Strong and Sporty Vehicle

The Grand Vitara has always been a rather agricultural beast, but Suzuki has realized that the expectations of buyers of small four-wheel drives have moved on. The new Grand Vitara has been designed to perform rather better on-road, starting with the fundamentals. The ladder-frame chassis has gone, replaced by a monocoque structure.

It looks very different, too, with a much sportier and more modern shape mixing cues from Suzuki’s new swift and Toyota’s very successful RAV4. The Grand Vitara’s got bigger and 180mm longer than the old car but it doesn’t look much larger. Bugger wings give a more aggressive stance and there are LED tail lights and a colour-coded cover for the spare wheel mounted, like on today’s Vitara, on the rear door.

Inside, there’s an entirely new look, and the ambience is much improved over that in previous versions. The triple-dial binnacle and neatly designed centre console are particular improvements. So too is that look, feel and usability of the switchgear. The only real let-downs inside are the front seats, which we found a little small. As in Japan, UK cars will get front, side and curtain airbags – six in total.

The old car’s cramped boot has been replaced with a useful 398-litre load bay, which can be extended by folding the seat back down or tumbling the rear bench forward, although there is some wheel arch intrusion.

When it arrives in the UK, the new Grand Vitara will be available with 1.6 and 2.0 petrols and a Renault-sourced 1.9-litre turbo desiel. All come with five-speed manual transmissions, and the 2.0 litre has the option of four speed auto. The 2.7 V6 available in Japan won’t be offered in Europe; a new Euro4 compliant 2.5-litre engine is being developed, and is due early next year.

The new monocoque chassis uses independent MacPherson strut suspension all around, and there’s some genuine off-road hardware nestling under the Vitara’s shell, Along with full time four-wheel drive there’s also a locking centre differential and a generous 200mm of ground clearance. A brief off road test showed us that the Grand Vitara has lost none of its agility in the rough stuff, and there’s even a low-ration gearbox for really sticky conditions.

Along some Japanese mountain roads the Suzuki felt like a very different animal to the old model. Despite the car’s height there’s minimal body roll, and grip and stability are much improved, though the 2.0 lacks the DaimlerChrysler-developed ESP of the 2.7 liter model. The 2.0-litre four is developed from the unit in the current Vitara and, with just 1193 Nm to pull the car’s 1550kg, it is hardly rapid. However, it’s sprightly enough so long as you’re not looking for sparking performance and it’s happy to rev to the red line.

The suspension will be returned for Europe, so it’s hard to give a definitive verdict on the ride, but this Japanese spec car rode comfortably along local mountain roads.