SUZUKI is going ahead with plans to take on the might of the Audi quattro with a keenly priced all wheel drive sports saloon.

The Kizashi will be on sale in January taking the Japanese car maker into new territory.

Never before has Suzuki had a family saloon in its UK line up - and the newcomer is impressive.

Likely to be priced from below £23,000, the Kizashi is well built, well finished and cleverly engineered.

All that is missing as standard is a sat nav system which will be available as a dealer fitted extra for around £800.

With that included the Kizashi is well positioned to be a credible alternative to cars costing half as much again.

It is powered by a 2.4-litre four cylinder petrol engine mated to a six speed CVT gearbox and the all wheel drive system is a development of that first seen on the company's smaller SX4 compact MPV.

Depending on conditions the four wheel drive can be switched in or out to provide added traction as required.

In poor weather the benefits of extra grip are immense and on the road the car performs exceptionally well.

Surprisingly, fuel economy is not impaired with four wheel drive engaged. On a drive around Loch Lomond in Scotland we achieved 34 to the gallon in two wheel drive mode seeing that fall only to 33.2mpg over the same route with all wheel drive engaged.

Suzuki makes no bones about benchmarking the Kizashi against the Audi A4 quattro and along with the likes of the Vauxhall Insignia V6 and the Subaru Legacy it is joining only a handful of 4WD cars - all of which are significantly more expensive.

For the money the performance and handling of the Suzuki cannot be faulted - top speed is a claimed 127mph and 0 to 60 acceleration is a respectable 8.8 seconds.

It feels nicely sure footed with the CVT box delivering smooth acceleration. For sporty driving there are steering wheel mounted paddles which deliver swift changes on demand.

Inside the car there is a noticeable shift towards a premium feel. Despite being more than a foot shorter than most of its rivals there is an excellent amount of room in the rear and there is a quality feel to the trim and switchgear.

Both front seats are heated and electrically adjustable and there is a memory setting for the driver's seat.

Boot space is on the large side at 461 litres and the rear seat backs are foldable to create extra capacity.

Outside the Kizashi - the name is Japanese for optimism - looks the part with chrome rubbing strips, twin exhaust ports and 18-inch alloys while Bluetooth connectivity is standard as are seven airbags - a feature which has already helped earn the car top safety ratings in Australia and the US.

It is unlikely the Kizashi will be subjected to the European NCAP crash testing programme since the car is on sale only in Germany, Switzerland and Spain and Suzuki is planning to import only 500 to the UK next year.

Nevertheless, there should be a strong market for the Kizashi - mainly among private drivers who want a safe bet, don't want a diesel and won't object to the relatively high emissions of 191g/km.