1993 Suzuki Vitara 5 Door est X-ec 1.6L 16v Efi
Summary:
A Reliable Friend
Faults:
Exhaust started to rattle, just loose heat sheilds.
Nothing else.
General Comments:
I am not ashamed to admit it, but I love Vitara's.
This is my second (had one before Micra) and both have excelled all my requirements. They start first time every time (unlike Micra, 1998 s-reg too) go well enough on road (be careful when it's wet though) and excel away from it.
Latest car is X-ec model, which has a limited slip diff fitted to the rear axle, which improves off-road and winter driving.
Economy is OK, I am getting 26ish mpg from Automatic 5-door estate, not too bad for an old auto 4x4 and the performance is reasonable too.
Vitara's have proven to me to be very hard wearing indeed. Previous Vitara was a 1990 H-reg which we bought with 75,000 miles on it and sold 2 years later with 116,000, it did a large commute daily and never broke down and the only cost excluding servicing was for a rear half of exhaust at £60. We only sold it due to a company car and regretted it ever since!
Current one is in excellent condition inside and out, but has no service history (I'm not worried). It has been well maintained (you can tell when you drive it) have receipts for last 3 years of servicing and It hasn't used any oil or coolant at all with me.
Try one and you'll agree they rarely break down, drive OK and have a character all of there own!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 30th June, 2003
12th Mar 2004, 14:31
Good review, couldn't agree more. Spraying the door interiors with soundproofer/waxoyl helps the noise considerably, as does soundproofer mat in the roof liner if you can be bothered to strip it out. LWB's seem a fair bit more stable to me. In 4WD they're rock solid on 80/20 road tyres.