Beware the cheap Suzuki's

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fanie1954

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So, one of the Suzuki S-Presso's belonging to my wife just developed gearbox problems at 30,000 km. The dealer in Polokwane decided that the guarantee on the vehicle has lapsed due to the fitment of a connected brake on the passengers side. This has been done to about 120 vehicles in the last 20 years. Not a single gearbox failure. It just cannot stress the gearbox. It was fitted to 21 Fords, 40 Toyotas, 20 Chevs and even 20 Suzuki Alto's. Then to a whole bunch of Isuzu and Toyota trucks. Some of these vehicles did more than 200,000 km before sold. Lots and lots of clutches, but no gearbox failures.
The gearbox centre who opened the gearbox comments on the abnormal small Indian made bearings fitted and would not even consider re-fitting factory parts, they are obviously crap. I think Suzuki cut a lot of corners in order to sell these vehicles cheaply
 
They also not so cheap, our company bought 2x as office cars, terrible vehicles.
 
fanie1954 said:
So, one of the Suzuki S-Presso's belonging to my wife just developed gearbox problems at 30,000 km. The dealer in Polokwane decided that the guarantee on the vehicle has lapsed due to the fitment of a connected brake on the passengers side. This has been done to about 120 vehicles in the last 20 years. Not a single gearbox failure. It just cannot stress the gearbox. It was fitted to 21 Fords, 40 Toyotas, 20 Chevs and even 20 Suzuki Alto's. Then to a whole bunch of Isuzu and Toyota trucks. Some of these vehicles did more than 200,000 km before sold. Lots and lots of clutches, but no gearbox failures.
The gearbox centre who opened the gearbox comments on the abnormal small Indian made bearings fitted and would not even consider re-fitting factory parts, they are obviously crap. I think Suzuki cut a lot of corners in order to sell these vehicles cheaply
Click to expand...
Lol
https://www.tiktok.com/video/7211108362757426474
 
you using the vehicle as a Driving school car? obviously it will take more wear than a Normal car.
same as buying a Ex police car, or any ex Fibre installers Bakkie or vehicle used for work.

pool cars of any sort never last long, cant blame the manufacturers for that,
they even give out a separate servicing Schedule for "severe duty" to account for things like this.
 
Jet-Fighter7700 said:
you using the vehicle as a Driving school car? obviously it will take more wear than a Normal car.
same as buying a Ex police car, or any ex Fibre installers Bakkie or vehicle used for work.

pool cars of any sort never last long, cant blame the manufacturers for that,
they even give out a separate servicing Schedule for "severe duty" to account for things like this.
Click to expand...
Are you saying that 30,000 km is fair for a gearbox to last? cant blame the manufacturer? Explain then why the previous 120 vehicles never had a problem. Oh, I missed the part about severe duty, maybe we should replace gearbox bearings like every 25,000 km. Thats what you suggest?
 
fanie1954 said:
Are you saying that 30,000 km is fair for a gearbox to last? cant blame the manufacturer? Explain then why the previous 120 vehicles never had a problem. Oh, I missed the part about severe duty, maybe we should replace gearbox bearings like every 25,000 km. Thats what you suggest?
Click to expand...
firstly you are using the Car to Teach driving, am I right? so accelerated wear and tear is bound to happen,
clutch wear, handbrake wear, gearbox wear and all the rest of it is to be expected, obviously many different drivers all with their own styles of driving wear components out faster.

30K sounds a bit low, but again if you drive like its stolen its to be expected, what Id do is fit a salvage Gearbox from a scrapped S-presso and see what happens next.
 
fanie1954 said:
Oh, I missed the part about severe duty, maybe we should replace gearbox bearings like every 25,000 km. Thats what you suggest?
Click to expand...
no, Severe duty means oil and servicing happens more frequently under severe duty conditions,
also connected brake isn't factory fitted, because you use the car to teach driving, so bound to be wear in the gearbox when instructors brake for students who don't brake in time.

it can even happen to any car, in a sudden panic stop when you slam on the brakes and dont press the clutch to disconnect the engine
gearbox can break, even with regular servicing, maybe with enough people driving like fools, any cars gearbox will break.

I remember the Driving school car I learnt on, a Tazz, 4th gear didn't work because the instructor braked for somebody
and couldn't go into 4th, luckily was only used in the yard test, so it was okay.

Salvage yard is your friend,
 
Anything made in India is crap. I would rather be without a car than buy a car made in India - and that includes Indian made Toyotas.
 
Jet-Fighter7700 said:
firstly you are using the Car to Teach driving, am I right? so accelerated wear and tear is bound to happen,
clutch wear, handbrake wear, gearbox wear and all the rest of it is to be expected, obviously many different drivers all with their own styles of driving wear components out faster.

30K sounds a bit low, but again if you drive like its stolen its to be expected, what Id do is fit a salvage Gearbox from a scrapped S-presso and see what happens next.
Click to expand...
Clutch wear is definitely a problem, lots and lots of clutch kits. So is handbrake wear. Not to speak of panelbeating. Engines though, hardly works at all, although on older vehicles with timing belts, lots of damage from timing belts breaking, especially years ago on the Tazz where timing belts were eventually replaced every 15,000km. All vehicles are always dealer serviced and like I said not a single bearbox failure ever. Until this vehicle. There is no excuse for it
 
fanie1954 said:
So, one of the Suzuki S-Presso's belonging to my wife just developed gearbox problems at 30,000 km. The dealer in Polokwane decided that the guarantee on the vehicle has lapsed due to the fitment of a connected brake on the passengers side. This has been done to about 120 vehicles in the last 20 years. Not a single gearbox failure. It just cannot stress the gearbox. It was fitted to 21 Fords, 40 Toyotas, 20 Chevs and even 20 Suzuki Alto's. Then to a whole bunch of Isuzu and Toyota trucks. Some of these vehicles did more than 200,000 km before sold. Lots and lots of clutches, but no gearbox failures.
The gearbox centre who opened the gearbox comments on the abnormal small Indian made bearings fitted and would not even consider re-fitting factory parts, they are obviously crap. I think Suzuki cut a lot of corners in order to sell these vehicles cheaply
Click to expand...
Explain 'connected brake'.
 
fanie1954 said:
Clutch wear is definitely a problem, lots and lots of clutch kits. So is handbrake wear. Not to speak of panelbeating. Engines though, hardly works at all, although on older vehicles with timing belts, lots of damage from timing belts breaking, especially years ago on the Tazz where timing belts were eventually replaced every 15,000km. All vehicles are always dealer serviced and like I said not a single bearbox failure ever. Until this vehicle. There is no excuse for it
Click to expand...
So you deliberately voided the warranty and now want to call foul? The only foul is you. **** off.
 
Kinda dick move on their end not to honor the warranty, but if you read the fine print they are probably well within their rights to do so as you made a change to the vehicle thats not "approved".

Moving forward, get approval from the dealer before making alterations & changes. Or, build these type of failures into your business model.
 
pinball wizard said:
So you deliberately voided the warranty and now want to call foul? The only foul is you. **** off.
Click to expand...
You little c...nt. The law requires the fitment of this. Ford, Chev, Toyota, Isuzu and even Suzuki never had a problem with this. In 20 years with 120 vehicles no gearbox problem. Are you a bit daft? How can I not have a problem with this? The Gearbox centre even refused to fit the same Indian made bearings.
 
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