Suzuki Dont care

Oh dear, that is very disappointing to hear. I am about to take delivery of a new Vitara next week. I will be very apprehensive for first few weeks. I hope your problem gets sorted out quickly. Regards, Jake

 

Hi Jake
I'm glad to say that my problem with the Vitara is sorted, I shall battle with Suzuki to take the car back. In over fifty years of owning vehicles I've never had one as bad as the Vitara was, in every respect. Not only did it never reach the correct m.p.g; but it also kept misting up and the only way to keep the windows clear was to keep a window open all the time. Also at speed it was VERY unstable. I've now ordered a Toyota C-HR, which I shall be collecting on the 1st March. So as far as Suzuki are concerned I shall never even consider them again. You have my sympathy and I hope you have better luck with yours, just don't place too much trust in Suzuki uk though.
Regards

Ian

 

Clearly Iand12, your experience with your vehicle has caused you significant upset and stress and in any owners book, if anyone else including myself had suffered the issues you say you've had, then rightly they'd be upset.

I would however like to redress the balance slightly. The trouble with public forums is, it is easy to air your grievances and the more vociferous it comes across, it can make people get 'twitchy' about a future purchase. In our own case, we bought an almost two year old SZ-T manual car from a Suzuki dealership with only 4700 miles on the clock and we've had the car now for 5 months. Other than a blown tail light and a blown fuse, we've had no other issues with the car other than the fact I've taken a decision off my own back to purchase a new battery because the Stop/Start system wasn't functioning nearly anywhere near as often as it should. The new battery has clearly resolved the issue because the system now functions when it should. I couldn't go back to Suzuki and demand they fit a new battery, because I suspect the car had been stood for weeks at a time before we bought it and it undoubtedly caused an issue with the Suzuki fit battery which didn't really manifest itself until well into the winter season. Plus I didn't want another 'factory fit' Exide battery stuffed in there.

Anyway that aside, I accept there will always be the odd car that might give an owner problems, it happens across all marques, no car manufacturer will ever turn out a 100 percent zero problem run of a particular model. You have clearly been quite unfortunate. I see your location and wonder too just how many Suzuki dealerships you have in your locale? I'm reasonably lucky, within a 30 mile radius of where I live, I have no less than 7 Suzuki dealerships I could go to if I had an issue. In other words, if I lost particular faith in one dealership, I can very easily go to another without causing me too much hardship. I suspect perhaps due to where you live, you may not have had that option? For instance, come service time, I won't be taking our car back to the dealership we bought it from, I'll be taking it to another dealership 10 miles away in the opposite direction. Different dealerships can and in my experience, definitely sometimes do do things a little differently, especially when it comes to customer service.

It's interesting you report that you find the vehicle 'very unstable' at speed. This certainly isn't something we've experienced. Our car is on the M1 almost every day, at speed, well 70mph, and I find the ride perfectly acceptable. As for the MPG reading, well clearly this can be influenced by several factors. Tyre pressures can be one of the main causes of poor MPG. We run ours at ECO pressures, so high, 39 psi in the back and 41 psi in the front. The amount of weight carried in the vehicle, we've actually added weight in that we now carry a space saver wheel. And of course the type of road you're actually using much of the time. Ours is mostly motorway useage, so 50mpg is generally achieveable much of the time when cruising with cruise control on. Incidentally, we've also found that if we 'splash the cash' and put some super unleaded in, the car gets a little more MPG. It's not placebic, the car just runs better and does more to the tank.

So whilst it's disappointing to read of one customer's unacceptable experience, there are plenty more of us that aren't having any problems and our vehicles are serving us well. As I say, I'm just trying to redress the balance slightly as I don't think it's entirely fair to slate a car manufacturer wholesale just because of one owners poor experience.

I wish you well with your 'battle' with Suzuki to take the car back. It's not something car manufacturers do lightly, especially when you've had the car for several months. Clearly if you have evidence of a course of failures over that time, they might come to some sort of arrangement, but whether it is what your hoping for, is another matter.

I'd like to make it clear, I don't work for Suzuki, I'm merely a satisfied customer at present. Our Vitara is the first Suzuki we've ever owned and I'd be more than happy to buy again as things stand.

 

I’m a member of a few forums through ownership of LR Discovery, Mazda MX5, BMW X5, and more lately this forum.

I understand both views expressed by this thread and have experience of poor customer care experienced by IandI2 and the frustration this causes. It’s a customer care issue that several manufacturers ignore and LR have seen several Range Rovers parked outside dealers with banners proclaming how useless they are.

