FAMILY CAR REVIEW: 2018 SUZUKI S-CROSS

In the front of the S-Cross are two square-shaped cup holders, which are a good size for a disposable or re-usable coffee cup but anything else rattles around in them.

The front door pockets are not lined but are a good size for my large refillable water bottle and I could get my wallet in there with them too. Similarly, the rear door pockets are good for a large refillable water bottle too. Neither will hold a 600ml water bottle without it rattling around.

There are little wells in all the door handles, which are great storage areas that I find really handy for keys or little things my daughter has in her hands when I'm putting her in and out of the car.

Also in the front is a felt-lined glasses case in the ceiling and a good-sized glove box that will hold my wallet and an iPad too.

There is a well in front of the gear lever that's good for your phone and it has a 12V socket in there too,but it is not ribber lined so some things you put in there will scrape around.

The central console storage box is pretty small; it has a USB socket inside and the lid doubles as your armrest.

The rear passengers get a single map pocket on the back of the front passenger seat, but it is not deep enough to conceal an iPad.

The rear central seat has a fold-down armrest with two cup holders in it that can hold a disposable or re-usable coffee cup.

Storage in the cab of the S-Cross is minimal but adequate and the boot capacity is good for a car of its size.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.

Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.

I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres ia not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.

The boot floor of the S-Cross lifts up and there is concealed storage underneath OR you can remove the false floor, which I found provided a much more usable storage space and that strollers fitted into the boot much better. I am going to give the storage capacity with the false floor removed because if I owned the S-Cross I think I would leave it like that all the time.

With the S-Cross boot empty I could get 12 shopping bags in there with the side well walls and false floor removed. With the false floor in place, I could only fit 10 shopping bags.

The Britax Holiday compact stroller fits in the boot with nine shopping bags around it.

When putting the Britax Flexx double stroller in the boot, I found when the false boot floor was removed I could fit the frame widthways with the two seats and accessories on top of it and four shopping bags around it. When the false floor was installed the boot was not deep enough so I had to put the seats and accessories in the rest of the boot space and thus less space for bags.

The Britax Flexx single stroller would fit lengthways in the boot because the wheelbase is shorter on the frame compared with the tandem. This allowed me to get five shopping bags along side it.

The Mountain Buggy Duet would only fit in the boot of the S-Cross when the false floor is removed and the twin stroller inserted with its wheels facing up, and I could fit two shopping bags beside it. The boot door would not close with the Duet inserted wheels down.

The parcel shelf is solid and can be stored on the boot floor if removed.

The boot floor is carpeted and flat so it would be good for changing Bub's nappy on. There is a well on either side of the boot behind the wheel arches and you can remove the dividing walls to make that part of the boot wider.

There is a 12V socket and light on the right-hand side and a small hook on both sides for the cargo net and a bag hook on the left.

I test drove the lower spec Suzuki S-Cross GL+ Turbo. This did not have parking sensors, but the higher spec GLX Turbo model does. So I can not comment on the verbosity or use of them, unfortunately.

The indicators in the S-Cross are quite quiet and did not have a disturbing sound, so I think they would not wake a sleeping baby.

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.

Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!

I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.

The sat-nav voice is loud, but thankfully you can turn the voice off within the screen settings, but I could not find a way to temporarily mute or lower the voice volume of the sat-nav in the S-Cross. The icon on the screen that I presumed would mute it actually repeated the previous voice command. Which is a FANTASTIC BabyDrive feature! I often find with everything going on in the car it is easy to miss an instruction and to be able to repeat it is gold!

I find on most journeys when I use sat nav I only need directions for the last part of the journey. I know how to get to the area I am going and then it’s just the exact address I need help with. Because I need to input the address before I head off I found myself on most occasions when you can’t mute the sat nav voice having to listen to all the directions, which disturbs your concentration, any conversation in the car at the time or more importantly my sleeping baby! So being able to mute the sat nav voice until you reach the part where you actually need it is gold!

The Suzuki S-Cross media system does have a small sized screen but it is easy to use and the image quality is quite good. It does have Apple Car Play and Android Auto  and I found connecting my phone was nice and simple too.

Road and engine noise were fine in the S-Cross, but I found when driving the S-Cross I got a lot of traffic and exterior noise that I am not used to hearing in other cars. It was as if the car's doors and windows are thin!

The windows open quietly but close with a bit of a thump and the doors open and close quietly too.

With baby asleep you want to be able to get in and out without worrying the doors will be too noisy and wake Bub up!

The seatbelt removal alarm in the S-Cross is shrill and will definitely alert you if anyone removes their seatbelt!

