Suzuki Spacia Custom Z Proves Small Doesn't Have To Be Boring

Small doesn't have to be boring. #Suzuki is here to say that much with the release of the new Spacia Custom Z.

A new version of the Kei car introduced in 2013, the Custom Z wears a more aggressive front end than the standard Spacia. That includes a taller, flatter hood behind the more upright and emphatically styled grille in black and titanium-silver tone, flanked by fresh headlights.

Given the stringent regulations governing Japan's smallest car class, the Spacia is packed into a tiny footprint. The whole thing measures 133.6 inches (just over 11 feet) long and 58 inches wide to make even a Fiat 500 seem enormous by comparison, but sits taller than it is wide to maximize interior space.

This miniest of minivans packs seating for four with a fold-flat rear bench to make for a – ahem – mobile bedroom on wheels. It even has power sliding rear doors, as if any rear-seat passenger wouldn't be able to reach far enough to slide it by hand.

Small as it is, a Kei car like the Spacia doesn't need much power, but Suzuki offers two engine options: a 0.66-liter three-cylinder engine is offered in atmospheric or turbocharged forms, the former tax exempt. Both are available in front- or all-wheel drive, but either way they come mated to a continuously variable transmission.