Aerio takes flight as lively, roomy small car

This review originally appeared April 14, 2002. The average retailprice of a 2002 Suzuki Aerio is $6,550-$7,450.

While best known for sport-utility vehicles, Suzuki has come upwith a lively, roomy new small car with one of the most powerfulengines in the subcompact market.

The new four-door model is called the Aerio, which is anappropriately lighthearted name for a car that looks and drives as ifit has a carefree personality. Suzuki said it picked the name becausethe car has smooth, aerodynamic styling. It certainly selected theright colors to emphasize the Aerio's sportiness: They range frombright red and yellow to "bold, high-tech silver."

The front-drive …