Suzuki Vitara review

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It’s a phrase fans of the Suzuki Vitara would likely agree with, seeing as the current generation of this small SUV has been around for 10 years now.  

That said, the Vitara has changed a bit in that time, with a facelift for the 2025 model year. It now has a redesigned front fascia and upgraded tech, including a bigger infotainment screen. 

Suzuki has also improved the fuel economy of both petrol engines available for the Vitara (a mild hybrid and a full hybrid), and announced a fully electric Suzuki e Vitara. The e Vitara is due this summer and will be an all-new model.

Suzuki Vitara video review

So are the revisions to the current Suzuki Vitara enough to give it a chance against the best small SUVs? Read on to find out how we rate it against the Skoda Kamiq, the VW T-Cross and other rivals...

Our chosen engine for the Suzuki Vitara is a 1.4-litre petrol, which has mild-hybrid tech and comes with a slick six-speed manual gearbox that enables precise shifts. It's quite sprightly for a small SUV, nipping from 0-62mph in 9.5 seconds – slightly quicker than the entry-level Ford Puma and the equivalent VW T-Cross.

While the mild-hybrid version can't drive on electricity alone, the regular hybrid can – but has less power, so it's slower to accelerate to 62mph, taking 12.7 seconds. That's not helped by its standard automated gearbox, which provides very slow gear changes compared with the lightning fast double-clutch autos in the Seat Arona and VW T-Roc. The Toyota Yaris Cross manages the same sprint in 10.7 seconds officially.

The Vitara comes with front-wheel drive as standard but can be upgraded to AllGrip four-wheel drive, although that adds weight and reduces straight-line performance. Of course, the advantage is more traction and added confidence in slippery conditions, but don’t expect it to match a Jeep Renegade or Suzuki Ignis off road.

The best way to describe the Vitara’s ride is "firm but well-damped". To explain, while big bumps and potholes send a dull thud through the interior, the car rarely gets unsettled and it never becomes jarring. 

Indeed, the Vitara isn’t uncomfortable to cover long distances in – it's just not as comfortable as the slightly softer Skoda Kamiq and VW T-Roc.

When you head out on to a twisty road, the Vitara goes round corners well enough, but it's let down by the steering, which is very light when you begin to turn the wheel and gives little sense of connection to the front wheels. It’s better suited to town driving, helping you manoeuvre into parking spaces and around tight roundabouts with ease.

The regular hybrid version is only 40kg heavier than the mild hybrid and the extra weight makes very little difference to how the car handles. Even with AllGrip four-wheel drive, the Vitara is never as composed or fun to drive as a Ford Puma or VW T-Cross.

The Vitara’s 1.4-litre engine is smooth enough even when worked hard but sounds tinny and noisy during moderate acceleration (it’s certainly noisier than Seat Arona or VW T-Cross). All versions suffer from intrusive wind and road noise.

The regular hybrid Vitara's automated manual gearbox mostly avoids the jerkiness these types of gearboxes are known for but there’s a significant "nodding" sensation as it changes gears.

"I definitely noticed bumps and potholes in the Suzuki Vitara because they cause a thud through the interior, but it all settles down quickly afterwards and never becomes jarring." – Doug Revolta, Head of Video

Finding a suitable driving position in the Suzuki Vitara is simple because the driver’s seat and steering wheel can be moved up and down as well as forwards and backwards. You sit suitably high up too, making it feel like more of an SUV from behind the wheel than the Skoda Kamiq. 

The seat is quite comfortable, although a little more side bolstering wouldn’t go amiss to grip you more tightly through corners. There's no adjustable lumbar support or electric seat adjustment.

The gear lever in manual versions is high-set and relatively large so it falls easily to hand. Likewise, most of the controls are intelligently laid out, and the physical buttons and dials for the climate control make it easier to make adjustments while you're driving than the touch-sensitive ones you’ll find in higher trim versions of the VW T-Cross.

It’s easy to see out of the Vitara thanks to its lofty driving position and slim front window pillars, which do little to interrupt the view at roundabouts and junctions.

The news when you look over your shoulder is just as good, thanks to slim rear pillars and glass where some cars have a blind spot. Making things even easier, blind-spot monitoring comes as standard on all versions. 

You also get a rear-view camera and rear parking sensors as standard equipment with the Vitara's entry-level Motion trim. Upgrading to range-topping Ultra trim gets you front parking sensors.

The 2025 Vitara's 9in touchscreen is bigger than on previous versions but has slightly dated graphics and is sometimes slow to respond. We’d recommend using the standard Android Auto or Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring to bypass Suzuki’s own software.

Most rival small SUVs – including the Ford Puma and VW T-Roc – have better infotainment systems than the Vitara.

Luxury is not something the Vitara exudes. The doors and boot lid feel quite light and tinny when you close them while many of the interior plastics, including those on top of the dashboard and also lower down, feel cheap. The Ford Puma, Seat Arona and VW T-Cross have altogether more modern-feeling interiors.

While the Vitara isn't exactly plush inside, its interior does feel durable, and there are gloss-black plastics and patterned fascias to help break up the gloom. The suede seat fabric and door inserts on Ultra models look and feel good too.

