Revitalised Vitara Back On The SUV Bandwagon

Suzuki launched the Grand Vitara in the Indian market a couple of years ago, but it didn’t quite cut it with the Indian consumer. But the Vitara is ready to take another shot at the urban SUV market with the new Vitara.

The old Vitara was a little boxy, this one is sleeker. It definitely belongs to the modern breed of compact SUV’s - slightly urbane, with soft roader slickness. The front gets a mesh grill and wraparound dual beam headlamps, larger flare wheel arches and a large integrated bumper. The riding waistline leads you to the rear, and that’s where the Vitara’s looks fall. The stacked up tail-lights are too loud for my taste.

Inside, the Vitara gets an all black appeal. Yes, you heard right, Maruti’s offering all black interiors for the Vitara. So after the SX4 campaign that said men are back, maybe the vvitara’s will say men in black!! To break the monotony there are splashes and dashes of plastic chrome. The meter on the dash that shows you time, temperature and fuel consumption really caught my fancy. Storage space isn’t lacking, thanks to the cubby holes for storage. The central console houses a neatly integrated CD player. However, I thought that the plastic quality is quite poor. Space wise the Vitara seats 5 – and really loses out by not offering a seven-seat option.

Now the interesting bits. Powering the Vitara this time is a leaner 2 litre V4 petrol engine. It is a bit of a step down from the old rubber shredding 2.7 - V6. But 119.5 bhp and 170 Nm of torque aren’t to be scoffed at either, especially when you realise that you’ll be able to clock lot more kms to the litre. The new V4 is also smarter, more sensitive to your style because of the drive by wire technology.

Despite the technology and V-design, this is not the most refined engine around. Put your foot down, it gets coarse and harsh. It also doesn’t have the punchy torque of the older Vitara. Now, don’t get me wrong its still quick but more sedate. After all, it does manage the 0-100 in 13.8 seconds. Not bad for a SUV. A five speed gearbox works in-sync with the engine to keep the momentum going, but you do need to flex your muscles to get the gear lever into place. If that bothers you, there is always the option of a hassle-free 5 speed automatic gearbox.

The new ladder frame and independent suspension give the Vitara a good ride handling compromise. As far as the handling goes, the Vitara corners well at high speeds and body roll is well contained. But the steering response is spot on. Turn this one into a corner and it’ll go exactly where you want.

This is an absolute leap forward from the earlier Vitara and it has been achieved by making the ride firmer than before. This has made the back seat experience better - by minimizing the bouncing around while still managing to soak up bad roads reasonably well.

Now the real test of an SUV is in its mud raking ability – and the verdict is that it can off-road, and pretty darn well. It’s loaded with an all-time 4-wheel drive with options for 4-wheel high for light off-roading and 4-wheel low for the seriously sticky situations. Which means you can take the Vitara to your farmhouse, down to the lakeside, into a field, and onto hilly terrain with ease.

However when you get back onto tarmac, you may feel that some field mice have hitched a ride, gauging by the squeaks on your car!. The Vitara I tested had notched around 900 kms but sounded like it had done a whole lot more.

Maruti has had a spate of launches this year. With the SX4, they broke the small car manufacturer mould, now with the Vitara they’ve taken it one step further. Suzuki has a history of making great compact SUV’s. The Gypsy was a rage in India, and the Jimny, Samurai and Vitara have done well worldwide.

I think the main reason the Vitara didn’t do well in India was because of its price. Well Maruti have got that right this time - at Rs 13.8 lakhs ex-Delhi or a 16.5 lakhs on-road for the Manual version in Mumbai. It’s a great buy and with the backing of the Maruti brand there will be a lot of eyeballs turning in this direction. Rightfully so.