Car went in for service and the only car they had to give me was a suzuki aerio. Funky interior, and seating position, but it is decently peppy. I looked up the stats and it has 141hp. More than the Protege, but the car is built like a tin can. It has Knight Rider type gauges. Digital speedo and tach. 6disk changer, outside temp and some other stuff. Anyway, I am 6'4" and around 285lbs and this thing has no leg room. Plenty of headroom, but my knees and in my chest.

Protege went in for:

Rusted trunk lock cylinder
Carpet coming up along both front doors
Key FOB stopped working (only one of them)
Rattle in rear (sound like the same thing the MP3 guys have)
Warped Front rotors


Car had 20K miles and is a 2002. So far the car has been great. These are the first issues to come up.

Anyone else have these problems, and are the warped rotors a common item?

 

I've already had my front brakes replaced under warranty due to warped, defective rotors (and no, I don't drive this car hard).

So you're not alone!

 

So is the suzuki as bad as everyone says?? Im betting you are getting a lot more looks your way though.

 

one of the car mags (c&d i think) said " you could take the aerio to work and tell your coworkers it is homemade... and they'd believe you"
i really don't care for the way it looks, the tires/wheels look waaaaay to small for the tall body.

 

I guess I'm lucky. Last time I took my car in I got a brand new Explorer XLT to drive around in. But usually I just get a Focus or Escort.

Never been a fan of the Suzuki's. But getting a car with options is better than getting a base model Ford with no power windows, no cd, 105HP engine, with a crap automatic.

 

There is a an excellent article posted by Jesse in the "Tech/How To" area of this forum on Brakes. You guys with "warped" rotor problems should definately read it. It will give you a better understanding on why they are most likely not "warped", what "is" happening, and what to do about it.

 

The Suzuki is not terrible. It is better than the Kia I guess. It has a 6 disk changer, outside temp, and Knight Rider gauges. It doesn't handle like the Protege, but its does OK. Infact it might be a little quicker to 60mph. On the other hand it looks like a Lancer that was smashed from both ends, and I have seen better platic interiors from a matchbox car. The seats are nice and firm, but the material feels like it is a seat cover bought from Wal-mart. Oh well.


Back to the Protege. As long as it is under warranty I will let the Mazda dealer fix the brakes. If I want to spend time working on a car I will do it on my Mustang and install my new pullies and springs. I bought the Protege to just drive and do regular maintenance. When the warranty is out I will start doing my own work. I had the tires rotated at the Dealer for free last time and they didn't use a torque wrench to make sure they didn't over tighten it so I was just guessing that the pulsating in the pedle was from a warped disk. I will find out today what was wrong with the brakes when I pick it up.

 

I'm assuming you took your Protege to Nelson Nissan/Mazda, being the only Mazda dealer in town for the time being (I think - feel free to correct me). I'd think they would have something better than a damn Aerio...my friend's step-brother is the General Manager of Nelson (Scott Reeves) and he seems 'higher' than that.

Oh BTW 99Silverbullet, check your PM's.

 

Someone in my office building has an Aerio, and I can't help noticing just how damn ugly that thing is every time I pass it in the parking lot. I lthink Car & Driver put it best in the sport-wagon shootout last June (the one that gave top rating to the Protege5)...


Some guys can't get beyond looks, whether they're in bars or parking lots. They'd rather go home with a foxy leper than a happy-hearted . . . well, face it, Suzuki is cruising for ugly tickets with this one. There's no disputing that point.

Highs: Honest and direct responses to all your control inputs, the easy step up to the list price, and you get a free plastic bucket in the trunk.

Lows: Having to look at it and trying to defend it when the neighbors gather in your driveway with burning torches.

Judge for yourself...

 

Nelson uses Enterprise rent a car and my only choices were a GMC sonoma (and with the threat of Ice I was not going for RWD), an escort that had seen better days, and an Aerio that had 200 miles on it. I chose the Aerio just because I had never driven one and it had a crap load of head room.


I pick my car up today at 4:30, here is the list of things they fixed:

1) Machined the Rotors (they were warped)

2) Replaced rear struts (both were bad)

3) Replaced battery (since it is 14 months old I have to pay half)

4) They are ordering me a new trunk lock and key FOB (Next week before they will get here.)

The battery thing pisses me off, because it has been doing this for 3-4 months.

They also fixed the carpet coming up in the front.

I thought this was going to be a reliable car. I drive it easy and take good care of it. What is up with this. I love the way it drives, but this is terrible. The car only has 20K on it.

 

I would hardly say that the car has been unreliable. Rotors warp for lots of reasons - maybe you just got a bad set. Struts only last just so long, especially if you drive on crappy roads. Import batteries just plain suck no matter what. You would have been better off to pay a bit more and buy an Optima and not have to worry about replacing your battery for at least 5 years.

Your list of problems is hardly "terrible". If your tranny went after 20K that would be one thing.

 

Is your dealership covering the rotors? I didn't think our warranty covered wear parts such as brakes, tires etc... Just bed your brakes properly when you get your car back and you won't burn any uneven friction material traces onto the rotor. Your "warped" problem will never happed again.

 

Check out the safety rating for these things though...awesome!!

http://www.iihs.org/vehicle_ratings/...mary_small.htm

 

I think the exterior look and interior space is amazing on the aerio.. but it feels cheap inside and Suzuki's had one SUV in the past and it scored horribly.

 

"Having to look at it and trying to defend it when the neighbors gather in your driveway with burning torches."

Burning torches, lmao .