3 August 2025

Another cheerful little Suzuki – with a name that sounds like a cough

3 August 2025 | By James Coleman

The Suzuki Fronx Hybrid starts from under $30K. Photo: Suzuki Cars Australia.

Of all the frontiers yet to be explored, there’s obviously whatever Voyager 1 is doing at the moment – at last count drifting more than 24 billion kilometres from Earth. Closer to home, there’s the deep recesses of the sea, because of course you’ve heard the adage about how science is more across black holes than the Mariana Trench.

In all this, however, the compact SUV market does not spring to mind.

So why has Suzuki called its new compact SUV the ‘Fronx’, as a mash-up of ‘frontier next’? No idea. I do know it’s a conversation starter though, because the next line is always, ‘Suzuki what?’ So in that sense, it’s genius.

Technically, it’s not all new. The Suzuki What has been on sale in other markets overseas since 2023 and is based on the now-defunct Baleno hatchback you probably don’t remember.

But we were among the media invited to the local launch at pretty Michelton Winery near Melbourne this week, and as we listened to the Japanese engineers prattle on about the exterior design and interior ergonomics and petrol-electric hybrid interplay, the room grew increasingly quiet with anticipation …

Until there it was – pricing starts at $28,990, plus driveaway costs.

That’s a very good start because this puts it in a very small crowd of new SUVs under $30K in Australia that includes the Chery Tiggo 4, Kia Stonic, Hyundai Venue and MG ZS, all dreary with the exception of the Chery.

It also means the What is very hard to fault. But between my mouthfuls of artisan sandwiches and lavishly topped scones, that’s what I’m here to do. So, here goes.

At first, I thought my ‘Bluish Black Pearl’ example was about to blow up, but it turns out I’d accidentally moved the gear lever past D and into M (for Manual) and it accordingly revved freely all the way to the redline. User error.

Photos: Suzuki Cars Australia.

But even when back in Drive, it’s pretty noisy inside.

Like its smaller sibling, the Swift, there’s a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and electric motor mating under the bonnet to make a hybrid, but not in the traditional Toyota sense – the electric motor can never drive the wheels on its own. It’s just there to take the pressure off, so you can enjoy your 4.9 litres per 100 km of fuel consumption.

There is not exactly a heap of power, so you get used to mashing the pedal into the carpet to extract it – with the engine climbing in volume to match.

The tech is also basic. It has all the usual safety stuff, of course, and the nine-inch touchscreen will mirror your phone and serve as a place to enjoy the 360-degree parking camera, but everything else is assigned a button. There is also the odd bit of nasty plastic.

A full 360-camera view and heated seats rank as the interior highlights. Photo: Suzuki Cars Australia.

But the rest is very cheerful.

It might not pave the way through any new frontiers, but the What looks cute in a little pug kind of way with its angry face and jacked rear.

Inside is equally stylish, with everything exactly where you’d expect it to be and in true Japanese (well, okay, it’s made in India) fashion, imparting the sturdy feeling it will still be here decades from now. Being able to turn off the lane-keeping assistance with a button is a clear win in my books too.

You won’t be putting any six-foot friends in the back seats, but the space back there is still decent for most humans, and the boot – helped by the fact you can remove the top floor – is a very useful size.

Because the What carries hardly any weight (1064 kg), the result still feels pretty peppy too, especially when you hit the Sport button between the seats.

Corners were hard to come by out here in the Goulburn Valley, but – because it’s Victoria – the same couldn’t be said of bumps. Either way, the What handled it all quite brilliantly. You hear the bumps more than feel them, a fellow journo remarked in a quip I have now just shamelessly stolen.

There have been exceptions to the rule – the Baleno and Celery spring to mind – but Suzuki has drawn plenty of love over the years for its fun, simple, affable cars, capturing the the toylike spirit of the Japanese kei car. The Swift, the Jimny, and we have to mention the Cappuccino, are all on that list.

And now, there’s another one.