Faults:

Driver's seat had loose bolts, stated at 10k, still loose after many fixes at dealer.

I also noticed today that the driver's seat bolsters have a lot of wear for 24k.

A/C system completely went out at about 15k, replaced under warranty, but they had the car a full week. Luckily I put my foot down to get a rental.

Transmission had a rough/startling downshift issue after being at highway speeds which was fixed, but I had to find the TSB myself and give it to the dealer.

Radio was replaced under warranty as the screen would fade in summer months. Second unit is doing the same thing.

Tires are complete junk, they were worn down in the back at 17k, and at the steel belts by 21k. Unacceptable really for a new car to need tires that early.

General Comments:

Most of the problems I have had with the car came up in the first 15k of ownership, and I attribute some of this to this being the first year out of the new model. My advice is to skip this year, and buy a 2007 and up if you are set on a Grand Vitara.

The car is not a bad value overall, so I have mixed feelings about it. If you are a tall person over 6 feet and need leg room and head room, this truck deserves a look. Needless to say I will not be back for a newer version. It is just not a car that makes you excited to own it. There are highs and lows, and Suzuki in general seems to be aiming toward mediocre in their vehicle lineup.

Since I have the base model and 2wd, I find that the V6 engine is good, and I am never at a loss of power. This is my favorite facet of the truck. The handling is not bad for a small SUV. Gas mileage is not great around town, surprisingly bad actually, and the instant mileage readout on the dashboard is worthless.

Seat comfort is OK around town, but anything over 3 hours and you will be squirming. The biggest issue about the interior is the seat comfort. The plastics on the doors could be better, otherwise the interior is pleasant to look at and there is tons of front leg room.

Some design issues need to be addressed, such as the gas gauge being far off to the right, and not in your line of sight. Good thing they have a low gas light there! Also, the headlight setup takes getting used to. The headlights and indicator light are poorly done and you actually need to think about what "mode" you are in at night... The stock radio needs more power, the highway drowns it right out.

The truck seems to wear out tires much faster than normal which is a big problem as the tires are not inexpensive to replace. The dealer was not interested in talking about tires, although happy to do a rotation at a fee, which I agreed to do. I ended up replacing the tires soon after.

Faults:

Windshield wipers have gotten stuck a couple times when I've turned them off.

Acceleration is very slow when going uphill, and especially on the freeway.

General Comments:

This truck was a great value! The MSRP is around $25,000 and I got it for $21,000 with all the rebates. It's beautiful inside and out! It looks at least $30,000.

The V6 is not too powerful: even with cruise control on, it won't keep at the speed I set it at when going uphill. It's nice to drive around town, but the highway is a little bit irritating because of its slowness, and changing lanes becomes a bit frightening. If I set the cruise control at 70, even going up a slight hill will cause the car to slow down to 66. That isn't really a big deal though. I picked up this truck from Suzuki of East Tennessee and drove it back to my home in Georgia and it performed quite well.

One thing a bit irritating is how the steering wheel shakes. City driving is fine, but the long distance drive home from Tennessee put my arms to sleep a couple times with all the vibrating.

Lumbar support is lacking; on the drive home I had to stop a couple times to crack my back.

I need more storage compartments! I can't put my phone in the armrest hole on the door because it'll slide right through. In my 2001 Nissan Altima I had a little coin-holder built into the cup-holder area, so that was convenient going through toll plazas, something suburbanites have to do everyday when they need to go to Atlanta for work, fun, and school. There are cup-holders, a sunglasses-compartment, an armrest-compartment, and the glove-box for storage. Before I purchased the truck, I read many consumer reviews about the '06 GV not having enough storage, and I thought that was silly at the time, but now that I own the vehicle and have been driving it for three weeks, I agree with the reviews.

One thing odd about the truck is that there isn't a blue hazy sun-blocker at the top of the windshield; this isn't problematic though.

SmartPass is so convenient. Being in Atlanta is a bit scary at night, and the last thing I want to do is to dig through my purse searching for my keys while I'm walking to the car. I like to be aware of my surroundings at all times, and with SmartPass I can do that easily. Luxury cars have this, and my Luxury 4x4 GV was only $21k and this feature was STANDARD!

The warranty and standard features make this car a steal. The six-in-dash CD changer is great, and the steering wheel audio controls are very useful. They don't light up at night though, but they're easy to memorize.

The car reads INSTANT miles per gallon, instead of average, which is basically useless. It's more of a distraction than anything. The EPA mpg says that it gets 19/23; I haven't tested it yet.

It's quite a roomy car. There are so many accessories too to really jazz up your truck! I've got the chrome-looking hood vents (really sporty looking), body-side molding to protect my doors, mud-flaps, and the stainless steel exhaust.

The pros absolutely outweigh the cons. Purchase this vehicle today and smile everytime you drive it, like I do.

Faults:

No problems so far.

General Comments:

We have owned this Grand Vitara for a month now and I cannot think of anything negative to say. We are previous Suzuki owners so we were familiar with the quality of product they make. The new body style was appealing, but the extra safety features won us over because we have a 2 year old. The interior has plenty of room for a family to travel on a long trip. With all the standard features, this vehicle is definitely a bargain in this price range.

If you need get other accessories (i.e. roof cross bars or a tow hitch), I would recommend purchasing them from the dealer rather than after market. I priced the after market products and they were almost double. Suzuki offers the roof cross bars, tow hitch and trailer light adapter in one bundle called "the Travel Package". I installed these items myself at home and was surprised at how easily the installation went. The cross bars attach to the existing roof rails in about 10 minutes, the trailer hitch and light adapter were on in about 1 hour.