Steve replied:

Downsizing from what ?

Nifty,, replied:

Pajero,,

GARY replied:

We did a 25km beach run as a group, and I was behind a guy in a 2000 Grand Vitara. The terrain was variable, with wash-aways, deep ruts, and very soft patches. The only problem he had was with low ground clearance on the deeper ruts, and the fact that the tyres are more suited to a Hwy - the profile is too low, and the tread pattern clogged with sand. Otherwise, he made the distance. PS - he also complained of limited cargo space in the back.

AK replied:

Nifty, I own a 2002 model V6 Grand Vitara and found it to be very good, the only drawbacks are limited ground clearance ( 2 inch spring lift fixed that ) and limited storage space ( you need to pack carefully) the range of tyre choice is also limited. The car will never go as far as a Nissan patrol etc we were very surprised at the performance of the vehicle on club trips so were other club members.
Hope this helps.
AK
PS the seats are rock hard.

rene replied:

We own a 2000v6 grand vitara we did the Birdsville track in sept 2002 we also pulled a camper trailer we had no problems only the dust its not made for off road it has that many unseen vents as we found out the seats arnt that hard and if you put thought into packing there is quite a bit of room there was two of us and we even took the kitchen sink