2-11 FEATURES AND CONTROLS
85Z03-03E
How to Turn Off the System Alarm
If the system alarm is active, it can be
deactivated using the following methods:
Press the Lock or Unlock button on the
remote keyless entry transmitter.
Unlock the driver’s or passenger’s front
door using the key.
Otherwise, the alarm will automatically
stop after 30 seconds. The system will
then lock the doors and reactivate the
theft-deterrent system.
How to Detect a Tamper Condition
If the hazard lamps flash once when the
Lock or Unlock button on your transmitter
is pressed, that means the theft-security
system alarm was triggered while you
were away.
Daily Inspection ChecklistBefore Driving1) Make sure that windows, mirrors, lights
and reflectors are clean and unob-
structed.
2) Visually check the tires for the following
points:
– the depth of the tread groove
– abnormal wear, cracks and damage
– loose wheel nuts
– existence of foreign material such as
nails, stones, etc.
Refer to “Tires” in the “SERVICE AND
APPEARANCE CARE” section for details.
3) Look for oil or other fluid leaks.
NOTE:
It is normal for water to drip from the air
conditioning system after use.
4) Make sure the hood is fully closed and
latched.
5) Check the headlights, turn signal lights,
brake lights and horn for proper opera-
tion.
6) Lock all doors.
7) Adjust the seat and adjustable head
restraints (if equipped).
8) Check the brake pedal.
9) Adjust the mirrors.
10)Make sure that you and all passengers
have properly fastened your safety
belts.11)Make sure that all warning lights come
on as the key is turned to the “ON” or
“START” position.
12)Check all gauges.
13)Make sure that the BRAKE light turns
off when the parking brake is released.
Once a week, or each time you fill your fuel
tank, perform the following under-hood
checks:
1) Engine oil level
2) Coolant level
3) Brake fluid level
4) Power steering (if equipped) fluid level
5) Windshield washer fluid level
6) Hood latch operation
Pull the hood release handle inside the
vehicle. Make sure that you cannot
open the hood all the way without
releasing the secondary latch. Be sure
to close the hood securely after check-
ing for proper latch operation. See the
item “Lubricate Locks, Hinges & Hood
Latch” under “Chassis and Body” in the
“MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE” section
for the lubrication schedule.
WARNING
Make sure the hood is fully closed
and latched before driving. If it is not,
it can fly up unexpectedly during
driving, obstructing your view and
resulting in an accident.
Theft-Deterrent Systems:
Daily Inspection Checklist:
2-16 FEATURES AND CONTROLS
85Z03-03E
lamp (MIL) or the HOLD mode light may
come on or may blink. In this situation,
automatic shifting can be canceled or can
default to a severe condition mode.
You should consult your SUZUKI dealer
and have the problem repaired as soon as
possible when this condition occurs.
Hold Mode
You can select this mode to drive with
some characteristics of a manual transmis-
sion. With the HOLD mode turned on, the
automatic transmission will stay in a spe-
cific gear range.
Press the HOLD button on the shift lever to
turn on the HOLD mode.
While on, the HOLD indicator light on the
instrument panel will light up. See “Hold
Mode Light” in section 3. Press the button
again to turn off the HOLD mode, andreturn to normal automatic transmission
operation.
When the hold mode is activated, the
transmission operates as follows:
Function Features of HOLD Mode
Winter function
When a vehicle is on a slippery road such
as one that is covered with snow, mud etc.,
the vehicle can easily overcome the slip-
pery road conditions by activating the hold
mode with the transmission selector lever
in the D, 3 or 2-position.
To avoid busy shifting
Fuzzy logic is applied to avoid busy shifting
in most hilly driving conditions. Using the
HOLD button & shifting into the 3-position
are other ways to avoid busy shifting in
case fuzzy logic is not sufficient.Driving like manual transmission
When in the hold mode condition, you can
use the automatic transmission as a 4-
speed manual transmission.
