Category: Small 4x4s 
Price Range: £13,600 to £18,975
Looks neat and contemporary, good off-road ability, handles quite well, good value for a 4x4.
Restless ride, lacklustre performance, coarse engines and transmissions, feels dated to drive.
Not the advance we'd hoped for after experiencing the competent Swift. We await the diesel version with interest: meanwhile, a Kia Sportage is a much better bet.
There's plenty of room in the back, even in the three-door, and the side-hinged tailgate reveals a decent boot with an extra underfloor compartment. The tailgate opens out wide, but is checked at 65 degrees, so it doesn't swing wildly outwards. This also means other drivers can see the rear lights at night when the tailgate is open. You can move it right out to 90 degrees by pulling harder. You can extend the load bay by folding and then tumbling the rear seats forward; they're split 50-50 in the three-door, 60-40 in the five-door. They also recline, and flexible fabric fills the gap between seat-backs and rear shelf. Cupholders abound, and there are three 12v sockets - two on the dashboard (one containing the lighter), one in the boot.
Equipment includes a built-in CD player with remote buttons in the steering wheel, air-conditioning and electric windows. The entry-level three-door has steel wheels, but the Plus model adds the 2.0's alloy wheels (still of 17in), heated mirrors and front foglights for another £600, making a £13,299 total.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Suzuki Grand Vitara
wrote on 16 10 2008