Mine is from 2001 and acts ok, I´ve driven it for 3000 miles this season and its still in one piece.
Suzuki SV series have definetely different taste about them e.g. less numbers, but more torque from the start. You can beat FZ1 up to 100 miles per hour with SV, but after that the FZ1 will go faster. I have 2001 FZ1 and 2004 SV1000 for comparison.