Suzuki Grand Vitara

The Suzuki Grand Vitara is cheap but not appealing. The three-door doesn’t have many rivals so sort of gets away with it, but the five-door is swamped by better stuff.

• Comfort

  The three-door is pretty poor - no rear seat space, a terrible ride, and it's noisy. The longer-wheelbase five-door body is a bit more habitable, thanks partly to a better ride.

  

• Performance

  The 1.6 petrol in the three-door struggles badly, but then you wouldn't want to drive it fast; the 2.0 in the five-door has a better handle on things. But the sensible choice is the Fiat-sourced diesel.

  

• Cool

  No way.

  

• Quality

  The Vitara is reliable for an abuse-inviting 4x4, and all well assembled. But the dashboard is made of cheap plastics and the whole vehicle has a rather tinny feel.

  

• Handling

  The Vitara is a more serious off-roader than rivals. The pay-off is rubbish handling: over-light, vague steering, and a tendency to get knocked about by bumps.

  

• Practicality

  If you live where there is no road at all, the Vitara delivers the practical benefit of being able to drive you home. Otherwise, the SWB isn't very versatile at all, and the five-door merely average.

  

• Running costs

  The Vitara will have pretty much standard-level Japanese costs for servicing, but beware high fuel bills on the petrols and high insurance on all.