Emeril Lagasse, the famous chef seen on the Food Network, often takes his already delectable culinary efforts to the next level by "kicking it up a notch". This usually involves adding more spices or garlic to a given dish. Well, maybe Emeril sat in on a few of Suzuki's latest product planning meetings, as 2011 will see the debut of the Suzuki Kizashi Sport, which is a kicked-up version of this already athletic midsize sedan.
We had a chance to sample the new Kizashi Sport on an autocross course and the Suzuki folks included a standard Kizashi and some competitors for comparison. Of course, the Kizashi Sport sports the requisite body mods which include a more aggressive front fascia, lower body side skirting and chrome accents, a rear spoiler and 18-inch wheels. The cabin features leather sport seats (with contrast stitching on black leather cars) and a unique, perforated-leather steering wheel. Although there are no powertrain changes for the Sport, there are other functional upgrades, including a lowered (by 10mm) ride height and lighter (by two pounds apiece) wheels. Though the suspension's spring rate and damper calibrations are unchanged over the standard Kizashi, the Sport does have different bushings.
As there were only a handful of journalists on this local event, I got plenty of time on the autocross. I first drove the base Kizashi and was impressed (as the staff has been with our long-term Kizashi) with its solid handling chops. After whipping around the course in that one I hopped into the Sport and immediately noticed a difference -- turn-in was crisper and the car was even flatter through the quick transitions. There was also plenty of grip as I discovered by gradually bumping up my speed through the course's sweeping corners, lending credence to Suzuki's claim that the Sport pulls 0.93g in lateral acceleration. I also took out an Acura TSX and even the standard Kizashi felt more agile than Acura's formerly spry model (meaning before this generation).
My driving impressions were obviously limited to what I gathered on the autocross course (not that I'm complaining!) but it's only a matter of time before we get a Kizashi Sport in for our full road test regimen. As far as other details, the Kizashi Sport will only be available in the upper GTS and SLS trim levels (e.g. "SLS Sport"), and will go on sale sometime this August. Pricing has not been set as of yet, but if past history is any indicator, it should be quite attractive.
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