Manual Transmission OperationFive-Speed
This is your shift pattern.
Here’s how to operate your manual trans-
mission:
FIRST (1):
Press the clutch pedal and shift into FIRST
(1). Then, slowly let up on the clutch pedal
as you press the accelerator pedal.
You can shift into FIRST (1) when you’re
going less than 20 mph (32 km/h). If you’ve
come to a complete stop and it’s hard to
shift into FIRST (1), put the shift lever in
NEUTRAL and let up on the clutch. Press
the clutch pedal back down. Then shift into
FIRST (1).
SECOND (2):
Press the clutch pedal as you let up on the
accelerator pedal and shift into SECOND
N4U2015A
HOLD
Selector Lever
PositionGear range
D2
nd ↔ 3
rd ↔ 4
th
(mainly 4
th gear)
32
nd ↔ 3
rd
(mainly 3rd gear)
22
nd (fixed)
11st (fixed)
S4U2019A
R1
2435
Starting and Operating Your Vehicle:
2-17 FEATURES AND CONTROLS
85Z03-03E
(2). Then, slowly let up on the clutch pedal
as you press the accelerator pedal.
THIRD (3), FOURTH (4) and FIFTH (5):
Shift into THIRD (3), FOURTH (4) and
FIFTH (5), the same way you do for SEC-
OND (2). Slowly let up on the clutch pedal
as you press the accelerator pedal.
To stop, let up on the accelerator pedal and
press the brake pedal. Just before the
vehicle stops, press the clutch pedal and
brake pedal, and shift to NEUTRAL.
NEUTRAL:
Use this position when you start or idle
your engine.
REVERSE (R):
To back up, press down the clutch pedal,
lift up the ring on the shift lever and shift
into REVERSE (R). Let up on the clutch
pedal slowly while pressing the accelerator
pedal.
Also, use REVERSE (R), along with the
parking brake, for parking your vehicle.Shift Speed
Parking BrakeThe parking brake lever is located between
the bucket seats.
To set the parking brake, hold the brake
pedal down and pull up on the parking
brake lever. If the ignition is on, the brake
system warning light will come on.
To release the parking brake, hold the
brake pedal down. Pull the parking brakelever up until you can press the release
button. Hold the release button in as you
move the brake lever all the way down.
Winter parking tip
Under cold weather conditions, the parking
brake can freeze in the engaged position.
This is most likely to happen if the brakes
are wet.
If there is a risk that the parking brake may
freeze after driving through water deep
enough to wet brake components or after
having the vehicle washed:
1) Apply the parking brake only tempo-
rarily while you put the gear selector
lever in PARK (P) (for automatic tran-
saxle) or in first or reverse gear (for
manual transaxle).
2) Block the rear wheels with wedge
blocks.
3) Release the parking brake.
CAUTION
Shift into REVERSE (R) only after
your vehicle is stopped. Shifting into
REVERSE (R) while your vehicle is
moving could damage your transmis-
sion. The repairs would not be cov-
ered by your warranty.
WARNING
If you skip a gear when you down-
shift, you could lose control of your
vehicle. You could injure yourself or
others. Don’t shift down more than
one gear at a time when you down-
shift.
N4U2016A
CAUTION
Driving with the parking brake on can
cause your rear brakes to overheat.
You may have to replace them, and
you could also damage other parts of
your vehicle. Verify that the parking
brake is fully released and the brake
warning light is off before driving.
Starting and Operating Your Vehicle:
3-32 INSTRUMENT PANEL
85Z03-03E
ORDER OF SOUND FUNCTIONS
84Z023
SOUND button (8):
Setting the Tone (Bass/Mid/Treble)
Press this button until “BAS” appears on
the display. Turn the volume knob to
increase or to decrease the bass. The dis-
play will show the bass level. When fin-
ished making the selection, press this
button again to select the bass level.
