The Best Affordable AWD Winter Beater Is Not A Subaru, It’s This Forgotten Suzuki

I’m not the type of person to buy something just to be different. That’s certainly one factor, don’t get me wrong, and I do love giving underappreciated oddball cars a chance. But when the time came to purchase a new-to-me winter vehicle, options seemed limited. My requirements were simple: manual, AWD, under $4,000, and at least moderately modifiable. To many car enthusiasts, that would most obviously point them towards a Subaru. I, however, work at a Subaru dealership and have become thoroughly disillusioned with cars that require an engine-out service before 100k. Or 50k for that matter. I’ve seen many things there.

The Suzuki SX4 had always been something I was aware of, at least in a “hey, it’s one of those rare little hatchbacks!” kind of way. But it wasn’t until my good friend at Subaru sang Suzuki’s praises after owning 2 Kizashis (at the same time) that I began seriously searching for one.

After a couple of missed deals, the perfect example for my preferences came up in Hampton, NH. It was a 2013 – very rare final model year, the only year with a facelifted bumper – with 165k miles and only some surface rust and dings, in otherwise immaculate condition, elderly-lady owned! I’d been keeping my options open, but SX4s from 2010 and later had a 6-speed rather than 5, and the more robust J20B engine. I jumped on the marketplace listing before anyone else, and after a failed negotiation, I bought it for the listed $2,000. Extremely worth it, for reasons we’ll get into.

A Japanese Economy Car With Italian Pedigree

Now, it’s time for a quick history lesson. The SX4 was developed as the result of an agreement between Fiat and Suzuki to create an affordable, AWD hatchback to replace Suzuki’s Aerio/Liana in their lineup. The design was penned by none other than Italdesign’s Giorgetto Giugiaro – yes, the one who also designed such gorgeous legends as the Maserati MC12, Lamborghini Gallardo, DeLorean DMC 12, and BMW M1. And also the Daewoo Matiz.

As a Fiat, it was badged as the Sedici, with minor cosmetic changes. The car was officially launched in 2006. Here in the U.S., we only received the 2.0L, inline-4 gasoline engine (J20A, later the J20B post-2010, producing around 143-150hp respectively) – but globally, options included 1.5 and 1.6L gas engines making around 101 hp, and a variety of turbodiesel inline-4s.

But the pièce de résistance of the SX4 to me, aside from the 5- or 6-speed manual transmission, is the intelligent AWD system. A variety of sensors constantly monitors information about wheel slippage, and will automatically send the necessary amount of power to the rear wheels to maintain traction. This is through an “electronically controlled wet-type multi-plate clutch coupling,” according to Suzuki, which might mean more to me if I had gone to automotive tech school instead of majoring in psychology. What I do understand, though, is that the SX4 has a center-console switch allowing the driver to select where to send the drive power: “2WD” locks the car in front-wheel-drive mode, ideal for efficiency in predictable conditions. “AUTO” lets the car use the system described above to send power to the rear wheels whenever needed. And “LOCK” keeps the car in a nearly 50:50 4WD power split mode up to 40mph, after which it automatically reverts back to “AUTO.” I can confirm through personal experience that “LOCK” worked incredibly well while navigating the record-snowfall winter here in Rhode Island, where I live. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Perhaps Not Love At First Drive?

What were my first impressions of the car after purchasing it? Well, it was $2,000. So there were the expected suspension clunks, a loud wheel bearing noise, bad vibration past 60 mph, a brake pedal that really needed to be pumped once in order to get any sort of confident stopping power, and a bit (but not an egregious amount) of crust under the car. But I could tell right away that the engine ran quietly and very well, the clutch grabbed strong, and the car was nimble and tossable even with thick-sidewall tires and stock ride height. A very touchy gas pedal and quick-revving engine gave the illusion of speed, even though the car probably accelerated at a rate not much faster than my 1996 Miata. Because the SX4 really tried to position itself more as a crossover than a hatchback, it has oodles of headroom, and you sit quite high up in the vehicle. Amenity-wise, the pickings were slim, as mine was a base model, but I’ve never been one who required luxurious or high-tech features to enjoy a car. Plus, fewer things to break! Even with the base model, I have power windows and mirrors, keyless entry, and air conditioning (which doesn’t work, but hey, it’s there if I want to make it work)! It even has heated side mirrors, which is a particularly deluxe feature to me, especially in a winter car. I lovingly named it “Stubbs” after a Shih Tzu owned by a member of Cheekface, one of my favorite bands … and, well, the stubby nature of the car.

