Suzuki J20A

Suzuki's 2.0 petrol four — in the Grand Vitara, the SX4 and S-Cross, and the Liana.

It is a chain-driven, port-injected, all-aluminium design with variable timing on later versions, and it is the engine in most of the small four-wheel-drive Suzukis that are still working for a living.

Its recurring complaints are ignition and breathing. Coil-on-plug units fail one at a time and give a misfire under load first; the throttle body carbons up and produces a hunting idle that reads as something worse; and vacuum hoses harden with age on cars that are usually well past ten years old.

The timing chain is the item that decides an engine's fate, and it announces itself: a rattle for a second or two on a cold start, worsening. It is oil-condition dependent, so a car with unknown history is worth listening to before it is worth buying.

The J18A 1.8 is the same family and its results apply; the M16A 1.6 beside it in the same showrooms is a different engine.