Drive Time: 2004 Suzuki VeronaWhat does it take to hit the big time? A 500-hp engine? Seven forward speeds? A saucy closing number? Nah. Not unless you're on the track (or on stage). All it will take for Suzuki to hit the big time with a big-selling mainstream car-and the new Verona might be that car.
You remember Suzuki. Aside from the crotch rocket two-wheelers that allow inexperienced riders to remove themselves from the gene pool, Suzuki also makes cars and trucks. About ten years ago they sold the truly cool Swift GT-as small and lean as econoboxes could be at the time, with great responses and a sticker price low enough to mambo under. Since then it's been mostly dull, the Aerio SX being a somewhat notable exception.
Now Suzuki has the Verona to offer, and before you go making Romeo and Juliet jokes (aren't there a million of them, Shakespeare fans?) the name and the car are both made to make you think of Suzuki as more than basic transportation. It's as if you were at the rental car counter and chose "full-size" instead of "compact"-and someday, maybe someone will explain to us how Avis figures there are three car sizes smaller than an Accord, huh?
The Verona is probably the best-looking Suzuki ever, and that's because when Korea's Daewoo originally had it styled in Italy, they did the right thing. They followed that good move by plunging headlong into bankruptcy, which kind of put a big downer on things, but no worries-GM and Suzuki snapped up the best leftovers at fire-sale prices, which is why the Verona is even sold in the States at all.
For an inexpensive four-door, the Verona has some ritzy touches in its portfolio. The six-cylinder engine up front is an in-line six, not a commonplace V6. Displacing 2.5 liters, it only offers up 155 hp despite having four valves per cylinder. Still it's smoother than much of the competition, if actually less powerful than some four-cylinder mid-size sedans we know and love. (Yep, we're talkin' about you, Skoda Favorit! Peace out!) And the torque is actually pretty decent at 177 lb-ft up around 4000 rpm.
Everything about the Verona feels like a Japanese car of about five years vintage -a vast improvement over the first Korean cars that felt like Japanese cars of the mid-1970s. The suspension's independent all around, struts and multi-links, the brakes are all discs (anti-lock control is standard on the LX and EX, available on the S) and with a 106.3-inch wheelbase, the Verona is just a skosh smaller than the state of the art mid-sizers from Japan and Europe.
Let the lissome shape be its own judge-we hardly noticed its sleekly refined details until we parked it next to a Pontiac Aztek, which put them right in sharp relief. It's a bit on the plain side, but more handsome than innocuous. Inside, Suzuki imported enough fake wood to outfit an orthodontist's weekend cabin, spending their money wisely instead on high-quality instruments like those found in Lexus vehicles and good interior materials, carefully assembled. South Korea's assembly quality has really joined the ranks of the world's better carmakers.