Safari url bar crashes

It's sometimes very slow (3-5 second lag) to focus the URL bar or open a new tab. The latter I think is related to process-per-tab forking. The former is just bizarre.

Safari became very sluggish ever since Yosemite and it's a shame it wasn't fixed in El Capitan. I can only suggest using another browser at this point. Safari hasn't gone under any testing at Apple for some time or these issues surely would have been noticed.

Edit: This may be because I have Search Suggestions turned off in the Search Preferences: http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/27/10839758/apple-safari-cras...