Road Test: Suzuki Vitara wants to get its turf back

Imagine inventing a brilliant new technology, only to sit back and see it comprehensively overtaken by a tidal wave of competitors, doing it slightly differently and slightly better.

Think of Minidisc. Invented and patented by Sony in 1992, this was the first portable, digital, re-recordable audio technology. It was brilliant, it was reliable, it was of exceptional quality. And it was given a comprehensive kicking by MP3, which was, eventually, cheaper, easier and more adaptable.

For Minidisc, substitute the Suzuki Vitara. Way back in 1988, long before the world and its dog knew that what it wanted was a compact, urbanite SUV, Suzuki launched a compact, urbanite SUV. It was successful, of course, eventually selling about 5,000 cars in Ireland over the years, but it was allowed to drift in development and failed utterly to capitalise on the boom in small-soft-roader sales of the past few years.

In fact, Suzuki was still for a long while trying to sell the Vitara (then upgraded to larger Grand Vitara status) with a low-ratio gearbox.

Well, the original is now back. The Vitara (it's not grand anymore, apparently) is making a return, and it's been to soft-roader finishing school. So, it's shrunk back from the bloated size of models like the Grand Vitara and the seven-seat XL7. It's now a spot-on size rival for the likes of the Opel Mokka, Mazda CX-3 and Peugeot 2008.

A spot-on price rival too. When it departed this realm, the old Grand Vitara would set you back north of €35,000. This new one clocks in with a starting price of €19,999 for the 1.6 petrol GL model, which comes with niceties such as Bluetooth phone connection and a DAB radio, air conditioning and cruise control and all-round electric windows.

Spec up to the €20,995 GL+ model and you get a rather neat touchscreen system that connects to your smartphone. If you want a diesel, it's the same 120hp 1.6-litre engine that Suzuki buys in from Fiat, and which has already been seen in the rather impressive SX4 S-Cross. It'll cost you €22,995 for a GL+ model.

And it’s a rather sprightly performer. A touch noisy from cold, yes, but it really gives the Vitara a proper kick up the backside, performance-wise. It has a sweet-shifting six-speed gearbox.

Emissions are 106g/km for the front-wheel drive version or 111g/km for the four-wheel drive model.

Ah yes, four-wheel drive. You see, while other small SUVs have basically given up on the idea of off-roading, or pay mere lip service to it, the Vitara has retained its rough-ground abilities.

The low-range gears have gone, but in comes a switchable Allgrip four-wheel-drive system that toggles between Sport, Mud/Snow and Auto settings and a hill-descent control.

Thus equipped, the Vitara shrugged off a reasonably taxing little off-road course strewn with mud, pot-holes, gravel and grass. Buyers of the version we tested (€27,995) could be feeling very smug come winter.

Okay, so that’s the mud and snow taken care of. What about tarmac? Well, the news is mostly good. Suzukis tend to be pretty decent to drive, and the new Vitara is no exception.

It has well-weighted steering, responds well to cornering inputs and generally feels well sorted on twisting country roads and nicely stable on dual carriageways. It could do with sharper brakes though (they work fine, but need a good shove) and the suspension gets unpleasantly noisy over rural lumps and dips.

On the outside, the styling is rather smart, even if it has a rather prominent, jutting jaw that makes it look rather like The Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell wearing metallic paint. The best combination seems to be the metallic sandy-grey with a contrasting black roof. Rather tasty in that combo, actually.

Inside, the dials look nice, the touchscreen works well, the seats are comfy and the usual Suzuki robustness is there. Sadly, so too are the usual Suzuki hard-edged plastics and lack of nice soft-touch materials, but given our experience with Suzukis, the good news is that it will probably all feel and work in ten years’ time just as it does today. Suzuki’s reputation for quality and reliability doesn’t even seem to have been dented by its recent Celerio brake failure recall issues. Space in the back is impressive though, better by far than most rivals and a 375 litre boot isn’t to be sniffed at.

So, not an exceptional car then. Not an instant out-and-out star, but well-made, well-priced and well-equipped. The Allgrip model is expensive but capable, the basic model isn’t too miserable and the styling is pleasingly chunky.

Can it leapfrog the Minidisc generation and land square in the MP3 generation? That will be a tough job – the Vitara has experience on its side, but the competition, which was efficiently no one in 1988, has since built up serried ranks for Suzuki Ireland to breach with its hopes of selling 700 in a full year. No easy task, but the Vitara does present a firm jawline to the task.