Suzuki Vitara - Off Roading

[ChristianZS]

Are they any good?

They seem to be cheap enough at the moment and being tempted to get into a bit of "Green Laning" ,Just wondering if they are worth it? Im not about to go getting in deep mud straight away!

[GTO Scott]

Buy a Land Rover. Suzukis are for gayers.

Right, that's the standard Land Rover owner response over and done with....

They do have their advantages, they are lighter, not usually as rotten as a similar-price Landie, and they are huge fun. Stick a +2" suspension kit on, get some decent A/T or M/T tyres (Insa remoulds will be just fine) and go and have fun....

Edited by GTO Scott on Wednesday 17th December 11:46

[ChristianZS]

GTO Scott said:

Buy a Land Rover. Suzukis are for gayers.

Right, that's the standard Land Rover owner response over and done with....

They do have their advantages, they are lighter, not usually as rotten as a similar-price Landie, and they are huge fun. Stick a +2" suspension kit on, get some decent A/T or M/T tyres (Insa remoulds will be just fine) and go and have fun....

Edited by GTO Scott on Wednesday 17th December 11:46

So the petrols are alright even in water? Do they piss water in while like that?

[SystemParanoia]

took my folks vitara down some lanes ( bridgenorth ) and along a stream.. ( wideboy with road tyres lol )

no water ingress at all.

if it leaks, just get some new door rubbers.

[SystemParanoia]

GTO Scott said:

Edited by GTO Scott on Wednesday 17th December 11:46

lol why are you reversing?! haha

[AJWB]

As a Landy driver, if I was looking for a cheap 4x4 I'd go for a Vitara. Unless you want to spend a couple of grand, you won't find a Land Rover that compares. Little Suzuki's are great off road, very light (go over the top of mud, whereas a Land Rover digs in for traction), and (as far as I'm aware) are pretty reliable. Almost bought one myself a few months back for driving to college and doing a bit of laning.

[GTO Scott]

SystemParanoia said:

GTO Scott said:

Edited by GTO Scott on Wednesday 17th December 11:46

lol why are you reversing?! haha

I'm not - I took the picture. That was at an off-road 'pay and play' site near Plymouth - the chap who took it into the river had to stop when the mud that was being washed off the car started obscuring visibility of the river bed - basically, they couldn't see how deep it was. Thats what the brown cloudy water in front of the car is from - the river itself ran perfectly clear.

For wading like that, fit a decent snorkel and hope the door seals are good - or just remove the carpets....

[ChristianZS]

AJWB said:

As a Landy driver, if I was looking for a cheap 4x4 I'd go for a Vitara. Unless you want to spend a couple of grand, you won't find a Land Rover that compares. Little Suzuki's are great off road, very light (go over the top of mud, whereas a Land Rover digs in for traction), and (as far as I'm aware) are pretty reliable. Almost bought one myself a few months back for driving to college and doing a bit of laning.

More along the lines of £1k for me. Insurance seems to be circa £30 a month on a vit and thats with the vandal damage and 3pts.

Whats the main things to look for when viewing one? Just trying to avoid having an absolute rust bucket!

[SystemParanoia]

alot of rust that would fail a normal car, shouldent fail a vit, due to the bodyshell not being structural

the joys of having a seperate shell and chassis

[ChristianZS]

SystemParanoia said:

alot of rust that would fail a normal car, shouldent fail a vit, due to the bodyshell not being structural

the joys of having a seperate shell and chassis

Okay..

How hard are the body lifts and suspension lifts to do? What effects do they have and would I really need to?


Basically I wouldnt want it looking like a hairdressers shop, Anything to make it look more manly would be good!

[SystemParanoia]

with a vit, a 2" sus lift and a 2" body lift should be all you need really.

body lifts dont cost much, but dont give you any extra clearance, theyre just so you can fit bigger wheels, which does give you more clearance due to the taller sidewalls.

[Mad Mitch]

Never had any issues with Vitara being unstable.??? The old sj410 had a reputation for rolling but this was caused by people not driving them the right way.Narrow track and high centre of gravity. They really werent that bad. Only things to look for apart from usual things on any vehicle are 1) Petrol tanks rot around seam.2)Fuel pipes corrode and may all need replacing plus they will probably need doing if needs tank cos they wont come apart in the swop over.!! 3)Check for water loss. Water pumps can cause probs and head gaskets can leak.Also, if 16 valve model check that the head is not cracked between the valve guides. If loosing water be carefull !!!! Lastly, sills and inner wings rot.Water gets behind the plastic sill trims and they rot away. MOT failure as the seat belt anchorage points can be compromised.

[lawson94]

yes vitara are good
but if it is suzuki you are looking at get a suzuki sj
alot better for offroading and can be modified to the hills and back

[K50 DEL]

This one's pretty capable!



Well modified, it's off the road at the moment due to breaking the gearbox and diff - shows a lot of similarly modded Discos a clean set of heels when the going gets serious.

[Kermit power]

ChristianZS said:

I'm not about to go getting in deep mud straight away!

Yes you are!

You might not think you will, but you will. It's too addictive not to!

I started out with my Shogun, which is superb off road completely unmodified except for fitting A/T tyres, but as it's the main transport with 3 young kids and sodding expensive to fix if it does break (although it's fairly good in that respect), I decided to go down the Zook route.

From what I could see when I went looking, you could get a well modded SJ for the same sort of price as non-modded vits/jimnys. I got an SJ413 with a spring over axle conversion (5" lift) and a whole load of other stuff done for under £700, including various spare parts a pretty extensive tool kit and an assortment of towing shackles (which you will want for when you get stuck in that mud you don't yet think you're going to go straight into).

All in all, an absolute bargain.

ETA: This is my SJ.... £620 on Ebay, plus a bit of subsequent work, but under a grand easily for the whole lot. Still road legal as well, just!

Edited by Kermit power on Monday 19th January 14:55

[Gaffer]

Get an SJ - top laugh as some of my college chums found out..!

Vitara is capable enough though.



Claire

Edited by Gaffer on Monday 19th January 12:54

[JVaughan]

We use to have a Jimny. just a 2" suspension lift was enough to play in the rough stuff with the big boys.
Aggressive tyres also are a must.
We only ever grounded out due to lack or axel articulation or ground clearance. never got stuck once in 3 years of playing rough.

in the end, a 2" suspension lift, 300mm spacers and 50:50 tyres were all we needed.

[normalbloke]

I usually throw a terrano/landy/zook in first to check the depth.

[Rum Runner]

Note aswell some models have LSD's as Standard.
I work on a sandy beach ,we used to use a late SJ which was superb and floated rather than sinking and bogging like the 110 Landy we have now. I also have a Vitara SWB and a Grand Vitara LWB both good on the beach

Edited by Rum Runner on Sunday 1st February 01:38