Suzuki avoids the usual gimmicks of a steep destination charge - theirs is $0 - and overpriced floor mats - theirs are included. That's a sign of class.
You may ask how a Japanese automaker can do it. Well, Suzuki is owned by General Motors - and Suzuki owns Daewoo. The Forenza is made in Korea, with substantial components including the engine coming from Australia. Overall, 4% of the car is from North America, 73% from Korea, and 23% from Australia.
Given all these features, which could add up to thousands and thousands of dollars in an ordinary car, one might expect a harsh, buzzy ride, lots of wind noise, and an engine that can barely keep going. None of these are true. The ride is quite pleasant, similar to the Mitsubishi Lancer, and does an amazing job of smoothing out harsh and bumpy roads without over-insulating the driver. There's a sense of control which is refreshing after our experience with the cushy Camry, yet it's hard to find a street that can jar the passengers. What's more, most bumps don't give any audible feedback - no annoying subsonic boom. Few shocks will be strong enough to intrude.
Cornering does not appear to be compromised by the good ride. It's not a sports car, but it will handle anything most people throw at it, and it feels good doing it. Stability at speed is good.
Visibility is good in all directions, enhanced in bad weather by the standard (on EX) heated mirrors - which, incidentally, fold in when you need to free up a little more space or think there's a risk of having them taken off. The side windows have dedicated demisters, and an electric rear defroster and intermittent wipers are both standard. The wipers could cover a greater area on the passenger side, but that probably won't be a big issue; and the sun visors could be a little better designed. The gentle green backlighting is easy on the eyes and quite effective, without hurting visibility in twilight. Interior lighting is surprisingly good, with dual map lights up front and a dome light in middle.
Acceleration is not a strong spot, but it isn't too weak, either. The engine could use some updating - gas mileage of 22 city, 30 highway isn't bad, but it isn't great either; the V6 Camry is only one mile per gallon less, and there are many bigger, faster cars that do better, albeit not in this price range. The smog index is fairly good, meaning that this engine is relatively clean.
The Forenza feels fairly sprightly on city streets, but doesn't do as well in highway merges; the transmission is responsive, but the 2-liter engine needs to rev high to get quick acceleration, and it takes time to get there; then there's a sharp first-second drop, as the gap between gears makes itself known. Situations that left us wanting quicker takeoffs were fairly few, to be fair, and there's something to be said for the saying that it's more fun to drive fast in a slow car than to drive slowly in a fast car. The Forenza is not slow, but it's also not going to be beating any Neons.
While the transmission shifts fairly smoothly and firmly, and is good at figuring out what gear to be in, we still advise drivers to go for the five-speed manual transmission to get the most out of their vehicle: it will increase gas mileage quite a bit while making acceleration faster. A manual transmission is probably the easiest power boost you can give to a car like this, but we don't think you can get it with the EX model.