Item: Used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 2013-2021
Rating: 3
Author: Steve Huntingford

The <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/seat/arona/hatchback/used-review/n17875">Seat Arona</a> is more expensive to buy than the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross, but it's driving experience is polished, it's practical for its size and it's 1.0-litre petrol engines offer a great blend of performance and economy.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/skoda/yeti/estate/used-review/n621">Skoda Yeti</a> is also a fine choice. It's available with a variety of&nbsp;engines, offers enough space for five to travel in comfort and handles rather tidily, too.

The <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/suzuki/vitara/4x4/used-review/n882">Suzuki Vitara</a> is another small SUV from Suzuki. It features the same engines and drivetrain as the SX4 S-Cross, but it is a little bit higher off the ground. Again, it’s rather nice to drive for an SUV.

<a href="http://www.whatcar.com/classifieds/used-cars/suzuki/sx4">Find a used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross in the What Car? Classifieds here</a>

<a href="https://pages.haymarket.com/whatcar/wcar-form.html">For all the latest reviews, advice and new car deals, sign up to the What Car? Newsletter here</a>

Page 5 of 5

What is it like?

Ownership cost

Advice for buyers

Our recommendations

Alternatives

Diesel engines are fitted with a diesel particulate filter (DPF). To ensure that this can regenerate (burn off trapped soot), frequent motorway journeys are necessary because this process is only triggered when the exhaust is hot enough. Check how the previous owner has used the car if you are unsure because lots of urban journeys will clog up the filter, potentially leading to an expensive repair bill.

Other potential problems with the DPF come if it has been shut off part way through regeneration. The result is contamination of the oil system with fuel, which leads to the oil level rising gradually over time. This can cause damage to the engine, so it’s worth checking the oil level or having the car inspected if you're unsure.

The SX4 S-Cross placed roughly middle of the pack in the small SUV category of&nbsp;our latest <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/news/2021-what-car-reliability-survey/n23397">What Car? Reliability Survey</a> – more specifically, 13th out of 20 cars featured. <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/make/suzuki">Suzuki</a> as a brand, on the other hand, ranked third out of 30 manufactures, which is really impressive.

If you'd like to see the full reliability list for small SUVs, head to the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/news/2021-what-car-reliability-survey-small-suvs/n23402">What Car? Reliability Survey</a> pages for more information.

Page 3 of 5

Hatchback

Suzuki is well known as a motorcycle manufacturer, but the car brand has been enjoying decent success in recent years, thanks to a line-up of neat, well-equipped and keenly priced models.

Its expertise focuses on smaller cars, although its high-riding SUV range is also hugely credible, especially the Ignis and Vitara, which are both rated highly by What Car?’s testers and which have enjoyed success at the What Car? Awards as a result.

Well priced, decent to drive and full of useful tech, Suzuki’s cars also generally stand out for delivering good fuel economy. The Ignis, Celerio and Baleno have all stood head and shoulders above the competition during our True MPG testing.

SUZUKI

SX4 S-CROSS

For buyers looking for a tidy-handling small SUV with the option of four-wheel drive and plenty of kit, the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross is worth a look.

Used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 2013-present

<h3>MPG</h3>

Despite some models having four-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox, no version of the SX4 S-Cross is particularly thirsty. The 1.6 petrol in front-wheel-drive form claims a combined average of 51.4mpg and will cost £115 in annual road tax. The four-wheel-drive version is only a little more costly at 47.8mpg and £135 tax.&nbsp;Diesel models are the cheapest to run, with an average of 68.9mpg.&nbsp;

Facelifted cars, with their&nbsp;two new turbocharged petrol engines, can average 56.5mpg with the 1.0-litre and 50.4mpg with the 1.4-litre.&nbsp;

<h3>Road tax</h3>

The diesel engine will attract a fee of&nbsp;£20 per year in road tax or, for the four-wheel-drive variant, £30 per year. All cars&nbsp;registered after April 2017, on the other hand, will&nbsp;be subject to a&nbsp;flat rate of £155&nbsp;per year, regardless of whether they're diesel or petrol. Find out more about current road tax costs <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/advice/buying/car-tax-changes-in-2021-what-do-i-need-to-know/n1153">here</a>.

<h3>Insurance and servicing</h3>

Insurance groups sway between low and average. Servicing costs are in line with rivals, and you can take out a service plan that covers three years' maintenance costs for either a single one-off payment or by monthly instalments. Suzuki also offers fixed-price servicing for any models that are more than three years old to help you to keep costs down.

Page 2 of 5

Used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 2013-2021

For buyers looking for a tidy-handling small SUV with the option of four-wheel drive and plenty of kit, the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross is worth a look.

An early SX4 S-Cross from 2013 with average mileage will set you back £6000, but if you increase the budget to £7500, you'll&nbsp;find plenty of lower mileage examples in mid-range SZ-T spec.

You’ll need around £10,000 to get a facelifted SX4 S-Cross with the new generation of turbocharged petrol engines. Examples from 2020 or 2021&nbsp;will set you back upwards of £16,000.

<a href="https://www.whatcar.com/car-valuation/">Check the value of a used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross with What Car? Valuations</a>

Find a used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross for sale <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/used-cars/suzuki/sx4-s-cross?used=true&amp;nearlynew=true">here</a>

Unless you cover lots of miles, there isn’t much point going for the diesel. The petrol engines in the SX4 S-Cross are more refined and are still quite economical. The turbocharged 1.0 and 1.4-litre petrol engines are only available in later models and are still quite expensive to buy over a pre-facelift 1.6.

The SX4 S-Cross isn't a premium SUV, so there’s no reason to go for it in top-spec form. The mid-range SZ-T comes with plenty of kit without costing the Earth to buy.

