2016 Suzuki Celerio - Experience the Drive

I and my friend were deciding whether to take an SUV for the comfort it provides or

a compact car, which will give us a better fuel efficiency for the estimated 1000

kilometres trip from Sydney to Brisbane. After serious considerations, we decided to

go with the Suzuki Celerio.

The Suzuki Celerio is one of the most affordable cars on the Australian market right

now, price starting at a timid $12,000 drive-away for the 5-speed manual or you can

get the CVT (continuously variable transmission) which was on our test car for an

extra $2000. It comes with a 1-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine, with two transmission

choices. For the manual, it claims a fuel economy of 4.7 litres per 100 kilometres and

around 4.8 litres for the automatic. Its audio system has Bluetooth compatibility, CD,

MP3 radio with a 12V, USB and auxiliary outlet. It also gets remote central locking

system and power windows, and so it has sufficient kit at a modest price.

We packed the boot space with the luggage that we needed, which comprised of a

small suitcase and a couple of bags, and its 254-litre storage capacity accommodated

all the material easily. We started our journey at sharp 7 am and we drove through

the city first to make our way to the highway and quickly faced the stop and start

traffic. As the traffic moved at a snail’s pace, we found that the braking was excellent

and it didn’t get jerky.

After passing through the city, we made our way to the Highway 1 (A1 & M1

between Sydney and Brisbane), now we’ll get a better idea of how the car was going

to manage for the next 9 hours. The speed limit touched up to 110 kilometres per

hour and the Celerio gradually developed the momentum. Keeping that speed on the

fairly flat ground, the tachometer was reading about 3000-rpm; however, the engine

noise wasn’t too noisy in the cabin area. To keep us on track, we were able to access

an iPhone and Google Maps.

In the middle of the day, we were feeling hungry so we parked at the approaching

restaurant for a lunch break, which would also give us a chance for stretching our

legs. After around 40 minutes of the lunch break, we came back to the car that was

sitting in direct sunlight on a day that had a temperature of 31 degrees Celsius,

taking in the heat. We quickly got into the car and turned on the air conditioner,

which expelled the heat swiftly with the fan adjusted to medium. While driving, we

noticed that the Celerio managed the bumps in a very comfortable manner.

While on the move, both of us took turns at driving, and sometimes sat in the back

seats, and found that the back seats of this tiny little car are very comfortable as

well. The leg space was enormous and we also witnessed a decent 4 to 5 inches of

headroom.

Finally, we reached our destination i.e. Brisbane and realised that we had been

journeying for around 12 hours, although we had halted occasionally for sightseeing

and quick bites along the way. However, we need to admit that the comfort was

really good in the Suzuki Celerio, which exceeded our expectation from such a small

car for such a long drive.