2004 Suzuki Verona EX from North America - Comments

I took delivery of my 2004 Suzuki Verona EX with 11 miles on the odometer on May 19th 2004 from Suzuki of Huntsville (Driving2000) in Alabama. The dealership and its staff were top-notch, and I have no complaints with them. My new car stalled many times on the first day of ownership and nearly every day after. The digital climate control display also scrambled, and it has a rough cold (Ohio summer) idle.

It was sent to Castrucci Suzuki in Cincinnati Ohio, they had it for 3 days, and was returned to me as NO PROBLEM FOUND!

I brought it back again, after it had stalled about 30 times. I still had a rough and low idle, and I was armed with a DVD Video of the climate control malfunctioning. This time, they had other Verona's with the same stalling issue and took me more seriously. The second time I gave them the car on July 6th and I did not get it back until AUGUST 17TH! LEMON!

FIRST REPAIR ATTEMPT: 3 DAYS.

SECOND REPAIR ATTEMPT: 42 DAYS!!

I currently have a lemon law attorney on the case and Suzuki is refusing to pay me legal fees, I put up a Suzuki Verona Sucks website (that is the domain name with no spaces and dot com at the end) and Suzuki is threatening my with possible legal action against me if I file a lemon law case in court; they will refund my money, if I pull the site down, BUT WILL NOT PAY MY LEGAL FEES. NO WAY SUZUKI!

I was told by dealership service personnel that Suzuki did not train their mechanics on how to work on these cars properly. Both my selling and servicing dealership have told me "off the record" that Suzuki has bought back Verona's for this problem. Salesmen said they were not to sell these cars until they were fixed, and that they were not to tell the consumer they really were Daewoo's, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Yes, Suzuki has a great warranty, and you WILL NEED IT. I drove my gas hog Ford F-150 rental more than I drove my Daewoo, er, um Suzuki.

Before I bought the car, I did much research. I was aware that is was a Daewoo. BUT... It really is a shame. If Suzuki had waited and properly programmed the car for the American market, had a decent parts supply and properly trained their mechanics, the addition of the Daewoo lineup would have been a great benefit to Suzuki. Instead, they shipped the cars to the US, not properly tested for the US market, having a very limited parts supply (2 months and counting for door moulding!), AND NOT PROPERLY TRAINED THEIR SERVICE PERSONNEL!

Aside from the fact that he wound up with a lemon under Ohio Law, he went the wrong way about doing a lemon claim. He says he asked Suzuki to buy the car back over the phone when talking with customer service representatives. WRONG, under OHIO law, all that is required is a certified letter to the dealer, Suzuki, the Ohio Attorney Generals office, to document the request for a buyback. Then he had the option of going to arbitration, which given the quick response (21 days) from Suzuki to his Attorney's letter agreeing to the buyback of the car, would probably not have been required. Just because Suzuki will not pay his attorney fees, which is according to Ohio Lemon Law at this point, he is going to keep his attorney involved and rack up even higher fees?!?!? Then he has the issue of his mysuzukisucks. com web site which contains some clearly illegal content. I'm like, come on, you messed up initially by hiring an attorney initially, and how much were his fees for sending the first letter (which he should have done himself), a couple of hundred dollars? It needs noted that this guy seems to be in the business of having suck site to taunt big companies, look at his paypalsucks. com site. I hold his review and ranting and raving in little regards.

If more people would look under the hood of the car they want to buy, they would see that it says made by daewoo for gm susuki america. maybe some brains would be needed. the car information is all listed on the drivers door or door jam and all over the car. you should read the information before you buy anycar. did you know that a volkswagon is made in brazil or argentina? check the plate and vin #.

I wish I'd seen this before. I just bought a Suzuki Verona, a leftover 2004 in Pittsburgh PA. had it 3 days and the battery went dead. I had it towed back and the battery was replaced. 2 days later the new battery was dead!Back it went to discover the brake pedal sticks and drains the battery. A week later I filled the tank and measured my mileage. Shock! it gets a whopping 17.4 mpg. I've driven pickups that did better. Pretty little gas hog! and gas at $1.99.9!

SOL.

