Suzuki Vitara Turbo 2022 review (inc. 0-100)

CarExpert

It's been out for a little while, but we wanted to get behind the wheel of the 2022 Suzuki Vitara Turbo to see if there was still value in the Japanese SUV. Paul Maric gets behind the wheel for a detailed review!  Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2021-suzuki-vitara-turbo-review  More Suzuki content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/suzuki More Suzuki Vitara content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/suzuki/vitara  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior 00:50 Interior 03:24 Infotainment 05:04 Safety Tech 06:27 Practicality 06:58 On Road 10:04 0-100 km/h 13:25 Verdict 15:24  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #suzuki #vitara #review

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. Suzuki has a bit of a cult following in Australia, especially around cars like the Jimny.

00:05 There is a giant waiting list for that thing. One car that we haven't reviewed though, and that is gaining in popularity,

00:10 it's the Vitara. And this one here is the Vitara Turbo. This is the top spec two-wheel drive version.

00:17 It's priced at just under $35,000. That's a little too expensive. The entire range kicks off at just over $25,000.

00:24 This competes with things like the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, the Toyota CH-R, the Hyundai Kona.

00:29 There's a stack of competitors in this segment. Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this car.

00:34 So if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of the review, you can use the time codes up on the screen there,

00:38 or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down and use the chapters below.

00:41 And if you haven't done so already, make sure you subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.

00:45 That's going to tell you every single time we publish reviews of new cars.

00:49 Let's talk exterior. You've got eight external colors to pick from, and all but white is an additional $695,

00:57 or it's around double that if you want a two-tone color like you see here.

01:01 What about the design? Look, I mean, it's inoffensive, but it hasn't changed a great deal.

01:06 This has been out for a little while now. So that means down the front here, you've got this sort of semi-closed-over grille.

01:12 It's actually quite interesting because normally this is where you get air coming in to keep the engine cool,

01:16 but that is entirely closed over. The air gaps are further down here, where you'll also find the radar.

01:22 I think it is a smart-looking design. It doesn't really sort of break the mold,

01:25 and it's sort of fairly consistent with other SUVs in this segment.

01:29 I just think that it'd be nice to see a bit of a refresh here every now and then,

01:32 instead of just continuing with the same design for ages and ages.

01:35 And then over here, you have a set of LED headlights, but unfortunately, you have a halogen high beam.

01:41 That means that your high beam efficiency and also the high beam effectiveness is going to be pretty poor.

01:47 We actually shot a headlight comparison where we compared all the latest headlight technologies,

01:51 and if you want to see why halogen really isn't very good, click up here to watch that video.

01:56 Down the bottom here, you've got a fog light and then a set of LED daytime running lights.

02:00 Whip around to the side. This is where you're going to find your 17-inch alloy wheels.

02:06 This car has the black pack added to it, so that's why you have all the black highlights around the car, including the wheels.

02:12 I think the wheels look great. It's like a matte black finish and really blends in nicely with this paint colour.

02:17 And you can see there the garnish around that wheel trim, a little bit of plastic so that everyone knows you're driving an SUV,

02:23 some faux air vents down the side, indicator built into that wing mirror with a piano black finish.

02:28 This is that two-tone colour I was talking about. You can see here how you have the body colour,

02:32 and then it goes two-tone with black on the roof.

02:35 That's a little bit extra, but I think it really looks nice on the car,

02:38 and it makes it look a little different to every other car on the road.

02:40 Got a set of roof rails here, privacy glass.

02:43 Now, around the back here, you have a set of LED taillights, Vitara with turbo insignia,

02:49 because the entry level is naturally aspirated, so you'll be able to tell this is the top spec with that.

02:54 And then a Suzuki brand down the side there.

02:57 Now, the interesting thing here is you've got kind of like a spoiler, and with the black pack, that is all black.

03:03 You also have down here a reverse light, so they tuck it in down the bottom there, which is really interesting,

03:07 and it kind of keeps all of this nice and clean, because it's all just the same colour with the indicator there.

03:12 So, that is something that you see on a few cars, but it's not seen overly often.

03:17 Now, let me know what you think about the design in the comments section below.

03:20 Do you reckon it needs a bit of an update, a bit of a refresh, or do you think it is good just like it is?

03:24 So, we are inside the Vitara. This is what the key looks like.

03:27 You've got the Suzuki logo up the top there.

03:29 Lock, unlock, and then on the back, it is blank.

03:33 It's a proximity sensing key, so you can just grab the door handle, and then you have a push button start.

03:38 Now, what about the design?

03:39 This is where I think it's slightly lacking. It's starting to feel really dated, and what I mean by that,

03:44 it's just, it feels a bit traditional. You've got vents up the top, infotainment, climate controls.