Press this button until “MID” appears on
the display. Turn the volume knob to
increase or to decrease the mid. The dis-
play will show the mid level. When finished
making the selection, press this button
again to select the mid level.
Press this button until “TRE” appears on
the display. Turn the volume knob to
increase or to decrease the treble. The dis-
play will show the treble level. When fin-
ished making the selection, press this
button again to select the treble level. If a
station is weak or noisy, decrease the tre-
ble. Adjusting the Speakers (Balance/Fade)
To adjust the balance between the right
and the left speakers, press this button
until “BAL” appears on the display. Turn the
volume knob to change the balance. The
display will show the balance level. When
finished making the selection, press this
button again to select the balance level.
To adjust the fade between the front and
rear speakers, press this button until “FAD”
appears on the display. Turn the volume
knob to change the fade between the front
and rear speakers. The display will show
the fade level. When finished making the
selection, press this button again to select
the fade level.
Setting the EQ
Press this button until “EQ OFF” appears
on the display to select customized equal-
ization settings designed for classic,
dance, rock, jazz, pop, voice and techno.
Turn the volume knob until the desired
equalization setting appears on the display.
When finished making the selection, press
the SOUND button again to select the
equalization setting.
To cancel an equalization setting, press
the SOUND button until “EQ OFF” appears
on the display, turn the volume knob until
“OFF” appears on the display, then press
the SOUND button again to select the
equalization setting.
84Z024
PLAYING A CD
Insert a CD partway into the slot, label side
up. The player will pull it in and the CD
should begin playing. You can insert a CD
with the ignition off.
When the CD is inserted, “CDP” will
appear on the display. As the CD is loading
“LOADING” will appear on the display. As
each new track starts to play, the track and
track number will appear on the display.
If the ignition or radio is turned off with a
CD in the player, it will stay in the player.
When a CD is in the player and the ignition
is turned on, the radio must be turned on
before the CD will start playback. When
the ignition and radio are turned on, the
CD will start playing where it stopped, if it
was the last selected audio source.
The CD player can play the smaller 3 inch
(8 cm) single CDs with an adapter ring.
Full-size CDs and the smaller CDs are
loaded in the same manner.
If playing a CD-R, the sound quality may
be reduced due to CD-R quality, the
method of recording, the quality of the
FA D
BAL
BASS MID
EQ OFF VOL
TRE
ROCK
JAZZ
EQ OFF CLASSIC
POP VOICE TECHNO
DANCE
3-33 INSTRUMENT PANEL
85Z03-03E
music that has been recorded, and the way
the CD-R has been handled. There may be
an increase in skipping, difficulty in finding
tracks, and/or difficulty in loading and
ejecting. If these problems occur, check
the bottom surface of the CD. If the surface
of the CD is damaged, such as cracked,
broken, or scratched, the CD will not play
properly. If there is no apparent damage,
try a known good CD.
Do not add any label to a CD, it could get
caught in the CD player. If a CD is
recorded on a personal computer and a
description label is needed, try labeling the
top of the recorded CD with a marking pen
instead.
If an error appears on the display, see “CD
Messages” later in this section.
RPT (Repeat) button (7):
Press this button to repeat the current
track. RPT will appear on the display.
Press this button again to turn off repeat
play.
RDM (Random) button (7):
Press this button to hear the tracks in ran-
dom, rather than sequential, order. “RDM”
will appear on the display. Press this button
again to turn off random play.
INT (Scan) button (7):
Press this button to listen to the first few
seconds of each track on each loaded CD.
“INTRO” will appear on the display. To stopscanning, press this button again. The cur-
rent track will begin to play.
TUNE (Previous/Next Track) button (4):
Press the down arrows to go to the start of
the current track or press the up arrows to
go to the next track. The track number will
appear on the display. The player will con-
tinue moving backward or forward through
the CD with each press of the up or down
arrows.
