Suzuki Vitara XL7
Size matters, thinks Vanessa Hinkley, especially when you have seven people to
seatI dont often have seven people to haul around. The only time recently when there were seven souls in the car was when my husband and I had to take our pack of cats to the vet for their annual boosters. Cramming them all into my trusty
Proton was an experience and Im sure that less fur would have flown had I had the XL7 to hand. However, over the weekend I had the
Suzuki home on test, my sister had organised a trip to the cinema for the family.
Fractious children, bored adults and a busy town centre location the perfect testing ground for Suzukis mammoth Vitara XL7.
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The XL7 is only 5 inches shorter than the largest of the
Mitsubishi Shogun range a fact that became patently obvious when I reversed onto my driveway the house was considerably further away from the driving
seat that I am accustomed to... Although the XL7 is long, it isnt as wide as a Discovery, so at least those narrow country routes to work arent too daunting when the traffic is flowing neatly the other way.
Of course, one of the major attractions of the 4x4 market to urban dwellers is the height and ride position, you simply tower above the traffic. The cabin of the
Suzuki was well thought out, obviously the Japanese have consulted real drivers as opposed to computer simulations in order to arrange the switchgear in logical locations. If you actually buy an XL7 to tackle some muddy stuff as well as the tarmac, youll be pleasantly surprised to find that it does actually work very well. There are two four-wheel drive modes low and high which should cover the majority of fields that youll encounter and these are selected from a stubby little lever next to the gear stick.
Real off-road enthusiasts will be overjoyed to discover that the XL7 has a tough ladder frame chassis that can take care of most of the things that you will throw at it. Accommodation and access is impressive. The rear doors open wide to help you clamber into the back seats, whilst the middle row of seats also splits and folds, with fore and aft adjustment making it easy to carry some long loads. Fence posts will fit easily inside, but you could also lash them to the 46kg-capable roof bars.
Fold the second and third rows of seats down and youll free up 1,492 litres of load capacity, a decent figure, but the XL-7s inherent narrowness prevents load lugging of Discovery proportions. The interior isnt short on stowage spaces, including a lockable glove box, an underfloor box, a centre console cubby, a storage tray under the front passenger seat and a multitude of door and seat pockets. Plenty of places for the kid to lose their Gameboys That sub-£20,000 price doesnt mean the XL-7 lacks equipment, quite the opposite in fact. Separate high output front and rear air conditioning is a feature formerly only found in upmarket executive models, and sounds come courtesy of a four-speaker CD/radio stereo system.
ABS, power steering, electric windows and mirrors, remote controlled central locking and an adjustable steering column are all standard, but the list doesnt stop there. Expect to find velour trim, six-spoke 16-inch alloys and adjustable armrests. The usual mind-boggling array of Grand Vitara lifestyle extras are available from Suzukis options list including side step boards, chrome lamps and mirrors, tow bars, front bars and the trademark spare wheel covers. To say that the XL7 lights up like a Christmas tree is actually quite accurate.
The fixtures may be a bit plasticky and the décor a bit dull, but it is all there
The XL7 V6 is no slouch with 60mph broken in 10 seconds and the engine carrying on to 103mph. However, it doesnt feel this rapid, especially if you leave it in high ratio 4WD and it is very noisy. I havent studied Shakespeare for years, but I seem to remember a phrase that ran: sound and fury signifying nothing. It came to mind particularly as I tried to pull out of a tight turning with an M-Class bearing down on me, a lot of noise going on but not much happening at the rubber/tarmac junction Once you get up to speed, you can maintain a decent driving rhythm, but the power steering can get quite vague and the XL7 dislikes any kind of enthusiastic cornering, rewarding you with a Dover-Dieppe Force 7 lean. The engine has vast tracts of torque that are best applied in the boggiest, most rutted and wettest field you can find. If you are carrying a full complement, it is worth remembering that off road, the additional length could see your rear-most occupants bounced about quite a lot.
Other than the noise, the XL7 is an unremarkable drive. It gets you where you need to go, it is acceptably comfortable and can return a scarcely believable 26.2mpg on a combined run. For once, you dont need to be an oil baron to run a V6 4x4 of this scale.
You can do better though, with the 2.0-litre TD diesel version well over 35mpg is possible.
You cant quibble with the fact that in the XL7, you get a lot of metal for just £18,988 and there isnt anything else like it on the. The XL7 does offer a truly unique blend of large people carrier and capable off-roader. While the fixtures and fittings may not appear to be the most robust items ever fitted to a motor vehicle, they do the job perfectly well. Youd never say that the XL7 had gallons of style, but you arent paying for that.
Youre paying for ability and this Suzuki has that in spades.
I dont need a seven seater MPV and I rarely experience the urge to venture too far from my local B-roads. But, if I owned Suzukis XL7, I could do a lot more than I do now, and it is the promise that counts
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