The new Suzuki 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.
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