I view the original post as a reflection of experience and, should anyone experience similar issues, then reject the car within the proscribed timescales as set out in consumer law.

I view the forum as a place to share knowledge primarily but that also includes good and bad experiences. My experience with Jake, Frupi, GV (the Kiwi),and Sub5, is that we share this view and it’s been great to meet fellow owners.

My experience of driving my car has been favourable so far, but I have learnt much more over my brief period of ownership from our shared 3xperiences, including the bad ones such as experienced by the OP.

On the MPG front, I’m getting around 40 mpg. I’m not sure how this compares to the official figures as they quote a range and I’ve got the AllGrip Auto, but I do know that the info display is accurate (well it was 0.5 MPG optimistic but I squeezed the pump twice).

 

Hi
I accept the points you make, however I think you're missing the real point in regard to Suzuki. Yes you can get a bad car, I've had them in the past. I once had a Kia Cee'd that kept playing up and after a short time Kia offered to take the vehicle back and supply a new one, free of charge. However what has really annoyed me is the fact that Suzuki know the car has problems, yet they still want me to take it back even though it's not fixed. The dealers are great, I've had several vehicles from them in the past and even they think it's madness to have the vehicle back until it's fixed.
you're right, I only have one dealer near me (60 miles away from my home), but that dealer is a good one. As for using the car on a motorway, well the nearest thing to that I have is the A9!
The whole point of this post is more of a warning against Suzuki than the Vitara. As I said, and accept, it's possible to get a lemon, but if you do, then it's down to the manufacture to put it right, not tell you to run it until it breaks down completely. To me this just shows how little Suzuki care about its customers. This alone will stop me ever buying from Suzuki again.

 

yet i deal with Suzuki every day and have never had an issue with warranty claims, I tell them its faulty and needs replacing, they give me a number to do the work against and i do it. I think you have just got a bad area office, and you can't trash a marque just because their local office is crap. Go up the chain to head office if you need to, i'm sure you will get some action happening then.

 

IandI2,

I didn’t mean my comments as criticism of your case, but it was meant as a comment on the customer service experience. With hindsight, you should have rejected the car but I know most of us are reluctant to do that particularly when we rely on the car (I need a 4WD to get to housebound relative in the Penines).

I guess the issue is whether there’s an inherent problem with the Vitara or if yours is a bad Friday car. I’m not condemning you but I hope you’d is the latter.

If you really want bad customer care, the Discovery 3-4 has a known engine weakness that requires anew engine, so isn’t covered by the after market warranty because it’s a known fault. The new engines suffer oil contamination and require a service as low as 6k miles which LR are now blaming driving style and usage.

Anyway, your points are noted and I have to say that the Toyota looks good these days.

All the best b

 

Hi Guys
I feel it only fair to add this last comment. Suzuki have now stepped up to the mark and I no longer own the Vitara. All it's cost me is owning it for nine months! I wouldn't buy another one because I feel there are better vehicles on the market and, even though mine was a 'Friday' car and I'm sure others have very few problems with theirs, I still feel Suzuki tell fibs about the consumption etc.
I've been loaned a Toyota C-HR for the last couple of weeks (until my new one arrives) and I'm getting 65 M.P.G; on local runs and on a long run I got 89 M.P.G! That wasn't hanging around either and the car is much more stable, comfortable, quite, and better to drive. So if you're thinking of changing then at least check out a Toyota C-HR.
Thanks guys and good luck to you all.

Regards
Ian

 

I've been loaned a Toyota C-HR for the last couple of weeks (until my new one arrives) and I'm getting 65 M.P.G; on local runs and on a long run I got 89 M.P.G! That wasn't hanging around either and the car is much more stable, comfortable, quite, and better to drive. So if you're thinking of changing then at least check out a Toyota C-HR.
Thanks guys and good luck to you all.

Regards
Ian

From those mpg figures is that C-HR the hybrid model?

 

Ian,

A great credit to you for updating the forum on the outcome of your problems - too many people whinge and leave so it’s good to hear the final word.

I guess the Suzuki brand experience was poor but at least the customer service finally stepped up to minimise your loss.

I love the look of the C-HR and you know you’ll get infamous Toyota reliability. I think they’re offering 5 years warranty too.

Whilst I love the looks, I’m a fan of autos and not CVT so that rules it out for me. I guess if Suzuki ever make a hybrid, it’ll do better than 40mpg too but that obviously doesn’t rule out a Friday special (and I’ve had a few).

Anyway, let us know what you end up with and how you get on.

Rob.