Road test: Shivers at sight of a Suzuki are gone in a Splash

MENTION the name Suzuki to my wife and she visibly pales. It’s the only trigger she needs to recall a series of bad experiences at the hands of an early version of the Japanese brand. The small rear-engined SC100, known as the Whizz Kid and, at £2,400, the cheapest car on the market at the time, failed to live up to the reliable reputation of all current Oriental makes.

In fact, it simply failed on a regular basis, most memorably for my wife in the outside lane of Glasgow’s Kingston Bridge during the evening rush hour. NLS 638W is the only registration number she remembers of any car she’s owned simply because she had to repeat it so often to the AA – the breakdown service, not the alcoholics’ group.

It almost drove her to drink, but would have broken down on the way. I’m delighted – and she’s relieved – to report that Suzuki has sorted out whatever problems there may have been with some of its early import models and the latest batch they have to offer are really very good. From the sub-£8,000 Alto to the very capable 4x4 Grand Vitara and the latest impressive Kizashi four wheel drive saloon, Suzuki may not be the biggest on the block, but it certainly knows its place and offers great value for money, along with the security of excellent reliability.

One of the most underrated and often overlooked is the second one up in the range, the Splash, which Suzuki rather optimistically refer to as a mini-MPV. More accurately, it’s a four-door hatchback for up to five people on high seats, which means there’s good all-round visibility and makes getting in and out easy for even the stiffest of joints. It is ideal for nipping around the city streets and being only 3.7 metres long with a vertical back end, it will happily squeeze into the smallest of parking spaces while still being able to create a surprising 573 litres of luggage space, if you kick out the rear passengers and fold flat their seats. The interior of the car has lots of useful cubby holes to hold your nick-nacks and there’s also a handy waterproof compartment under the floor in the boot to keep valuables or perishables out of sight and dry. Alternatively wet clothes, or in the case of families with small children, soiled and damp ones, can be stashed away without contaminating anything else.

So it is definitely practical but it’s also surprisingly good fun to drive. The test car came with the larger 1.2-litre petrol engine with dual variable valve timing which is a bit technical but quite simply helps draw the best performance from the small power unit while improving economy and reducing emissions. That means you get lots of miles for your money and the low CO2 level qualifies for just £30-a-year road tax.

The car is built at Suzuki’s plant in Hungary and although it was created by engineers in Japan it is very much designed and configured for European roads and customers. During its development programme, the chassis was tested on roads around Germany, Spain and in the UK to make sure it could cope with our demanding B-roads and rash of potholes and uneven surfaces.

Prices for the four-model Splash range start at £9,495 and even the basic model comes with a lot of equipment as standard, including four airbags, CD tuner and MP3 player with steering wheel controls, remote central locking, air con and electric heated door mirrors. The SZ4 test car had curtain airbags, larger alloy wheels, front foglamps and privacy glass on the rear side windows and tailgate. What I especially liked was the clean and business-like interior and the layout of controls and instruments for the driver. It has a nice big speedo with conventional black lettering on a white dial, but there’s also a concise LCD display for outside temperature, fuel consumption and range and a digital clock. It’s simple and effective.

All round, it’s a great package and one of the best deals going. Like every Suzuki, it has a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty and until the end of March, the VAT has been knocked off to give a starting price of £7,777. I enjoyed it and even my wife put aside her previous prejudice and had a spell behind the wheel.

CAR: Suzuki Splash 1.2 Dual VVT SZ4

PRICE: £10,535

PERFORMANCE: Max speed 109 mph; 0-62 mph 12 secs

MPG: 55.4 combined

EMISSIONS: 119 g/km