The new Suzuki Celerio had a bit of a rocky start in Ireland on account of some tests by the WhatCar? and Autocar teams in the UK. They had it on test drive and the brakes failed to operate correctly once they reached 80 miles per hour. Suzuki’s response was impressively quick and they called an immediate recall as soon as they heard about the fault. The bad news for them was that it happened a very short time after the car was released to the market. The fault was corrected swiftly by Suzuki though and the car it now seems to be in perfect working order.
This market segment doesn’t tend to have the highest performing engines available. Suzuki offers just one engine choice that can be mated to a manual or an automatic gearbox. This petrol offering is a 1.0 litre multipoint injection engine that offers maximum power of 67 bhp and 90Nm of torque at 3,500rpm.
Like most other city cars, the Celerio is nippy and handy around tow. Because of its size it’s easy to manoeuvre into tight parking spaces and it corners without any problems. Take it outside of the city to build up a little speed and things aren’t as pristine. The steering can be vague on twisty roads and the engine really has to work hard under pressure. The Celerio soaks up bumps well enough and the ride is tight too.
The Suzuki Celerio would be on par with much of its competition in this department. The car is not hugely refined, but this is the nature of city cars. They are generally less expensive than most other car-types and therefore it is often the case that these vehicles can let in a lot of road, wind and engine noise. The engine in the Celerio is small but not underpowered for its main role as a city car. Therefore, when it comes to putting it under pressure on the motorway there can be a lot of engine noise getting through to the driver’s cockpit. The engine has to work hard and this is not untypical. The Celerio is not brilliantly insulated and therefore a fair bit of wind and road noise seeps into the cabin.
Step inside the Celerio and you are greeted with a lot of plastic. However, anyone who purchases a city car is generally going to be greeted by the same degree of plastic no matter what brand you opt for. The plastics may appear cheap but the infotainment system is very easy to use and the car comes with Bluetooth.
As already mentioned, the Celerio has already been through a recall regarding the operation of its brakes and we have been informed by Suzuki that the recall has taken place and the necessary fixes have been made. Apart from that the Celerio received just three stars in the Euro NCAP in 2014. For adult occupancy it received 61%. Its highest score was for child occupancy which was 74%. The car comes with dual front airbags and side airbags.
The Celerio is a deceptively spacious city car and there is plenty of head and leg room to the front. Even the rear is more spacious than it should be. Our reckoning is that four adults could fit into this vehicle and not feel uncomfortable. The boot offers 254 litres of space which can stretch to 726 litres with the seats down.
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