Suzuki Celerio driving review

By: CAR magazine

Suzuki had quite a number of cars being introduced into the market last year, but the motor manufacturing company didn’t stop there. I attended the first launch of 2015 in Durban (what a treat!) this week with the Suzuki folk where they showed off their newest ‘XL small’ hatch – the Suzuki Celerio.

The Suzuki Celerio is the new city car in town, in the very competitive A-segment hatch category, offering a few ‘best in its class’ scenarios and also quite decent economy.

Affordable, economical, small and easy to drive cars are a big deal right now, and measuring just 3,6 metres long and 1,6 metres wide, the new Celerio is unmistakably a member of the mini hatchback clan, making it the perfect car for zipping through city traffic or squeezing into tight parking spaces. But, is it enough to be set apart from the array of similarly-specced cars out there?

The Celerio can be described as Suzuki’s entry level budget car, replacing the Suzuki Alto and just a step underneath the Suzuki Splash and Swift which was also launched last year.

The all-new first generation Celerio is fitted with a 1.0 litre engine that offers a modest 50 kW of power. For a small ‘budget-buy’ car that is about as good as it gets, as you won’t expect any more than that for such a little car. On the road the drive was surprisingly effortless, even on the pothole-infested KwaZulu-Natal roads we dared on as we made our way to the beautiful Blythedale beach just north of Durban. So no, there will be no overtaking of Ferraris, or any cars really, in the Celerio, but it does the job of getting you from point A to point B in a safe manner – and is that not what you aim for when you buy in this segment?

One problem with small cars is that, well, they’re small. Sometimes too small to go away for the weekend, get all your friends in there or transport the new flatscreen you had just bought. But one of the big upsides of the Celerio is that it is among the most spacious of the the cars in its class. Compared to the Alto, headroom in the Celerio has improved by 21 mm in front and by 43 mm at the rear. There is also 60 mm more elbow room for rear occupants (um…I am not so sure that is what we would call gripping nor groundbreaking but hey, all space is welcome right?). The Celerio’s extended wheelbase has boosted rear legroom while the rear footwells are also wider. The result: a compelling sense of space for rear occupants. And at 235 litres, the luggage capacity is best in class. Entry and exit is also more convenient than your normal small car.

What sets the Celerio’s exterior design apart from other cars in its segment is the ‘Curve In, Curve Out’ design. These strong style lines demarcate the flanks and the shoulder line of the hatchback, contributing to a sleek and streamlined impression.

The fuel consumption of the Celerio is as low as 4,6 litres/100 km, with a CO2 emissions rating of just 108 g/km -“ well below the emissions tax threshold. That translates into an impressive operating range of more than 750 km from a single 35 litre tank. Now that is what we like to hear!

The new small hatch is on offer in manual and a new-age, five-speed automated manual transmission, called the ‘Auto Gear Shift’, which allows for clutch-less gear changes and more fuel efficiency (even more so than the manual version). It’s inherently a five-speed manual transmission like any other, but coupled to a unit that hydraulically controls its working. A creep function is also part of the package making stop-start traffic situations easy. Unfortunately, I did not get to test out the auto version as I would have wanted to.

Two Suzuki Celerio models are on offer, namely the base-spec GA and the full-spec GL model. Both are offered with a five-speed manual transmission, but the automatic gear shift transmission is only available in GL trim. Dual front airbags and ABS are standard.

Suzuki Celerio 1.0i GA MT (no service plan) -“ R109 900

Suzuki Celerio 1.0i GA MT Alloy (no service plan) -“ R112 900

Suzuki Celerio 1.0i GL MT -“ R124 900

Suzuki Celerio 1.0i GL MT Alloy -“ R127 900

Suzuki Celerio 1.0i GL AMT -“ R135 900

Suzuki Celerio 1.0 GL AMT Alloy -“ R138 900

There’s no doubt the Celerio has its eager competitors – It’s efficient and very well equipped as standard with best in class space, fuel usage and and superior quality interior (compared to other budget cars), although there are cars with more satisfying road manners in the class.

Related Articles

Review: Mitsubishi Triton 2.4 GLS 4×4 DC AT