Suzuki Grand Vitara diesel.

Hi Rex,
I cant speak from personal experience as I do not own one. But if my memory is correct I read an article about the diesel when it was released last year. I think it is a 1.9litre turbo diesel RENAULT engine that is used in the Vitara -from the very same company that Nissan souced their 3 litre 4 cylinder diesel engine from (anecodetly known as the grenade I am reliably informed from reading posts on this site). Maybe the 1.9litre engine is entirely different but no one will probably know for a few years whether they will have any longevity or not. I doubt you will ever see too many with 700K Km on them like a Toyota diesel or the old 4.2 litre Nissan diesel.
But then again perhaps I am too cynical...
Cheers
GPM

Rex,

The vehicle was a contender for the Overlander 4WD of the year. Did very well. There is a report in the February edition of Overlander magazine.

Wayne

You may also want to look at the Kia Sorento as well ??

8l/100 K's.....more capable off road.....5 yr warranty....have driven one and performance and ride quality is very good !!

Both it and the Suzie got good reports in road tests.....the Suzie slightly better on road and the Kia slightly better off road..

Rex
We have a 2008 grand vitara diesel since may 08. Very happy with both in town and open road. Very good on unsealed roads. Have taken it into sand an have coped OK. Can let the tyres down to 10 psi but I think I you should put on some AT tyres if I am going to do a lot of off road stuff. The clearance is much better than any other similar sized vehicles.
We to it with an A frame behind the Winnebago and it handles that with no problem.
I get around 12k/l around Perth and between 12 and 14 on the road depending on speed and load. To me it is still short of a gear (needs 6 not the 5) as once you get 110 and over we come back under 12 k/l. Just under 100k/h seems a reasonable balance but if you want to travel at about 85k/h then I have found fuel economy goes to a bit over 15 k/l.
All these figure are based on the readout on the car which seems accurate.
Over all I am very happy with my decision as I have an economical and comfortable car that will get me to most off road places I want to go.

Hi Rex,

We have a 2005 petrol Grand Vitara and are very happy with it. Did 15000 kms last year towing our CT without any problems on a mixture of tar and dirt. Use it in Tas for going bush and only problem we have found is with the tow bar. How it is connected to the vehicle gives it only the base 200mm clearance and we often hit it on rocks. The pretty little metal trim didn't last very long. Also unsure what the new tow ball weight is but the 2005 is 85kg even though the Vitara is rated to tow 1850 kg. Don't get to tow much. Otherwise couldn't be happier with it as a unit.

Thommo

Dont believe all you read on the internet but this guy certainly has not been happyVITARA