Are Suzuki cars reliable?

[sat1983]

Thinking of buying a swift with 170000 miles. It’s been serviced every year on time and over the last 3 years has had a clutch, gearbox bearings, discs and pads and other bits and pieces.
1.3 gl with no aircon.

£1000. What could possibly go wrong?

[georgeyboy12345]

sat1983 said:

Thinking of buying a swift with 170000 miles. It’s been serviced every year on time and over the last 3 years has had a clutch, gearbox bearings, discs and pads and other bits and pieces.
1.3 gl with no aircon.

1000. What could possibly go wrong?

Rust.

[edthefed]

Rust !

[georgeyboy12345]

Also, the M13A engine this car uses has a lifespan of around 160,000 miles, so this one might not be around much longer. It’s usually the timing chain that fails at this mileage, but other stuff is starting to go too, like the valves & piston rings, etc.

[CraigyMc]

170K is a decent innings for a small, cheap car. Can't really say many things would run past that, maybe a small toyota or honda if mechanically looked after.

[LuS1fer]

Bought my daughter a Vauxhall Avila aka Suzuki Splash.

Gearshift cable ends perished and a replacement was about £150 for the parts plus labour.

In my experience, cheap cars generally use cheap parts. Nowadays, even posh cars use cheap parts though

[trickywoo]

The only rust these will suffer from is subframes. The body will be fine unless it’s been in a crash and badly repaired.

If it’s running ok now it will likely give a couple of more years at least.

I’d want to pay a few hundred £ less for it but otherwise no reason not too.

[sat1983]

Makes for slightly grim reading so far!

[bungz]

The M13A engine is a peach but 170k?

No chance!

[Wacky Racer]

sat1983 said:

Makes for slightly grim reading so far!

At £1000 if it lasts a year without problems cheap motoring.

You'll get 150 for scrap.

[sat1983]

I keep hearing that Japanese cars go on forever if maintained correctly.

No? 😁

[Snow and Rocks]

sat1983 said:

I keep hearing that Japanese cars go on forever if maintained correctly.

No? ??

They generally do and it will probably be fine but 170k on a small cheap car with uncertain history is perhaps stretching things a little.

In saying that, if looks and drives well then I would probably go for it.

[sat1983]

Snow and Rocks said:

They generally do and it will probably be fine but 170k on a small cheap car with uncertain history is perhaps stretching things a little.

In saying that, if looks and drives well then I would probably go for it.

That’s the thing though the history is bang on. Been serviced religiously as well as quite a few bits needing to be done mechanically done too.

[Snow and Rocks]

sat1983 said:

That’s the thing though the history is bang on. Been serviced religiously as well as quite a few bits needing to be done mechanically done too.

In that case, what's the worst that can happen. If it dies a year down the line then it's only cost you £1k minus the scrap value. It might very well also go for years.

[SlowV6]

It's a £1k punt on a car that may or may not be end of life. You might get lucky, you might not. There's not much more anyone can say.

[soad]

I’d spend more for the lower mileage personally. Ideally a SSS variant.