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Like anyone in this business, I can get pretty amped shooting images or driving a $60,000 car. Unlike many in this business, I can also get pretty excited about good cheap transportation.

Having recently spent the better park of a week in a 2007 Suzuki Forenza wagon, I can safely say that this vehicle delivers the latter, with a few pleasant surprises. A Daewoo Lacetti in Korea, the Forenza was re-badged for Suzuki sale in the United States in 2004. Forenza provided a low-cost way for American Suzuki to add another vehicle to the otherwise short Suzuki lineup. In 2005 a wagon was added. Forenza competes against Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, and Hyundai Elantra, but its closest competition is used cars. With aggressive pricing and a new car warranty, The Forenza has done pretty well.
Overall the vehicle has a pleasant demeanor. The Pininfarina exterior styling is rather bland, but not offensive. Acceleration is a bit on the slow side, and road noise could be improved. I did not get a chance to put the braking to any real test, but found nothing out of the ordinary in everyday driving.

Excellent Daily Driver
It is in everyday driving that this vehicle surprises. The seats are comfortable. The instrument panel is easy to use and surprisingly nicer than cars costing thousands more. Interior fit, finish and material selection are superior for a vehicle with an MSRP of $16,049. Good storage, and lots of room for both cargo and passengers. Our vehicle included a nice set of standard features including power windows, Standard AM/FM/CD/MP3 audio system with eight speakers, and an easily movable cargo cover.
There’s a lot of attention being paid to technology in cars these days. AutoPacific currently has a $60,000 vehicle in our fleet with more dials on the instrument panel than many will ever figure out how to use. The Forenza does not provide a bunch of gee whiz gizmos. It calmly displays the other side of technology … lowering the cost of high quality products for the masses.
Suzuki Ends a Great 2006
For years and years and years, American Suzuki has set 100,000 sales as an annual objective, but never met that goal. The 2006 calendar year was its first 100,000 unit year.
American Suzuki just ended a fabulous sales year of 100,990 units, which represents a significant increase over 2005 sales of 82,101. Forenza sales (sedan and wagon) were 48,579 as compared to 41,394 in 2005. Things are happy in Brea, California, thank you very much.