Suzuki Splash: 2,311 miles

Well since this piece was written, Suzuki have offered the Splash with the 1.0 litre 3 cylinder unit and because of the Splash's outstanding value for money I've just ordered one and should be taking delivery of it early next week.

I wasn't able to test drive the 1.0 as my local dealer couldn't get one but I did drive the 1.2 petrol 4 cylinder model in GLS+ form and I liked it. I didn't notice that much body roll but then I wasn't pushing it as hard as the author of this article probably was. Certainly cabin room and overall accommodation up front was hard to fault.. My only concern was the rather notchy gear change but since I was actually the first person to take this car out on the road so my dealer told me, I would expect that to loosen up a little over time. Certainly it was the test drive that finally swayed me to order one so I hope I won't be disappointed with the 1.0 litre 3 cylinder car that I will become the owner of come next week.

By nick7 on 13 October, 2009, 7:47am

Update

Having taken delivery of my 1.0 Splash as mentioned above, I have so far covered approx 250 miles in it and it hasn't missed a beat at all. While the little 3 cylinder engine will never win any 0-60 sprints this has so far proved to be an extremely economical car. According to the on board computer it is constantly recording n the low to mid 50's mpg. This is mainly rural motoring and I have yet to see how it performs on long runs. I have no qualms about it doing what's asked of it and I think the author of the above article is perhaps being a little unfair regarding the noise levels. There are several dual carriageways around where I live, one or more of which I have to traverse in order to gain access to other parts of the county so while the little Splash isn't particularly quick at getting to 60-70 mph, it does it without fuss or drama.

So far I'm very impressed with my Suzuki and as has been mentioned the build quality is pretty good.

By nick7 on 24 November, 2009, 9:05pm

Another Update

Having driven nearly 600 miles now In my Splash it is still ticking all the right boxes for me. Even in these sub zero temperatures, it never fails to start first time on the key and the thin tyres give reasonable traction given that some of the roads round here haven't been treated.

The 1.0 3 cylinder unit continues to offer good mpg and my drive up to London a couple of weeks ago which was a round trip of about 185 miles returned figures in the mid 50's mpg, not bad at all for a little car with so few miles on the clock. The seats are very supportive and at no time did I feel uncomfortable during this mammoth trip.

The 1.2 may be slightly more refined, but there is certainly nothing wrong with the 1.0 and it is still quite eager to keep moving. In fact on one or two occasions during my 185 mile trip I actually felt as if I had to hold it back, it seemed to want to travel at more than the legal limit. At 70 mph it is revving fairly hard at approx 3.500 rpm, but being a 3 cylinder it doesn't actually sound or feel as if it's working that hard.

This is a very competent little car.

By nick7 on 11 January, 2010, 4:30pm

As an owner of a Suzuki Splash for 1 year from new here in Sweden, I wish to warn potential buyers of a fault with this cars paintwork. The design of the Splash means that the paintwork takes a huge hit from road dirt exiting the front wheels, which in my case, over a year has stripped the paint off the sills like it has been sandblasted! The corners of the doors not being flush, are also hit and as a result are rusting. The Suzuki dealer refuses to deal with this under their warranty, stating it is wear related! But, at one year 30,000kms on tarmac roads, this shows the poor quality we are being sold with a cheap environmental Suzuki. Otherwise car is very satisfying, but with this issue, we wish we hadn't bought a Suzuki Splash as it isn't the lasting environmental car it should have been.

By Catnip on 28 October, 2010, 7:09pm