03:48 A lot of the competitors have now moved forward in terms of the way they present their interior,

03:53 and I think this is starting to feel just a little bit old, but I do like some parts of it.

03:58 I love this analogue clock. I think that the analogue clock, when it's done right,

04:02 it looks really classy inside a cabin, and here it looks fantastic.

04:05 It is a bit silly, though, that you change the infotainment clock settings here,

04:09 but that clock is linked to this screen, so you've got to do two different changes every time you have daylight savings,

04:15 which is a little bit annoying, but anyway.

04:17 In terms of the materials, up the top there, it's like a rubber material,

04:20 but all of this stuff just gets scratchy the lower down that you go.

04:24 This material is interesting. It's like a, it's sort of plastic, but the design is something I haven't seen before.

04:30 Plenty of piano black around here as well.

04:32 We're just going to mark, and you can already see it's getting dusty and stuff like that,

04:36 and this car is virtually brand new.

04:38 Now, what about your touch points, though?

04:39 So, it's a little bit firm, and that is nice and soft over there.

04:43 How soft are they? Well, we've got our durometer.

04:45 We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.

04:48 If you want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before,

04:51 have a look at the link in the description.

04:53 Now, what about build quality?

04:55 Yeah, look, that feels pretty good.

04:57 I remember the last Suzuki we drove, it was the Swift Sport.

05:00 It was kind of not fantastic. This actually feels a whole lot better.

05:03 Let's chat infotainment.

05:05 So, this is the infotainment screen.

05:07 It is pretty small. You've got to look in nice and close to see it.

05:10 Seven inch in size, and it's, okay, so it is small, but it's designed cleverly.

05:15 So, you've got it split into four sections, and you have shortcut buttons along the side there.

05:19 You can change the volume on the steering wheel, or just over on the side here.

05:23 There is no knob, so to speak.

05:25 You do have AM and FM radio. That's off on the edge there.

05:29 You also have inbuilt satellite navigation.

05:32 This works okay. It's nothing spectacular, but it is saved by the fact that it has smartphone mirroring.

05:36 So, I'll click over here to show you what Apple CarPlay looks like.

05:39 Here it is there. Nice and fast, responds very quickly.

05:42 And this is what Android Auto looks like.

05:44 Click on there.

05:45 So, decent size screen again, and pretty quick as well.

05:49 No sort of issues there with lag or anything like that.

05:52 While this is a basic setup, it actually is quite useful,

05:56 because if you don't have a smartphone, you have inbuilt nav,

05:58 but if you do have a smartphone, you simply run it through the smartphone mirroring setup.

06:02 So, in addition to that, you have a six-speaker sound system.

06:04 I tested it out just before.

06:05 It's actually a pretty good sound system for a car like this.

06:08 So, big thumbs up if you like audio.

06:10 Now, I'm curious. I often complain about not having DAB.

06:14 Here, it's just AM and FM.

06:15 Do you think DAB is necessary?

06:17 I listen to it all the time. A lot of you stream music and stuff like that, but I just don't really do that.

06:21 So, let me know in the comments section below.

06:23 Is DAB useful, and should it be on all new cars today?

06:27 Moving on to safety, you have a low-speed AEB system.

06:30 You have a lane departure warning, and the cool thing here is if you switch it off, it stays off.

06:35 It's not like one of these ones where every single time you turn the car on, it goes back on with it.

06:39 So, that's great news.

06:40 You have a blind spot monitor built into that wing mirror.

06:43 Radar cruise control.

06:44 You've got rear cross-traffic alert, and then in terms of parking,

06:46 you have front and rear parking sensors and a reverse view camera.

06:50 I'll show you what that looks like.

06:51 There it is. So, quality is okay.

06:53 It's not amazing. It's sort of pretty average,

06:54 but you do get those guidelines there to help with your parking.

06:57 Righto, practicality, and we'll start with connectivity.

07:00 So, you've got one USB port down here, a 12-volt outlet just next to it.

07:04 If you do need to place your phone somewhere, we'll disconnect this stuff,

07:08 you can pop your phone down here.

07:09 You've also got storage room down the front here,

07:11 but you can tell that it was designed for the older-style phones that weren't as big as this

07:15 because the bigger ones don't really fit into there.

07:19 In terms of storage, though, let's have a look at where your coffee cup's going to go.

07:23 So, it easily fits down the front there, and then look at our bottle.

07:27 Same story. There are no teeth, but it sort of gets tighter at the bottom,

07:31 which means you can kind of just wedge your bottle into there.

07:34 Plenty of storage inside the doors here,

07:35 and I suspect we should actually be able to fit our large bottle there as well.

07:40 Look at that. Bingo. No problems at all.

