Overview & Reviews

At some point in their lives, most people find themselves in need of a small, inexpensive car that gets them around with minimal hassle. While the names "Civic" and "Corolla" come up in most every small sedan buyer's research, the trouble is that you often pay dearly for these household names. In hopes of attracting people on a tighter budget, Suzuki offered the Forenza from 2004-'08.

This value-oriented compact came in sedan and wagon body styles. It boasted a low price of entry, a roomy interior, European-inspired design, a host of standard features, competitive power figures and a seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

At a glance, the well-equipped Suzuki Forenza appeared to offer terrific value. But in our evaluations, we found that it fell short of the segment leaders in terms of performance, fuel economy, handling and interior refinement. Unless you really need the extra space of its available wagon body style in a used car, we recommend that you focus on one of its more worthy competitors.

Most Recent Suzuki Forenza

The Suzuki Forenza debuted in 2004, with the wagon model following in 2005. The Forenza was actually built by the Korean automaker Daewoo and rebadged as the Forenza for the American market. It was offered as a four-door sedan or wagon in a single trim level with various available packages. Standard equipment included four-wheel disc brakes, air-conditioning, front seat side airbags, full power accessories and a CD/MP3 stereo with steering-wheel controls. Notably, ABS was an extra-cost option.

The Forenza was powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 127 horsepower and 131 pound-feet of torque. This engine performed adequately with the manual transmission but felt burdened and underpowered when saddled with the four-speed automatic. To make matters worse, it wasn't particularly fuel-efficient or refined, either.

The Forenza's cabin was something of a mixed bag, too. It was spacious, with lots of stylish metallic accents, but this was offset by inconsistent materials quality and an overall lack of refinement and quality compared with class leaders. If you can get past that, there was lots of rear legroom for adults and a 60/40-split-folding seatback for extra utility. The sedan provided 12 cubic feet of trunk capacity, with the wagon offering nearly 62 cubic feet of space with the rear seat folded.

On the road, the Suzuki Forenza exhibited soft, rubbery handling and a poor ride quality compared with its competitors, as well as excessive wind noise on the highway. Although it was compliant enough, it exhibited little suspension control over bumps and ruts. Handling around corners was loose and unsure, with excessive body roll and minimal grip from the tires. When merging into traffic, automatic-equipped Forenzas accelerated weakly, and any such maneuver took some advance planning.

Changes were slight during the Suzuki Forenza's run. For 2005, side impact airbags became standard for all Forenzas. The Forenza was freshened up a bit for 2006, receiving a new front fascia, redesigned seats, new wheels and revised trim levels. Bluetooth became available for 2008.

User Reviews:

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  First New Car and a Joy to Drive - 2006 Suzuki Forenza
  By Richard E Gugula II - October 4 - 4:53 am

  My Suzuki Forenza purchase so far has been a joy. I got a good deal on it and am impressed at both how nice the car was on the inside and how cool it looked on the outside. I havent had a single problem with the car, save for the constant stops at the pump. With recent hurricanes making gas lines long here in south Florida, having a 300 mile limit on a tank stinks. Another selling factor had to do with the insurance rate that I recieved from AIG. Full coverage on a financed vehicle for a 21 year old male was actually cheaper than minimum coverage on my previous 2002 Mazda, which is very cool.

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  Fabulous and Affordable - 2004 Suzuki Forenza
  By Happy2 - October 4 - 2:00 am

  Lots of room, comfortable , cute and affordable. I Love my new Forenza. Great gas mileage and lots of trunk space. The armrest with the cupholder on the backseat is great for kids to put drinks in. Less accidents. Very family and Pocketbook friendly car.

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  Great car - 2006 Suzuki Forenza
  By greg - October 1 - 12:03 pm

  I am so impressed with this car. The price is great, the performance is impressive, and the look works. Not so generic looking as the hondas and toyotas. Mine is the premium with the alloys and moonroof, white, with a black pinstripe. Feels like a much bigger car, holds the road well. Mines an auto, has great acceleration. Not as stiff riding as the other cars, but I prefer that. plus, the best warranty in the country. Whats not to like?

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  Suzuki Forenza - 2005 Suzuki Forenza
  By Justin Maier - October 1 - 9:50 am

  I love my Forenza. Ive had it for almost six months now and everything about it is great. I feel like it has a good amount of power, especially in the higher gears and at higher speeds. This car is everything I needed in a car.

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  Buyer beware - 2006 Suzuki Forenza
  By heather_2011 - September 30 - 12:13 pm

  I traded in my beloved Oldsmobile that has 175,000 miles on it for our current Suzuki Forenza that had 30,000. It seemed like a smart idea since we drive between states quite a bit. Were we ever wrong! From the get go this car has been nothing but trouble. I had it into the dealership 5 times for the same problem, corporate offices had to step in and fix it finally. Now it is parked because it wont start and with paying a car payment I just dont have the money to have it into the shop every other week. This was the first car that I have owned that is considered foreign. Ill never do it again.

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  I will miss it - 2006 Suzuki Forenza
  By njrp2000 - September 26 - 3:27 pm

  Bought the car with 2 miles on it. Drove it until she had 108,547 miles when the timing belt and pulley system broke taking along some valves and pistons with it while on a road trip. Worth more to fix than the cars value so I decided to junk it. This was the only "necessary" major repair work I had to do on the car. In 7 years I never had to change out the brakes, the clutch or anything else. Replaced the serpentine belt once and the battery just once. The only negative I have was the paint was faulty and the interior door handles broke very easily.

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  awsome car - 2004 Suzuki Forenza
  By Adam06 - September 23 - 10:00 am

  this car if fun to drive loaded with up to date equipment and ghreat on fuel and has a very smooth ride the only thing wrong is that its not as fast with a 2.0L but its good enough.

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  Great Car - 2004 Suzuki Forenza
  By anjellyka - September 23 - 10:00 am

  Great car especially for the money ($10,000). It has many standard features.

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  Reliability in an upscale package - 2006 Suzuki Forenza
  By tedrik1 - September 20 - 2:23 pm

  I purchased my Suzuki Forenza (premium pkg, automatic) after test driving the Toyota Corolla and the Nissan Sentra. What sold me was the quality of the materials, the great build quality and exceptional ride and handling. As long as you dont take corners like a sportscar enthusiast there is hardly any lean. The quiet ride at highway speeds makes you feel your in a much bigger sedan. There is some minor wind noise that is only noticeable in the abscence of any sound system / conversation (not so likely). The interior is upscale in quality and materials and really attractive with the black / silver dash / controls. My first tank of gas only yielded 20 mpg, but that was mostly city driving. I am completeley satisfied!

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  buyer beware!!! - 2006 Suzuki Forenza
  By marco - September 1 - 3:20 pm

  When we got our first Suzuki we just loved, not long after that we noticed that the driving was getting really nasty and noisy, the door handles started to brake and fall off, and then the front suspension started to give us problems, all this is aggravated by the fact that we have to deal with such uncaring team on the service department. If you must deal with them please tell them in writing what the problem is otherwise they wont know what to do.