I've had the same thing happen to me. We test drove a Verona and it had less power than my dad's old sonata! It stalled on us once and it backfired when we restarted it. Pfffttt! My dads 1989 Sonata has NEVER given him a problem.

Purchased a 2004 verona ex in feb 2005. It was a leftover and we got a great deal on it. have driven the car since a total of 54 days... the rest of the time it has been in the shop. It has had the following:

-two radios replaced for faulty cd

-faulty tire replaced after blowout

-back door weather strip and door handle replaced due to defect

-O2 sensor replaced

-entire engine head assembly replaced to solve severe valve train noise and rough, underpowered condition (also used 1 quart of oil for every 150 miles) (40 days in the shop).

-in the shop now...again..for check engine light that came on as we went to pass a truck at 60mph. Now car stalls and sputters when cold.

Love this car when it is right... but it has been wrong so much more than right.. that we do not sometimes remember what the car looks like after recieving it back from the dealer after a long repair stay. thank god for free loaner cars in the warr.

The dealer is so tired of the problems we are having (thanks goodness they care about their customers), that they are initiated having Suzuki buying back the car and replacing it with a 2005 model. Hope the new one is not a lemon.. cause this one is.

Are these Suzuki Verona's that bad? My step mom currently drives a 2004 model, and has been to the dealer for this several times.

Here's the list so far:

The air conditioning broke twice along with the climate controls.

It stalls out whenever it likes, and burns a quart of oil every month, I'm guessing 3 to 500 miles.

The headlights burned out once, and the buttons all broke off the steering wheel the second day she had it.

Not to mention the alarm will pop open the trunk sometimes or only lock one door of the car.

I also read up on the safety ratings from car fax, and it was horrible for a new car.

I'm from Pennsylvania and I would like to know if the dealership could buy back this car if we threaten with legal action. I don't know what differences there are in PA laws to Ohio's, but any solution to getting her money back would be great.

Actually, Daewoo never went bankrupt, they were bought out by GM.

I have a 2004 Verona and have had most of the same problems written above. I have been waiting on my dealer (who I thought was very reliable) to get a form! Now how long does it take these days to get a form with email and faxes? Well apparently it take over 2 months and still no forms. I will be very reluctant to buy another Suzuki. I have friends who have bought the SUV and been pleased and amazed at what a poorly designed and built car the Suzuki Verona is. I still am holding hope that I can get the buy back I have been promised. I have contacted the KY AGs office and still can file a suit, but have tried to work with the dealer. I may not do that and go ahead and go to binding arbitration.

To Be Continued...

First of all, in regards to the Oct. 9th comment that the Suzukis are not Daewoo, you are very wrong. The Forenza, Reno, and the Verona are all previous Daewoo models. The Forenza is the old Nubira, the Reno is the old Lanos, and the Verona is the old Leganza. General Motors bought Daewoo after they filed bankruptcy and helped them to revitalize their product line. And yes, Daewoo * (now called GMDAT, General Motors/Daewoo Auto &Technology) is still cranking out nice cars these days. My Chevy Aveo (not Aerio like you seem to have thought- that is made in Japan) which is built by Daewoo, is holding up like a little tank, with nearly 50,000 miles and still absolutely no problems to report. None of these cars are related in any way to that piece you were talking about, the old Suzuki Esteem.

My uncle has a Verona, and my sister has a Forenza, and both vehicles are '05's with no problems to date. Yes, maybe the 04's were troublesome, but it was their first year out in the U.S. market, so cut them a little slack. In my own personal opinion, Daewoo (or shall we say GMDAT?) is putting out very nice, sturdy, appealing cars. Thank you.

The Esteem has nothing to do with any of the GMDAT products. It was 100% Japanese Suzuki.

Japanese Suzuki products are great.

Suzuki better dump the GMDAT junk before it replaces VW as the butt of car jokes.

We have 3 GMDAT vehicles, an 05 Reno, 05 Verona, and an 04 Aveo, and none of them are junk. They have proven extremely reliable now. We have had 1 year of trouble free ownership on the Reno and the Verona, 2 on the Aveo, and have experienced nothing outside of oil changes. Nice rides for not a lot of money!!

