The all new, fourth generation Suzuki Vitara goes toe to toe against Subaru's facelifted XV. Which family-hauling, four-wheel drive will emerge victorious?
CONSUMER REVIEWS
3.5
15 Consumer Reviews
Unique SUV made in Hungary`
This is a nice looking SUV. It is compact and the choice of dual tone colors is nice.
However, the sunroof reduces the headroom for rear passengers quite a bit. Also the sunroof only has a sort of shade to prevent the sunlight from coming through which may not be ideal in our hot weather.
Unfortunately there is no option for those who do not need the sunroof (and save some $$ along the way).
There is also no longer an option for the AllGrip AWD which some folks may want for trips up north; This is a pity as it could be a unique selling point as Suzuki is well known for its AWD.
Notwithstanding the above, the Vitara is still an interesting SUV that stands out from the crowd
Now as you can guess from my name, I'm a Suzuki fan. My first car was a Swift 1.0 T and it was a cheap to run, excellently built, and fun car. Reliable too, never gave any of us owners any problems. And so that faith drove me to upgrade to the Vitara.
Firstly, Champion Motors (CM) is quick in getting your COE, as they need to shift as many units as quickly as possible. However it takes you a long time to get your car. My guess is, delivery is tied to Borneo Motors, so...No real prizes for guessing the priority order.
Secondly, all car loans must be taken from Borneo, at a very uncompetitive and non-negotiable 2.3%;. I visited most of the competitors, and mostly were below 2%. Makes a big difference when you take a 7 year loan.
CM is quite reluctant when offering freebies. My sales rep actually had to fork out cash to get me the rear dash cam when I got my swift. Sadly the same couldn't be done for my Vitara.
Finally on to the car:
Dashcam failed the day after I collected the car. Called the service center and was told I had to do a walk in, but was told walk ins were not entertained for the month of Feb as they had closed down Bukit Batok and Ubi branch to save cost, leaving only Pandan branch open. Drove like a scaredy cat till my first service in March where I could replace it.
Gear 1 has a high pitch whine. I never knew an AT gearbox could sound like a CVT. Service center did some sort of scan and told me nothing was wrong, hence nothing was done. Don't recall this sound on my Swift nor the Vitara test car.
Rattle from the roof on the passenger side was highlighted, they added insulation and it is quieter now, but a new rattling has developed on the drivers side. Back to the workshop!
The new solar film company working with CM is terrible, lots of dust and air bubbles. It was flawless on my Swift 2 yrs ago.
The Vitara was kinda my holy grail, it checks all my boxes and felt like a car I was going to use till scrap. There are definitely QC, and I daresay design issues with this car, which is a terrible shame as it's quite the looker and the 1.4 Boosterjet is nothing short of excellent. In short, unlike the dealers name, I definitely feel like I lost out here.
Aesthetically looking car. Exterior features and pleasing and easy to wash and c...`
For an SUV, it is quite economical. For a 3-yr old car, I am constantly getting about 13.5 km/L. With large glass panels all round, the view is superb. Adequate leg room. Other than a glove compartment, there are plenty of small compartments in the interior of the car, not forgetting the large and small boot compartments. Aircon is good.
What I hate is the default engine auto stop/start feature. Each time it restarts after a stop, everyone in the car can feel the whole car vibrating and the engine making loud cranking sounds. I have to switch this feature off whenever I start the car. I am hoping the workshop can switch the default to off mode or better still, deactivate this mode off permanently for me. The one who designed this feature ought to be sent for retraining. I recommend he/she be sent to Mazda as my previous car, a Mazda also had this feature but I hardly know the engine restarted each time.
The new 1.4 Turbo Vitara is an underdog in the small compact SUV. Not many people is interested in this model, especially when the previous 1.6 engine was a letdown in terms of acceleration and power.
A couple of months back I was looking for a small compact SUV;
HR-V, CX3,Subaru XV, Qashqai were my shortlisted models. I was not keen in continental makes due to bad experiences previously which i will not mention here. I am also not comfortable with buying PI models and prefer Authorised dealers.
I almost decided on a HR-V with Kah Motors as the design and features was my favourite out of the choices. My decision changed when i stepped into Champion Motors and test drove the new Vitara.
The drive was impressive: eager acceleration, very little body roll while turning and the car feels like it wants to keep going faster! Handling was good and i felt in control of the car at all times. Wide windows all around with clear visibility. Paddle shifts to give that extra boost when you feel like it.
I eventually booked one and has been driving for a month now. Fuel consumption is about 12.5km/Liter. Just did my 1000km servicing at Toyota and all the experience was good. Hence i decided to write this review to share.
If you share the same shortlists as me, don't pass the new Vitara, go for a test drive and experience it for yourself. It did won me over.