Suzuki Club UK

Hey there

Is there any great difference between escudos and vitaras? Ive been looking for 5dr vitara for a while and come across this one.

Are parts easy to obtain etc? Any infomation would be greatly appreciated.
My red sj van will be up for sale with lots of extras soon to fund this one perhaps..

Many thanks in advance
Dan

I think i am right in saying they are basically all the same general spec but they are given specif names for specific markets,the only thing that could change are small things to comply to the countries motoring spec,but they would only be very small changes.

I have the exact same model albeit it comes under the Vitara badge,not sure what lump that has but i love my V6 one as its as sweet as anything and pulls like a train when the wick is turned up.

Only major thing you do have to watch with that model is that they have a plastic sill cover that run the full length of the motor and that can trap water and this is the main rust area on these models.I had to get mine done last year but it will last another 5 years i reckon.it does not have to be pretty welding/metal work as long as its legal as it is covered up again by the plastic sill cover.

thank you for your reply.
It has a 1600 injection engine. Electric windows all round, air con, headlight washers. pretty smart really. Id like to renew brakes,belts, bearings etc. would motor factors be best bet to source parts?

I have noticed a few areas of rust that will need doing for mot on the sills. will find out the full extent when the covers are removed.

Only other issue is clunk from rear when going forward to reverse sometimes.. any ideas?
Are roofracks/bars available for this model?

Thanks again

Well thats got more spec than what mine has,especially aircon and headlight washers,but mine does have electric windows though.

Cannot see any reason why you cannot use motor factors to source parts,why pay a premium when basically the parts are exactly the same,if it was say a brand spanking new motor then the answer would be yes.But if you start buying genuine Suzuki parts which are hard to find as well i would have thought,Ebay is your friend here for new parts as service parts ie airfilters and the like are much much cheaper than from a garage.

Biggest rust traps but not necessary MOT failures are rust appears inside the rear doors on the wheel arch,its mainly cosmetic as the door when closed cover it up,but the same killer for all these Vitaras are the sills that hold the rust,not a major job to do but worth looking out for.

The rear clunk could be just play in the transmission as over time the old truck have a little play as with all 4x4's its not a major thing i dont think but just a little play.Of course i stand to be corrected on this one but i get a slight clunk on mine.

Regarding roofbars mine does not have them either,also as far as i can see no possible way of mounting them either,cannot recall if they have gutters on them otherwise after market roof bars could be a option.

But the way that i look at it,these older model Vitaras are just to be enjoyed with the minimal of expense,if you end up by lots of toys for it then the original cheapish price starts shooting up.

Of course its your money and you can do what you like with it,but i find i keep my expense on them to a bare minimum just to keep it legal and reliable.

Apart from that mine has done i would think about 30k miles in 18 months without any problems mechanical what so ever,apart from the normal sill problem but when i worked out the expoense on that which if i recall cost me about £150 for both sill and to keep it on the road for say another 2-3 years then the expense was well worth it.

It is cool but then it is more to go wrong, electric mirrors etc..
good thing its all working at the moment.

Thank you for your advice on parts and rust spots.
I will give her a good clean, pull up the carpets up, pull sill covers off etc to see whats hiding

Thats awesome, good to hear, glad i stayed with a suzuki!

Thanks again, happy motoring!

Place plastic sill covers in a bin...fix sills and paint them. Then never worry about water creeping in and rusting them out again.