Suzuki says the performance-tuned CVT doesn't compromise the sports sedan quality, but it does.   For one thing, the redline is 6000 rpm with the CVT, against 6500 with the six-speed manual, and that makes a difference.   The CVT shifts via the paddles, through six ranges (like gears in a gearbox, but not), and you have to shift like mad to keep the engine in the powerband.   Torque is 170 foot-pounds at 4000 rpm.   When the engine hits 6000 rpm, it just stays there and buzzes away.   It's not a rev limiter per se, it's just a limit.   It feels weird.   The response of the CVT is quite sharp, but it just changes the power delivery too much, if what you want is the throttle feel of an old-school sports sedan.   It changes the whole dynamic, and sound, of the engine.   It doesn't slow it down that much, just turns it into a washing machine.   That said, if you don't care about driving hard over curving roads, you'll be happier with the CVT.   Around town, you can forget it, or you can use the paddles if you want.   In that way it's like an automatic transmission, only more efficient.  

We tested out the six-speed manual transmission for about a dozen hot laps on Portland International Raceway, and it changed everything, especially with the engine.   An actual rev limiter intrudes (mildly) at 6500 rpm, and you actually change a transmission gear, at that point.   The clutch and linkage are neither short-throw nor aggressive; in fact the clutch feels a bit soft, but that's not a bad thing.   It's a mild sports sedan.  

The engine characteristics are steady, not thrilling, unlike a Japanese motorcycle engine or the five-year-old 2.0-liter Honda in the S2000, which knocked you out of your drawers with its high-revving surge.   Actually, nobody, not even Honda, makes an engine like that any more.   So who are we to lament that the Kizashi's 185 horsepower isn't thrilling? Against its competitors, it's solid; by comparison, the Acura TSX has 201 hp, the Mazda6 170 hp.   But the Kizashi is quicker from 0 to 60 than either of them, and a lot cheaper than the TSX.   It also comes with way more standard equipment.  

Suzuki put a great deal of time and pride into the suspension, testing at the Nurburgring and in the Swiss Alps.   The starting point was the chassis, with torsional rigidity higher than some European competitors.   The Kizashi chief engineer, Hide Kumashiro, a former motorcycle road racer, stressed handling as his highest priority, using high-performance KYB rear shocks and a carefully designed multi-link rear suspension with imbedded aluminum.   We pushed the Kizashi on the road, over undulating and sometimes rough surfaces, quick changes of direction under braking, and it never gave us an unsatisfying moment of wobble or softness.   Nor did it ever jar us, not once, which might be saying even more.   It wasn't the Alps, merely the Gifford Pinchot National Forest around Washington's Mount Adams, but we'll take it.  

At Portland International Raceway, the Kizashi did not understeer.   That's rare for any front-wheel-drive car, including many expensive sports sedans.   Suzuki brought a test mule to the media launch we attended, a Kizashi fitted with a 3.6-liter engine tuned to make more than 250 horsepower.   Naturally, we took some laps in that hotrod; driven with appropriate restraint, it didn't understeer either.   The point was proven, that the Kizashi suspension is built to take a lot more horsepower.   A more powerful Kizashi sometime in the future seems inevitable.  

We weren't able to test the all-wheel-drive Kizashi AWD on any surface where it was needed, but it sounds real good.   If you live in a winter climate, the Kizashi should work well for you.  

Finally, the brakes.   We found the touch to be beautiful, using them frequently on the curves on the road, and heavily around PIR.   We can't imagine anyone in a sports sedan like this one needing more.