5 lakh km done Grand Vitara: Why owner had to scrap the SUV

Even though the car saw little to no care, it still endured all these kilometres which clearly shows the true Japanese quality.

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Introduction

This is yet again an attempt to showcase the abilities of the older Grand Vitara (2007-2014), and the car's ability to withstand the opposite of TLC which is no care. What is being briefly discussed here is a 2007-08 Grand Vitara MT that has borne the brunt of unforgiving climate, unforgiving traffic, and an owner that would practically use this as a "fill it - shut it - do not maintain it" car.

Background

We have had many great ownership reviews and experiences with this car:

• The mother of all reviews by Samurai
• sudev's experiences
• R_R's 1,00,000km in 10 years
• prateekswarup's outliers
• sridhar-v's first post on his Grand Vitara and the many updates
• Styler's 2.0 Grand Vitara and 2.4 Grand Vitara plus many updates
• HTC's acquisition from R_R
• Jaggu's 2.4 Grand Vitara
• Klub Class' 2.4 Grand Vitara and
• Grand Vitara looked after by yours truly

However, what I'm going to showcase here is something different - a car that was only used, used and used with very little care, yet soldiered on before being laid to rest!

A 2007-08 Grand Vitara MT with the good ol' 2.0 liter engine

I'm not going to pen a long story about this car but am just keen to highlight some important points about this car's journey.

• Kms covered till date - over 5,00,000km
• Engine untouched
• Only one ignition coil replaced, that too not with an original Grand Vitara ignition coil but a close equivalent from MGP
• AC compressor - changed once at approx 2,70,000 km with a Sanden 709 (not sure but I remember seeing the pulley to be 7PK with the 5PK belt on it) with compressor low and high side hoses modified to fit the Sanden, and the compressor mounting clamp modified
• AC compressor changed the second time via another retrofit
• Evaporator core once, again with a retrofit
• AC blower changed five times=
• Brake discs changed twice
• Brake pads changed five times
• Clutch set replaced once around the 2,70,000km mark or so
• Rear wheel cylinders and brake shoes - replaced once
• All sensors original; no error codes ever
• Suspension stock
• Paint stock
• Headlamps stock
• Windscreen stock
• Brake booster and master cylinder stock
• Front brake pistons stock

Now for the torturous bit

• Engine oil was sometimes never changed for even 20,000km, but regular top-ups would be done since the car would lose approx 1L engine oil every 10,000km
• Brake pads - would sometimes be replaced by modifying pads meant for other cars with close dimensions
• Prop shafts - never serviced
• Drive shafts - never inspected/serviced
• Car would barely get washed/turned in for preventive maintenance service; this was more of a "fill it, shut it, do not maintain it" example

The rarely cared-for beast was finally laid to rest.

After clocking over 5,00,000km, I was told that the beast was finally laid to rest recently - not because the car was not capable of being used, but because the owner was told that the car needed new driveshafts in the front, new lower arms, new stab link rods, and parts were not available; with the car in the garage for an extended period of time, the owner had also given up, I guess.

The car was scrapped for some INR 50k. Although this is a sad end, one must give the car all credit for having been able to endure despite little to no care, yet keep going on and on for this long. Hail Suzuki Grand Vitara! Hail Japanese Quality!

Goodbye!

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