The Vitara drove really well, for us it hit all the marks we'd set.
The 1.6 petrol had a bit of a muted growl and as pointed out earlier, around 4000 rpm the power comes on cam nicely and the muted growl turns almost into a muted snarl, redline it and like most cars, it thrashy (and the salesman poops it).
It's not blessed with lots of torque, but it happily slipped third at slow enough speeds without shuddering and juddering, probably due to the weight (it's only 45kg's or so heavier than a Panda)
5 gears seems a bit mean these days, but they are spaced about right for a vehicle like this.
The 'box is slick enough with and average length of throw, nothing shocking or nasty.
Clutch nice and light with good feel, so much so I balanced it first time on a hilly junction without problems.
The steering is light, almost too light for me (not the Mrs though)
It's a bit odd at speed on the straight ahead, it's not loose, just not the weight and feel you'd expect.
I've read the tyres need setting to comfort pressures, then this gets better.
Brakes have lots of feel without being too keen (like my Panda 4x4).
They're normal and that's praise!
Comfort and ride good.
Seats are comfy, though you can feel an edge in the fabric in the back panel around the lower shoulder blades, I noticed this in the show room cars and passenger seat of the demo.
Drivers seat was better as it's had more use.
I think they just require a bit of breaking in to flatten the seam a bit.
Support is good and my biggest complaint of the Panda, the short seat squab under my thighs, isn't an issue.
They're lots of room between front seats (first thing you notice after the Panda)
Lots of airy space, lots of seat adjustment (both fronts have height adjusters)
Steering wheel adjust up and down, in and out, so setting a comfy position is easy.
Rear room is good for 2 adults to sit in comfort, 3 for short trips if they like each other as the middle seat is a bit tight and there's a hump in the floor.
Leg room behind the drivers seat was acceptable even behind the 6'6" salesman's seat setting.
As written before, some of the plastic trim isn't the best, but the bits you do touch aren't nasty or plush, just acceptable (for us).
Front window ledge a bit high though, for the arm out the window.
Out on the road I steered for every bump and hump I could find and it coped well, soaking most of it up without troubling us inside.
One really bad side road had the back end shimmy/flex a bit, like boxy estate cars tend to do. You do notice you're in a long box!
But to be fair, we ran our 4x4 Panda down the same road on the way home and it rattled and bounced us out of our seats, the surface was actually worse than the Vitara made out!
Body lean was ok, I didn't really notice it at normal speeds, but I took a large roundabout a lot faster than I normally would in any car to see what would happen.
It turned in, leaned a little and then understeered out rather throw us into the side windows! Just as a FWD car should.
All in all, it does have less noticeable drawbacks than we're noticed on similar cars in the same market.
There's nothing we've noticed that we might have said "we might have to live with that", like limited head room in the back, odd shaped boot, poor seat adjustment, blind spots and the rest.
Styling is down to taste, but I think it looks right, nothing looks odd from any angle, it's not Lambo pretty but it ain't ugly. (like the S Cross)
Suzuki have done enough for it's market without adding in too many foibles or niggles, they targeted it just under most of it's rivals, price wise as well.
They've been quite clever really, they've kept it light, cheap and quite nice to drive without throwing out the stuff you really want or need, but the price is a few scratchy plastics, most of which you'll not touch anyway.
