EARLIER this year the Suzuki SX4 Hatch AWD manual impressed us as a rewarding and likeable runabout. We found it to be a happy medium between a fun small car and a compact SUV. Now the Japanese carmaker has rolled out two front-wheel drive versions – including a new sedan version as well as a hatch – that are designed and priced to compete against the Toyota Corolla and co. Do they have the ability and charm of the continuing SX4 AWD?
Suzuki Liana
Released: October 2001
Ended: August 2007
Family Tree: SX4Rather strangely known as ‘Life In A New Age’, the Liana was a brave but misguided attempt to banish the utter blandness that was the Baleno. Out went dull styling for a quirky tall-boy four-door hatch and – from 2002 – sedan, powered by a spirited 76kW/144Nm 1.6-litre twin-cam four-cylinder engine, mated to a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic gearbox. While not setting the market on fire, the Liana found its niche between the light and small car segments. To add some spice to the rather spartan presentation, Suzuki introduced a sporty GS version, complete with a bodykit. From 2004, a 92kW/170Nm 1.8-litre engine arrived with a facelift that smoothed out much of the earlier Liana’s offbeat character lines, and this sadly included the loss of the Toyota Echo-style centrally placed digital instrumentation for a more conventional dash layout. Suzuki also streamlined the Liana range with just the sole hatch and sedan models.
Super Test
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