A little bit of a departure from the sort of thing I tend to end up
with! Not a car which I knew anything whatsoever about until
around October last year, when I had the chance to take ownership of
one of these cars through a bit of good fortune, and a very generous
offer from a friend.
Suzuki aren't really known for producing exciting cars - okay, the
Swift GTi from the 90s was a laugh, I'll give them that...and their
motorbikes have performance figures to scare you. Their cars
however, have generally been fairly run of the mill. With the
Cappuccino however...it's almost as if they were given a very simple
instruction: "Go and make something fun!" ...So they did.
It's a pretty good formula: Two seats, four wheels, rear wheel drive,
an open top, and a good power to weight ratio. Throw in some good
suspension too to ensure that it handles well, and you've got a winner.
Having originally been planned for only the Japanese
market, only a small number of these cars were ever officially imported
into the UK by Suzuki - the UK getting 1000 of them...and given that
was a good number of years ago now, there can't I imagine be all that
many left now.
While in the photograph above, it probably appears very similar to a
slightly smaller Mazda MX-5, the Cappuccino is quite incredibly
tiny! The next couple of photos try to give some idea of just how
small it is. The Lada isn't a huge car, very much average family
saloon sized...I'll try to get a photo soon of this thing side on in
front of it so you can actually see properly...as these aren't the best
angles, they do give a good idea though - this thing is SMALL.
Being a tiny car, with a kerb weight around the 700kg mark, it can be
powered by a similarly tiny engine. In the case of the
Cappuccino, this is in the form of a miniscule 3-cylinder unit with a
displacement of only 657cc. Yes, that's 0.66 litres (40.01 cubic
inches for those of you in the states). It assists this tiny
power plant in propelling the car with a turbocharger, to produce 65bhp
- at least in Japan it does - there seems to be some debate as to
whether the UK spec cars have a higher power output from the factory or
not. The reason for this, and the cars diminutive dimensions, are
that the Cappuccino was designed to conform to the "Kei-Car" specs in
Japan. This has strict regulations on vehicle dimensions, maximum
speed (85mph) and power output. Hence, the engine is actually
probably capable of producing more, but was detuned for the home
market. How true this is or not, I honestly don't know.
Getting 80bhp or so out of the car however doesn't seem to be all that
difficult, and that's what we reckon this one is producing.
While that might not sound like a huge amount of power (in fact, it's
about the same as the car sitting next to it in the photos above
developed when it left the factory!), put in a car that small and the
result is quite impressively potent. 0-60mph disappears an
awfully lot faster than most people expect it to when they're told
what's under the bonnet. The spec sheets show around 11
seconds...and while I've not timed it properly, it feels an awful lot
less to be honest! Though being totally honest...you feel like
you're about to take off even at very modest speeds because you're
sitting so low to the ground. The noise that it makes also adds
to the experience, the engine in the Cappuccino revs like a complete
and total maniac, and howls like some bizarre cross between a forumula
1 car and a motorbike. Even when you're trying to be completely
sensible...the howling exhaust note and whistle of the turbo, with the
occasional whoosh of the dump valve all just egg you on. This is
NOT an easy car to drive gently! Given the capacity, character
and power output of the engine, I do half wonder whether this is
related in any way to the engines originally intended for use in
motorcycles, given the amount of bikes that they produce...doesn't seem
*that* far fetched.
You'll have to forgive the slightly grubby engine bay in the above
photo...it's only had a very tertiary clean so far...A more thorough
one will follow at some point in the future.
Inside the car, a very short gear lever with
a lovely direct action, and an instrument panel dominated by a huge
revcounter add to the rather sporty feel. Quite why Suzuki felt
the need to include a warning light to tell you the turbo's producing
boost I don't know...Your ears and the rapid burst of acceleration can
tell you that. Still...is a kinda fun feature, and the only car
I've ever had with one.
It is not easy car to get into, being so small and low. First
time I tried to climb into it, I gave myself a fantastic crack to the
side of the head off the roof. Entry and egress it has to be said
is rather easier with the roof removed! Once you've managed to
slot yourself into place however, it's actually surprisingly
comfortable. I do find however that it's a lot easier to fasten
your seatbelt *before* closing the door however due to the limited
space in the horizontal direction!
The limited space does lead to some interesting little space saving
quirks...the bonnet release for example is hidden inside the glove
compartment (though not unknown to Suzuki...it's in there in the Vitara
too...and the X-90 if memory serves). The fuel filler release
took me a good ten minutes to find, being hidden inside the cubby hole
in the top of the centre console (which also opens the wrong direction
for the driver to get into). The eagle-eyed among you may indeed
note that there's a bit of trim missing down in the drivers footwell in
the above photo. That's currently sitting in the boot of the
Lada, removed previously when I was trying to track down a water leak -
which was eventually traced to panel sealent underneath the windscreen
washer bottle having disintegrated.
Needless to say, when the roof is in place, the cabin feels quite
snug...despite that though, it somehow manages to avoid feeling
outright claustrophobic...which is a bit odd given that it's all black
leather and black or dark grey plastic.
Don't expect to take any real amount of luggage with you however!
As you can probably see from the picture below, the boot really isn't
very big!
Especially bearing in mind that the boot is very shallow, with a good
deal of the under-floor space being taken up by the diff, exhaust
silencer and spare tyre. Also...chances are if you take the car
out on a sunny day (even if it's bitterly cold!), you'll want to take
the roof off. Once the panels are stowed in the boot, there's
about enough space left for a packet of biscuits...so long as you don't
mind squashing them a bit and having to hoover the crumbs up if you
burst the packaging...
Still...C'mon...Look at it. This isn't a car you buy for the sake
of practicality...It's a car you buy for the sake of fun. Based
on that sort of logic, you really can't fault it!
Manufacturer: Suzuki.
Model: Cappuccino.
Engine: 657cc 3-cylinder inline petrol, with turbocharger and intercooler.
Gearbox: 5-speed manual.
Power output: 65bhp.
0-60mph: 11seconds approx.
Max speed: 85mph (electronically limited).