In 2013, you could purchase one of these cars brand new for ~$17,000 – that’s approximately $24,000 in 2026 dollars. It would still be cheaper than the cheapest AWD hatch in today’s market, which is the $25,475 Nissan Kicks. And in 2013, the SX4’s closest competitors would have been the Subaru Impreza or Crosstrek, which were both more expensive, featured a clunky 5-speed as the only manual transmission option, and used Subaru’s notoriously oil-hungry FB20 Boxer engines. As someone who works at a Subaru dealership and regularly sees these cars come through for service, I feel that I’m uniquely qualified to be able to compare the two. Almost every single 100k+ mile Crosstrek or Impreza of this generation has a much louder and more unrefined-sounding engine, not to mention almost ubiquitous oil leaks or consumption (and often well before that 100k mark). The SX4, meanwhile, continues to astound me with how quietly and smoothly its J20B runs at 175k miles, and with almost negligible oil consumption – and not one leak! For reliability and longevity alone, I’d recommend an SX4 over a comparable Crosstrek any day of the week. The fuel economy is comparable to the Crosstrek as well; I meticulously track my fill-ups, and my average throughout the whole winter was 28.05mpg (combined city and highway driving).

Although I will award one point in the Crosstrek and Impreza’s favor for the easy and smooth clutch/gas engagement from a standstill in their manual transmissions. The SX4, as I mentioned before, has a throttle so touchy that it’s difficult to properly modulate it while trying to set off smoothly. If you go to press the gas with the normal force you might exert on another manual car, I guarantee you’ll rev it up way too much. But if you’re TOO gentle with it, the car will easily bog out or stall, leaving very little room for error in either direction. My muscle memory gets used to it after a couple of starts, but if I drive my Miata or manual Previa for a while before the SX4, it definitely takes a minute for the brain and feet to recalibrate. Shifting once moving, however, is notchy, smooth, and satisfying.

Upgrades, People, Upgrades!

I just can’t leave a car bone stock when there’s fun to be had. The modifications I made to Stubbs the SX4 were heavily influenced by its rally heritage. Oh, right – did I mention Suzuki had an SX4 WRC car in 2007 and 2008, and it was absolutely sick? It was not successful – at all – but it looked and sounded incredible on a rally stage. Stubbs, like this WRC car, did not need to aim for any podium finishes, but could look awesome while being my winter daily driver. I couldn’t in good faith begin the process of turning Stubbs into a rally car without taking care of his general maintenance items, so I got to work on finding and ordering the necessary parts. RockAuto had everything I needed, and for cheap, in case you’re wondering about sourcing parts for a car that hasn’t had a brand presence here in over a decade. SX4s are still common enough in my area to come up in junkyards near me occasionally, which I took advantage of to grab a missing fender trim piece and a leather-wrapped steering wheel (I’m a base model defender for life, but my touch points need to feel nice).

I ended up replacing inner & outer tie rods, front sway bar links, all four brake pads and rotors, and both rear wheel bearings for just about $700, and I even found a sweet Facebook Marketplace deal on exactly the type of rally-car inspired wheels I was looking for. I went with H&R lowering springs for a ground-hugging stance on a budget, and have nothing but positive things to say about the greatly improved handling you get for the money without sacrificing too much ride quality. The car feels incredibly planted despite its taller-than-average hatchback stature. I tossed on the finishing touches of mudflaps and bright yellow foglights to complete the rally look, as well as trading the mediocre halogens for LED bulbs, and Stubbs was ready to tackle all that Winter 2025 had to throw at him… unless that involved ground clearance, because I do sometimes enjoy trading practicality for steeze.

