Suzuki Celerio Review (2014-2019)

What is the Suzuki Celerio

If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember when the big supermarkets introduced us to the concept of a “budget brand” back in the 1990s. Tesco Value, Sainsbury's Basics, and so on… and soon, no-frills groceries became commonplace.

Think, therefore, of the Suzuki Celerio as a Tesco Value car. Like most cars, it will go forward and backward, and transport you from your home to a place of work and back again. Like most cars, it will seat five, and has space for luggage in the boot. And like most cars, you get a radio, seatbelts, airbags, doors, and windows that go up and down.

But unlike most cars, the Celerio does away with fripperies. It doesn’t have smart styling or fancy lights. You don’t get wood or metal inlays inside, and luxury items like sat-nav, parking sensors and leather seats are a distant dream. Instead, it provides simple, dependable transport; nothing more, nothing less. It was discontinued in 2019 and, although there was a replacement, it didn't make it to the UK.

How practical is it?

It does feel cheap, though. Sitting in the driver's seat, there’s no escaping the sea of dour, brittle grey plastic from which the Celerio’s interior is constructed, no matter where you look, nor the thin-feeling fabrics and carpets. In fairness, this is true in other no-frills cars, such as the Dacia Sandero.

The Celerio’s biggest selling point, however, is its interior space. On the outside, it’s a city car, so it offers diminutive dimensions that make parking a doddle and squeezing through gaps in town a cinch.

But Suzuki also gave the Celerio a high roofline, and sat its occupants up high, and as a result it feels far more roomy than you’d expect inside; indeed, there’s seating for five, where some rivals only have enough space for four, and both the front- and rear seats offer a good amount of legroom and headroom. The driving position is good, and it's even got five cupholders, while the 254-litre boot is generous for a car of this size.

What's it like to drive?

Decent enough, though don’t go expecting zippy, kart-like handling; the Celerio feels as stodgy and spongy as it looks in corners.

But the tight turning circle is very useful around town, the 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engines are peppy and willing, and while the ride’s a little knobbly over low-speed bumps, it smooths out nicely once you’re travelling a little faster, making this a surprisingly comfortable little car.

Don’t go too fast, mind you; at motorway speeds the Celerio feels a little out of its depth, and there’s a lot of wind- and road noise to contend with.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

And while the interior might feel cheap, the Celerio isn’t actually that poorly equipped.

Even the most basic SZ3 model has air-conditioning, central locking, a DAB radio, alloy wheels and Bluetooth connectivity for your mobile phone, while the SZ4 adds electric rear windows and front fog lights. Enough to be going along with, in other words.

Suzuki Celerio running costs

We’d expect to see around 60mpg on average from the Dualjet model, driven carefully, and around 50mpg from the standard car under the same conditions. Unusually, there’s no penalty for choosing the automatic version, probably because of the type of gearbox it uses, which means you should see similar fuel economy to the standard car.

It makes more sense to buy a Celerio registered before 1 April 2017, because you pay no vehicle excise duty, thanks to the sub-100g/km CO2 emissions on every model. Of course, as a result of the new tax regulations introduced on that date, Celerios registered thereafter will incur the flat rate tax that increases every year; as a result, choosing one of those could actually set you back quite a bit more cash.

Almost all Celerios now qualify for Suzuki’s “Three Year Plus” servicing, which offers reduced rates for older cars. Under this scheme, the Celerio’s servicing costs are quite expensive compared with rivals’, though you may find they work out cheaper if you use a local garage instead of a Suzuki dealer.

One cost you won’t have to worry about, however, is that of replacing the timing belt every few years, because the Celerio doesn’t have one. Instead, it uses a metal timing chain that’s intended to last the life of the car.

Suzuki Celerio reliability

Reports of major problems with the Suzuki Celerio are few and far between. That may be because it’s a super-reliable little car that very rarely goes wrong; on the other hand, of course, it may also be because there simply aren’t very many Celerios around, and consequently, there aren’t enough examples out there for us to be able to track - or even hear about - common concerns owners may have.

The Celerio sold in fairly small numbers, after all, and for that reason it doesn’t feature in very many reliability surveys. However, Suzuki as a manufacturer did feature in the 2020 What Car? Reliability Survey, and its mid-table placing of equal 14th was the very definition of average.

All Celerios were sold with a three-year or 60,000-mile warranty, and that means no used examples will still have manufacturer’s warranty left on them. By contrast, the Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto and Toyota Aygo all came with longer warranties, and that means there’s a greater chance of getting one of those cars with more warranty left.