The Suzuki Vitara is back, debuting a new look and smaller proportions at this year's Paris Motor Show. As the Grand Vitara was axed earlier this year, Suzuki's new five-door crossover is likely to go on sale in early 2015 for a starting price of around ?12,500.
Suzuki's Renault Captur rival looks set to rejuvenate the Japanese brand in the UK, as the crossover market expands rapidly. It was shown as a concept at Frankfurt last year, and this production model carries over plenty of design cues, including a sharp crease along its flanks, wraparound headlights and a Range Rover Evoque-style nose.
Elegant LED headlamps also feature. The new Vitara attempts to be bold and refreshing with a range of 15 bright colour schemes, giving customers plenty of scope for personalisation inside and out.
Unlike most small crossovers, Suzuki has given it four-wheel drive.
The 'ALLGRIP' system provides four settings, including an automatic mode, which maintains front-wheel drive until it detects slip and reverts to four-wheel drive. But unlike some rival set-ups, Suzuki claims this four-wheel-drive system isn't detrimental to efficiency.
The 118bhp 1.6-litre diesel, which also delivers 320Nm of torque, only emits 4g/km more CO2 with the ALLGRIP system, at 111g/km with the six-speed manual transmission. Suzuki claims 123g/km emissions for the two-wheel-drive manual version of the 118bhp 1.6-litre petrol Vitara, and 127g/km for the automatic. When equipped with ALLGRIP, the petrol Vitaras emit 11g/km more. Fuel economy figures have yet to be released.
Safety equipment includes an 'RBS' system that can mitigate a low-speed crash by applying the brakes. All models have seven airbags, and the Vitara can even be specified with adaptive cruise control, a panoramic sunroof and a smartphone connection.
The new Vitara, which is smaller than the outgoing Grand Vitara at a little over 4 metres long, features a 375-litre boot. That's competitive with the Captur, although the Renault's seats can slide forward to make it even bigger.
