Small doesn't have to be boring. Suzuki is here to
say that much with the release of the new Spacia Custom Z. The Custom Z wears a more aggressive front end than
the standard Spacia. That includes a taller, flatter hood behind the more
upright and emphatically styled grille in black and titanium-silver tone,
flanked by fresh headlights.
Given the stringent regulations governing Japan's
smallest car class, the Spacia is packed into a tiny footprint. The whole thing
measures 133.6 inches (just over 11 feet) long and 58 inches wide to make even
a Fiat 500 seem enormous by comparison, but sits taller than it is wide to
maximize interior space.
This miniest of minivans packs seating for four with
a fold-flat rear bench to make for a mobile bedroom on wheels. It even
has power sliding rear doors, as if any rear-seat passenger wouldn't be able to
reach far enough to slide it by hand.
A Kei car like the Spacia doesn't
need much power, but Suzuki offers two engine options: a 0.66-liter
three-cylinder engine is offered in atmospheric or turbocharged forms, the
former tax exempt. Both are available in front- or all-wheel drive, but either
way they come mated to a continuously variable transmission.
