2009 Suzuki Kizashi GTS: The Commute Option
Sunday, April 25th, 2010
We all know what a manual transmission is for, right? It's ripping that shift into second on the way to get the Sunday newspaper and designer coffee, correct? This would be why your gear cluster is making a death rattle as if it's from some abused, Hewland dog-ring gearbox.
It might come as a shock to you, but a manual transmission can be just the thing for commuting, and the Suzuki Kizashi does it great. Who would have thought?
For a start, get rid of your preconceptions about short-throw shift linkages, which cleverly increase lever effort so the interval to change gear actually takes more time, not less. It does pump up your bicep, though, so you can feel manly.
Instead, learn to appreciate the Suzuki's relatively long shift throws, which require little effort. Sure, the shift gates don't feel close together or tightly defined when you throw the lever around when the engine is stopped. But once you're on the move, you can throw the lever into gear without thinking, which is definitely what you want during commute hour. What we have here is just the right compromise between vague and floppy and tight and obstructive, a very sophisticated, slick feel that rates with the best of any comparably priced European car.
The Kizashi's friendliness with a manual transmission extends to the power band of this inline-4 engine. It has a kind of elasticity in the gears, a willingness to carry power through a wide range of rpm. This is the result of not just decent torque, but also a free-revving ability to escalate rpm at a rate that is predictable without being either sluggish or frenetic. And the ratios in the gearbox itself seem very well matched to the power delivery, so you can take even better advantage of the power that's available.
We're always rattling on about the way a manual transmission makes it fun to drive the open road. But it turns out that a manual transmission also makes the Suzuki Kizashi pretty good when the road is anything but open.
Michael Jordan, Executive Editor @ 3,634 miles
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