#Suzuki sidekick driver#

The Sidekick offers a fairly soft and stable ride for a small vehicle.Unlike the two-door Sidekick, the heavier four-door isn’t affected much bywind gusts. Using the airconditioner, the test vehicle logged 25 mpg in city driving and 29 on thehighway. Gas mileage was excellent for a sport-utility vehicle. The only real difference seems to be in the roughness of theshifts, because performance does not improve much.

#Suzuki sidekick driver#

The driver can select between ”normal” and ”power”shift modes. The test vehicle came with a four-speed automatic.

The engine also gets somewhatraucous (read: loud and buzzy) as it approaches 5,000 rpm. Though the engine runs smoothly, it has to struggle to provide reasonableacceleration onto interstates and while passing. The Sidekick is powered by a 95-horsepower, four-cylinder engine that has16 valves and electronic fuel injection. If driven inenvironments that don’t require quick turns, panic-braking orpedal-to-the-metal acceleration, the Sidekick can be acceptabletransportation. The Sidekick would best be suited as an urban commuter. Also, it didn’t really have enough power. The vehicle I tested was not assembled particularly well it seemedexceptionally tinny, almost flimsy. You’ll have to look at the second tier of vehicles, which include the IsuzuRodeo, the best-selling import sport-utility the original Jeep Cherokee Chevy’s S-10 Blazer and this week’s test vehicle, the Suzuki Sidekick.įor 16 grand, you would expect better than you get in the Suzuki SidekickJLX. You can forget about Ford’s Explorer or Jeep’s Grand Cherokee, the twohottest sport utilities. If you have about $16,000 and want to buy a well-equipped four-doorsport-utility vehicle, the choices are rather slim.