2018 Mitsubishi ASX vs Suzuki Vitara

What's the difference?

The Mitsubishi ASX is Australia's best-selling small SUV.

Think about that for a moment. Mitsubishi's smallest SUV is getting on for eight years old now, with only a handful of minor updates and style tweaks to keep it fresh along the way, and it's based on a car (the Lancer) so old that Moses might have sat his P-plate test in one.

And yet it's out-performing a host of newer, smarter options with absolute ease. So we spent a week behind the wheel of the top-spec ASX XLS diesel to figure out why.

Long before small SUVs reached their current epic popularity in Australia there was the Suzuki Vitara. If you believed the 1989 launch TV ads, it was the small off-roader for occasionally adventurous people prone to spontaneous drives on the beach, who still wanted a bit of luxury like power windows.

The Vitara is still here nearly 30 years later, but it’s been joined by some excellent new rivals such as Honda’s HR-V, Toyota’s C-HR, Hyundai’s Kona and Mazda’s CX-3.

So how does it stack up now? And why might it be a good idea to wait just one more year before buying a Vitara?