Suzuki Vitara: Losing its grip?

What is it?

The Suzuki Vitara occupies a special place in Australian off-road folklore.

It used to be able to go anywhere the big 4x4s like Patrol and Land Cruiser could go. It laughed in the face of danger.

But this all changed with the arrival of the fourth and current generation of Vitara that is no longer sits on a ladder chassis and is no longer a real off roader.

In fact, it shares a chassis with the S-Cross model which is about as soft as they come, with front or all-wheel drive variants.

Still, Vitara remains the third best-selling model in a five model range of vehicles.

What’s it cost?

There’s three grades from which to choose: Vitara 1.6 2WD, priced from $29,990, Vitara Turbo 1.4 2WD from $36,490 and Vitara Turbo ALLGRIP, priced from $40,490 — all prices plus on-road costs.

As you can see ALLGRIP adds a hefty $4000 premium to the price of the car.

Metallic paint is an extra $695 and two-tone with a different coloured roof is another $1295.

If you had struck while the iron was hot, you could have got 10 per cent off the driveway price before the end of January.

It doesn’t hurt to ask.

The entry grade is powered by a 1.6-litre naturally aspirated four cylinder petrol engine, while the turbo gets a punchier, 1.4-litre turbocharged unit that produces 20 percent more power and 40 percent more torque.

The latter is the more significant of these numbers.

The cabin is decked out in a leather and suede combo trim stitched in an interesting tyre tread pattern, along with a leather-clad steering wheel and single zone climate control air.

Standard kit includes keyless entry and start, tilt and reach adjust steering wheel, 17-inch alloys, rear view camera, LED DRLs, auto LED headlights, auto wipers, adaptive cruise control and a panoramic sunroof.

Infotainment consists of an aftermarket 9.0-inch touchscreen, with Bluetooth, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, AM/FM radio and six-speaker audio.

Missing is DAB+ digital radio.

Vitara remains unrated by ANCAP, but comes with seven airbags including a driver’s knee bag plus a rear-view camera.

The turbo adds Adaptive cruise control, Autonomous emergency braking (AEB), Blind-spot monitoring, Lane departure warning, Rear cross-traffic alert and Weaving Alert.

Two Isofix and three tether style child seat anchor points are provided.

Vitara is covered by a 5-year, unlimited kilometre warranty with capped-price servicing and roadside assistance for the first five years.

Service is due every every 12 months or 10,000km.

What’s it go like?

Vitara is starting to show its age.

Although it sits in the budget buy category, the cabin and instrumentation looks and feels dated.

But older drivers may well be drawn to the dated layout with its buttons and gauges.

They won’t find the cheap hard plastics attractive.

Rear legroom is okay thanks to scooped out seatbacks in front, but that’s not saying much.

It’s still pretty tight and lacks air outlets, or really anything for back seat passengers.

Cargo capacity with the rear set in use is 375 litres, with a hidden area under the floor which in turn hides a space saver spare.

Vitara is 4175mm long, with just 185mm of ground clearance and this model weighs in at 1260kg.

The 1.6-litre naturally aspirated engine in the entry model produces 86kW at 6000 revs and 156Nm of torque from 4400 revs.

The turbocharged 1.4-litre engine in our test vehicle, however, produces 103kW of power at 5500 revs and 220Nm of torque from 1500-4000 revs.

Drive is through a 6-speed auto to all four wheels when required.

It’s a no brainer. We’d take the turbo everytime.

Fuel consumption is a claimed 6.2L/100km and it takes standard 95 RON unleaded.

Small engines aren’t necessarily bad, or even relatively low power output, depending on what they are being asked to push or pull.

The turbo addresses this problem.

It’s an easy, fun car to drive, but lacks refinement.

The six-speed auto sometimes feels like an old four-speed the way it carries on, changing down and roaring dramatically to life if you punch the accelerator.

Also, and this has been well documented, reefing the transmission selector back for drive will see manual mode selected and the engine max out before you’ve figured out what is going on.

It becomes tiresome.

Suspension is Mac strut at the front with a basic, torsion beam rear setup, and it rides on 17 inch alloys with 215/55 profile rubber.

The car sits flat, feels taught and has a firmish ride, and can be driven enthusiastically with confidence.

In fact, the suspension is excellent on backroads.

Steering is sharp and accurate and the brakes are confident.

But the Continental tyres are a bit of a disappointment as they lack grip.

The analogue clock between the air vents is a classy touch, but we’d swap it for a digital speedo.

Why do so many car companies regard this as not necessary?

You do however get some other totally irrelevant information cycling through the trip computer, including graphs for power and torque.

The infotainment system is well laid out and easy to use, but lacks digital radio and the navigation could do with speed camera warnings.

There’s one USB and one 12 volt socket in the lower centre console, with another 12 volt socket in the luggage area.

Rated at 6.2L/100km, with a 47-litre fuel tank, we were getting 7.0L/100km after 507km of mixed driving.It takes 95 premium unleaded.

What we like?

• Easy to live with
• Solid engineering
• Good fuel economy
• Practical compact wagon

What we don’t like?

• No digital speedo
• No rear air vents
• No speed camera warnings
• Touchscreen at times unresponsive
• lacks built-in navigation
• No power or USB outlets in console box

The bottom line?

It’s not surprising to learn Vitara is in run out.

It’s even older than the Mitsubishi ASX and that’s saying something.

Time has caught up with the Vitara which simply no longer offers enough of anything for the price.

 

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