Re-Vitara-ised Urban SUV Experience

The exciting all-new Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara was only recently unveiled, so it was a pleasant surprise to sample it on the company's test-track located within their top-secret Rohtak R&D facility ahead of its launch

- Jim Gorde

WHEN WE SAY TOP-SECRET, WE MEAN it. Phone cameras were taped off and the phones themselves were locked away before we could proceed inside. Long story short, we drove not one but all three powertrain W combinations of the new Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara-in preproduction prototype form-and came away impressed. The route was a mix of high-speed banked oval, highway-speed straight and bends, and also city conditions at lower speeds complete with speed-breakers. With the sun beating down at half to noon, we set off to experience their next big thing.

 

The Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara is an all-new mid-size SUV measuring 4,345 millimetres long and running a 2.6-metre wheelbase. It's large, spacious, and feels like an enhanced, much larger and more premium version of the Vitara Brezza, which, in many ways, it is. The styling is bold and eye-catching, with a huge grille split by a chrome slat. Two LED arrays sit on either side with three distinct units integrated with daytime lights and turn-indicators. The projector headlamps sit below. The sleek tail has a sweeping bar LED tail-light cluster which looks very modern and is just as eye-catching, with the "Grand Vitara" badging in chrome looking sharp. The wheels are 17-inch dualtone alloys with 215/60 rubber with all four discs. It looks purposeful given that there is an "AllGrip" intelligent all-wheel-drive option to choose from as well.