BUYER’SGUIDE: Suzuki Vitara
CO2/tax
127g/km £130
Running costs
52mpg (1.4 Boosterjet)
£89 fill-up
Performance
0-62mph/top speed
9.5 seconds/124mph
THE Toyota RAV4 is often credited with launching the compact SUV segment. But that car didn’t arrive until 1994, which was six years after Suzuki had introduced the Escudo in its home market in Japan.
Within months of its launch, the Escudo arrived in the UK as the Vitara, the first roadbiased mini-4x4 to be sold here. Despite becoming a fashion icon, its tough separate chassis made it the ‘real deal’ off road.
An all-new Vitara arrived after a decade, then a third generation followed in 2005, using a new unitary platform for the first time, in a bid to improve refinement.
By the time the Mk4 Vitara was launched in 2015, Suzuki was in a groove with its big-selling small SUV, and while the model had a lot more competition by then, it was
