I recently acquired a new (to me) daily driver. I previously was daily driving a 1997 Honda Civic HX coupe, but with 243k on the clock and basically no remaining clearcoat, I decided it was time for a bit of an upgraded.
I've actually been hunting for one of these for a while now, I just hadn't stumbled across one that I liked. Much like our beloved Crossfire's, SX4's are a bit of a well kept secret - especially the AWD models. The cool thing about the AWD SX4's (outside of them being uber-rare and unique) is that unlike their direct competitor, the Subaru Impreza wagon, they can actually switch between 2WD, AUTO AWD (kinda like Subaru's "real time" AWD) and AWD lock. Yes, you can actually lock the diff and create a true 50/50 split on these cars which is really unique for a sub-compact. Anywho, I finally stumbled upon a perfectly example of one locally and immediately jumped on it.
It's a 2007 Suzuki SX AWD. Manual transmission (oh how I've missed driving a manual!), techno blue metallic. I'd rate the exterior a solid 6.5/10, but it'll be a 7/10 after I restore the headlights and some of the faded plastic exterior trim. The paint is in good shape but it has a few dents and scratches here and there, but no more than you'd expect from an 11 year old car. It only had a mere 78,xxx miles on it, has a flawless interior, and was a one-owner/non-smoker car and had all service records since purchased new. And I only paid $4,400 cash for it. A true diamond in the rough.
Also, the previous owner was a bit of an enthusiast himself so it already had a few mods done to it that I was planning to do myself had I boug,t a bone stock one. The existing mods included a Road Race Motorsports intake + Injen Hydroshield pre-filter, a Road Race Motorsports piggyback ECU tune, a Rocky Road outfitters 2.125" lift kit (only the rear in installed currently - more on that later) and now impossible to find optional OEM Suzuki window visors and optional OEM Suzuki roof racks!
Since purchasing the car I've been working on making it my own. I changed out the worn out/ill-fitting pre-filter for a new K&N drycharger pre-filter in matching blue and bought some universal Rally Armor mudflaps and had them custom installed by a local speedshop who fabbed up some custom mounting brackets for me. As for the front lift, I've read lots of bad things about it wearing out the front struts really quickly (which is why the previous owner took the front lift off) and since this is my daily driver I don't really want to deal with that. That said, i'm going to have the same local shop that did the custom brackets for me fab me up some new front lift spacers/plates that will utilize and additional rubber pillow mount so that it'll be easier on the front struts. So i'll bring that front up up eventually! Anywho, are a few pics I uploaded. I'll add some more pics eventually.
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Universal Rally Armor mudflaps (black w/ blue log) custom mounted by @novaspeedshop. They fabbed up some custom brackets for me and they turned out great!
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When I bought the car it already had an Injen Hydroshield pre-filter. The pre-filter had definitely seen better days so I ditched it....
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....for a new K&N Drycharger pre-filter. Since the filter that the RRM intake uses is K&N I figured i'd get a K&N pre-filter so it'd be an exact fit. Also went with blue this time around so it'd match the car a bit better.
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Future plans include restoring the headlights, painting my valve cover wrinkle black, wiring up my RRM piggyback and doing custom front lift spacers/plates.