Car Bust--Suzuki Verona
Submitted by Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame
Back in January 2005, to celebrate an upcoming promotion at work (about five months early, as it turns out), I wanted to replace my 1990 Toyota Corolla with a nicer vehicle. Unfortunately, at heart I am a skinflint. I love Hondas and like Toyotas, but the $18k starting price for an Accord made me choke, and a Camry was out of the question. I knew I could get a Civic or Corolla for about $14k, but that would still be a base model with few options. I checked out a Ford Focus but was unimpressed with its small size, road noise, and bumpy ride.
The salesman asked, "Have you thought about a Suzuki?" I sneered at first, but he seemed insistent, so I shrugged and agreed to do a test drive in a 2005 Suzuki Forenza. It was very nice, and cost just over $14k. It seemed fairly peppy, but not enough to satisfy me. I tested a standard-transmission Forenza and it had more of the driving feel I wanted, but the fuel efficiency on an automatic was 21/28, and the efficiency on a standard was ... 21/28. I couldn't understand it then, and I don't understand it now.
Then I tried a 2005 Suzuki Reno, which was basically a chopped-off Forenza, basically. I was seeking a "hot hatch" feel, and the Reno just didn't have it. On the other hand, it had an MP3-capable disc player. Moreover, it offered slightly better driving feel and fuel efficiency over the Forenza. I almost got it, but the only one they had on the lot had a tendency to stall when you hit the throttle. Uh-uh. I wasn't going to buy a malfunctioning new car.
The salesman listened to my complaints, and offered me a test drive in an Aerio. It had a better engine with more pep and better fuel efficiency than even the Reno. Ugly as sin, but a better engine inside, and about the same price. But before I even got it off the lot, I knew I hated its driving sensation. Ugh! The Forenza had the look, feel, and price I wanted. The Reno had the price and the MP3 player. The Aerio had the engine I wanted. Put 'em together, and I would have been pleased as punch.
On a whim, the salesman said they had some leftover Veronas from 2004 for about the same price. It would be a step up for a discount. I was hesitant, but on the test drive--woah. It was the smoothest car I've ever driven. It had speed-sensitive steering that gave me precise control at any speed. It seemed to accelerate well; not sports-car level, but not bad. The salesman seemed 10 feet away in the passenger seat. The dials were nicely back-lit with a soft blue glow. The leather-wrapped steering wheel felt very nice. The car itself looked like the previous-generation Camry, which I preferred to the 2005 model. The only problem was the fuel efficiency with just 20/27.
I went home and researched the car. Edmunds.com editors gave it a 6.1 rating, but owners gave it an 8.1, which isn't bad. And every car I've driven has gotten better than the listed mileage. The Edmunds "True Cost to Own" estimate seemed to indicate it would be inexpensive to keep. And it had a 7-year, 100,000-mile warranty!
It had a 2.4 liter inline six-cylinder engine. That's about the size of its competitors 4-cylinder engines. Its strength was its smoothness. Its weakness was, well ... A snarky slogan for the Verona's engine would be: "All the power of a 4-cylinder! All the economy of a 6-cylinder!" But it was just $14,200. I would get a Camry/Accord-level car for a Civic-level price! The $4,000 price difference could buy quite a bit of gas. So I bought it.
It cruised very nicely. It got about 25 miles to the gallon in mixed driving for the daily commute. I took a long road trip in it. I was going to drive from Spokane over to Montana, then down to see some friends in Denver. We had an event planned for Saturday night, but I had to be back in Spokane for work Monday morning. So I would get up around 9 am and drive straight through to Spokane in one day. That's 1,092 miles, if you don't want to take the time to look it up yourself.
