• Simple but easy to use dash layout
• Material upgrade after facelift
• Comfortable but unexciting

You’re not faced with the most exciting of dashboard layouts in the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross, but it is functional and straightforward in a way that reflects the car’s honesty and price.

While the basic design was maintained for the facelift (in 2016), a soft-touch panel was added to the main dashboard plane, while the surround for the multimedia display was switched for a glossy black affair that complemented the screen itself.

Higher spec cars get a 7.0-inch touch screen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, bringing the S-Cross more in-line with its rivals in the tech department.

It’s nicer inside than a Dacia Duster but not quite as nice as a Skoda Karoq or its VW Group siblings, in terms of the materials used and how integrated the screen feels.

All the controls are logical in operation and location and feel robust enough to stand the test of time, although some of the plastic finishes feel as though they might be susceptible to becoming scratched. A couple of S-Crosses we sampled also felt as though the finish on the manual gearknobs was a bit rougher than ideal.

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Establishing a comfortable driving position is easily achieved with a fine degree of adjustability for the seat and steering wheel, although even in its lowest position you feel like you’re sat high up. That’s par for the crossover course, though.

Comfort

• Comfortable front seats are supportive
• Rear space is tight for three adults
• Well-honed ride quality

One of the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross’s trump cards is its overall levels of comfort. Thanks to the high-rise, long-travel suspension and chunky tyres, it delivers a decent ride quality that is unfamiliar at this end of the market.

Its cabin isn’t the broadest in the class, meaning that five-up it can feel like a game of motoring sardines on the back seat, but with four passengers on board the occupants will have few gripes.

The Suzuki’s seats are perfectly fine – top-spec ones are upholstered in leather, less senior trims with a monochrome fabric, but they offer fine support and a good range of adjustment. Only the front-centre armrest raises a significant degree of frustration, being set too low down and rearwards to be of use to anyone short of those with orangutanesque upper limbs.

Exterior noise is satisfyingly hushed with little that’s disturbingly audible from the tyres or door mirrors as air rushes around them at speed. The engine is subdued enough too.