Grand Vitara owners. Opinions wanted.

[dan_2k_uk]

The need has arisen to swap Helens Jimny for something better for getting older passengers in the rear and motorway cruising.

Looking at a LWB (rear doors) and hopefully a decent trim level.

What engines do others have and if you have a big one would you prefer a smaller one and if you have a smaller one would you prefer a bigger one?

Potentially going to do a bit of towing in the not to distant future too. Nothing too heavy.

Cheers.

[Darrell]

I only have the SWB 1600 so no use for what you have in mind.
OK on the motorway but could do with a larger engine as it slows down a lot on hills.
Reckon it would be crap for towing anything more than a little trailer.
Diesels have a lot more torque..

[Ginger_boy]

Hi i have two

1.6 3dr 2002 convertible lots of fun but absolute no practicality at all goes ok but getting in and out the back a little bit of a pain.

2ltr 5dr 2004 not bad interior can be a little plastic. Goes ok boot reasonable but with push chair most room taken up. Have roof bars and top box.

1999-2005 version.
As far as i can recall there are 1.6 & 2lt 3dr soft top and hard top versions 2lt and 2.7v6 five door.
XL7 this is the dady of them 7seater which is a longer 5door rear 2 seats fold down for an enormous boot i think this only had the 2.7 v6. These had quite high levels of spec. Leather seats possible air con to the rear, front fogs, heated wing mirrors, heated seats, driver and passenger arm rests faux walnut dashes etc.

There are also diesel powered versions.

if i had found a XL7 i would have gone for one of them.
My wife loves her 5dr GV, but she also is potty about the 92 sammi

[RickUK]

My only input is that i have the older LWB Vitara but mine has the fabulous V6 engine in it,which at 1st i thought would be a thirsty old beast too run,but my way of thinking is that they are a massive amount of metal to drag around with a small engine,I can sit on the motorway at the legal limit and its not thrashing the engine rev wise like a smaller engine would do so its possible that it may work out the same fuel wise as a smaller engine if that makes sense.

I am also looking at a GV for my wife as well and that will also have the V6 engine in it as well but they must be manual gearboxes other wise if they have the auto box that could be expensive to run.

Just my personal opinion of course,one thing that i dont really think is a wise move is going down the diesel engine route,as not only do they command a higher price but the actual cost per gallon is alot more expensive,the bottom line is you can buy alot of petrol for the price of paying for buying a diesel truck and at about 4-5p a litre more to buy the fuel.

I think you can tell i just love the Suzuki V6 engine option.

[dan_2k_uk]

The only things I know for sure is that we want a petrol and we don't want the XL7. Ugly thing in my opinion.

[ScottieJ]

I found the old 2.5 v6 GV quite thirsty but it did depend how it was driven, on long journeys it was quite good for a 6 cylinder, on short journeys and around town it wasn't too great though, probably still cheaper to run than my Sj

They have bags of torque and do go well though!!

Tbh I wouldn't rule out any of the engine choices, the j20a is good and so are the diesels, however te diesels do seem to suffer from immobiliser issues.

[Jay18]

I've got the 2.0 16v auto 5 door (LWB)

Seems good on fuel and my dad has driven 140 miles in it today and said it went really well, just a bit of a white knuckle ride over 70mph, but we think that's down to a warped disk, I really like it and I haven't even driven on the road yet but I'll be insuring it for me on Saturday so I'll post back when I've driven it for a bit...

[dan_2k_uk]

Think we are going to struggle to find the exact model we want.

There seem to be quite a few different bumpers and trim styles etc.

We want a single colour one with a certain type of bumper, 2.5 V6, leather trim, Nice Alloys.

Would prefer a manual but auto isn't totally out of the question. What are the auto boxes like. Are they constantly flitting around between gears etc. or are they pretty good?

[RickUK]

They do a EX version of the LWB that has everything all singing all dancing that comes with it,also most come with a manual and the auto gearbox,i would have said that the smaller 4 cylinder job with a auto box would 'constantly flitting around between gears' but not so much with the V6.

I am still amazed how frugal the V6 engine is,of course if you gun it off from the traffic lights in a street race then of course the fuel will take a caning but then so will any car.But the GV is not a high speed boy racer is it.

Me thinks you will be most suprised on how good they are too drive.

[Tramp]

I don't know what style of GV your looking at but my missus is the new shape (but not the facelift) with the monoque body, I personally think it's a great looking car, ours is the 16v 2litre version and we've owned it from 30k right through to now (65k), considering things now we would have been better going for the bigger engine as this one is a little underpowered and isn't very frugal, at motor way speeds it sounds hurried and really could do with another gear, other than that it has been a great family hack that has hardly needed any maintenance and has been a reliable run about, when your looking at these newer ones it's worth considering only the Lwb has the low box.