All went according to plan. I had plenty of music for the (non-MP3) CD player. I left Denver Sunday morning, and filled up once in Buffalo, Wyoming, where I stopped for lunch; once in Livingston, Montana, where I ate dinner with my sister, and the next morning after arriving in Spokane. I spent 15 hours in the car that day, and from 9 am Sunday to 1 am Monday, with two half-hour breaks. I did not feel any discomfort until the last 90 minutes. I cannot imagine spending even eight hours driving any other car without more frequent breaks, and without killing my back, neck, legs, etc.
Even better, that car did great in the mountain passes of western Montana. It was raining slightly, visibility was fair to poor, but the car was willing to take all the switchbacks at a continual 70 mph without protest or overworked effort. There were some times when I felt the car was riding right on the edge of traction as we went around a curve at 70 mph ... so I would just cut the turn a little tighter, and the car would just settle right into the track. It was almost as if following the normal track for a car wasn't taking advantage of its full adhesion capability, so going wider increased the lateral g-force. The car was capable of going tighter without rolling, and when I used that capability, we were more stable.
That car performed better at 70 mph than any other car I've ever driven. It felt more nimble, more stable, more responsive at 70 mph than the many smaller cars I've driven, including Civics and Corollas, do at 40-50 mph. The car truly was worth the money.
But then I moved to Hawaii, and all of its problems surfaced. Its turning radius was slightly below average. Its wide body was slightly wider than average. Space is at a premium on Oahu, which has 85 percent of Hawaii's population on one of the smallest islands, so parking is always tight. The car did not fit well into the parking spaces.
Most driving on Oahu is stop-and-go. For the 14 months I drove the Suzuki on the island, I never averaged higher than 19 mpg, and I usually got just 16. Most of the time I had to fill up the car after traveling just 215 miles. That was expensive and frustrating.
A minor problem caused by an oil change highlighted something I didn't realize: Suzuki never sold the Forenza, Reno, or Verona in Hawaii. That meant Suzuki didn't train their dealer mechanics on those models. Which, in turn, meant that the excellent warranty that helped convince me to buy the car was pretty much worthless until I moved back to the mainland. Sure, any repairs were covered, but I had to pay for parts and labor myself until Suzuki reimbursed me. Even worse, there was an electronic glitch in the steering wheel stereo controls, which could only be repaired by Suzuki techs; there would be no chance to repair that glitch until I left Hawaii.
The most important thing about retaining a car is your internal dialog. If you are constantly frustrated, constantly irritated, constantly reminded of your dissatisfaction, you won't keep the car. Every time I looked at the elapsed mileage, I knew I would need to fill up soon--just looking at the odometer was a slap in the face of how bad the car was on gas. Every time I tried to change the volume on the CD and it skipped 3-4 tracks, I was reminded of the warranty problem. Every time I tried to park the car, or had to squeeze out of the door with 6 inches of room because the car filled the entire space, I was reminded the car just didn't fit in Hawaii. The Verona was made for the ultimate in comfortable and enjoyable freeway driving, and I didn't get to experience it in Hawaii.
I finally sold it for $10,000, just 18 months after purchasing it for $14200 (plus tax). I know it was the right decision. I can't imagine driving the car in Hawaii over the last year with $3+/gallon gas. And now that I drive a 2002 Ford Explorer in a daily commute (until my 1998 Mazda 626 arrives) in Texas with that same gas price, I'm stunned that the larger, heavier, supposedly more wasteful SUV still gets better city mileage (18 on last fill-up, better than the advertised 16) than my old Verona (averaged 17; far, far worse than the advertised 21).
Still, at times I miss that car. I see on Edmunds that the base dealer retail price for a 2004 Suzuki Verona S is less than $8k. You should be able to find an individual selling a low-mileage and/or excellent condition Verona for far less. And I'm tempted, because recently I've seen other Suzuki car products (specifically, the late-90s, early 00's Esteem station wagon), lasting longer and looking better than their more-appreciated Toyota and Honda rivals. I don't see many Veronas; maybe they aren't lasting at all. But if they are, they might just be a Camry-clone steal.
--Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame
XI on June 12, 2008 at 12:16 PM
This post is a mess. It should be much shorter, and written better.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on June 12, 2008 at 12:38 PM
Ignore the previous poster; I thought you did a great job, Nathan.
jgs on June 12, 2008 at 01:25 PM
I had a 1988 Mazda 929 when I lived in HNL during 1991-94. Oahu is a terrible place for drivers - all stop & go, high density traffic, hardly anywhere to go much over 35-40mph. After a couple of jalopies, I bought the 929 from Lexus of Hawaii on Ala Moana Blvd in early 93 as I figured if I was going to be stuck in traffic I might as well be comfortable. Oddly, it worked well for that and the slab-sided white-on-blue Ginza look gave it a certain street cred in the Zippy's parking lot...but when I moved to Dallas in early 94 I discovered the car was an utter pillock at speed & rapidly traded it for a then-new 94 Altima.
Good post - I'm living in Canada now where the Verona was also sold in Chevy dealers as the Chevrolet Epica. GM ignored the car so it didn't sell as well as it deserved - nothing special but certainly better than the pre-08 Malibu.
Mochi Mochi on June 12, 2008 at 02:03 PM
Nathan this is a great story that really gets at the challenges of buying and owning a car. You have documented aspects of that process that I think will strike a cord with a lot of people. The balancing of features, cars, preferences, economy, and price is a nightmarish matrix of data for many people. And the experience of looking and testing, which can be a lot of fun, can also be COMPLETELY unrewarding and frustrating.
What is also interesting is how the decision to buy a particular car can have unexpected consequences. The car that is perfect for Montana is the wrong vehicle for Oahu or Manhattan. All the work that carefully goes into selecting a vehicle can be completely unraveled by a twist of fate or a change of address. In your case that change of address was thousands of miles. But for some areas 15 or 25 miles is enough to scuttle a cars usefulness. Cars come with a promise and we have expectations about them, but they are not always met or capable of meeting changes in life.
A few years back, shortly before I acquired my 91 Si, I spent several years looking for a replacement for my disappearing (read rusting into oblivion) 88DX. I looked at a lot of cars and drove a few that were kind of right. The Passat was looking like a contender. It handled well, had a v6, good visibility. I got really close to buying that car. I went into the office and talked to a guy who happened to be the chief slime-bag of the place I worked, but he was a motorhead and he had a good pulse on new cars of that time. We talked about what I liked about my DX, where I drove, and how the Passat would be different. I was on the fence about the Passat. That discussion made everything clear. The Passat was a great car, and it was going to be COMPLETELY THE WRONG CAR for me. I needed something that was light, nimble, extremely response. Something that could be parked in a tiny space, thread its way around narrow streets, and past every imaginable obstacle.
Had I gone with the Passat I would have had a great car, but it never would have been able to adapt to my driving. I would have always had to compromise my driving needs to its formidable design. There would have been so many things I just could not do with a Passat that my Civic manage without a second thought. I would have spent thousands of dollars, and ended up with a car that reminded me of how much I missed my Civic. That's just not the kind of thing you want to be reminded of when you get behind the wheel. I would have either been continually frustrated or I would have needed a personality transplant in order to cope.
Nathan , again you have given me insight into cars I have looked at and wondered... "what's it like?". Personally I thought the Aero Hatch was kind of fun looking. I've seen Suzuki's and ridden the bikes, but always wondered what owning one of their cars would be like. Thanks for the virtual test drive.
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame on June 12, 2008 at 04:47 PM
@Mochi,
Thanks, man. I really enjoy writing these things, and I'm glad people are getting something out of 'em.
@everyone,
Take some stuff with a grain of salt. For instance, I said this is the best car I've ever driven at 70mph. Well, I haven't driven a whole lot of nice cars. I'm sure an Accord is better, any Acura, most German cars, and probably many others.
