• Plug-in hybrid with long electric range
• Low running costs if you charge regularly
• Expensive to buy and lease

What are the running costs?

The one model of Suzuki Across offers impressive WLTP fuel economy and emissions figures despite its size and performance.

Officially, it can achieve 46 miles on electric power with a fully-charged battery, ensuring low official CO2 emissions of 22g/km and a crazy-seeming 282mpg.

That official fuel economy figure only begins to make sense if you’re able to charge the batteries regularly and do a lot of your journeys on electric power alone – which could well be possible for shorter commutes with chargers at both ends or for shorter trips taking the kids to the school or shopping locally. Across-owning readers tell us that you can get closer to 60 miles of electric driving around town; most plug-in hybrids do fewer electric miles than advertised, not more.

In terms of all-around real-world fuel economy, for context we’ve regularly driven long motorway journeys with no battery charge and have easily achieved 50mpg. Longer cross-country drives without using battery will result in around 40-45mpg. Both figures are impressive for a practical, petrol-engined SUV – and show that even when you don’t actively charge the battery the Across will still do its best to bring hybrid fuel savings.

If the battery is fully drained, recharging takes around 7.5 hours on a three-pin plug, dropping to 2.5 hours when connected to a home wallbox charger. Both cables are included with the car, stored beneath the boot floor rather than sliding around loose. Most 20-mile drives can be recharged in a few hours from a domestic plug, making electric-only journeys to and from work (for instance) that bit more viable.

Servicing and warranty

Suzuki is known for its top quality dealer network and regularly wins awards for it. Service intervals for the Across are every 12 months or 12,500 miles and Suzuki also offers service plans for fixed prices, which can include parts and labour.

Suzuki also revised its warranty package in April 2023 – and that has made the Across a more attractive purchase. Now, you get seven years/100,000 miles of cover, which is a huge increase over the brand’s previous three-year/60,000-mile offer. To unlock the deal, though, you must have your car serviced at a registered Suzuki dealership.

It’s worth noting that the almost identical Toyota RAV4 offers an industry-leading 10 years of warranty cover through a similar dealer-servicing related arrangement.

Reliability

• Based on a car with a superb reputation
• Technology involved is complex
• We don’t expect big issues

Suzuki’s reputation for reliability is generally very solid. However, the Across is a Toyota in all but name – and Toyota’s brand values are built around dependability and quality. So, this should prove to be a very reliable car.

It is quite complex, though, thanks to the plug-in hybrid system. Underlining this, there have been two safety recalls at the time of writing (August 2024), and both relate to this. The RAV4 it’s based on has been subject to others as well, including issues relating to lower suspension components, the brake booster pump and the emergency calling system.

Still, there are few signs of glaring reliability problems out in the real world. If you already own a Suzuki Across and would like to use your experience to help others, you can leave a Parkers owners review.