![]() ![]() ![]() The 4-speedautomatic didn’t help Sidekick with spriteliness. But even with 4WD that helps on slipperypavement, when the crosswinds appear, you’ll find Sidekick’s nose pointingnorth but its rear end doing the Macarena in a westerly direction.Īnd the 1.8-liter, 120-h.p., 4-cylinder is sadly underpowered. The top-of-the-line JLX comes with 16-inch tires to improve ride andhandling and bring added stability. Travel the open road when it’s windy and learn whatadventure means. We tested two Suzukis, the four-door Sidekick in 4WD Sport JLX trim, andthe two-door X-90 that also offers 4WD but seats only two.īest way to sum up the Sidekick is to note that it’s 9 years old. Neither Toyota nor Honda can build its machinesfast enough.īut Suzuki was in that segment long before RAV4 or CR-V, so we revisitedSuzuki to see how it’s coping with competition. Just as some folks felt that perhaps a smaller, higher-mileage, far lessexpensive SUV might not be so bad, especially now that those tiny machinessported dual air bags, anti-lock brakes and four-wheel-drive, along came theToyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V. Couldn’t be all that bad if Chevy opted for one.Ĭhevy’s presence helped a little, but consumer interest was turning tosports sedans, pickup trucks and especially larger compact versions of thosetoy Sidekicks and Trackers such as the larger Ford Explorer, Chevy Blazer orJeep Grand Cherokee.īut while very fashionable, some negatives surfaced about those biggerSUVs, such as their tendency to ride and handle like a truck, consume gasolinerather quickly and force your eyes to pop from the sockets when viewing thewindow stickers. Sidekick livedon, aided when Chevrolet had the Japanese automaker clone a version for Chevyto sell as the Geo Tracker. Bigger, roomier, morepowerful and even cuter than Samurai, which was discontinued. Then Suzuki added Sidekick, a Samurai on steroids. The lifeexpectancy in a Samurai, the jesters said, was about 35 months shy of makingyour final payment. It wasn’t long, however, before the media pointed out that Samurai wassoooo small that the only other vehicle you could run into without losinglife, limb or at least your front teeth was a 10-speed Schwinn. When Suzuki brought out a mini-sport-utility vehicle in the mid-’80s calledSamurai, people took glee in the fact a cute, though miniaturized, vehicle wason the scene. ![]()
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