I have driven a bunch of "good enough" cars, but never plunked the money down for a *good* car, except for 3: '01 CRV, '95 Civic sedan, '98 Mazda 626.
@XI,
Dude, it is what it is, which is a narrative of how I fell in love with, out of love with, and now slightly miss a car I wasted too much money on. It could have been written better, yes. I'm not a journalist, and I'm certainly not half the writer Chris is. Tell you what: since you don't like it, I'll return you double the money you paid me to read it, okay?
@Cookie,
Thanks, man.
@jgs,
I wonder how many people will even get the Zippy's reference?
I used Zippy's to help an ESL student understand the word "ubiquitous", because in Honolulu, they certainly are that.
Shawn on June 12, 2008 at 05:00 PM
My neighbor has one of these and says it's a complete pile. You do realize the Verona is just a badge-engineered Daewoo Leganza right?
Jane on June 12, 2008 at 11:40 PM
Nice article and (some) useful and thought provoking comments. Thank you for an interesting and pointed story.
Rob the SVX guy on June 13, 2008 at 06:39 AM
Part of me wants to be nice, and say something like "Great story about a car I've never cared about", and the other part of me wants to smack you upside the head for writing about such a completely boring and unnoteworthy car. This is carlust, not carboringpeoplemovers.com. Who cares about this stupid POS. :|
Cookie the Dog's Owner on June 13, 2008 at 07:27 AM
The Verona was never on my list of cars to look at when shopping. I also didn't watch the 1970 Grand Prix of Monaco or follow GTP racing; I've no particular affinity for SVXs or SUVs; I don't have the scratch for a Countach or McLaren F1, and I've no desire ever to own a '76 Impala, '66 Imperial, or '51 Cadillac Model 62 Predreadnought. Did I enjoy reading about all of them here? Oh yes, most definitely yes!
I'll probably never own a Verona, I'll certainly never lust after one, but I am unquestonably richer for having read Nathan's account of his experience with one. There's a Verona that is always parked in the lot at the bank next to my office, and I figure it must belong to someone who works there. Since I first read this post, whenever I see that Verona in the bank lot, I get visions of it blasting exuberantly up a mountain road under big Montana skies, doing what it was meant to do.
Mochi Mochi on June 13, 2008 at 11:09 AM
People - GROW UP! Read the Title: Car BUST. This blog has room for Lust, Disgust, and Bust. CarLust is what you make of it. The comments are often as interesting as the articles. That's what makes CarLust the blog so interesting and such a great place to read and share ideas. That means that the quality of comments should strive to be as good as the standard that Chris sets in his articles.
There have been many posts about brilliant cars that I can't related to, but I often find something in the article itself or the ensuing comments interesting and noteworthy. Sometimes articles spark completely tangential commentary that is even more interesting than the car topic at hand. Critique is fine, just do try to do it in a productive and intelligent way. Just being a critic without making any positive contribution is really inane. It's a dead end. Adding insult to that? Makes me want to "smack you up side the head" for sounding like a bunch of rude 14 year olds. I'm not saying that everyone has to be "nice" all the time, if you've got something to say, say it, but try to put a little more effort and thought behind it. There are lots of sites where people can spend all day long talking trash to each other. I'm not interested in that crap, that's why I read CarLust, because I expect better from the readers and their comments.
Nathan showed what he's made of with this article - he's got real guts. He researched and shopped, he tried to save some money, he found a car he liked, and in the end he lost a few grand and still kind of misses the car. To those of you who get on his case, when you have the guts to take a risk like he did and openly talk about the mistakes you've made (putting them in print for the world to read) then you can start casting stones. But I'm guessing that if you had the maturity and strength to do that, then casting stones would be the last thing you'd actually want to do.
