Most expensive Suzuki Celerio – What you get for R209,000

It’s not often that a new car is introduced to South Africa and its most expensive specification is a smidge over R200,000.

This is the case with the new Suzuki Celerio, which in its top-of-the-line automatic GL guise sells for R209,900.

A frugal engine and a quirky look are two of this Suzuki’s main drawcards, and a variety of new standard features aim to make it a more attractive value proposition than the generation it replaces.

Features

As one of the cheapest cars on the domestic market, the new Suzuki Celerio offers key equipment to give it an edge over its competitors.

A big change compared to the previous Celerio is that the new line-up now sits on Suzuki’s “Heartect” platform, which also underpins the larger Swift.

This platform allowed the manufacturer to push the wheels of the new Celerio further to the edges, thereby improving body strength, ride and handling performance, as well as crash-test safety, said Suzuki.

At 3,695mm long, 1,600mm wide, and 1,560mm tall – with a ground clearance of 170mm – the new Suzuki is also longer and wider than the model it replaces, resulting in an increased maximum cargo capacity of 295 litres.

On the outside, the Celerio in GL spec sports black 15-inch alloy wheels, front fog lamps, electrically-adjustable mirrors, and body-coloured door handles – as opposed to the steel wheels, no fog lamps, manual mirrors, and black plastic handles on the entry-level GA.

The interior received its fair share of updates, too, now featuring integrated seats that improve overall cabin space for passengers, as well as a revised centre console that incorporates the controls for the all-round electric windows and electric door locks fitted to the GL.

In addition, this variant comes with a multifunction steering wheel, a small multi-information driver’s display, auto engine start/stop, remote central locking, hill-hold control, ABS with emergency brake assist, rear parking sensors, and two front airbags.

The dashboard was also redesigned to improve visibility, and houses a 7-inch infotainment display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, playing through a four-speaker sound system.

A splash of silver detailing on the air-vent bezels, door handles, and interior switches further set the Celerio GL apart from the cheaper Celerio GA.

Performance

The third-generation Suzuki Celerio debuts the brand’s 1.0-litre, DualJet petrol engine in South Africa – with a focus on fuel efficiency.

Putting out 49kW and 89Nm, the new Celerio offers 1kW and 1Nm less than the last year’s model, but achieves a better combined fuel consumption of 4.2l/100km. This is compared to the 4.7l/100km from before.

With its five-speed automatic gearbox and 32-litre fuel tank, the new hatchback manages a claimed driving range of up to 762km.

Kerb weight for both the new and old automatic Celerio GL models comes in at a modest 840kg, so the power-to-weight ratio of the newer vehicle will be slightly less.

Although Suzuki has not revealed the official acceleration or top speed figures of the new Celerio, we expect them to be quite close to that of the outgoing model – whose specs were around 13 seconds and 155km/h, according to AutoExpress.