1988 Suzuki Samurai Tin Top on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Junkyard Gem: 2000 Suzuki Esteem Wagon

GM began selling Americans the Suzuki Cultus with Chevrolet Sprint badges in the 1985 model year, with the following generation of Cultus becoming the Geo (and, a bit later, Chevrolet) Metro. Suzuki began selling the Cultus as the Swift over here starting in 1990, then enlarged that car's platform to create the bigger Cultus Crescent five years later. This car first showed up in American Suzuki showrooms as the 1995 Esteem, and a wagon version arrived for 1998. Most of the Esteem longroofs disappeared from our roads long ago, but I was able to find this high-mile 2000 model in a Northern California car graveyard. The Esteem was available in the United States through 2002, after which it was replaced by the Aerio. Since station wagons were falling out of favor in a hurry with American car shoppers by that point, the Aerio wasn't available as a wagon; Suzuki buyers here who insisted on a small cargo hauler in 2003 either had to move up to the bigger Forenza wagon or join the SUV craze by getting a Vitara. All that was in the future when this car was first sold, though. It's a base-grade GL 1.8 model with no options that I can find, and its MSRP was $13,399. That's about $23,959 in 2023 dollars. The 2000-2002 Esteem wagon was forced to compete for sales against the bigger and more powerful Daewoo Nubira wagon, which had a menacingly similar price tag ($14,160 in 2000, or $25,320 after inflation). Hyundai was in the final year of selling a wagon version of the Elantra here in 2000, and its price was a mere $12,499 ($22,350 today). Ford was asking $15,380 for its cheapest 2000 Focus wagon ($27,501 now), while Saturn offered the SW2 wagon for $14,290 ($25,552 in 2023 bucks). What all those affordable small wagons had in common was a five-speed manual transmission as base equipment, and that's what this car has. A four-speed automatic added $1,000 ($1,788 today) to the cost of a new 2000 Esteem. This car came with a DOHC 1.8-liter four-cylinder rated at 122 horsepower and 117 pound-feet. Not exciting by 21st-century standards, but enough to keep driving misery at bay in a 2,359-pound wagon. This car's owner or owners took good care of it, and it rewarded them by driving 237,255 miles during its 23 years on the road. The interior still looks good, which is typical of high-mile cars I find in these places. A car owner who keeps the upholstery in good shape also tends to perform all the maintenance on the dot.

The Suzuki Jimny pickup truck might be the best Jimny

Suzuki showed off a Jimny pickup truck concept at the 2019 Tokyo Auto Salon, and it garnered more positive hype for the already beloved new-generation 4x4. But more than a year later, there are no signs that a production version is coming in the immediate future, if at all. So, members of the aftermarket are building their own. Shropshire Quads out of the United Kingdom takes regular Jimny SUVs and converts them into pickups by lifting the vehicle and adding a metal tub to the rear. Shropshire Quads has been building Jimny pickups for years. The company started doing the conversions on used models but has since grown to add the new Jimny to the operation, as well. Here's how it all started:  We are a small family run business based near Cleobury Mortimer in South Shropshire. We are main agents for Arctic Cat and Kymco ATVs. We felt that there was a niche gap in the agriculture/land management sector for a small lightweight pickup with more creature comforts and reliability than your usual UTVs. We went in search, and following lots of research, we decided that the Suzuki Jimny would be the ideal base vehicle. We now convert quality, low mileage Suzuki Jimny's to pickups using the best quality, factory designed and manufactured components. We hope you agree that we offer the best Suzuki Jimny Pickup on the market. The blue example seen here is the shop's first conversion on a new Jimny. According to Farmer's Weekly, Shropshire Quads orders the factory-manufactured kit that was designed for Suzuki from Austria and is the sole distributor and installer in the United Kingdom. Somebody in New Zealand is running a similar operation. As seen in the photos, the kit can only be installed once the rear portion of the Jimny is chopped off. The kit includes a metal rear bulkhead panel that is equipped with a heated rear screen. Plastic side moldings smooth out the conversion into the bed, which is made of stainless steel and aluminum. The rear tailgate is removable, and Shropshire Quads says the kit uses strong high-quality latches. A recessed fuel filler is mounted with cast aluminum and found on the driver's side. As this is a conversion intended for labor, it can be ordered with a one-inch lift or a three-inch lift. For added utility, the Jimny can be fitted with flotation tires or smaller all-terrain tires. The Jimny was already cool, and having one on the farm sounds like a fun way to do chores.

Autoblog Minute: VW Q3 financial woes, 2015 Tokyo Motor Show

Consumer Reports pulls its Tesla recommendation, the U.S. Copyright Office offers a ruling affecting car owners, VW gets hit hard with third-quarter losses, and lots of exciting news from Tokyo. Autoblog senior editor Greg Migliore reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Consumer Reports pulls its Tesla recommendation, the U.S. copyright office offers a ruling that affects car owners and gear heads, VW gets hit hard with third-quarter losses, and lots of exciting news from Tokyo. I'm senior editor Greg Migliore and this is your Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. After a week away testing vehicles for Autoblog's Tech of the Year award, we're back in the office to recap the week in automotive news. [00:00:30] One of the things you might have missed was Consumer Reports pulling its recommendation of Tesla's Model S sedan. The blemish for Tesla comes after a tally of reviews from customer surveys. The most common problem areas for the Model S as cited by survey takers included: the drivetrain, power equipment, charging equipment, body and sunroof squeaks, rattles, and leaks. So lots of stuff. Though they could not ignore a score of "worse-than-average", Consumer Reports still [00:01:00] highlighted the fact that the Model S was "the best performing car" they've ever tested. Telsa CEO Elon Musk took to social media to defend his sedans saying: "Consumer Reports reliability survey includes a lot of early production cars. Already addressed in new cars." And, "Tesla gets top rating of any company in service. Most important, CR says 97% of owners expect their next car to be a Tesla (the acid test)." In Financial news, Volkswagen took a hit and reported an operating loss of [00:01:30] $3.84 billion. This is the first such loss for VW in 15 years. Toyota reclaimed the crown as the world's largest automaker as well. It's important that it's not all doom and gloom for VW though in Q3. Sales revenues were up and the company's automotive division boasts $30 billion dollars in liquid assets. It's a sizable war chest that will no doubt come in handy, as the company has yet to feel the full brunt of the diesel emissions scandal. Good news for gear heads. The US copyright office [00:02:00] ruled in favor of mechanics and car owners by granting an exception to existing copyright law. The law was originally meant to prevent software pirating and bootlegging of Hollywood movies.