Swift went in for it's first service this morning, oil and filter and a look over, while waiting had a look at the new E Vitara in the showroom, looked lovely in dark blue, sales guy approached and asked if I'd like a test drive, what a silly question!
The demonstrater was in a grey/silver, didn't suit it imho, inside however was a delight, lots of piano black and silver/ grey highlights that to my eye worked, plenty of conventional controls for major functions such as climate control, radio etc, felt and looked a little bigger than the hybrid model ( before the swift I had a 1.4t mild hybrid Vitara) the drive was impressive, all the go you could want and obviously very quite, seats where very supportive ( heated) and easily adjusted to suit me and I couldn't find any hard scratchy plastics that suzuki have been criticised for before.
The demonstrater was the the top of the range ultra model so switchable 4wd and all the bells and whistles, didn't want to take advantage so I only had 15 minutes in it but it's firmly on my wish list now.
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Edit : I believe the model I drove had a 64kwh battery with a theoretical range of 255 miles, entry model has something like a 45kwh battery.......anyone fancy a low mileage one year old top of the range swift? :)
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You’re ahead of me on this one. I spent three days talking about the E Vitara back in March, and I’ve driven one from inside a hotel conference room to a car park, but my plan is to drive one on the road within the next couple of weeks.
Glad you enjoyed it.
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Only 3 stars in Autocar, if that matters. Criticized for its range, small boot and slow infotainment screen. Praised for its ride comfort and being 'simple and intuitive' to drive
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Boot looked larger than the previous hybrid to me, didn't have to much of a play with the infotainment unit but I did change the radio station, seemed pretty much instant, ride quality ( only went around town ) felt lovely, as for the range not sure about others but 200 plus miles is enough for me.
Wish I could post some pictures...
Last edited by: Paul 1963 on Wed 22 Oct 25 at 18:20
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Yes its range is surprisingly poor and performance nothing to write home about. I think there are better in it’s class.
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Is this a rebadged Toyota urban cruiser?
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Just returned from my second annual road trip around Spain & Andorra. 3250 miles in my 2019 Vitara. One 875km day, several 650km + days. Several 0 km days.
when EV range becomes 800km+ I may be interested, but as I ‘wing it’ on a daily basis, the range anxiety would badly mess up my long continental motoring holidays.
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"One 875km day, several 650km + days. Several 0 km days."
Curious. How many stops, if any, when you drove 875 km and how long did you stop for?
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>> Curious. How many stops, if any, when you drove 875 km and how long did
>> you stop for?
At first glance 875 is massive but actually we've done 805 home from Inverness in one go.
Three stops, two not much more than a walk around and a wee at Perth and Keele, with a longer one of 40mins in between at Tebay.
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just reviewed my route..928kms.
Decent breakfast then refuel Calamocha, and again in La Rioja. Ten minutes then 20 for my second stop.
maps.app.goo.gl/rqxWFKYUVhzvring9?g_st=ic
A lot of that route is through great scenery, high point about 1300 metres, and once off the AP7 inland of valencia the time flies by. Avoiding motorways I prefer to cruise along at 80/90 kph enjoying the scenery and i never feel particularly tired, unlike the 300 mile slog from Portsmouth to Skipton yesterday after a 2 hour post breakfast stroll along the seafront at Southsea.
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>> just reviewed my route..862kms.
>> Decent breakfast then refuel Calamocha, and again in La Rioja. Ten minutes then 20 for
>> A lot of that route is through great scenery, high point about 1300 metres,
>> and once off the AP7 inland of valencia the time flies by. Avoiding motorways I
>> prefer to cruise along at 80/90 kph enjoying the scenery and i never feel particularly
>> tired, unlike the 300 mile slog from Portsmouth to Skipton yesterday after a 2 hour
>> post breakfast stroll along the seafront at Southsea.
>>
Teruel, Daroca, Calatayud , Soria and into La Rioja country. A route i’ve taken several times previously…N234 & N111 then LR 317 for those who know the area.
Last edited by: legacylad on Wed 22 Oct 25 at 23:24
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‘ Is this a rebadged Toyota urban cruiser?’
Possibly more accurate to say that the Urban Cruiser is a rebadged E Vitara.
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‘ when EV range becomes 800km+ I may be interested, but as I ‘wing it’ on a daily basis, the range anxiety would badly mess up my long continental motoring holidays.’
Much easier to ‘wing it’ in an EV than in ICE due to the greater proliferation of public chargers.
Yes, the journey may take 30 minutes longer, but counter balanced by the superior driving experience of running on electrons, and, not forgetting the reason we’re transitioning to EV in the first place, zero tailpipe emissions.
Sometimes, a little compromise is necessary for the common good.
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Mcb is correct, the toyota is built on the Suzuki platform unlike there previous collaboration
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>> ‘ when EV range becomes 800km+ I may be interested, but as I ‘wing it’
>> on a daily basis, the range anxiety would badly mess up my long continental motoring
>> holidays.’
>>
>> Much easier to ‘wing it’ in an EV than in ICE due to the greater
>> proliferation of public chargers.
>> Yes, the journey may take 30 minutes longer, but counter balanced by the superior driving
>> experience of running on electrons, and, not forgetting the reason we’re transitioning to EV in
>> the first place, zero tailpipe emissions.
>> Sometimes, a little compromise is necessary for the common good.
>>
I get that compromise is necessary for the common good, but we too do long European trips and the recent sight of Teslas queuing for the Superchargers at a French autoroute services convinces me that ICE currently remains best for such journeys. Yes, there was a (shorter) queue for the pumps too, but the throughput is that much quicker.
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If, like me, you stay several overnights out in the sticks, in a Casa Rural , then an EV doesn’t work for me. Not sure if it’s legal, but i carry 2x 5litre plastic fuel containers in my rear footwells.
The hamlets, which is often where the Casa Rural are located, have no EV charging stations, although in tiny villages nearer tourist hot spots i’ve often seen charging stations. One, i distinctly remember, had an old Renault 4 parked in it. still there a week later when i returned to lead a walk from that village..ftom memory it was either Facheca or Famorca.
Got a photo of it somewhere
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It'd probably run out of petrol...
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Renault 4's were great. Back in the 70's I used to drive an R4 van sometimes. The gear change was a horizontal push-pull umbrella handle in the dash, and it was a bit like a Mini (not a MINI) to drive - foot hard down and twirl the wheel until it pulled itself round corners. This was abuse of course. Wonderful.
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‘ and the recent sight of Teslas queuing for the Superchargers at a French autoroute services convinces me that ICE currently remains best for such journeys.’
What’s not noted is that the majority on EV’s aren’t Teslas and no mention of queues for them.
Tesla drivers are drawn, like moths to a flame, to Tesla Superchargers. Mostly because they’re better value than other networks. But they can use any other network as the hardware is universal.
I’m wholly dependent on public chargers, and have queued once in the past year - for a total of 5 minutes at Tebay Services on a summer Saturday afternoon.
Last edited by: mcb100 on Thu 23 Oct 25 at 14:11
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Suzuki - New E Vitara - Paul 1963
