Suzuki has been a really fun company to watch the last few years on the automotive front, for while their motorcycle side has been a major player (and completely dominant in US Superbike racing) their car side has been a bit more stealthy when it comes to increasing their market footprint. But they have been coming out with some very interesting products, and their new Kizashi midsize sedan is a pretty big deal. My favorite feature? A very good (optional) AWD system that you can switch off on demand, reverting to pure front-drive status and therefore helping fuel economy when you don’t need the extra traction. The car seems well-built, comfortable, and while the CVT transmission on our test mule was a bit vocal the manual mode with paddle shifters on the wheel was very trick indeed. The lone engine is an Inline Four, which is spunky enough overall and delivered 22.6 MPG in mixed driving. The brakes are excellent. All told it’s a pretty fine car, and a pleasure to drive. Very nicely equipped, it was $27K, too. Look out, Subaru. Oh, and the name? Apparently it translates to “something good is about to arrive.” Now that it’s actually here, I think it may do well.