Everyone makes mistakes. I put a brand new BMW into a wall nose first, four weeks after buying it with my hard earn dollars. Why? Because I was young, inexperienced, and driving past my skill level with a car that was terrible on wet roads. When I was 16 I had my first accident, a low speed (fortunately) head-on. Why? Because I was distracted by the fact that I had completely botched up "my first tune-up". I was running on 2 out of four cylinders. I'd inadvertently swapped two spark plug cables and was SURE I had not. I was limping to a friend's house to diagnose my mistake, sputtering, I rounded a turn and drove into the front of an Impala. The old guy driving it had completely stopped. I felt like a complete idiot. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, in my defense I've tried a lot of new things and taken a lot of risks that really paid off. I never stayed within my comfort zone. I respect people, like Nate, who have the guts to open up in the face of possible public criticism.
People can hide behind the invisible shield of web anonymity, take pot-shots at others, and never expose their own personal short comings. From that vantage point it's easy to be rude and insulting, to let ALL that personal anger out, and never have to deal with the consequences. To me that's no way to make the world better, change minds, or improve the quality of a discussion. That kind of crap is easy and cheap. We need to do better.
Rob the SVX guy on June 13, 2008 at 11:28 AM
I wasn't trying to be rude. It was well written, I just don't see the point. It's a Suzuki Verona. It'd be like reading about someone's experience with a 1994 Camry or 1997 Accord. No matter how well written it is, I just really don't care much. The point of this blog, according to it's subtitle, was about 'interesting cars'. WTF is possibly interesting about a daewoo/suzuki? What 'irrational emotion' do I feel towards this vehicle? The answer to both questions is completely nothing. It's boring, it's unexceptional, it's vanilla, etc. The aim of this car was pretty boring, so I guess the only thing interesting I pulled out of this was that it fails at even being mediocre, and that Nathan lived in Hawaii a while and now drives an SUV. ...
...
(stays quiet about SUVs, for once)
:P
- Rob
Mochi Mochi on June 13, 2008 at 01:21 PM
I appreciate your restraint Rob. The point is that neither you nor I are the dominant demographic. As much as I wish that my tastes and preferences were embraced as the unquestioned standard for all of humanity, they are regrettably not. I'm an edge case in the bell curve and happy that I am.
What's interesting about a Suzuki Verona? To me:
1) I'd never heard of it before
2) I was curious about Suzuki cars. They make nice motorcycles... maybe their cars are ok too?
But what does my opinion matter. I don't want a Pulsar, but a lot of people liked them and found them interesting. I don't want a caprice classic, but I'd be willing to read an article about one and not complain.
The point is that there are people out there, Suzuki owners, and potential Suzuki owners, who find Suzuki and interesting car. It does not really matter what you or I think about that. Criticizing their interests, or belittling them, does nothing to elevate the dialog and no one ends up any happier. That's the dead end I was referring to.
I'm advocating something different than the old "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all". I'm saying the following: in the face of something that is not entirely to your interesting, can you find an interesting or creative way to build a more interesting and involving discussion.
Also Rob, I may have quoted you, but I was not meaning to single you out. There were a number of people who went down the route of just being critical. You just happened down that path a little later in the discussion. I enjoy your rants and critical responses, it's only when things cross a line that I take issue.
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame on June 13, 2008 at 01:50 PM
@Rob the SVX Guy,
The "irrational emotion" was that I fell in love with the car on the test drive, kept loving it for about 4 months until I moved to Hawaii, and only then realized I'd bought the wrong car.
What's not irrational about loving a sub-standard car for 4 full months? :)
The thing is, the Verona in that incarnation would probably have sold very well just a few years earlier. It was just too far behind the power curve, and after its introduction in 2004, they did absolutely nothing to help it catch up with its competitors.
Plus, it's a Japanese car with an Australian engine, originally designed by an Italian design company for a Korean company that went bankrupt. And the only reason Suzuki ended up with it is that an American car company gave it to 'em.
Perhaps the car that deserves the term "World Car" more than any other I can think of.
