I've driven my wife's Suzuki Grand Vitara quite a bit lately, enough to write a review on it. So here goes. The Grand Vitara is the first vehicle I have found that doesn't seem to have a point. It claims to be an SUV. While it is, in fact, a vehicle, it is neither sporty nor utilitarian. It is, in fact, quite useless.

Let's start with the basics... The Grand Vitara is a Suzuki Vitara with some power features, alloy wheels, and a V6 engine. Both Vitaras fit into the "Small SUV" or "Cute-Ute" category, which pretty much spells out "useless vehicle". "Cute-Utes" can't haul much, seldom see off-roading, and are unsafe, as they tip easily. There is no reason to buy a small SUV instead of a station wagon, but many reasons to buy a station wagon instead of a small SUV.

The Grand Vitara is especially small. Unless you fold the rear seats down, it has less cargo space than my 93 regal 2-door. Front seat room is only "adequate", and the rear seats are a bad joke in both space and comfort. All seats feature a hard foam padding that hurts after just 1 hour of driving. Intirior plastics feel cheap and hard, especially the molded rubber steering wheel.

The Grand Vitara driving experience is a method of torture in some countries, although outlawed by the Geneva Conventions. The vehicle swerves when encountered by all but the smoothest roads, or crosswinds over 5 mph. Shifting is harsh, upshifts being met with a violent jerk forward, as if you're driving a top fuel dragster. There is a "Power" button near the gear selector that turns on a dashboard light that says "POWER", but doesn't seem to do anything else. Factory Stereo (no subwoofer in this one) is quiet, tinny, and distorts with the smallest amount of Bass.

Opening a window at speeds over 40mph comes with horrible wind noise, and a steady wind blast straight to the face if the window is opened more than 1 inch. At highway speeds, the engine runs at 3100, with overdrive on. This is very strange for a V6, but the dealership says it is normal. You can imagine what this does for highway fuel mileage. Wind noise, even with windows up, is bad. If cruise control is used, the transmission downshifts from overdrive harshly when encountered with uphill gradients more than 1 degree, buzzes in passing gear for a few seconds, then returns to overdrive, all of which is highly unnecessary. This action is repeated until the "hill" has passed. Even intermediate cornering in rural environments can cause a front wheel to leave the ground, which has a very unsettling feeling to it. On a good note, the combination low gearing/hard shifting is good for stoplight drag-races with those silly kids that drive Honda Civics with go-fast stickers on them.

I urge anyone looking at this vehicle or a similar vehicle to look at a station wagon instead. You'll thank me later.
Amount Paid (US$): 19,500