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— Kris Ashton
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It’s available in two grades, the Suzuki Vitara Hybrid for $38,990 before on-road costs, and the Hybrid All Grip for $44,990 before on-road costs.
The Suzuki Vitara is classed as a small SUV, which puts up against hybrid competition including the Chery Tiggo 4 (from $27,990), MG ZS ($30,990), GWM Haval Jolion ($31,790), Toyota Corolla Cross ($41,990) and Honda HR-V ($42,900).
The Suzuki Vitara Hybrid comes with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which puts it at level pegging with Toyota and Honda but well short of the 10 years and 250,000km offered on the MG ZS Hybrid+. Servicing is every 12 months or 15,000km, with the cost ranging between $329 and $559.
The Vitara Hybrid is cursed with Suzuki’s silly gear shifter where the manual selector is at the bottom of the shift pattern, so you can’t just slide it all the way back and know you’re in drive. That and a traditional manual handbrake don’t exactly make a great first impression.
Throttle response isn’t what you’d call immediate, although the electric assistance does make a difference and the Vitara Hybrid has plenty of punch from a standing start; for mid-range acceleration it needs to kick down to really deliver the torque. The engine can be quite noisy and coarse under duress and the Vitara Hybrid does have a stop/start fuel saving system – although, unlike many of its ilk, it starts up very quickly and seldom causes interference when taking off at lights.
The car feels light on its pins and dynamically the chassis and suspension are quite well sorted, as we found while putting the Vitara Hybrid through its paces on a slalom course at Sydney Motorsport Park. The steering is light, as well, which likely reflects the urban environment the Vitara is primarily designed for.
For a vehicle with coil springs front and rear, the Vitara Hybrid doesn’t have the plushest or most settled ride and it transmits bumps through to the cabin on occasion. It’s not what you’d call the quietest interior, either – NVH levels aren’t terrible but ‘insulated from the outside world’ isn’t a phrase that jumps to mind when describing the Vitara Hybrid.
Thankfully, safety bings and bongs are nowhere in evidence and the lane keeping assistance seems to know the right time to intervene rather than hassling the driver at every available opportunity.
The Suzuki Vitara Hybrid’s crucial point of difference compared to rivals is the locking diff in the All Grip. While it’s not a rock-climbing beast, the All Grip showed considerable off-roading aptitude on hilly and slippery sections of the 4WD course at Sydney Motorsport Park and that could be a real asset to more adventurous types.
What exactly does the Suzuki Hybrid offer over its cheaper petrol siblings? The answer is less power, a dribble more torque, and a thimbleful of fuel saved every 100km.
For many years Suzuki has traded on being the more affordable Japanese brand, but with Chinese marques taking big strides forward in performance and presentation while also keeping the squeeze on prices, the Vitara Hybrid could be the answer to a question no one is asking.
