Used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 2013-2021 review

Suzuki has long since made rugged off-roaders, but it hasn't always made family-friendly ones. The Suzuki SX4 S-Cross definitely falls into the latter category, offering the choice of two or four-wheel drive in a small SUV 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 Renault Captur and Skoda Yeti.

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.

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 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 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 used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross or any of the other cars mentioned here, visit our Used Cars For Sale pages to find lots of cars listed at great prices.

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 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 will set you back upwards of £16,000.

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MPG

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. Diesel models are the cheapest to run, with an average of 68.9mpg.

Facelifted cars, with their two new turbocharged petrol engines, can average 56.5mpg with the 1.0-litre and 50.4mpg with the 1.4-litre.

Road tax

The diesel engine will attract a fee of £20 per year in road tax or, for the four-wheel-drive variant, £30 per year. All cars registered after April 2017, on the other hand, will be subject to a flat rate of £155 per year, regardless of whether they're diesel or petrol.

Insurance, servicing and warranty

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.

If you buy an approved used car from Suzuki, you'll get a 12-month warranty – as long as the vehicle isn't older than eight years old and doesn't have more than 80,000 miles on its clock.

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

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 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.

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If you're interested in buying a used Suzuki SX4 S-Cross or any of the other cars mentioned here, visit our Used Cars For Sale pages to find lots of cars listed at great prices.