Cars

Suzuki S-Cross is great in the snow but hybrid system needs polish

With the Suzuki in 'snow' mode the potentially tricky train station journey was accomplished without fuss and in safety. It's amazing how much confidence and security a proper four-wheel-drive car can give you in difficult conditions, writes William Scholes

Suzuki has given the S-Cross family SUV a hybrid system to go with its excellent four-wheel-drive capability
Suzuki has given the S-Cross family SUV a hybrid system to go with its excellent four-wheel-drive capability Suzuki has given the S-Cross family SUV a hybrid system to go with its excellent four-wheel-drive capability

THERE'S nothing like a dump of snow, swirling winds and freezing temperatures to concentrate the mind of the school run dad who has to drive his son to the train station for the 7.30am express, writes William Scholes.

The route includes roads that are untroubled by gritters, whether or not the drivers are on strike, and a couple of hills that can be tricky to get up or, worse, stopped at the bottom. The fall of snow and ice we had in January required a community effort to get some cars up The Hill…

Winter tyres are your friend in these conditions. But because we don't usually get cold weather for long enough, most drivers don't see the point. Plus there's the expense of buying a second set of tyres and storing the off-duty summer set somewhere.

Four-wheel-drive can obviously be a massive help too, shuffling the torque to the wheels with grip when others spin. It's usually enough to get you through any tricky patches - though it should be remembered that summer-type tyres with low tread depth aren't going to be a lot of use on even the most capable all-wheel-drive vehicle… That might explain some of the marooned BMW X5s and Land Rover Discovery Sports you can encounter in these conditions.

Over the years, I've had a number of test cars whose visits have memorably coincided with snowy, icy and stormy weather.

The Mazda CX-5 coped so well on a late night cross-country trip to Fermanagh that I bought one, so convinced was I of its merits as safe family transport in treacherous conditions.

At the other end of the scale were a Jaguar F-Type and Mazda MX-5. The Jaguar had some sort of rain or snow button on its automatic gearbox control, which one might presume would help it meter its power in slippery conditions. Maybe I did something wrong, but as it fishtailed at 2mph up The Hill in what might generously be described as 'a bit of frost' I reckoned the special button wasn't connected to anything much at all. The Jag was also terrifying in a sub-zero multi-storey car part, but that's another story.

The MX-5 is one of my all-time favourite cars but a shrink-wrapped two-seater soft-top was not the most efficient way of getting up and down the hills. It was a lot of fun though, and the fact it's a small car meant it wasn't such a big deal when it drifted sideways…

A dishonourable mention goes to Lexus, whose rear-wheel-drive cars just throw in the towel when it's icy. I couldn't even get an IS persuaded out of my driveway. Later I met someone who lives nearby leaving their own Lexus at a petrol station. "There's no point bringing it down the hill, it never gets up," he told me. He now drives an Audi with quattro four-wheel-drive.

All of which brings us to the here and now. The test car lucky dip actually presented me with something ideally suited to last week's snow, which was heavy in my area.

The Suzuki S-Cross isn't the most distinctive looking family SUV, especially if parked next to a Kia Sportage
The Suzuki S-Cross isn't the most distinctive looking family SUV, especially if parked next to a Kia Sportage The Suzuki S-Cross isn't the most distinctive looking family SUV, especially if parked next to a Kia Sportage

The car in question was a Suzuki S-Cross, here in range-topping Ultra trim with the company's 'full hybrid' drivetrain and, crucially, four-wheel-drive.

Suzuki have a few specialisms. They are great at building light, but strong, cars. This is important because it helps make them be relatively efficient and, because there is less weight to lug around, fun to drive.

But they are also genuine four-wheel-drive experts. This is perhaps best seen in the hugely capable but dinkily dimensioned Jimny, a sort of miniature version of a Land Rover Defender, Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen or Jeep Wrangler.

You can no longer buy a new Jimny in Northern Ireland, at least for now, but the same sort of know-how can be had in the company's small family cars. No other manufacturer has such a wide range of 4x4 offerings, from the Swift and Ignis at the smaller end of the scale, to the Vitara and S-Cross at the larger end. (The A-Cross, a rebadged Toyota RAV4, also has four-wheel-drive).

The S-Cross, which is roughly of Nissan Qashqai size, uses what Suzuki calls the Allgrip 'select' system. Basically a knob down by the handbrake (a proper manual job rather than an electric button - thanks, Suzuki) and gear shifter, it defaults to 'auto', which allows the car to shift torque to where it's needed when it detects wheel slip.

Twist it to the right, and you engage 'sport' mode, which sharpens up the car's responses. But when the temperatures  plummet, what you want is 'snow' mode. This does clever things with the traction control system and introduces a permanent 50/50 torque split between the front and rear axles. This makes driving through snow, unpaved or other slippery surfaces easier.

There's also a 'lock' mode, for really tricky, low-speed conditions. It distributes torque evenly between all four wheels, with the traction control system braking spinning wheels and sending torque to the tyres that have grip.

Anyway, a quick twist to 'snow' and the potentially tricky train station journey was accomplished without fuss and in safety. It's amazing how much confidence and security a proper four-wheel-drive car can give you in difficult conditions.

You can have your S-Cross with Suzuki's excellent 1.4-litre 'Boosterjet' engine. In the past, I've always found that this really shines in Suzuki's cars, giving them fizzy performance as well as strong economy. That engine is now offered with a 'mild hybrid' set-up, meaning the car harvests, stores and re-uses a little kinetic energy.

But there's also a new 'full hybrid' drivetrain. It uses a 1.5-litre engine and a complicated sounding arrangement of a 140-volt lithium-ion battery and inverter, a motor generator unit, a 12V lithium-ion battery as well as a regular 12V lead-acid battery to power components requiring lower voltage such as lights, instruments and heating/air conditioning.

These cars also get a six-speed 'automated manual' gearbox. It may seem a fine distinction, but this, as the name suggests, is a manual transmission that changes ratio itself. You essentially drive it as an automatic, by shifting a leaver to 'D', but this isn't as smooth as a double-clutch gearbox or full-automatic. It is, however, presumably lighter than those.

The car flicks between petrol power and battery EV mode smoothly enough, and there's a fascinating graphic which shows you which power source the S-Cross is drawing on at a given time. But it isn't as accomplished a hybrid system as that found in the latest Honda Civic, for example. The Suzuki's engine is - uncharacteristically for the marque - rather harsh and noisy and the gear changes simply make themselves felt more often than one might like. It's a slow car - the 0-62mph time is quoted as 13.5 seconds - and consequently you find yourself leaning harder on the throttle more often.

On the plus side, it's economical. I got close to the official laboratory figure of 48.7mpg which is actually impressive for a four-wheel-drive vehicle driven in arduous conditions.

As a family car the S-Cross is perhaps a notch behind contenders such as the Nissan Qashqai or Kia Sportage. It has a roomy back seat as far as leg room goes, though it feels narrower than rivals and the boot isn't as generous. It is an easy car to drive, with a great view out, however, and despite all the hybrid gubbins it still feels light on its feet.

At £32,599 for the admittedly all-the-bells-and-whistles Ultra model, it isn't a cheap car, though the proper four-wheel-drive and full hybrid system help justify that. And it is brilliant in the snow…

Unlike a Jaguar F-Type, the Suzuki S-Cross shines in the snow (snow not pictured...)
Unlike a Jaguar F-Type, the Suzuki S-Cross shines in the snow (snow not pictured...) Unlike a Jaguar F-Type, the Suzuki S-Cross shines in the snow (snow not pictured...)