News: The Suzuki S-Presso could end your social lockdown
Markets are down. Small businesses are shutting doors. Attending the launch of a new car is a distant memory, replaced with a digital handshake that misses one crucial element – the tangible interaction of driving the car. While we all batten down the hatches, Suzuki SA is ready to pounce on a society that will be even more socially oppressed than usual and want to have their freedom and mobility returned with interest. And the Suzuki S-Presso’s starting price of R134,900 is favourable to those who have experienced a loss of income.
Even with litres of hand sanitiser we haven’t driven the Suzuki S-Presso but since it uses the modular HEARTECT platform we expect it to drive a lot like every other Suzuki, with the exception of the Vitara and Jimny.
In other words, sharp, direct, well insulated and purposely built for the type of rough uneven road surfaces in South Africa. The 1.0-litre 3cyl engine is one of the best and most fuel efficient of its ilk, often feeling punchier than the 50kW and 90Nm; providing that you’ve made the sensible (R13,000 cheaper) choice and opted for the manual. We’re still waiting for Suzuki to offer a credible automatic gearbox other than the AMT.
There hasn’t been a Suzuki this good looking since the Ignis and you won’t be the first person to draw similarities between the S-Presso and the Jeep Renegade. The body sits 180mm off the ground, the variety of bold colours are interspersed with black plastics and model simplification sticks to 14-inch wheels. Giving the model range some depth is the S-Edition model with silver accents while personalisation across the range is covered by more colour coding and cheerful splashes of colour to the interior.
Between the short wheelbase which exaggerates the car’s sense of tall-heaviness, money has been spent on the 7-inch screen in GL+ and S-Edition models, housed in a circular shape that evokes MINI’s architecture. The touchscreen, included in the R5,000 jump between GL and GL+, is compatible with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and even includes a reverse camera. In this digital age, the touchscreen demonstrates how few buttons and other ergonomic considerations are necessary so long as phone pairing is a priority.
The Suzuki S-Presso enters a market that’s shown plenty of health in recent months, judging by the sales of the Datsun Go and Renault Kwid Climber. These models don’t sit at the cutting-edge which is reason why they’re not sold first world countries. Yet in markets where emissions and crash tests are less stringent, they tend to perform well. That leaves us with mixed feelings; a proviso that a good car under lenient laws is not necessarily a good car overall. Suzuki, it must be said, generally toe the line better than most.
