[banga]

my father was looking into a new grand vitara i assume it would be a 2014. what are they like i think he looked at the 2.4 in manual. he has look at the xtrail and the other nissan with the weird name. he liked the grand vit over the other 2. I just haven't really heard anything about them good or bad.

[alien]

Is he buying it to go offroad or predominantly stay on the road?

I think offroad the Vitara would be the pick of those by far. On road the Quashquai thingo might be better???

[banga]

it'll probably end up more on road than off road he got a brand new 4.2 GQ in 97 i seen him take it offroad once and ive used it about 3 times on easy tracks. he did like the quashquai thingo but the dealer only get 4 in every month and they have 6 people per one car they get in. so he was leaning more to the suzuki.

[alien]

Have you looked at a Subaru Forester? They won a bunch of awards for the 2014 model.

[fordem]

If there is any offroading at all, nix the Xtrail & the Qashqai - they are both transverse engine FWD platform crossovers with electric/electronic clutches driving the rear end.

The sole advantage of the Xtrail is that it has enormous trunk space, one of the disadvantages is a very fragile all independent suspension system.

[banga]

He is going to look at a forester soon. Which would add another subie to my families fleet

[got_bar_work]

Have a look at the kias. My wife loves her sportage. Dan is it nice to drive down dirt roads like a rally car. I think it has like a torque converter type set up for the rear wheels.
does around 7-8L per 100km around town. Done 6 in long trip. And thats a petrol

[fordem]

The Sportage is also a FWD platform crossover not worth a damn off road - I just bought one for my youngest daughter, and trust me she is not going to be taking it off the pavement - ground clearance is non existent (besides, she'd much rather take the old man's GV). My previous comments on the Nissans come from the same experience - eldest daughter has an Xtrail, and I considered a Rogue/Dualis/Qashqai before buying the Sportage - compared to the Sportage, the Xtrail would do better off road, and I've already said I wouldn't take an Xtrail off road.

[murcod]

It sounds like it's never going to go off road anyway?

It's hard to go past the Kia 7yr warranty IMHO and they use proper auto transmissions in them- no CVT's (if he opts for the auto.) Servicing costs for them also seem very reasonable (prices are online.) A Hyundai Ix35 would also be worth looking at.

The Subarus would possibly be dearer for servicing and insurance? The interiors on them never do anything for me and you'll probably find the equipment levels on the Korean made vehicles will be higher.

PS: Try and avoid anything with a timing belt if he's planning on keeping it long term. The cost to change then can be horrendous. Also check the servicing intervals- I know Suzuki brought in "capped price" a few years back but they also increased the servicing interval from 12mths to 6 mths!!! (That was on Kizashi's - it's cheaper to have one on the older 12mth servicing schedule without capped pricing.)

Edit - the GV's are 6mth service interval too http://www.suzuki.com.au/owners/servici ... ce-service

[banga]

I don't think he would go for a kia. He is a firm believer in manuals and doesn't really like autos much. Timing belt is something to consider as he ha the gq 4.2d which has no timing belt and is gear driven. I'm dreading doing my timing belt on my twin turbo legacy it's due soon.

[alien]

Just curious - but would a Mazda3 Hatch better suit his needs? They're cheap and great cars and have about the same rear cargo space with the seats down???

[murcod]

banga wrote:

I don't think he would go for a kia. He is a firm believer in manuals and doesn't really like autos much.

Get him to drive one and he might change his mind! Perhaps mention the 7 year warranty and say "Why not have a look?" The bad bit is it seems only the bottom of the range Sportage is available in a 6spd manual (and it's FWD.)

[banga]

He did prefer the suzuki as it has a low range box. He is pretty set in his ways it would be a big step for him to get rid of the patrol as he has always own a 4wd.

[fordem]

murcod wrote:

Get him to drive one and he might change his mind! Perhaps mention the 7 year warranty and say "Why not have a look?" The bad bit is it seems only the bottom of the range Sportage is available in a 6spd manual (and it's FWD.)

I'm not sure if this is US market only, but I believe the last year for the manual transmission in a Sportage was either 2011 or 2012 - they are all 6spd auto now.

[murcod]

We can still get manuals (I got the info I posted from Hyundai and Kia's Aussie websites.)

[magnat]

I would look at the S-Cross.. the Prestige S-cross is a nice bit of kit, OK, Its Auto but it does have a flappy paddle Gearbox and has AWD with a similiar set up to the Cashcow.

[got_bar_work]

Y would u want a manual in a sportage. The auto in it is brilliant. It never hunts for gears, its always in the right gear before u even think of going for the tiptronic. Boot it and it jumps from 6th to 3rd before u have time to think and will hold it all the way to 6k if u keep the boot in it.

[murcod]

I can understand wanting a manual transmission. (The only vehicles we own that are autos my wife is the main driver.)

I don't mind the 5spd auto in our XL-7. It's pretty smart, and does stuff like changing down gears to help with deceleration when you've just braked briefly. It's always in the right gear coming out of roundabout ( a 5spd Mazda 6 we owned would hold higher gears until you exited a roundabout and then decide to drop a couple of gears ,but only after extra throttle input.)