Our favourite Suzuki SX4 S-Cross: 1.6 SZ-T

<h2>What we're looking for:</h2><ul><li>Running costs that won’t break the bank </li> <li>Generous kit</li> <li>Pokey engine and tidy handling</li> <li>Spacious interior</li> <li>Boot big enough to cope with family life</li></ul>

The car-buying public has fallen in love with small SUVs, or crossovers as they’re often called, with thousands turning away from conventional hatchbacks in favour of something that rides that little bit higher.

The original baby SUV is the Nissan Juke, which remains a popular choice, but there are plenty of better rivals to consider instead. We’d recommend you look at either the Ford Puma or Skoda Kamiq, because they offer&nbsp;a great blend of practicality and value that keeps them&nbsp;clear of the opposition. Equally, if you’ve got more money to spend, the Audi Q2 and Volkswagen T-Roc&nbsp;are both fine choices.&nbsp;

Small SUV

Some SX4 S-Cross models are four-wheel drive, so while it's unlikely to have been used off-road, have a look underneath to check for any damage.

The interior has a number of cheap plastics that scratch easily, which isn't great&nbsp;given that this is a family car and has to stand up to a certain amount of abuse. Some owners have complained about interior squeaks and rattles, so find a stretch of rough road to try to find out whether&nbsp;the example you’re looking at has any.

Also check the alloys for any kerb damage, because higher-spec cars come with bigger rims that are more susceptible to being damaged.

<a href="https://www.whatcar.com/make/suzuki">Suzuki</a> has long since made rugged off-roaders, but they haven’t always made family-friendly ones. The SX4 S-Cross definitely falls into the latter category, offering the choice of two or four-wheel drive in a <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/used-reviews/category/small-suv">small SUV</a>&nbsp;that’s not far off the size of a family hatchback.

Capable of traversing city streets just as well as it can a muddy farm track, the SX4 S-Cross competes with the likes of the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/renault/captur/hatchback/review/n20">Renault Captur</a> and <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/skoda/yeti/estate/used-review/n621">Skoda Yeti</a>.

You have the choice of a 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engines in pre-facelift examples, while two turbocharged petrol engines (1.0-litre and 1.4-litre) were added to the range in 2016 to replace the 1.6-litre. This facelift also introduced a new front fascia, new alloy wheels and updated soft-touch materials for its interior.&nbsp;

The diesel is a little bit noisy, particularly at idle and when accelerating, while the petrol engines are smooth, even when worked hard. The 1.6-litre petrol comes with a five-speed manual gearbox. That means it's not quite as refined on the motorway as a later 1.0-litre or 1.4-litre because they&nbsp;came with six-speed 'boxes. However, the 1.6-litre has peppy performance and quite good fuel economy anyway, so it’s no great shame.

To drive, the SX4 S-Cross is remarkably agile, with four-wheel drive versions managing to hold a tighter line in corners than the front-wheel drive cars. Body roll is kept in check, but that does come at the expense of ride quality.

The car isn’t particularly brilliant at staying settled over poor road surfaces. Sharp&nbsp;mid-corner bumps tend to unsettle it and thumps from potholes and motorway expansion joins can be heard more than in rival cars.

The steering doesn’t let you know a lot about what the front tyres are doing, but it is at least precise, consistently weighted and light enough to make parking easy. All models suffer from intrusive wind and road noise.

Interior quality isn’t up there with the Yeti because the SX4 S-Cross uses a lot of hard plastics, making it feel cheap. The infotainment system fitted to mid-range SZ-T and above can’t match the slickness of rival systems, either, but it is at least quick to respond and simple to operate – although the touch-sensitive sliding volume control isn’t very easy to use while driving.

Space for the driver is plentiful and there are lots of storage areas. Rear seat room isn’t so generous – two adults can sit in the back (although the panoramic glass roof on top-spec cars robs head room) but three is a push due to the large hump in the centre of the floor. Boot space is near to the best in the class, with an extra storage space under the boot floor.

If you're interested in buying a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whatcar.com/used-cars/seat/arona?used=true&amp;nearlynew=true&amp;postCode=tw1%203sp">used SX4 S-Cross</a>&nbsp;or any of the other <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/used-reviews/category/small-suv">small SUVs</a> mentioned here, head over to our used car classifieds site&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whatcar.com/used-cars">here</a>.&nbsp;

Page 1 of 5

Used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 2013-2021 review

Best electric cars - our 2022 award winners revealed

Nissan Qashqai

Audi A3

BMW 1 series

Mini Hatchback

Audi Q2

Hyundai Tucson

Toyota Yaris Cross 

New car deals >>

site ribbon config

Looking for alternatives to the used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 2013 - 2021? The expert What Car? review team guide you through some great options.

The Seat Arona is more expensive to buy than the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross, but it's driving experience is polished, it's practical for its size and it's 1.0-litre petrol engines offer a great blend of performance and economy.  ,The Skoda Yeti is also a fine choice. It's available with a variety of engines, offers enough space for five to travel in comfort and handles rather tidily, too.,The Suzuki Vitara is another small SUV from Suzuki. It features the same engines and drivetrain as the SX4 S-Cross, but it is a little bit higher off the ground. Again, it’s rather nice to drive for an SUV.Find a used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross in the What Car? Classifieds hereFor all the latest reviews, advice and new car deals, sign up to the What Car? Newsletter herePage 5 of 5

New car deals >>

Used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 2013-2021 review

Alternatives

What alternatives should I consider to a used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross hatchback?

What Car? has a buying service

Quick search

Tools & services

Legal bits

Information