We drove the 2004 Suzuki XL-7 back-to-back with several competitors—the Ford Escape, Saturn VUE, Toyota RAV4 and others—and honestly didn’t expect much.  The XL-7 has been around a while, after all, and cars in hotly contested segments like the compact SUV class tend to age about as gracefully as ill-bred racehorses.

We’re happy to report that the XL-7 surprised us.  With a new face and mechanical refinements for 2004, this dark horse proved to be a very strong runner indeed.
Suzuki’s redesign is handsome.  The XL-7’s familiar two-box features get a bolder …

This is a car that feels good when driven hard, but doesn’t demand rough treatment.

It’s versatile!  It’s friendly!  It’s even cute, in a weird-looking  sort of way.  Mini-SUV manufacturer Suzuki is the latest to jump into the  growing “crossover vehicle” market.  Crossovers combine varying percentages of sport-utility vehicle, minivan, and car into a multi-useful,  city-friendly package, usually with a high roof.  The 2003 Suzuki Aerio is all-new,  and it joins the Pontiac Aztek, Chrysler PT Cruiser, and Toyota Matrix in this rapidly growing new segment.

The Aerio is a much-needed all-new platform for Suzuki, whose  mini-SUVs are showing their age.  The modern design of the …

Do you know why they call the little SUVs “cute-utes?”  The off-roaders and the people who are around trucks frequently complain that they don’t feel like trucks.  And they don’t.  These little four-by-fours have come a long way since the Suzuki Samurai, which was practically an industrial implement.  These days, Honda’s CR-V and Toyota’s RAV4, the acknowledged class leaders, have been engineered more for urban living than slogging through mud.

But sometimes you want your trucklet to feel like a truck; to ride a little bit firmer, and to feel like …

Is this car a forgotten gem, or the answer to a question nobody asked?

Even though many trucks spend their lives roaming the suburbs with nary a load of dirt to haul in sight, the true measure of a pickup’s “truckness” is to let it do some work. That’s definitely the case with the new Equator.

Suzuki is a brand best known for its tough compact SUVs and motorcycles, and the brand has never been one of the first names to jump to mind when considering compact cars. Oh, sure, the Suzuki Swift was an economy champ back in the day, and even a bit entertaining when turbocharged, but most people remember that car as the Geo Metro. Suzuki’s non-truck offerings since then have been somewhat forgettable, though the SX4 crossover, introduced in 2006, aims to change that.

The SX4 crossover distinguished itself by being one …