The SX4 was my humble chariot for what ended up being one of the most bitterly cold New England winters in decades – not to mention one of the snowiest – and I had not one complaint about the car’s performance in those adverse conditions. I never got stuck, and barely ever lost traction (unless I meant to… the 4WD Lock with traction control off in fresh snowfall is a riot). After the initial suspension and brake refresh, the car needed nothing but its regular oil changes. In early February, my boyfriend Jacob heard about an ice racing time trial event in northern Vermont, on a frozen lake just 10 miles from the Canadian border. Neither of us had ever attempted an event like that, but it sounded like an absolute blast, so that very morning, we booked an Airbnb and made the 4.5-hour drive; in a snowstorm, naturally.

Having Fun In Subzero Temperatures

Bright and early the next morning, on the frozen surface of Carry Bay in North Hero, VT, the temperature was a whopping “Feels Like” -17ºF. Stubbs diligently started right up, as he always did, but this was the one time in my ownership that he didn’t reach operating temperature within 5 minutes of driving, and in fact went down again in temperature while idling on the ice! Once we got going, the little SX4 didn’t miss a beat. Driving at competitive speeds on a plowed-out ice course requires one to stay fairly high in the rev range, as you should be using throttle input to help countersteer and drift around corners so you can complete the course with as little slowing and braking as possible. On this particular twisty course, I hardly needed to get out of second gear, at least not in my economy car on unstudded snows. But the Suzuki’s little 4 cylinder seemed quite content to hang out at 6k in the freezing cold as I romped on it during my laps.

This event used the average time of your six runs, with the slowest time dropped. There were 2 sessions – one morning, one afternoon – and when you weren’t in the driving group during each session, you were assigned a work task. In my case, that meant manning a checkpoint (in a heated car, thankfully) with a couple of the other drivers. After my 6 runs and only one anticlimactic spin-out, I landed in 24th place out of the 36 entrants, and 7th place out of the 13 in the 4WD + unstudded snow tire category. Not too bad for my first time ever driving competitively on ice! I even got to meet another SX4 owner who’d brought his 2009 5-speed (he came in 2 places above me), and we shared enthusiasm for how enjoyable both of our little cars had been in the short time we’d owned them.

In fact, I was tickled pink by the number of veteran ice racers who complimented me on Stubbs, with some even going out of their way to walk across the frigid ice to talk to me about the car. For the entry fee of $50, plus a one-night Airbnb and gas, I would deem this type of event MORE than deserving to be put on any enthusiast’s to-do list of car activities. The car control practice you get on a slick surface like this is invaluable, while remaining relatively risk-free, since your run-out area is just a soft snowbank. It’s very low-key and judgment-free – cars ranging from a built GC8 Impreza to a stock Hyundai Tucson showed up and had a blast. If you live where there are freezing winters and you miss having a fun car activity to look forward to when it’s the off-season, I urge you to give this a try.

The Most Winter Fun You Can Have Under $4,000

Speaking of value for money, my wonderful SX4! You’d never have guessed what Stubbs had been put up to that weekend, as he completed the 4.5-hour drive back to Rhode Island without a single complaint, seeming not at all worse for wear. The car allowed me to have a riot of a time in some seriously taxing conditions, and I never lost faith in it to get me home safely, smoothly, and even fuel-efficiently. All of this, mind you, for a total cost of about $3,200 (including the car, all needed maintenance items, and every modification I did to it). And – AND – it’s CUTE! So, yes, I would recommend the Suzuki SX4 to anyone searching for a fun, capable, reliable, cheap-to-own daily or winter beater. And I believe that more enthusiasts need to give a chance to a brand that, in my opinion, had far too short-lived of a stint here in the U.S. market. Maybe I’ll own a 6-speed Kizashi later on down the line. I’ll report back.

Top graphic image: Annie Keller