Short Take Road Test
Suzuki's Grand Vitara is not a vehicle seen often on the pages of Car and Driver. As a small trucklet, it competes in a segment that doesn't incite brawls during our Monday morning car sign-out sessions. If we have to drive a small SUV, though, we're more likely to choose a Toyota RAV4 or a Honda CR-V than the Suzuki.
Like all Suzukis, the Grand Vitara plays a little dirty, using price to undercut the competition. You can pick one up for right around $20,000. With that parameter in place, the class shrinks considerably to just a few vehicles: the Dodge Nitro, the Ford Escape, the Hyundai Tucson, the Jeep Compass and Patriot, the Kia Sportage and Sorento, and the Saturn Vue. Jeep's Wrangler slips under that price point, too, but people who are going to buy Wranglers just buy them and don't think of anything else. If they did, they wouldn't buy a Wrangler.
So, for 20 grand, what do you get? A rear-wheel-drive Grand Vitara with a 185-hp, 2.7-liter V-6 (the only engine offered), a five-speed manual transmission, and seating for five. That's right: rear-wheel drive. Whereas most of the competitors listed above are front-drive-based crossovers on platforms adapted from small cars, the Grand Vitara clings to the old-fashioned rear-drive small-truck roots established by its forebears, the Suzuki Samurai and Sidekick. Four-wheel-drive versions even get a low range for serious rock-picking, but with just 7.9 inches of ground clearance—less than that of any of the rock hoppers such as the Nissan Xterra or Jeep Grand Cherokee we drove on Mendel Pass in the April 2006 issue—user discretion is advised.
In general, buyer discretion is advised. Although the Grand Vitara starts at a price below that of much of its competition, the gap is not so big that it isn't quickly closed once options pile up. Specifying the $1000 automatic transmission, for instance, butts the Grand Vitara right up against some of the best in the segment, namely, the CR-V and the RAV4. And once you start moving up to more expensive trim levels, the Grand Vitara easily surpasses even Suzuki's larger XL7.
We drove Suzuki's Grandest Vitara in four-wheel-drive Luxury trim (base price $25,649), which adds an in-dash six-CD changer, keyless entry and ignition, leather seats (heated in the front), a sunroof, 17-inch wheels, and heated side mirrors. That last a feature is also strangely bundled with four-wheel drive on the other trim levels—an admission that four-wheel drive is just a Snowbelt Band-Aid, perhaps? Somehow, the Luxury tag on this vehicle seems to us to carry the same sincerity as a red-faced drill sergeant calling a trembling recruit "Einstein."
Sure, the Grand Vitara Luxury offers a sunroof and leather seats, but it also has a body that shakes in more ways than Dairy Queen, dull responses to all driver inputs, and an exhaust note that progresses from merely thrashy under low load to full-on passive/aggressive bristly at full throttle. You want to accelerate, huh? Well, how does this sound? It sounds terrifying. Sixty mph comes up in 9.0 seconds while you wonder if the laboring engine isn't going to grenade and send a fragment of connecting rod ripping through your foot. We've never had that concern in a Mercedes. To us, freedom from fear of horrific bodily injury is one of the key elements of luxury. At least the Suzuki stops from 70 mph in a very respectable 170 feet.
When stationary, the Grand Vitara isn't bad. Its pugnacious styling looks tough enough to scare off most competitors, although the Dodge Nitro is likely to call its bluff and give it a swirly for trying. The interior—particularly when executed in leather—is nicely done, and the center-stack layout is pleasing. Suzuki's radio controls are certainly more inspired than the monochromatic, monotextural black expanses from some other manufacturers.
For $20,029, you get a V-6, room for five people and 24 cubic feet of stuffing, and Suzuki's fully transferable seven-year/100,000 mile warranty. Not bad. But the Koreans offer comparable content for the price, and as soon as you start tacking on options, there are better vehicles out there. If OCD compels you to need a Suzuki, we'd recommend the more polished and refined XL7 or, if you don't need the cargo space, a Hayabusa super-sports bike.