AM button (2):
Press this button to listen to the radio when
a CD is playing. The inactive CD will
remain safely inside the radio for future lis-
tening.
FM button (3):
Press this button to listen to the radio when
a CD is playing. The inactive CD will
remain safely inside the radio for future lis-
tening.
CD/AUX button (9):
Press this button to play a CD when listen-
ing to the radio. “CDP” will appear on the
display when the CD player has been
selected. The CD symbol will appear on
the display when a CD is loaded.
Press this button while a CD is playing to
pause the CD. “PAUSE” will flash on the
display. Press this button again to resume
playing the CD.
Press this button to play a CD when listen-
ing to the audio contents from other device
(AUX mode). “CDP” will appear on the dis-play when the CD player has been
selected. The CD symbol will appear on
the display when a CD is loaded.
EJECT button (10):
Press this button to eject a CD. The only
way a CD can be ejected from the player is
by pressing the eject button. The CD will
not eject when the ignition or the radio is
turned off.
Using an MP3/WMA CD
MP3/WMA Format
If you burn your own MP3/WMA disc on a
personal computer:
Make sure the MP3/WMA files are
recorded on a CD-R disc.
Make sure to finalize the disc when burn-
ing an MP3/WMA disc, using multiple
sessions. It is usually better to burn the
disc all at once.
Files can be recorded with a variety of
fixed or variable bit rates. Song title, art-
ist name, and album will be available for
display by the radio when recorded using
ID3 tags version 1 and 2.
Do not mix standard audio and MP3/
WMA files on one disc.
Make sure each MP3/WMA file has a
“.mp3” or “.wma” extension, other file
extensions may not work.
The player will be able to read and play a
maximum of 50 folders, 5 sessions, and
999 files. Long file names and folder
names may use more disc memory space
3-40 INSTRUMENT PANEL
85Z03-03E
PLAYING A CD
Insert a CD partway into the slot, label side
up. The player will pull it in and the CD
should begin playing. You can insert a CD
with the ignition off.
When the CD is inserted, “CDP” will
appear on the display. As the CD is loading
“LOADING” will appear on the display. As
each new track starts to play, the track and
track number will appear on the display.
If the ignition or radio is turned off with a
CD in the player, it will stay in the player.
When a CD is in the player and the ignition
is turned on, the radio must be turned on
before the CD will start playback. When
the ignition and radio are turned on, the
CD will start playing where it stopped, if it
was the last selected audio source.
The CD player can play the smaller 3 inch
(8 cm) single CDs with an adapter ring.
Full-size CDs and the smaller CDs are
loaded in the same manner.
If playing a CD-R, the sound quality may
be reduced due to CD-R quality, the
method of recording, the quality of the
music that has been recorded, and the way
the CD-R has been handled. There may be
increase in skipping, difficulty in finding
tracks, and/or difficulty in loading and
ejecting. If these problems occur, check
the bottom surface of the CD. If the surface
of the CD is damaged, such as cracked,
broken, or scratched, the CD will not playproperly. If there is no apparent damage,
try a known good CD.
Do not add any label to a CD, it could get
caught in the CD player. If a CD is
recorded on a personal computer and a
description label is needed, try labeling the
top of the recorded CD with a marking pen
instead.
If an error appears on the display, see “CD
Messages” later in this section.
RPT (Repeat) button (7):
Press this button to repeat the current
track. RPT will appear on the display.
Press this button again to turn off repeat
play.
RDM (Random) button (7):
Press this button to hear the tracks in ran-
dom, rather than sequential, order. “RDM”
will appear on the display. Press this button
again to turn off random play.
INT (Scan) button (7):
Press this button to listen to the first few
seconds of each track on each loaded CD.
“INTRO” will appear on the display. To stop
scanning, press this button again. The cur-
rent track will begin to play.