The Suzuki S-Cross is a five seater and there are three top tether points, one in each of the rear backrests, easily accessible through the boot or bringing the setbacks forward.

There are ISO Fix points in the two outer rear seats which are within plastic guides and were easy to connect to.

Two child seats fitted really easily in the back using the ISO Fix and top tethers.

Surprisingly I did manage to squeeze three child seats in using the seat belts and top tethers. It was a tight fit but the seat base is flat and wide, so I could fit the rear-facing Britax Graphene on one side and the rear-facing Britax Unity capsule on the other side with the Britax Maxi Guard Pro in between!

The central seat was easy to access because the front passenger seat comes so far forward that it would be easy for a passenger to step through to that seat.

I found installing child seats nice and simple the S-Cross, connecting the ISO Fix and top tethers were straightforward and the headrests come up fully so I had plenty of room for adjusting top tether straps.

With rear-facing child seats installed in the back, the front passenger only has 19cm of knee room. When we tested a 186cm driver they did not have enough legroom either, so space is quite limited in the cabin of the S-Cross.

Posting Bub into their child seat from inside and outside the car is good in the S-Cross. The doorways are nice and big and the doors open quite wide.

With only one child seat installed there is room to feed Bub in the back seat.

The seats in this model are upholstered in a woven fabric that would be harder to keep clean than leather for example because spills and crumbs will just soak into them.

The front seats are very firm and adjustable with the flimsy plastic handles on the side, but they can be adjusted to be quite comfortable. I could not wear a ponytail with them as the headrests stick too far forward.

In the back it is the same; the seats are very firm but not uncomfortable. The central seat has a hard backrest because it has the fold down armrest and cup holders in it but it is not unbearable like some cars. The seat backs in the back  recline slightly too.

For the first year of Tulsis life when we would go out as a family, if I wasn’t driving, I would travel in the back with Tulsi, I know many other mums that do too, so it’s important to check the comfort of the back seats as you may be spending a lot of time in them! They were never something I gave any thought to before but I definitely notice a good or bad back seat now!

The central seatbelt comes from the ceiling which does add to the poor visibility when there are three child seats installed. The high angle of a ceiling seatbelt can also cut into little passengers' necks if they are in a booster seat, for example.

Visibility for the driver out of the rear windscreen and side windows of the S-Cross is not too good with three child seats installed. When parking you need to use the reversing camera to help, but at least the S-Cross is not a very big car so knowing its extremities is easy, although I found I used all my mirrors to help too.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread when we get big cars or utes as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, the S-Cross was okay to park and easy to drive!

The S-Cross was a simple and straightforward car to drive because all the interior functions were self-explanatory and not complicated.

The steering wheel is fully adjustable up/down and in/out and it's easy to do so.

The cruise control in the S-Cross completely runs away with itself on undulating roads, which is no good! It is easy to use the controls but it can not stick to the set speeds well.

The air-conditioning has dual climate control which is adjusted with basic and simple controls situated in front of the gear lever, on the central console. There are four air vents in the front; two in the centre and one at either end of the dashboard but there are none in the back for rear passengers.

There are lit vanity mirrors in the front for both passengers.

The interior lights in the front just press on and the rear lights are in the ceiling between the front seats, making them easily reachable by the front passengers.

I often will reach back to turn on the interior light if I am driving at night time, I find my little girl gets less distressed traveling at night that way. It helps if I can reach the interior light from the drivers seat so I can turn it on and off whilst driving. I often find my daughter will need it on as we start our journey in the dark but once she falls asleep I can turn it off.

It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.

The handles in the back are well positioned to hold a child's toy for little passengers.

There are two 12V sockets, one in the boot and one in front of the gear lever.

I drove the lowest spec S-Cross and felt the general aesthetics were that it felt basic and budget. It felt nicer than the entry level Vitara but similarly the interior quality and finish really lets the car down.

Most of the surfaces in the S-Cross will wipe clean easily, apart from the woven upholstered seats and door panels that are just magnets for children's spills and sticky hands!

There were no floor mats in the model I drove either.

BabyDrive Indepth - Safety

The Suzuki S-Cross scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2013.

It got an overall score of 35.30 out of 37. Getting 14.30 out of 16 for frontal offset test, 16 out of 16 for side impact and pedestrian protection was rated acceptable.

The S-Cross comes with seven airbags as standard; dual frontal, front side and driver's knee airbag plus curtain airbags for front and rear side passengers.

The S-Cross also comes with antilock brakes (ABS), electronic brake distribution (EBD) and electronic stability control (ESC) and reversing camera as standard. The S-Cross GLX Turbo model comes with rear parking sensors.