Junkyard Gem: 2004 Suzuki Verona

Remember the

Daewoo Leganza

? When the

Daewoo

brand

fled the United States

in 2002, that wasn’t the end of the

Leganza

platform over here. It returned a couple of years later with a longer wheelbase, updated Giorgetto Giugiaro styling, a straight-six engine mounted transversely, and

Suzuki

badges. The

Suzuki Verona

was available for the 2004 through 2006 model years, then disappeared from our collective memory. Suzuki managed to sell a handful, though, and this ’04 showed up a couple of weeks back in a Northern California self-service wrecking yard.

The transverse straight-six engine is an automotive oddity, installed in

Volvo S80s

and

Suzuki Veronas

last decade. While smooth, this engine generated a mere 155 horsepower.

The interior was on the generic side, but this car listed at just $17,199 (about $23,500 in 2018 dollars). Compare that to the $24,999 ’04

Mitsubishi Diamante

, another car that few bought (but that had 50 more horsepower and much more luxury than then

Verona

).

Once a car starts daily-driving on a space-saver spare, the junkyard beckons.

Plenty of Americans have bought Suzuki cars over the last few decades, but most of those cars had

Geo or Chevrolet badging

.

This car was known as the Daewoo Magnus in its native South Korea.

More room than

Camry

!