TUNE (Previous/Next Track) button (4):
Press the down arrows to go to the start of
the current track or press the up arrows to
go to the next track. The track number will
appear on the display. The player will con-
tinue moving backward or forward throughthe CD with each press of the up or down
arrows.
AM button (2):
Press this button to listen to the radio when
a CD is playing. The inactive CD will
remain safely inside the radio for future lis-
tening.
FM button (3):
Press this button to listen to the radio when
a CD is playing. The inactive CD will
remain safely inside the radio for future lis-
tening.
CD/AUX button (9):
Press this button to play a CD when listen-
ing to the radio. “CDP” will appear on the
display when the CD player has been
selected. The CD symbol will appear on
the display when a CD is loaded.
Press this button while a CD is playing to
pause the CD. “PAUSE” will flash on the
display. Press this button again to resume
playing the CD.
Press this button to play a CD when listen-
ing to the audio contents from other device
(AUX mode). “CDP” will appear on the dis-
play when the CD player has been
selected. The CD symbol will appear on
the display when a CD is loaded.
EJECT button (10):
Press this button to eject a CD. The only
way a CD can be ejected from the player is
by pressing the eject button. The CD will
3-42 INSTRUMENT PANEL
85Z03-03E
Playing an MP3/WMA
With the ignition on, insert a CD partway
into the slot, label side up. The player will
pull it in, then “LOADING”, and then “MP3”
or “WMA” will appear on the display. The
CD should begin playing. You can’t insert a
CD with the acc off. As each new track
starts to play, the track number, and the
song name will appear on the display.
If the ignition or radio is turned off with a
CD in the player, it will stay in the player.
When a CD is in the player and the ignition
is turned on, the radio must be turned on
before the CD will start playback. When
the ignition and radio are turned on, the
CD will start playing where it stopped, if it
was the last selected audio source.
The CD player can play the smaller 3 inch
(8 cm) single CDs with an adapter ring.
Full-size CDs and the smaller CDs are
loaded in the same manner.
If playing a CD-R, the sound quality may
be reduced due to CD-R quality, the
method of recording, the quality of the
music that has been recorded, and the way
the CD-R has been handled. There may be
an increase in skipping, difficulty in finding
tracks, and/or difficulty in loading and
ejecting. If these problems occur, check
the bottom surface of the CD. If the surface
of the CD is damaged, such as cracked,
broken, or scratched, the CD will not play
properly. If there is no apparent damage,
try a known good CD.Do not add any label to a CD, it could get
caught in the CD player. If a CD is
recorded on a personal computer and a
description label is needed, try labeling the
top of the recorded CD with a marking pen
instead.
If an error appears on the display, see “CD
Messages” later in this section.
All of the CD functions work the same
while playing an MP3/WMA, except for
those listed here. See “Playing a CD” ear-
lier for more information.
DIR (Directory) button (11):
Press this button to repeat the tracks in the
current directory. “DIR” will appear on the
display.
Press this button again to repeat the tracks
in all of the directories. “ALL” will appear on
the display.
Press this button again to turn off repeat
play.
SEEK (Previous/Next Folder) button (5)
(in MP3/WMA mode):
Press the up or down arrows to change the
folder. If the CD-R doesn’t have any folder,
“ROOT” will flash on display for a short
time.TUNE (Previous/Next Folder) button (4):
Press the up or down arrows to go to the
first track in the previous folder or to go to
the next folder. The player will continue
moving backward or forward through the
CD with each press of the up or down
arrows.
INFO/DISP (Information/Display) button
(12):
Press this button to display additional text
information related to the current MP3/
WMA song. A choice of additional informa-
tion such as: Song Title, Album Title, Artist,
and Bit rate may appear.
When information is not available, “No Info”
will appear on the display.
Press and hold this button to change the
display mode.
Scroll:
Press and hold the sound button [in MP3/
WMA mode]
The song title or other information of a
song will scroll on/off. The default mode is
scroll on.
Scroll mode can be changed only when
you press and hold the sound button.