Published:
15 April 2012The cabin of the Grand Vitara is neatly designed with consistent colours and textures and red backlighting for the instruments and switches. Unfortunately, the textures used by Suzuki are a little brittle – there are too few soft-feel plastics, but at this price perhaps we shouldn’t be too critical. Actual quality of build is without question, the action of the switchgear is good and the dials are neatly presented.
Ergonomically it's mainly fine, too, with nice touches including reclining rear seats that also split and fold 50:50. It’s a good job that they do recline, though: rear headroom is perilously limited in the most upright position, although legroom is adequate. Like those in the front, the rear seats have quite firm cushions and stay comfy over long distances. Three adults can sit comfortably across the rear, while larger drivers will find that the front seats are wide enough, if lacking in lateral support.
The seats cannot be adjusted quite low enough for some drivers and, because the steering wheel adjusts for tilt only, many will have to set the wheel low so they can comfortably reach the top of it. Which would be fine if it didn’t then obscure the tops of the dials. At least the pedals are well spaced: they're far enough apart for driving in wellies, but not so much as to make driving clumsy.
Standard equipment is just about class competitive, but this is an area where Suzuki has not really moved with the times. Granted, you get electric windows, air conditioning and a CD player, but there are niceties on more recent designs cars that the Grand Vitara does not even offer as an option.
