I bought a Suzuki SX4 Crossover about a month ago. I’ve put almost 2000 miles on it in that month and wanted to revisit the car and my experience with the Suzuki Store in purchasing it.
I love the car for the most part. It’s responsive and fun to drive. It’s comfortable and has most of the acessories I like having in a car. My overall experience in buying the car was a whole other dimension above any I’ve ever had when purchasing a car and I give kudos to Perry Campbell as a salesperson.
But, as the saying goes, the honeymoon is over.
One of the things I was told was a part of my purchase was that I would be getting a gas card good for a year’s worth of gas. They (this was the sales manager talking, not Perry) said it would have about $1200 on the card. Of course you have to wait to get the card and on the same day as I (ironically) received the first payment notice, the card came.
Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that it’s not a year’s worth of gas but a SUMMER’s worth and that is apparently 1/3 the amount of a year’s worth in actual dollars and cents. Oh and the REALLY irritating thing about this card is that although it SAYS it’s a debit card, you have to choose credit when using it for your gas purchase as they don’t provide a pin number, so you can’t use it as a debit card. This means you have to pay 2-5 cents per gallon MORE for gas to cover the credit card fees. I’m totally bummed out over that little fact! I feel like not only did I get shafted for $900, but now they’re also taking part of the $300 I DID get back.
Couple this with the steady decline in gas mileage I’m getting and you have someone who’s not as thrilled as she was before getting the gas card. Ignorance is bliss.
I know that mileage is heavily dependent upon driving habits and whether you’re driving highway or in traffic. My commute to work starts at 6:00 am and is for the most part the equivalent of highway since at that time of the morning and with the posted speed limits for the majority of the drive being 55, you can actually GO 55 mph. I set the cruise and let it do most of the work for the majority of the drive since I have a 30 mile stretch on one road. The first tank of gas got 30 mpg — which was as advertised taking into consideration the bit of in-traffic driving I do. However, it’s steadily declined since then and the last fill up saw 26 mpg. 
I’ve been told that generally speaking motors get more efficient as they get broken in, so I’m hoping this trend at least levels out soon.
The car has also developed an irritating rattle in the dash over some road surfaces. I’m hoping that if I take it to the dealership, they can put some kind of felt in there to quell that as I’m 1000% sure it will drive my BMW-test-driver-inspector hubby absolutely mad to hear it (not to mention how it’s making me feel – me who drives it every day).
There are some seriously dangerous blind spots in this car. You can’t look to your right at an intersection unless its a perfectly straight one and see traffic coming from your right. You have to turn the car towards the right in order to see it clearly. When changing lanes, there’s another blind spot although you can overcome that one by setting your left side view mirror out more than usual. The cause of these blind spots are the door posts. This is a 4 door car and it’s got lots of windows, but the door posts are pretty wide and obscure your view to either side of the car. Since the car has side impact air bags, I’m sure the door posts are the size they are to accommodate those, but that seems to be a trade-off in safety that negates the air bags.
Although the mileage issue has the potential to be the biggest disappointment since I bought the car to be a fuel-efficient replacement for one of our aging mini vans, driving it to and from work isn’t the true test of gas mileage. I’ll be giving it that true highway test next weekend as I travel to Huntington, WV for a dog show. Hubby would go with me if we had satellite radio in the car, but since we don’t he’s staying home. The car is “XM Radio Ready”, however I didn’t even get a trial subscription, so have to settle for CD’s or just plain AM/FM radio (which is perfectly fine by me since I listen to public radio 90% of the time).
How would you feel if you had paid $xx,xxx for a new car and had these same experiences? Which would disturb you more — the gas card being 1/3 of what you were told it would be or the mileage being less than advertised?
Bear in mind that I haven’t communicated any of this to the dealership yet, so have nothing to report about post-sale support. That will be another post 
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It sounds as if you are very disappointed. Judging on what you have said here I would have been just as disappointed. That rattle in the dashboard would drive me up the wall. I have got a sneaky feeling that the next post after all this has been reported to the dealership is going to be an interesting one, to say the least. I hope your problems get sorted out quickly.
I wouldn’t say I’m VERY disappointed – at least not yet. To be fair, I need to let the dealership address my concerns and issues with the car before I go quite that far. Of course I have to find the TIME to take the car to the dealership — when the shop is open which isn’t convenient to my working hours and days. It could be the motor just needs some kind of adjustment to get the mileage back up to where it’s supposed to be and I’m pretty sure the rattle is pretty easy to fix.
The amount on the gas card is a whole other matter entirely.
I called the card company about only being able to use it as a credit card and having to pay more for gas by having that restriction and the lady I talked to said they didn’t do it that way in Michigan and she’d never heard of stations charging more for using a credit card vs a debit card. I know I don’t go out of my 4 or 5 state perimeter here, but in all of them, it’s the same — you pay anywhere from .02 to .05 more per gallon when using a credit card, while using a debit card is considered the same as cash. She recommended I use the card to buy my groceries with and use my grocery money for gas.
Yes, I can certainly do that (and will!) — it’s just the principle of the thing. I’m pretty sure I’m going to get some looks when I use it at the grocery store since it has GAS CARD plastered all over it, and it’s quite possible I won’t be able to use it there either since you CANNOT use it as a debit card and when I use my ATM card which can be used as either debit or credit, it pops up debit every time. I’ll get it sorted out one way or the other.
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Very interesting read indeed. I’ve liked the looks of the Suzuki for many years and we have been looking at them also as we soon need to get very serious about buying a new car or truck. And as most people today, we have to look more towards better gas mileage cars.
Also, Thanks for stopping by and leaving such kind words!
Chilly — good luck with car shopping! I HATE it! Even though this last experience was OK, I still don’t want to shop again for a VERY long time. It rates right up there with laundry as a time waster. At least I get clean clothes from doing laundry.
And as for the other, well you’re welcome — it’s all true!
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Nice Post.
That gas card thing would bother me big time. I don’t know about now, but a few years ago Car salesmen were rated at about the bottom of the trust list. I hope you get your rattling squared away.
Yes, as the engine wears and every thing starts to seal properly, gas mileage should improve, not drop off. I wonder if you might have something electronic that is off kilter or a sensor that has quit working on you already. That just doesn’t sound right.
Good Luck.
Beamer
Thanks Beamer — if the mileage doesn’t start improving, I’ll definitely be on their backs about it! You don’t spend that kind of money for a car that doesn’t live up to the bare minimums of the advertised stats.
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