Suzuki Grand Vitara XL7 2004 test drive - 2006 SUV
The top of the career
The appearance of the updated Suzuki-gran Vitara XL-7 recalled the image of a middle-aged lady who tries to impress in an unfamiliar company. You can’t change the figure, but there are other ways to attract attention. In human society, this is achieved by a change in the image, toilets, lifestyle, etc. In the automotive world, external forms are updated to give freshness. So the designers are fighting again over the style of a middle -aged car. We must pay tribute to them - Vitara has become more solid. The seven -seater almost five -meter all -round looks impressive not only in profile, but also anfas. Almost the entire facade has been replaced. Sorry for the construction terminology, but what else can this combination of original headlights, the grilles of the radiator and bumper?
We have a car in the richest configuration. The salon is a sulfur with gray skin, there is a hatch in the roof and a five -speed machine. Price - $ 36 020, modification with velor salon and a mechanical gearbox by almost three and a half thousand cheaper.
What will the owner see for him for that kind of money? With the turn of the ignition key, the dashboard will flash and the welcome Hello will be displayed on the shallow display of the odometer. The scales of the main and auxiliary devices are read easily and almost not overlapped by the steering wheel - tilt adjustment helps. On the central console, decorated with inserts under a tree, the main place was occupied by switches of the operating modes of the ventilation system and air conditioning. Their centers are shed, including air conditioning, heating the rear window and, accordingly, distributing air flows. On the right, a more modest regulator of the cabin heater was perished. The leading role here belongs to the driver, although passengers of the middle row can adjust the air flows. For this, the ceiling has a separate wheel and deflectors.
The list of all combinations of laying out three rows of seats would be too long. Photography will help you get acquainted with one of the interior transformation options. I would like to pay special attention to the possibility of moving the seats of the second row, and on separate herrings for the right and left parts.
Acquaintance with the technical equipment of the new Vitara recalled a conversation with test pilots. Its essence came down to the following: when the plane is removed from production, this means that the design is brought to perfection. It happened with Vitara. At first it was three -door. Then a five -door Grand Vitara appeared. Now, lengthening the base up to 2800 mm, we got a seven -seater. Vitara is already nowhere to grow. Otherwise, in passenger capacity, she will go to the minibuses class.
Now let's look under the hood. The engine power in the updated vitara reached 183 liters. With. - 10 more than that of prerestyling. The torque also increased slightly. A fifth gear appeared in an automatic box. A claim to off -road qualities can be considered a reduction row in the transmission. But there are no inter -normal locks. The conclusion suggests itself - before us, a worked out, logically completed transmission scheme. The same can be said about the car as a whole. And this is not bad. Right now, it is profitable to buy a seven -seater Suzuki with a rigidly connected front bridge, brought during many modernizations by the body and units, which can also move on easy off -road. If you follow the logic of test pilots, then the updated vitar after a while it is time to withdraw from production. You can’t squeeze more of it anymore - the next generation can be more expensive and, in addition, will be at the very beginning of its evolution, which the current Vitara has already passed.
On the go, the car is comfortable, the motor is almost inaudible. Its roar begins to penetrate into the salon at revolutions above 3000. The machine is in a timely manner of the transmission. The only thing that is somewhat annoying is the characteristic buzz of the transmission in the first gear. In general, sound insulation does not cause complaints. If there is a desire to use the entire potential of the motor in the city, I can advise the following transmission mode: we transfer the machine gun selector to position 3, turn off the overdrave and turn on the button of the power transmission of the gearbox. If the sandpaper turns out to be a sand, then there is the opportunity to scream with tires.
They tried to climb the mud. What came of it? Remember how a piece of soap in the bathroom dangles. In general, you want to move out of the asphalt to the mud - change your mind to the appropriate tires. In the chic discs of the Bridgrastone tires, 235/60R16 with the summer pattern of our beauty, there is nothing to do there. And the clearance of 183 mm is enough, and the power of the motor on reduced gear - by the eyes, but the tires, covered with mud, turned into wet slippery slides: the slightest bump or hole was knocked down from a given trajectory.
Sergey Klochkov.
Photo: Konstantin Yakubov
Source: The magazine "Driving"