07:42 Further storage, you've got a little slot down here just next to the driver's knee.

07:46 Center armrest is nice and deep there.

07:48 It also extends forward if you want just a little bit of extra comfort.

07:52 We have a glove box down here that is pretty reasonably sized as well.

07:56 Now, what about comfort?

07:57 So, you have single-zone automatic climate control up the front here.

08:01 I love the look of these seats.

08:02 So, you've got Alcantara sort of suede-like material in a pretty cool sort of pattern along the seat

08:07 with leather on the other side, and that material continues along the door as well.

08:12 In terms of seat adjustment, it is all manual, so forwards, backwards, and then the backrest as well.

08:17 Steering wheel adjustment is up, down, in, and out, and then on our reach test, everything is easy to reach.

08:25 Second row, the Vitara.

08:26 So, let's have a look at our room.

08:28 My driver's seat is pretty far back, and you can see my knees are pretty much against that seat.

08:33 Toe room is good. Headroom is pretty good as well.

08:36 You get one mat pocket behind the passenger seat.

08:39 Outside of that, there really isn't much here.

08:40 There's no USB charging for devices.

08:42 There's no air vents back here.

08:45 Let's see if our bottle fits inside the door.

08:47 It fits in no dramas.

08:49 You'll note there's no centre armrest either, but you do get that same seat material on the outboard seats.

08:55 You also have two ISOFIX points and three top tether points as well.

08:58 Okay, moving on to cargo space.

09:01 Let's crack this boot.

09:02 It's a manual boot, no power tailgate, which is a little disappointing.

09:05 Here you have a little under 400 litres of cargo space available.

09:09 The cool thing here is that it's a dual-tiered floor, so you can move this back to lower the floor all the way to the bottom,

09:16 or you can leave it up at the top there, and it leaves you room for your valuables in here,

09:20 so they can't be seen from the outside.

09:22 Under there, you also have a space saver spare tyre and also the jack as well.

09:27 Off to the sides, you have a storage space for odds and ends, 12-volt outlet and a light, along with some hooks.

09:33 I'll show you what it looks like with our bags inside.

09:35 So laptop bag first, and I forgot our suitcase.

09:38 So we have this one instead.

09:40 This is around the size of an aeroplane carry-on bag,

09:44 so you can see sort of roughly how it fits in there.

09:47 You can expand the space a little bit further.

09:49 Let me show you how that works.

09:50 So get rid of this blind thing.

09:55 All right, pops out there.

09:57 You can easily just drop the second row here just by pushing these out of the way.

10:01 That expands the space to a little over 1,100 litres.

10:05 We've hit the road in the Vitara Turbo.

10:08 So powering this is a 1.4-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine.

10:14 That's why they call it the Turbo.

10:15 It produces 103 kilowatts of power and 220 newton-metres of torque,

10:20 and that's all mated to a six-speed torque converter automatic.

10:23 So standard gearbox here, no dual clutch, no CVT, just regular stuff,

10:28 and I kind of like it for that because it is refreshing to see just a normal gearbox instead of this litany of random stuff.

10:35 They're fitting to SUVs these days.

10:37 While the Vitara is available as an all-wheel drive, this one here is the front-wheel drive,

10:41 and you actually save a fair chunk of money just by going front-wheel drive.

10:45 And when you think about it, all-wheel drive, the whole purpose of it is if you're going to the snow,

10:49 you want that added bit of surety.

10:51 If you're really not planning on doing any, you know, very much light off-roading in your SUV,

10:57 you can save a stack of money just by sticking with front-wheel drive.

11:00 All-wheel drive adds extra complexities.

11:02 It uses more fuel as well.

11:03 So if you desperately don't need it, my advice is to just stick with front-wheel drive in most cases with these smaller SUVs.

11:10 Now, what's it like to drive?

11:11 So 1.4-litre turbo, standard gearbox.

11:14 Let's give it a little kick here.

11:15 Yeah, look, it's not too bad.

11:19 It's pretty eager.

11:20 Like we're doing 80 k's an hour there, and I'll just punch it.

11:23 Yeah, I mean, it's not massively quick, but it's actually surprising how quickly it gets along.

11:31 So I'll give it another kick.

11:32 And the gearbox is pretty fast as well.

11:34 It's not sort of sitting there napping.

11:36 It's one of the advantages of just a standard torque converter.

11:39 You know what to expect with it.

11:40 What about your fuel economy?

11:41 Well, Suzuki claims 5.9 litres per 100 k's.

11:45 We are currently averaging 6.8.

11:48 So it's a little higher than expected.

11:50 I will mention that this is a brand new car, so it's still kind of being run in,

11:54 and I would expect it to sit just a little bit higher.

11:57 It is disappointing to not see a digital speedometer in front of us.

