The Grand Vitara has always been a rather agricultural beast, but Suzuki has realized that the expectations of buyers of small four-wheel drives have moved on. The new 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. Read the rest of this entry »