The Forenza sedan and wagon boast clean lines when viewed from the side, and the jeweled taillights are a nice touch from the rear. The front, however, features a three-element grille, with a center section surrounded by body-colored plastic. Dead center is a Texas belt-buckle sized Suzuki S." It's not the most flattering angle of the car, and it reminds us of Mitsubishi's similarly peculiar nose treatment. In addition, the 15-inch wheels look a little lost in the bodywork, especially in the back. Bigger wheels would help, but they would also push that low base price up, which would be an unforgivable sin.
The Reno boasts a much smoother design, and if the word "Italian" crosses your mind when looking at it, give yourself a pat on the back. Penned by Italy's ItalDesign studios, the Reno's smooth shape is its best asset. Sleek headlights sweep into the body work, the fenders are nicely arched, and a strong character line runs along the top of the fender, over the doors, and to the tail. The arched wheel wells give the same 15-inch wheels a little added dimension, so they don't look as tiny here. It's one of the nicer five-door hatchbacks on the road, better than Suzuki's own Aerio and several others.
Fit and finish on these cars is good, but not class leading. Still, we couldn't find any assembly problems or anything that pointed to a slapdash effort on the part of the Korean builders. Word is that Suzuki's engineers taught Daewoo a little something about fit and finish, and the lessons seem to have taken hold. The paint was nicely sprayed, with our Forenza wagon a very pretty medium blue color. Silver is a tough color to get right, but the Reno's paint job was without blotches or other cheap-looking touches. The only quirk, and we've noticed this in all the Korean-built Suzuki models, were doors that required a strong effort to slam. We're not talking blast-door weight here, but we frequently found ourselves staring at the "door ajar" light."
