One "Crappy" Car
When I am not cruising around town in press vehicles, I may be spotted in my stylish oxidized red station wagon. It's old, it's got a lot of kilometers on the odometer and it's, how do I say it nicely, horsepower challenged. So it's always a good thing to try out newer, more updated wagons on today's market.
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| The new Aerio Fastback SX sports a 155-HP 2.3-liter, 16-valve, DOHC 4-cylinder engine. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, Canadian Auto Press) |
Unlike "Rosy the Red Beast" (my red wagon), the Suzuki's Aerio Fastback SX is brand spanking new, shows minimal mileage on the gauges, and produces sufficient power. The new SX actually sports a 2.3-liter, 16-valve, DOHC 4-cylinder providing 155 horsepower at 5,400 rpm and 152 lb-ft of torque at 3,000 rpm. For a station wagon, or should I give in to the marketing lingo and say "fastback", the Aerio puts out decent power if not an adrenaline inducing zero to 100 km/h time of 11.1 seconds.
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| When I picked up the Aerio for my test drive I found it was covered in bird droppings. When something was said about the filth, the Suzuki dealer replied, "It was detailed." Ah, what ever happened to service. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, Canadian Auto Press) |
Stepping into the throttle produces a noisy combination of high revs and droning exhaust, not the music to my ears I was looking forward to. Nevertheless, it zips forward with gusto and the sound can almost be obliterated by the SX model's the standard AM/FM audio system with its 6-disc in-dash CD player and 6 speakers plus subwoofer. Yeah, it was loud enough to help me forget all about the obnoxious attitude coming from under the hood.
Obnoxious might be a good way to describe the car's styling too. To be fair it's more of an acquired taste. Some people really like it and some quite vocally don't. I however, might have had a better first impression with my test car had it not been for the bird droppings that covered it from front to back. No, I am not kidding. There was dung on the hood, roof, and I am not sure how the bird managed this, but there was even remnants on the rims. I truly couldn't believe it. And to make matters worse, when I first sat in the vehicle, the floor mats on the drivers, and passenger's side were filthy. Not to mention the rear seats and mats were dirty too. I was not impressed. And when something was said about the filth, the Suzuki dealer replied, "It was detailed," just before the (there's that word again) obnoxious woman who stood her ground behind the "service" counter walked away into the back without even asking if I wanted it cleaned again.