2016 Suzuki Ciaz 1.4 GLX A/T Part 4: Love Your Own

Upon the request of many of our readers, we revisited our 2016 Suzuki Ciaz. We hope that our report is still relevant since it’s still the same model currently being marketed by the Suzuki Automobile dealers across the country. Here’s Part 4 of our long term test report:

We’ve been pampering our long-term 2016 Suzuki Ciaz 1.4 GLX A/T after we got it directly from the Suzuki Philippines, Inc. (SPH) factory in July 2016. We followed the recommended periodic maintenance service (PMS) schedules religiously and we have the PMS done only at authorized Suzuki Auto dealerships. We have the car washed every week, we have it waxed once a month, and wipe it down immediately after a downpour. We never leave it wet except only when it rains hard again after we it’s been dried and when its way, way past our bed time. Even when our beloved Ciaz had a couple of mysterious dents, we still pampered it as if it was new and unblemished.

During this test period, our Ciaz’s odometer went past 10,000 kilometers but it still felt like a brand-new car with its reliable performance, comfortable ride, and fuel efficiency. Speaking of which, our Ciaz’s average fuel mileage further went down from 8.23 to 8.17 kilometers per liter and its fuel cost went up from P4.99 to P5.00 per kilometer. Again, we cannot fault the car or our driving habits. Traffic in Metro Manila has turned from bad to worse and we always seem to get stuck in traffic. We really need to plan our trips more carefully.

Any Comparison is Strictly Coincidental

We love our long term Ciaz so much so that when we were able to borrow a silver 2017 Audi A4 2.0 TFSI media test drive unit from PGA Cars, we can’t help but park the cars side-by-side and do a visual comparison. Of course, other than both cars being 4-door sedans with liquid-cooled inline 4-cylinder engines with double overhead camshafts (DOHC), 16 valves and electronic fuel injection (EFI), there is a world of differences between the Audi and our Suzuki. For one, the A4 costs more – a lot, lot more – than our Ciaz. It’s made in Germany while our car is made in India by Suzuki-Maruti. The Audi is powered by 2.0-liter TFSI engine driving all four wheels while our Suzuki is powered by a 1.4-liter VVT engine driving only the front wheels.

But here’s the fun part: Do you know that Suzuki Automobiles and the Volkswagen Group have a technical and business alliance? And did you know that the Volkswagen Group owns Audi, as well as Bugatti, Lamborghini, Bentley, Seat, and a part of Porsche? So, there must be a connection between the two cars somewhere… Squint your eyes and you may be able to see the similarities!

Looking at both cars while they’re parked side-by-side, the late John Lennon‘s hit song Imagine played in my head but repeated just one stanza: “You can say that I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will be as one…” Yes, comparing our P888,000 2016 Suzuki Ciaz 1.4 GLX A/T with a P3,680,000 2017 Audi A4 2.0 TFSI may seem a little bit preposterous and a bit too dreamy. But there are a lot of us dreamers who dream that the economy car we’re driving is an expensive performance car. Besides, there’s one more lovable trait that our Suzuki has that the Audi does not have: It’s ours. And that’s why we love it very much, thank you very much.

MILEAGE REPORT

Odometer reading: 11,300 km

Mileage since last report: 1,354 km

Average fuel economy: 8.17 km/L

Fuel cost per kilometer: P5.00/km

Service cost per kilometer: P0.57/km

Current running costs: P5.57/km