I won't bore people with the equipment tally or measurements, which you can read anywhere!

Around town, it rode OK, didn't crash too badly through potholes, steered accurately and was easy to drive. EXCEPT the usual MPV problem of forward vision at junctions. The A-pillars are easy to 'lose' motorbikes (and bigger) in, and one has to make a definite effort to check for these. This problem is of course common on modern cars.

On the motorway it held 70mph easily, but I was alone in the car. Not sure with 3 passengers and the increased kerb weight over, say, the Sirion. Also, I would have been interested in the automatic, which will obviously have a little less available power. It'd probably be OK if you're not a speed freak. Which I'm not, but I recall the 1.3 auto Getz, which was very sluggish even for me! The answer is to try it with a few passengers in it.

But generally it was easy and quiet to drive, with no nasty surprises.

Economy I can't comment on, but having owned 3 Suzukis, I have no reason to doubt that it'll be reasonably frugal. Again, whether the weight will count against it needs consideration.

Inside, the seats were comfortable enough (the passenger side also has height adjustment) but I felt the centre console to be a little claustrophobic. My left leg was permanently in contact with it, although this might not be the case in an auto when you can stretch that leg out further. In a larger car, this isn't such a problem because there's more width to the footwell, but I was a little disappointed with this aspect.

It's nice to have variable intermittent wipers at this level (a useful gadget - hooray) but I wasn't keen on the dash otherwise. I know it's fashionable, but putting the rev-counter on a separate pod doesn't do anything for me. Likewise for Wagon R owners looking to replace, I would think. At least you can see the speedo easily. The much-criticised indicator bleep didn't bother me - I'd rather have that than leave an indicator going by mistake.

In the rear, legroom isn't quite as good as you'd expect. Neither is the boot-room (Splash is over 4" longer than Sirion, which has more of both).

The underfloor compartment in the boot is useful, but neither space is large. Methinks space has been lost to styling. The concave rear hatch (borrowed from an old Punto?) steals headroom in that you can bang your head as you walk under it towards the opening. Not painful, but messes up whatever hair you've got left.

The seats fold easily in one movement to give you a good flattish space, but it's a little lacking in width between the wheel arches at the back. (Ignis thrashes it here).

However, legroom / boot-room all round is acceptable if you're not huge and don't want to carry loads of gear. Headroom of course is a given.

I was keen to buy one of these, but put off slightly by an Internet review I read somewhere which said that the autoboxes were 'inclined to whine'. Never had that before in a Suzuki and didn't want it either! And nobody had one to test.

Otherwise, the 'problems' I've highlighted may not have put me off of what I thought to be a pleasant car. Even the PX offer of £1k under Daihatsu's wouldn't have mattered - the Splash feels more solid than the Sirion, and I've never had a problem with a Suzuki.

But I can't quite see the market. It's too modern (and expensive) for a Wagon-R owner, but small Suzuki's aren't bought by youngsters. And there's probably not enough people like me who don't fall into either category (well, certainly not the latter)!