Very peppy, good highway power, good road visibility, very sweet with the JLX features.

Cost of accessories from dealership. Lack of after-market parts. Backseats have a hard ride and not much space for adults - you really only want to put your kids in there. Sometimes the down-shifts on a downhill coast are a little clunky and jolt the passengers.

This has been a great little suv for in the city. It's very peppy, has good visibility because you're higher up than in a car, and is shorter than a big suv or minivan so it's not a beast to park or maneuver thru traffic. Now with a 2nd child we're finding it's just too small to transport 2 adults, 2 kids and all the day-to-day baby gear that goes with us. It's VERY squishy for space on a 3-day family get away and forget about it on a 1-week camping trip.

It's been fairly reliable and now we're at 60,000km; the only major concerns were a failed power steering pump that was replaced under warranty, and a leaked-out rear shock (also warrantied). My wife has complained that one day the front windows had trouble going up, but I've never witnessed that myself. I'm not sure how comfortable I would feel after the warranty runs out, but we're selling it anyhow to upsize.

We bought this for over $33K CDN and now I see ads for the base model starting at $20K CDN. I know a lot of that has to do with the strength in the Canadian dollar, so at today's price I can probably recommend it as having good value, where as before we didn't have much choice.

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1996 Subaru Legacy Outback

Looks good interior and exterior.

Made cheap and eats up to much gas for the engine size.

Not to happy with the new Grand Vitara at 2700 mile. I hear clucking sound from the engine and squicking sound on the drive seat. Ride is not good ride like a car. Hear noise from the exterior. Tires that comes with the Vitara makes to much noise. Engine sound cheaps. Should have bought a ford Escape. Redesign but not complete redesigned.

Should have bought a Toyota, but went for price; this was a mistake. Parts are expensive. Suzuki America is not helpful.

Comfortable,good gas milage for the area,turns on a dime,4spd.has good pick up.

Too! light in the snow,Dueller stinks!,parts are way too costly!

Enjoy my GV,gets used daily 104,000 miles.Switched to Falken brand tires,getting better wear than Duellers.Uses oil,one qt.every 2,000 but it doesn't leak or smoke.GV was a good price because I don't need all the bells and whistles.Recently priced an exhaust system and contacted 4 dealers,all said it would cost around $2000 plus labor.I told them I wasn't buying another GV just the exhaust!!!Last car I bought was a 1985 Subaru hatchback and had it for 14yrs.with 300,000 miles.I was hoping the GV would last that long but reading other reviews I don't have a chance!

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1979 ford4x4 and 1985 subaru

handling. appearence, quality interior, lighted gauges, dealer integrity

Cons: gas thirsty, back seats don't fold flat, deficient night lights when backing up,and maunufacturer not being truthful in its advertising

Lurury 4x4: The manufacturer's sales brochure states fender flares come with the vehicle--WRONG...Contacted the manufacturer and told it was discontinued after brochure publication...Was told there is small fine print that allows manufacturer to adjust stated options at will..no appeal process....Also, note there is an accessory book for this vehicle to buy extras that buyers should note which may show deficiencies in vehicle such as front and rear bumper guards, splash guards, and body side moldings....Too bad Suzuki could have had the best in class and be yearsahead of competition...Hopefully, warrany does not have surprises or small print disclaimers when needed!

Low cost 4x4

A/C system parts are not vibration resistent to cracking. Inadeqaute anti vibration in Aluminum condensor. Timeing chain tensioner is faulty Their internal service bulettin shows this but they will not fix it for free, raising the possibility of catastrophic timeing failures. Dealers will ignore your requests for DIY out of warranty parts, and even harass you about DIY fixing of critical faulty parts. This car was harder to fix with parts than a V12 Jaguar. Parts are generally over priced for this economy vehicle. And there are not many OEM parts available.

Need federal action against Suzuki to fix faulty initial quality.

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Suzuki JLX Sport 1.8 litre. No problems.

Powerful for a little SUV, roomy, reliable, ground clearence & height (good for bad backs), gas mileage, price/value

large tires=$$$, oil changes were more costly because of unique filter

I leased a '99 Grand Vitara JLX (manual trans., power everything, am/fm cassette, etc.) from '99 to 2002. I miss it dearly! I have slept in the back twice on rainy camping trips--WITH my dog (I'm 5'6" and fit perfectly diagonally). Off-roaded it a bit and it got through just fine. I'm glad I got the JLX, as the lesser models did not offer as many standard bells and whistles. Never had any engine problems, found tires easily (some reviews have said differently-maybe it depends on where you live). I never had any run-ins with Suzuki, but then again I didn't have any engine trouble. I absolutely LOVED this vehicle, and plan to get another one soon (can't stand my Honda Civic--I think I got a lemon, otherwise a good little car). Great for those who don't want a full size SUV, but want a smaller one that won't roll, has guts, and many standard features. I had a great experience with this baby, so I don't have anything bad to say about it! Oh, and for a V6 the mileage was pretty gosh darn good! I drove all over the state of Michigan for work, and at times got almost 24 mpg!

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Had an '86 Nova, currently have '98 Civic EX, have driven many other trucks & SUV's.

Attractive vehicle, dependable.

Timing chains. Dealer attitude. American Suzuki Corporation attitude. SUCKS!

While I enjoy driving the vehicle, I take issue with the attitude of American Suzuki in regards to making right, an engineering design flaw in the automatic tension adjustment on the time chain. Obviously, after looking at the other reviews of this same vehicle, THERE IS A PROBLEM, but Suzuki turns a deaf ear and blind eye to the problem. They will not return phone calls, answer emails or faxes. I WILL NOT BUY ANOTHER SUZUKI PRODUCT, EVER AGAIN.

With manual transmission it has great pickup even in the mountians. Small size makes it easy to maneuver in some very tight spots we've gotten ourselves into (this is before we replaced the differential.)

Front differential, timing chain tensioners, door trim, interior screws keep popping out all over the place and we have to track down the empty spots and screw them back in (especially the drivers side visor)

Bought the vehicle new in 1999. Looked at CRV, Rav 4 and Kia but decided on the Grand Vitara because of true 4X4 and chassis and price. Bought the manual transmission for more pep and control. Have taken it off road numerous times fishing, camping and exploring. Good pick up with manual transmission. Now for the bad part. Two or three years after we bought it the front differential went out (not covered by warrenty). This was an expensive fix and ever since the turning radius in 4 is extremely limited. I often have to do a five point turn to get into a parking space or even take it out of 4. Now with less than 75,000 miles on it we have to get the timing chain tensioners replaced ($1500.00) and again as you,ve read in other reviews, no help from Suzuki. Have some minor body and interior issues we can live with but the major repairs are killing us. DON'T BUY THIS VEHICLE.

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Ford Ranger 4X4 pickup

Good price if you didn't have the headaches trying to get minor things fixed.

If you don't open the front door first the molding on the back pushes up the molding on the front door. Told it is not a defect and can not be covered under warrenty. Hard to find tires. Both keyless remotes stop working. Poor customer service.

Owned this SUV for over a year. Mechanically I never had any major problems. I have problems getting minor problems fixed such as the keyless remote, tires and folding on doors. Problems dealing with Suzuki customer service department. Will never buy another Suzuki.

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