Looking for a cheap, decent FE, new car in the USA?

[War_Wagon]

You may or may not know this, but Suzuki USA declared bankruptcy late last year. Only the automotive part of their operations though. So Suzuki motorbikes, ATVs etc will still be sold. And they will still be manufacturing and selling cars in the rest of the world. And even though a lot of people on this site like all the Suzuki clones, and they are popular here, Suzuki cars have never really sold all that well in the USA. Hence, them closing the doors. Now when a brand closes up shop, people generally don't want anything to do with whatever inventory is left at dealerships (see Saturn, Pontiac, Saab etc), because there is a fear that parts won't be available, or that their warranties won't be honored. This results in the manufacturer offering pretty aggressive offers to clear out the stock. They currently have SX4 2wd and 4x4 wagons for $0 down, and 0% financing for 72 months! 0% financing for that long was common before the mortgage crash a few years ago, but it's pretty rare these days. And IMO it won't be common again anytime soon.

And correct me if I am wrong, but an SX4 is the only small car in North America that actually has driver selectable 4x4 instead of being full time AWD. As you might guess by my username, I dig my station wagons, and I really like a proper 4x4 wagon (Tercel 4wd and Corolla All-Trac etc). So in the USA these might be the last ones you see anytime soon. And as far as the fear of a lack of parts or warranty service, Suzuki has said that all of their motorcycle/ATV dealerships will be taking in their automotive warranty work. And parts are parts, up here in Canada manufacturing replacement parts is one of the larger industries we have, so as long as we are around y'all will have parts for your Suzukis lol.

I am not trying to sell you a Suzuki, but IMO this is a pretty good deal, if you are in the market for that kind of car. Do your own research, etc etc, but I have a bit of experience with the car business and this is one of those things you should at least take 5 minutes to look into if you are shopping. Suzuki has extended some of that program up here, and trust me when I say that of all the people I know, I am the last one that would ever buy a new car, but I have actually been considering it. There are 5 Suzuki dealers in my province, and only one of them has a silver 6 speed manual, 4x4 one. 0% money for 6 years?? I hate car payments, but at the same time if I can drive a new, 4x4 station wagon on someone else's interest payment, then it's kind of tempting.

[MetroMPG]

On those kind of deals I always figured the "free interest" portion was factored into the price of the vehicle.

It may be a different situation with a going-out-of-business sale though.

So, are you going to do it?

[NeilBlanchard]

What are the EPA ratings on the Suzuki SX4? My recollection is they are pretty poor - much lower than one would guess looking at the specs.

[turbothrush]

They changed the trans ratios a couple of years ago (5th .83 and 6th .707) so they are rated better now. SX4 is one of the very few awd manual trans cars left. Other than Subaru most manufactures have now dropped the manual versions of awd

[War_Wagon]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

On those kind of deals I always figured the "free interest" portion was factored into the price of the vehicle.

It may be a different situation with a going-out-of-business sale though.

A lot of the time the dealer would use the manufacturer offered financing as a tool to tell the buyer "Ya you can get the 0%, but you have to pay full price for the car" or something to that effect. And sometimes the price of the car was higher, to do exactly what you said, get the interest back. But with them closing their doors, it's hard to say what you might find, it's not like the salesperson or sales manager is going to care, they are going to be looking for a new job. They probably just want to get as much commission as they can before the doors close, and on new cars that is usually a fixed rate per car, so you might find you can beat them up on the price, and get 0%. Of course this is all speculation, your mileage may vary, and you need to do your research on pricing, etc etc, but there can be a good opportunity in a weird situation like a manufacturer closing their doors. Just don't ever expect to get good resale value for your new Suzuki! Orphaned brands are a hard sell, and worth less, for the same reasons that selling a new one is hard right now, except you won't be able to offer $0 down and 0% in order to convince someone to buy yours lol

[Rusty94cx]

There is a Suzuki dealer where I work. Lots of them actually there driving around town the only ace you see them though.