These are the facts. Suzuki, GM, and Shanghai Automotive (of China) together own the majority of what was once known as Daewoo Motors. GM didn't buy out Daewoo because they already had a share in it. Every Daewoo has GM parts, everything from the a/c compressors to the transmissions are GM. AC Delco, Harrison, Hydramatic are some of the GM nameplates to be found on these cars. The problem with the Verona is that its engine is the only non-GM engine in the fleet. It is a design that was done with the help of Porsche. The other engines (designed by GM's European Opel/Vauxhall with some help from then-GM-owned Lotus) are paragons of mechanical reliability. Coupled with rock-solid Hydramatic transmissions (the 2.2litre Leganza used a ZF transmission instead of the usual Hydramatic) they are good workhorses.

Now let's clear up the myths. The Forenza is NOT the old Nubira, nor is it a restyled Suzuki Esteem. It is an entirely new chassis (independent rear suspension, vs the Nubira's live axle, among other things). The Reno and the Forenza share the same chassis as it is simply a hatchback Forenza. The Verona is also not related to the Leganza in any way. It too is an all-new chassis. The Chevrolet Aveo is basically a revamped Lanos, but this is a good thing as this means the mechanicals are tried and tested.

There were serious mistakes made with the launch of the Verona and it is indeed sad that these mistakes were allowed to go so far.

As the owner of a 1995 Daewoo Cielo I am proud of my car and love it dearly. The 1993 Suzuki Swift GTi that I bought earlier this year was a DOG of the lowest proportions and I am happy to say I got rid of it "swiftly". The Daewoo was MUCH better built and far more reliable.

I bought my fully equipped 2004 Verona EX off the lot with 20 miles on the odometer. I have had NO issues with my Verona other than passers-by constantly ask what it is? The quality and finish are about what I's expect from other Japanese/Korean cars I've owned (medium), but the extensive list of options is impressive and offsets all other issues. I figure a car equipped like this (heated seats!, 6 speaker stereo, full size spare! electric seats!) would cost $5000 more from Toyota or Honda. The Verona engine (Porche-designed 2.5 L straight six) runs smoothly through the power band and has ample power for all highway and local driving even fully loaded. The car is now almost 2 years old with 30,000 miles. It's never been to the Dealer (I maintain all my cars personally) and I have no complaints at all. There was a recall for stalling which, since I never experienced any stalling, I ignored. If you can learn to change your own oil and filters/ fluids, you can avoid all maintenance headaches brought on by incompetent mechanics. Sorry, but I don't trust the dealerships maintenance plans either - not just Suzuki -all car dealers. This car is the best bargain I've ever bought! I'm giving it to my daughter this year and am buying another with the side air bags standard. Keep up the good work Suzuki!

First I just want to say all the bickering on here gives me a chuckle :) Second, I have an '05 Forenza wagon and love it. However, it was in the shop to have the thermostat replaced (under warranty), but I can accept that. While it was being fixed they gave me an '05 Verona to drive for a week. I had no problem with it and loved the extra power the V6 gave over the Forenza's 4 cylinder.

We used to have an '01 Daewoo Lanos. I put 65k miles on it and had no problems. I loved that car, but my wife totaled it and because Daewoo went bankrupt, the value went way down and unfortunately we didn't have gap insurance so we were on the hook for the balance of the loan.

This is in response to the Dec 11th comments. I am not sure where you are getting your facts, but, it is clearly documented and well for that matter, all over the Internet and in car publications that the Forenza is the Nubira, the Verona is a Leganza and the Reno is the Lanos... it has been well publicized that these cars are updated Daewoos built in Korea on the Daewoo (now GMDAT) assembly line. The Forenza and Verona share no similarity what-so-ever to the Suzuki Esteem. I have owned several Suzukis in some form or other over the last ten years and have never had a problem with the Japanese engineered models they sell. The Esteem I had was a great little car and the several Sidekicks were also very rugged.

It seems to me that Suzuki got left holding the bag when these updated Daewoos hit the showrooms... just keep in mind that the 2004 model year was the first for the Verona. You may also recall that the Leganza had major ECM issues as well. A lot of the complaints I see on the '04 Verona are the same complaints I saw on the Daewoo back in the late '90's. Maybe the '05 and '06 models are better now... I would rather buy a Kia or Hyundai though. The new Sonata is miles ahead of the Verona.