Oh, and just like it was sold in Canada as the Chevy Epica, it is a hot seller in China. They gave it a more economical (but nearly as powerful) 2.0 liter 4-cyl, and I think it has a 3.0 liter 6-cyl option. If they'd had those options available here, I might still be driving the car, and satisfied.
Thomas Liang on June 13, 2008 at 06:43 PM
The Suzuki Verona was made by Daewoo in Korea. It's not really a Suzuki, despite the badge.
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Anthony Cagle on June 15, 2008 at 10:55 AM
When Chris gets back, we should have a Most Boring Car Ever contest. A car so unexceptional that you yawn just thinking about it.
I'm torn between Ford Tempo and Toyota Tercel.
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame on June 15, 2008 at 03:18 PM
Isn't the Nissan Sentra on that list somewhere?
Mochi Mochi on June 15, 2008 at 03:46 PM
Great idea Anthony. Review cars so completely unexceptional and bland that they actually become interesting by virtue of their complete mediocrity and or anonymity.
I'm guessing that a lot of the cars we see in these virtual pages might well have been candidates while they were still in production. Age makes things that weren't interesting much more interesting. New cars that are boring may very well become fascinating once age has graced them.
Rob the SVX guy on June 16, 2008 at 08:39 AM
The sentra at least had the SE-R version.
Most boring car ever? Oh man. I'd have to go with the mid 90s Toyota Camry. Talk about an appliance. Or maybe a ford windstar. Or the ford escort ZX2. Or almost any K-car. Dynasty, etc.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on June 16, 2008 at 10:30 AM
It's often said (don't know if it's true or not) that there is an old Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."
One thing that would make a car "interesting" to own in the (possibly apocryphal) Chinese-curse sense would be mechanical unreliability. (By that standard, my '78 Monza was interesting. *Very* interesting.) For a car to be boring, it must, by definition, be blessed with extreme mechanical reliability. I may or may not fall in love with a car that runs reliably, but I cannot help but respect it.
XI on June 17, 2008 at 08:59 AM
Not trying to be rude either. I'm not even opposed to a Lust/Disgust about the the Verona. Its a car, and ppl are allowed to have whatever love or hate whatever they want. I'm just saying, I could do without all the "And this one time, I went on a trip, and I stopped at Wendy's, and they were out of chocolate frosties, so I drove like 25 more miles to the next Wendy's and they had chocolate frosties, so that was pretty good. And then like 2 hours later, a bird crapped on the windshield and I was all like 'o noes', but then I remembered that my Verona had washer fluid, so I....."
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame on June 17, 2008 at 01:29 PM
XI,
LOL! There's a little bit about the car's performance, in and amongst the ice cream memories...
Amb on August 01, 2008 at 01:19 PM
I drive a Suzuki Verona and it is a great ride. The transverse 6 cyl is so quite and smooth that passengers have asked me whether the car is running. My experience with mileage is also better than reported here. 20+ in the city and routinely 27 hwy (with air on). The pick up is powerful and dependable. And have never had a problem with the CD skipping when I increase the volume. Have never driven in Hawaii -- so, our experiences are very different, indeed. The car was designed in Turnio, Italy (site of Olympics), and yes -- built in Korea, with a Japanese brand name, which I believe is now a subsidiary of GMC. If that makes it a "mutt" -- am OK with that. Great ride and I would buy another one in a NY minute. Luck of the draw? :)
steve on October 23, 2008 at 07:26 AM
for those of you considering buying off brand cars such as suzuki, hyundai, kia, isuzu, or mitsubishi just dont do it . you may pay less for the car but you will pay alot more in problems later . buy the honda or toyota . just like anything, you get what you pay for . I have been working on cars for 15 years and when you lift up the hood of and off brand car you can see the difference in quality if you know what to look for. take my advice steve owner of charleston auto electric charleston south carolina
bugo on March 28, 2011 at 11:37 AM
This car isn't boring because it has an inline six. How many FWD cars have an inline six? Camrys are boring, this car is interesting.