12:00 I can't see a way of making that show up, and I would like to have that,

12:03 because analog gauges are a bit old school.

12:05 But it is pretty cool to see in here you have a clock built into there,

12:09 and then also this kind of G-bubble that keeps track of what you're doing during your drive,

12:15 which I think is a pretty cool little setup,

12:17 and then a power and torque gauge, plus an acceleration and braking meter as well.

12:24 There are no drive modes, so to speak, but you do have the ability to change gears manually.

12:28 You can just flick it down here into manual mode,

12:31 and then you adjust all the gears using the steering wheel,

12:34 or while you are in drive, you can just flick through the gears at any time.

12:38 The advantage of using manual mode is it'll lock it into that position,

12:41 whereas if you do go with the paddles, if you don't use the paddles for a little while,

12:46 it'll just go straight back into drive without telling you.

12:48 Now, what if you do decide to have a little bit of fun with it?

12:51 We'll dive back through a couple of gears here, throw it through a set of corners.

12:56 Look, it has a degree of body roll, but at the end of the day, it's not meant to be a sports car,

13:02 and if you do stay stuck into it, it runs out of breath pretty easily,

13:05 but it's actually pretty fun to drive.

13:07 You've got good feel through the steering wheel,

13:09 and as the speeds pick up a little bit, it gets a little bit more engaging to drive.

13:13 So, yeah, it is going to give you that fun factor behind the wheel

13:16 without putting you in danger of spearing off the side of the road.

13:21 Suzuki doesn't quote a 0-100 time, but we've put it up against our stopwatch,

13:24 and this is how it went.

13:26 So, funny thing, while we were doing the 0-100 there,

13:39 I noticed that it actually has a lot of torque steer.

13:41 It starts sort of veering towards the right, so you've got to hold on to the wheel,

13:45 which is really interesting. It's not a huge amount of power and torque,

13:47 so the fact that it has torque steer is quite interesting.

13:51 It's not dangerous in any way, but just something I thought I'd point out.

13:55 Let's talk about the ride. Look, it's actually really pleasant.

13:58 This car doesn't have low-profile tyres, and as a result of that,

14:01 you're getting a really nice and cushy ride.

14:03 It's also been engineered with comfort in mind. It doesn't have a sporty ride to it,

14:07 so it is fairly sort of neutral and comfortable behind the wheel,

14:11 and that means that if you do find sort of continuous undulations on country roads, for example,

14:16 it's not going to try and launch the car off the pavement.

14:19 It sits nice and settled, and you kind of know what to expect from it all the time.

14:23 Now, what about road noise? You can kind of hear, as we're on this course chip stuff,

14:26 there is a bit of tyre noise coming into the cabin,

14:29 and that's due to a lack of insulation between the road and the cabin.

14:32 It's not at a huge sort of level that's going to be concerning,

14:35 but you will notice it if you do any sort of extensive country road driving at highway speeds.

14:41 Now, while you probably won't be doing any towing with this,

14:43 it does come with a 1,200 kilogram brake to towing capacity.

14:46 Likewise, you're off-roading. Given it is a front-wheel drive, you won't be doing much of that,

14:50 but you do have 185 millimetres of ground clearance.

14:53 Now, let's talk about visibility. So, you have an elevated seating position,

14:56 so out the front there, it's great. I can see the edges of the car.

14:59 The wing mirrors are good, but could be bigger. You do have a blind spot monitor built into those.

15:03 Looking out the back, it's a fairly narrow window,

15:06 and it will be impeded by those headrests if you do have other passengers in the car,

15:10 so it is worth just making sure those get tucked down if you don't have anyone in the second row.

15:15 And finally, turning circle of 10.4 metres.

15:19 That's actually really nice and tight. Basically just turns on a dime, so that's really good.

15:24 So, the Suzuki Vitara Turbo. What do we reckon?

15:27 Look, it is a nice car. I think it's great to drive, it rides well,

15:31 and it has more than enough room inside for your things.

15:34 It is just slightly let down by the technology. It's starting to feel a little bit dated.

15:38 If you look at the rest of the competitors in this set,

15:40 they're starting to get things like the big LCD displays in place of analogue gauges.

15:45 The infotainment systems are bigger, so this is starting to feel a little bit old.

15:49 So, hopefully we'll see a new Vitara soon.

15:51 But, in saying that, if you can snag one for a good price,

15:54 they are a car that just keeps on going forever and ever.

15:56 I think it really is a fun car that puts a smile on your face.

15:59 Now, let me know in the comments section, have you bought a Vitara?

16:02 What's it like? And if you did enjoy this video, make sure you like it and share it with your mates.

16:06 And if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.

16:10 But, until next time, take it easy.

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