Car: Suzuki Grand Vitara range
Prices: £13,600-£18,475 - on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 12-14
Emissions: 183-208g/km
Performance: [2.4 5dr] 0-60mph 11.7s / Max Speed 115mph
Fuel Consumption: [2.4 5dr] (24.7mpg) / (extra urban) 37.1mpg / (combined) 31.3mpg
Safety: Twin front airbags, ESP, ABS
Dimensions: [5dr] Length/Width/Height 4470/1810/1695mm
BADGE OF HONOUR
Our Rating: 6.9 / 10
Suzuki’s Grand Vitara is one of the few compact 4x4s that’s up to the demands of proper off-roading. Now it’s been improved and has a much more class-competitive 2.4-litre petrol engine. Jonathan Crouch reports
Take most compact 4x4s off road and they’ll either be shedding body parts or will just whimper quietly and get stuck fast. The Suzuki Grand Vitara is different, being ruggedly built and equipped with a proper low range gearbox. The addition of a far better 2.4-litre petrol engine and standard ESP stability control mean that it makes sense on road too with budget prices and plenty of rugged practicality. It’s a real rough diamond.
Other makers may argue but Suzuki contends that its Vitara/Grand Vitara line-up offered the British market its very first compact 4x4. The range has been around on these shores in one form or another for over twenty years and well over 160,000 have been sold here. The current generation version has been well received, the one caveat being the performance of the 140bhp 2.0-litre petrol engine it was launched with.
Suzuki makes much, understandably, of the car’s off road ability but the truth is that the majority of buyers in this sector just don’t care. For their predominately tarmac use, the petrol Grand Vitara’s relative lack of pulling power meant either fronting up for the pricier diesel version or buying something else, preferably something that, unlike the Suzuki, offered as standard the kind of ESP stability control that all high-sided 4x4s should have. Hence the introduction of a 165bhp 2.4-litre petrol engine to sit above the 2.0-litre unit, the adoption of standard ESP across the range and a welcome package of visual tweaks and equipment upgrades.
The Grand Vitara is far more capable in the rough than a Toyota RAV4 or a Honda CR-V and it’s not difficult to see why. The four-wheel drive system is geared towards off-road rather than wet road traction and ground clearance is far better. The flipside of this is that the steering and chassis never feel so responsive on road, but for some this will be a more than acceptable trade off.
Recognising the life saving potential of electronic stability systems, Suzuki has developed an ESP stability control system borrowed from Daimler AG and fitted it as standard on 2.4-litre models. This particular set-up uses selective wheel braking and controls engine output as necessary to stabilise the vehicle if it detects understeer or oversteer situations which could possibly result in total loss of control.
Further safety measures have also been upgraded, most notably with the introduction of ventilated rear disc brakes and extra shock-absorbing elements around the bonnet, wings and front bumper to reduce the risk of injury to pedestrians – a quality that had already earned Grand Vitara a very respectable three-star rating in independent Euro NCAP crash testing.
Both the exterior and interior have been given a mild facelift. On the outside there is a revised front end treatment and restyled door mirrors with integrated turn indicators, while inside the cabin, chrome and wood-effect inlays are intended to add extra touches of quality. There have also been improvements to the design and operation of some of the dashboard controls, including a redesigned multi-information display and revised air conditioning control panel.The neat, minimal front end styling remains very appealing, while the sculpted wheelarches and clever use of curves and angles in the car’s glasshouse gives it a very contemporary look.
A quartet of engines are available to UK buyers, kicking off with a 105bhp 1.6-litre offered in three-door guise and running on to the old 140bhp 2.0-litre 16v petrol unit if you go for a 5-door model. I’d be tempted to save up a little more and spring for one of the more modern powerplants on offer. The petrol-engined 2.4-litre version is offered with both three and five-doors and features a balancer shaft for greater refinement. Arguably still the pick of the range is the 130PS diesel, also offered in both three and five-door bodystyles, which uses a Renaul
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