Something great is coming, that is what Suzuki told us when it launched its all-new sport sedan Kizashi (pronounced Kee-Zah-Shee) model. So let me get this straight – this new vehicle is the something great or this car is the messenger telling us something great is (still) coming?

Either way, in my opinion something great is already here – the Suzuki Kizashi Sport. Many hold strong to the “first impressions are usually right” theory and my first impressions of this car are very positive.

I remember Kizashi arriving in concept form a couple of years ago and have looked forward to it coming into the press fleet as a production unit. Well, it is here, and it is a huge improvement over past sedans brought to the North American market by the automaker. And it is offered at a competitive price with a great warranty. And it looks darn GOOD.

Suzuki aims the Kizashi sport sedan squarely at the Audi A4 and Acura TSX models. While I don’t think many Acura and Audi customers are ready to head over to the Suzuki showroom, I do feel the Kizashi stands a good chance of causing a few ripples in the Euro-spec sport sedan segment and with a few tweaks here and there might just catch the others off-guard.

Highlighting the Kizashi are its strong styling front and rear while offering a host of creature comforts inside. The sport packaging gives the vehicle very good road manners although I don’t feel it is quite ready for any racing venues. Suzuki offers front or all-wheel drive in Kizashi and even our fully laden front-drive sport model with leather and all the goodies came in right under 25 grand, well below the competition.

Our tester had the sport-tuned suspension, sport aero body kit, sport wheels and enhanced brake system and a killer 425-watt Rockford Fosgate audio system with satellite radio.

So what needs tweaking? We have had the opportunity to drive Kizashis with both transmission offerings – six-speed manual and the CVT gearboxes. The manual tranny was very welcome to get any sort of sport-type performance from the only engine offered in the Kizashi – a 2.4-liter inline four-cylinder generating 185hp and 170 lb. ft. of torque although the clutch was perhaps the wimpiest I had ever experienced in a passenger car – ever. Suitable enough for beginners, and folks with no lower extremity muscle tone, but lifeless for the masses. And perhaps they could find a few more mpg on the highway than that tester’s 29 (OK, they tweak the CVT model to 30).

At the end of the day the new Suzuki Kizashi Sport is a good-looking, good-driving, good-value automobile, and with a few improvements in the powertrain would announce to the world that something great is already here.