A few months back it seemed every time a new test car was dropped off it would be raining heavily. There could've been six days of beautiful sunshine leading up to it, but when the shiny new car rolled up skies darkened, rain fell and I was stuck having no fun for the first day no matter what I was driving. Every one of those instances paled in comparison to last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, when the new Suzuki Reno was delivered. Not only were the skies grey, but a huge weather system moved into Chicago dumping a few inches of snow and ice on the roads.

On a normal Wednesday I would?ve just quickly driven home, parked the car and run inside for a night of TV watching, but instead I had to hightail it to the suburbs for a family dinner and to prepare for a flight to Florida the next day. A normal 45-minute commute turned into two-plus hours of shear road hell. 

I had to adjust to the Suzuki?s interior, controls and seating in complete darkness since it now gets dark at 4 p.m. As I first pulled out onto the slick and icy roads I was cursing my timing. Why didn?t I schedule the Subaru Legacy GT with its All-Wheel Drive for this week? I?m sure the folks at both Subaru and Suzuki are saying the exact same thing.

The little economy hatchback is not made to handle conditions like this as aggressively as the Subaru of course, but I felt moderately safe on the highway as huge salt trucks pelted me with their cargo. After two hours of white knuckle driving the leather seats in my top of the line EX model didn?t feel too comfy and my back was ready for some stretching. However even in the dark you can tell the Reno?s interior is far above anything Suzuki?s Korean competition (yes I know this is basically a Daewoo) has put out there.

I really can?t say much about the driving impressions either since it was such adverse weather. That had to wait until my return from the holiday vacation and much better roads.

Check out Day 2 and Day 3 in the Suzuki Reno.