Twin Tested & Ripped: New Honda CRV AT v/s New Suzuki Grand Vitara MT - Page 2 - Team-BHP

raul · 22nd July 2007, 17:06

Since they were going to import the GVs anyway and not manufacture them here why didn't they import the diesel instead of the petrol? Strange decision from Maruti, given the clear preference for diesel in India.

Rockzer · 27th July 2007, 13:04

Suzuki ... Vitara got Awesome looks..

anandpadhye · 27th July 2007, 19:33

Finally test drive the GV.

The dealer only had the AT (I wanted MT).

Pros:

1. Offroad: **AMAZING**
Went into a field behind the IT park where it was all mud + grass + ~foot-high undulations of wet ground...GV went on and on smoothly. Not only did it pull, it was very stable (no one in the rear got tossed around much). Switched to 4Low with lock and passed thru with awsome grip. Also drove over a BIG lump of thick sol deliberately to test the point where the undercarriage touches the ground. When it did, we got down to check which part did touch and found that there is a horizontal steel bar across the width of the car (somewhere below the steering/gear lever area) that is expected to touch in the worst case and that's what touched in our case thereby protecting everything else. I was impressed!!!

When we came out of the mess back on tarmac, we could hear mud and clay stuck to the tyres rolling along and hitting the wheel arches and mud guards...all cleaned up in 100-200 meters of on-road driving...

2. Onroad: Very good too
Steering is very very direct, U turn was easy. With the confidence gathered from the offroad venture drove over the deadly pothols and speedbreakers at ~60km/h and my goodness, GV held the line with nothing much tranmitted to the steering or my friends in the rear seat.

Next - highway: took it to 90km/h and relased both the hands from the steering - again GV continued dead straight (not a shade of pull to the right or left). The car had done 1070 km and was tested by many potential customers on rough terrain and the sales guy had no idea about the need of wheel alignment of all the 4 wheels for the GV so definately was not a pampered vehicle for sure.

Next: speedbreakers: For the first time, lived my dream of disregarding a couple of these on my way to office. They literally bring my NHC to it's knees...with GV I conquered them at 40km/h and it did not feel like a torture to tha car or the passengers.

3. Looks (exterior): Awsome (for me)
And the rear door (the fifth) when opened, opened so smoothly - was impressed with the hydraulic/pneumatic (don't know which) bar that operates it.

4. Interior: Cute (again for me) and very fucntional
The instrument cluster , the audio system, the steering...all very nice looking (swift/SX4 owners have been reported to say that there is no novelty but I don't own these so I am OK) + all black interior really felt awsome especially after spending 3 years in the beige color in NHC.

Seats in the front were very good.

Seats in the rear were good + they recline giving a nice relief + a nice stout armrest.

Good luggage space.

Cons:

1. Engine: **NOISY + unrefined**
A lot of noise on accelration and even in steady state at 70km/h. Surprized with the amount of noise. Spoiled the fun.

2. AT: **PATHETIC**
The automatic transmission is absolutely childish. Terrific shift shocks + mistimed shifts. And I think the auto transmission had a big contributuion to the noise for sure. This AT is a BIG NO NO. Compared to this, the regular ATs I drove in the US were simply fantastic (and those were regular cars for middle-class people there). Suzuki unfortunately looks ages behind in engine and transmission technology. I am hoping manual one would be up to the mark and would overall improve the driving experience.

3. A/C: No vents in the rear
It was uncomfortably chilling in the front and warm in the rear :-(
Believe me NHC is an amazing car - offers rear vents.

4. Read middle seat: Hard and a little uncomfortable

5. Price: 14.09 ex-showroom + 1.10 road-tax + 45k insurance
May be a very good price for this true 4x4 (and good looking, well behaved one too) but I don't have that much money :-(

Miscellaneous notes (need to confirm with service guys, told by the sales guy):
1. Service interval 10000 km or 1 year
2. Synthetic oil all around

I am unable to forget the off-road drive and the handling and the suspentions and the looks...

raul · 28th July 2007, 01:01

Hey anandpandhye, good review. Your feedback is pretty consistent with the reviews of Grand Vitara in other markets however engine nose at 70kph is worrying, did you feel the engine is at a lot of stress at that speed? Could this be an issue with this particular test vehicle, maybe a comprehensive review of the manual will clear this out.

CaliforniaKnight · 28th July 2007, 01:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by swathyd

Wait for a month and get the chevy captiva with torquey diesel engine.

have driven the petrol variant of the captiva and u cannot corner the car aat all it understeers madly and lots a body roll...
not a great car when we tested it..

THE-U- · 28th July 2007, 09:33

Good Review.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

1. Engine: **NOISY + unrefined**
A lot of noise on accelration and even in steady state at 70km/h. Surprized with the amount of noise. Spoiled the fun.

Perhaps this little engine was overworking? They need a good Common Rail Diesel instead of the 2L Petrol. GV is still a small SUV.

hondadude · 28th July 2007, 10:40

Anand,

Great review. You are spoiled by the refinement of NHC so you found engine noise in GV offensive.

-GT- · 28th July 2007, 16:43

The Grand Vitara, though built as a SUV to compete against CRV's and other similar SUV's, its off-road capability is supposed to be much much better than any such SUV's. Suzuki has designed the new Grand Vitara retaining the off-road capabilities of the earlier versions like Jimmy and X7.

Honda CRV cannot go anywhere off-road other than the shoulders

Ashutosh · 29th July 2007, 00:19

Price of Grand Vitara in my city,

ExShowroom -
M: 13,90,208 | AT: 14,88,031

Insurance -
M: 43,023 | AT: 45,815

R.T.O(Tax) -
M:1,95,279 | AT: 2,08,974
Service Chg -
2500

Total
M - 16,31,010/- | AT 17,45,320/-

What do you make of these? Is the rates same in your city?

