We had a 2004 Aerio SX and I loved it. It was fun to drive and ours was AWD which is why we bought it in the first place.
We totaled it in September or we would still have it.
Here is a list of things we did not like about the car:
1. Low ground clearance, especially with the front bumper.
2. CD player would not play until it was warmed up for a half hour
3. Only averaged 26.5 mpg [best was 31.5 on a trip]
4. Expensive for insurance
5. Expensive for parts
6. Depreciates quickly
7. Tires wear out fast and 195/55x15 tires are expensive & sometimes hard to find.
We had over 99,000 miles on ours and never had any major work done. The only problem we had was with the TPS [throttle position sensor] which controls when the transmission shifts. It was nearly $200 for the part alone [expensive when compared to other brands]. I recently had to replace a brake drum and while most dealers wanted $86 my dealer wanted $114 for a new drum. Even Autozone, Napa & Advance Auto Parts wanted about $84. Finally I got one from Carquesst for $44. So parts are expensive from most sources. Pads and shoes aren't too bad though.
We paid $12,000 for ours when we bought it and it only had 10,000 miles on it. We had it for just over 4 years and it had just over 99,000 miles for it. The insurance company gave us less than $7000 for it including sales tax. If you can find one with low mileage for a decent price then you will benefit from the previous first [and/or second] owner(s) taking the brunt of the depreciation.
Still the insurance was considerably higher. We replaced it with a 2002 Honda CR-V EX 4WD. Except for the gas mileage the CR-V is much better on all counts. It cost us $350 a year less to insure the CR-V. You might say that this is because the the CR-V was 2 years older. Well, the CR-V although it is 2 years older is worth $4,000 to $5,000 more than the Aerio was. I suspect that the Aerio cost more to insure because it cost more to repair and because it is more easily totaled in an accident.
Japanese built Suzukis (as the Aerio was) are reliable and will last longer than many cars but when you need repairs they will likely cost you more especially as the car gets older. Personally I would consider a Honda that may be up to 5 years older with similar or even 20 or 40 thousand more miles on it for the same price. It will last just as long and be less for parts and insurance, unless the Aerio you are looking at is AWD and you aren't interested in a CR-V. The only cars similar then would pretty much be a Toyota Matrix or a Subaru. I would prefer the Aerio to a Subaru any day. I've had a few Subarus and will never buy another. They are OK if you don't plan on keeping them past 150,000 miles.