"The Suzuki Vitara's interior is perhaps the most obvious sign that it's basically a decade old now. I found that it looked and felt dated." – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Thanks in part to deep footwells, there’s enough room in the front of the Suzuki Vitara for tall drivers. However, if you’re very lofty, the head-room-robbing panoramic glass roof that comes with Ultra trim might mean your hair brushes the roof.

A USB port and 12V socket are handily located behind the gearstick, but the accompanying cubbies are too small for many of the latest smartphones. On top of that, the two cupholders are positioned annoyingly far back behind the central armrest.

There’s plenty of leg room and a decent amount of head room in the Vitara's two outer rear seats, even when the front seats are occupied by tall people.

The middle seat is slightly raised so its occupant is more likely to struggle with head room. An adult can sit there, but shoulder room will be very tight if all three rear seats are filled. Like in the front, the Ultra trim's panoramic glass roof steals some head room.

If you want a small SUV with maximum rear space, try the Skoda Kamiq.

It’s pretty standard fare here, with rear seats that split and fold 60/40, granting you much more luggage space when you need it. The Vitara doesn't have any of the useful sliding rear-seat versatility you get in a Citroën C3 Aircross or Renault Captur (or even a Suzuki Ignis).

It's easy to lower the backrests by pulling the levers at the top, and there's no need to faff about removing the rear headrests first, as you have to in some cars. What's more, the backrests are light in weight so it’s no chore getting them back up again.

The mild-hybrid Suzuki Vitara's 362-litre boot is fairly big by the standards of small SUVs and we managed to fit in five carry-on suitcases when we tested it. The regular hybrid has a smaller boot, with 289 litres, because the larger battery steals some of the storage space.

In the mild-hybrid car's boot there's a useful underfloor storage area that's ideal for stowing valuables or loose items, plus two storage pockets (one on each side). If you drop the rear seats, they don’t fold completely flat, but there’s no awkward step in the extended boot floor to make life difficult when you're sliding in long, bulky items.

Not all the Vitara’s rivals are this well designed, but if you need more boot space take a look at the Citroën C3 Aircross, the Ford Puma or the Skoda Kamiq.

"Space up front in the Suzuki Vitara is fine but if you’re especially tall I’d advise against the panoramic sunroof you get on Ultra models. It might mean you feel a little cramped." – Doug Revolta, Head of Video

Outright, the Suzuki Vitara costs more to buy than a fair few rival small SUVs, including the Renault Captur, the Skoda Kamiq and the VW T-Cross. The entry-level, mild-hybrid Vitara will set you back similar money to the equivalent Ford Puma and the (full hybrid) Toyota Yaris Cross. What’s more, the Vitara is predicted to depreciate at a faster rate.

The Vitara is a relatively inexpensive car to run though, and the mild-hybrid engine brings good fuel economy, with an official WLTP figure of 53.2mpg (for the manual version). The Puma (which has mild-hybrid tech too) returns 52.3mpg, although the regular petrol-powered T-Cross can achieve figures that aren’t far off.

The regular hybrid Vitara can officially manage 56.4mpg, which is good, but somewhat south of the far more impressive 60mpg of the Yaris Cross.

Whether you choose the mild hybrid or the full hybrid, opting for the AllGrip four-wheel-drive system does noticeably reduce fuel economy, and also increases CO2 emissions.

Despite being the Vitara's entry-level trim, Motion is the one we’d go for, because it keeps the cost to a minimum, includes a good amount of kit and doesn’t get the head-room-limiting panoramic roof. It includes 17in alloy wheels, adaptive cruise control, automatic air conditioning, automatic headlights and heated door mirrors.

Upgrading to Ultra trim gets you more features but we don't feel it's worth the extra. Highlights include keyless entry and electrically folding door mirrors, along with suede trim and front parking sensors, but there still isn’t much in the way of luxuries. You can't have heated front seats in the Vitara, for example.

Suzuki as a brand came a highly impressive third out of 31 car makers in our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey – below Mini and Lexus but ahead of all other rivals ranked.

The Vitara itself did reasonably well in the small SUV category of the survey, finishing in the top half of the table and above the Ford Puma (but below the VW T-Cross and VW T-Roc).

As with many of its rivals, Suzuki gives you a three-year or 60,000-mile warranty as standard. However, as long as you continue to service your vehicle at an official centre, you’ll enjoy up to seven years or 100,000 miles of warranty. Toyota offers a similar proposition but extends cover to up to 10 years.

The Vitara was awarded five stars in its Euro NCAP safety tests back in 2015 but the rating has now expired. It’s hard to compare the model with more modern rivals that have proven themselves under the latest, more stringent testing regime.

The Vitara gets loads of safety tech as standard though, including automatic emergency braking (AEB) – a safety system we consider vital. All models get lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assistance, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert. The Ford Puma, along with other rivals, reserves some of those features for its options list.

Security experts Thatcham Research awarded the Vitara four stars out of five for its resistance to theft but only three stars for its resistance to being broken into. Those are below-par scores for the small SUV class.

"The Suzuki Vitara feels cheaper than most rivals and I could see myself recommending it if it were in fact cheaper to buy. The fact that it’s generally not is the model’s biggest issue in my eyes." – Oliver Young, Reviewer

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