27th July 2007, 19:33	#18 (permalink)
anandpadhye BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Pune Posts: 636	Grand vitara test drive - mud, grass, pothols, speedbreakers and highway Finally test drive the GV. The dealer only had the AT (I wanted MT). Pros: 1. Offroad: AMAZING Went into a field behind the IT park where it was all mud + grass + ~foot-high undulations of wet ground...GV went on and on smoothly. Not only did it pull, it was very stable (no one in the rear got tossed around much). Switched to 4Low with lock and passed thru with awsome grip. Also drove over a BIG lump of thick sol deliberately to test the point where the undercarriage touches the ground. When it did, we got down to check which part did touch and found that there is a horizontal steel bar across the width of the car (somewhere below the steering/gear lever area) that is expected to touch in the worst case and that's what touched in our case thereby protecting everything else. I was impressed!!! When we came out of the mess back on tarmac, we could hear mud and clay stuck to the tyres rolling along and hitting the wheel arches and mud guards...all cleaned up in 100-200 meters of on-road driving... 2. Onroad: Very good too Steering is very very direct, U turn was easy. With the confidence gathered from the offroad venture drove over the deadly pothols and speedbreakers at ~60km/h and my goodness, GV held the line with nothing much tranmitted to the steering or my friends in the rear seat. Next - highway: took it to 90km/h and relased both the hands from the steering - again GV continued dead straight (not a shade of pull to the right or left). The car had done 1070 km and was tested by many potential customers on rough terrain and the sales guy had no idea about the need of wheel alignment of all the 4 wheels for the GV so definately was not a pampered vehicle for sure. Next: speedbreakers: For the first time, lived my dream of disregarding a couple of these on my way to office. They literally bring my NHC to it's knees...with GV I conquered them at 40km/h and it did not feel like a torture to tha car or the passengers. 3. Looks (exterior): Awsome (for me) And the rear door (the fifth) when opened, opened so smoothly - was impressed with the hydraulic/pneumatic (don't know which) bar that operates it. 4. Interior: Cute (again for me) and very fucntional The instrument cluster , the audio system, the steering...all very nice looking (swift/SX4 owners have been reported to say that there is no novelty but I don't own these so I am OK) + all black interior really felt awsome especially after spending 3 years in the beige color in NHC. Seats in the front were very good. Seats in the rear were good + they recline giving a nice relief + a nice stout armrest. Good luggage space. Cons: 1. Engine: NOISY + unrefined A lot of noise on accelration and even in steady state at 70km/h. Surprized with the amount of noise. Spoiled the fun. 2. AT: PATHETIC The automatic transmission is absolutely childish. Terrific shift shocks + mistimed shifts. And I think the auto transmission had a big contributuion to the noise for sure. This AT is a BIG NO NO. Compared to this, the regular ATs I drove in the US were simply fantastic (and those were regular cars for middle-class people there). Suzuki unfortunately looks ages behind in engine and transmission technology. I am hoping manual one would be up to the mark and would overall improve the driving experience. 3. A/C: No vents in the rear It was uncomfortably chilling in the front and warm in the rear :-( Believe me NHC is an amazing car - offers rear vents. 4. Read middle seat: Hard and a little uncomfortable 5. Price: 14.09 ex-showroom + 1.10 road-tax + 45k insurance May be a very good price for this true 4x4 (and good looking, well behaved one too) but I don't have that much money :-( Miscellaneous notes (need to confirm with service guys, told by the sales guy): 1. Service interval 10000 km or 1 year 2. Synthetic oil all around I am unable to forget the off-road drive and the handling and the suspentions and the looks... __________________ Aerodynamically speaking, a bumble bee should not be able to fly, but it does not know this, so it flies.

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22nd July 2007, 17:06	#16 (permalink)
raul BHPian Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Pune Posts: 207	Since they were going to import the GVs anyway and not manufacture them here why didn't they import the diesel instead of the petrol? Strange decision from Maruti, given the clear preference for diesel in India.

27th July 2007, 13:04	#17 (permalink)
Rockzer Newbie Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Mumbai Posts: 15	Suzuki ... Vitara got Awesome looks..

28th July 2007, 01:01	#19 (permalink)
raul BHPian Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Pune Posts: 207	Hey anandpandhye, good review. Your feedback is pretty consistent with the reviews of Grand Vitara in other markets however engine nose at 70kph is worrying, did you feel the engine is at a lot of stress at that speed? Could this be an issue with this particular test vehicle, maybe a comprehensive review of the manual will clear this out.

28th July 2007, 10:40	#22 (permalink)
hondadude BHPian Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 582	Anand, Great review. You are spoiled by the refinement of NHC so you found engine noise in GV offensive.

28th July 2007, 16:43	#23 (permalink)
-GT- BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Chennai / Dubai Posts: 67	The Grand Vitara, though built as a SUV to compete against CRV's and other similar SUV's, its off-road capability is supposed to be much much better than any such SUV's. Suzuki has designed the new Grand Vitara retaining the off-road capabilities of the earlier versions like Jimmy and X7. Honda CRV cannot go anywhere off-road other than the shoulders

29th July 2007, 00:19	#24 (permalink)
Ashutosh Newbie Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Orange City Posts: 18	Price of Grand Vitara in my city, ExShowroom - M: 13,90,208 \| AT: 14,88,031 Insurance - M: 43,023 \| AT: 45,815 R.T.O(Tax) - M:1,95,279 \| AT: 2,08,974 Service Chg - 2500 Total M - 16,31,010/- \| AT 17,45,320/- What do you make of these? Is the rates same in your city?