2016 Suzuki Vitara vs 2018

What's the difference?

Richard Berry reviews the 2016 Suzuki Vitara S Turbo 2WD with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

The emotional scars are still there. Our family car in the early 1990s was a brand-new first-generation Suzuki Vitara with a manual gearbox in Charcoal Grey. The dealer threw in the decal option pack and Mum drove away with non-removable stick-on hot pink cat paw prints walking across the bonnet. She loved it. I didn’t. It was the car I learned to drive in. As if an L-plate on a soft-top Vitara didn’t make you enough of a target.

We were the only family in the street with a little four-wheel drive, everybody else had Commodores and Falcons. We also had a Commodore but it was a V8 and I wasn’t allowed near it. Mum loved the Vitara so much she traded it in a few years later for an even fancier Vitara and it wore my P-plates.

We were ahead of our time and so was the Vitara - it was the first of its kind – a small four-wheel drive that felt like a car to drive, apart from in high winds and the soft-top one was like driving a kite.

The Vitara was a hit for Suzuki which started producing the larger Grand Vitara, too. In 1994 Toyota launched its RAV4 and the other carmakers followed as Australia’s appetite for little sports utility vehicles grew into what is now SUV-fever.

Practicality has always been a Vitara strong point and the S Turbo stays true to this.

At last count the Vitara has 25 rivals in the small SUV segment with the Mazda CX-3, Honda HR-V, Mitsubishi ASX and Nissan Qashqai the most popular by far and all with monthly sales at least double the Suzuki’s.

The new fourth generation Vitara launched in 2015 and in April 2016 the sporty S Turbo grade was introduced and sits between the top-spec RT-X diesel and above the base RT-S.

The word was the S Turbo was good. But was it good enough to win back fans? And does it come with hot pink cat paw decals?

Design

Practicality

Price and features

Engine and transmission

Fuel consumption

Driving

Safety

Ownership

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?