No drive – no problem: buy a Suzuki Grand Vitara

Grand Vitara broke into our market in 2005 as a bright class star. Still, a modern and comfortable frameless crossover with real off-road attributes: ponizhaykoy and tight locking center differential. A big plus (for those who are subject to stereotypes) was the fact that only Japanese cars were supplied to our market. But in recent years, sales of fairly aged Vitara in Russia looked so pitiful that the SUV produced in Japan left the Russian market in 2016. There are a lot of these cars on the secondary market: the “Japanese” turned out to be quite strong and, moreover, it combines good off-road qualities and a more or less decent level of comfort. More precisely, trying to combine. Is it possible today to find Vitara in good condition, with 750 thousand rubles? Our assessment service claims that this money should be enough with interest. Well, let’s try.

What and where are we looking for?
Everything is simple with the search location – we are looking at private sellers, but we also don’t ignore car dealers. But “what” … However, let’s say “thank you” Suzuki – Vitara has no bad engines and boxes. There are some peculiarities, of course, but so that there’s no direct rubbish at all.

If you are boring and go into details, then Vitara can count as many as six engines: gasoline with a volume of 1.6 liters, 2.0 liters, 2.4 liters, 2.7 liters and 3.2 liters and diesel capacity of 1.9 liters . But, as is often the case, practice with theory has almost nothing in common. The vast majority of cars in the secondary market can boast only two motors – “fours” with a volume of 2.0 and 2.4 liters. These are engines J20A and J24B, respectively.

Both units – with a chain drive timing, and when buying a car with a mileage of one hundred thousand kilometers it would be nice to check the tension in the chain. After two hundred thousand mileage, one can expect the appearance of a “maslozhor”, but it is treated in a relatively easy traditional way – by replacing the oil wiper caps and rings.

But if the car has a very high mileage, thousands of things for three hundred, then the two-liter engine will look preferable to the 2.4-liter engine: it at least has repair dimensions for the engine’s cap.

Well, for the particularly economical, I note that the power of the first motor is 140 hp, and the second is 169. And neither with the first nor the second Vitara’s engine is ever daring and sharp as a bullet, and the tax with the second motor is all still higher.

With a 1.6-liter M16A dynamics will be even worse, although most likely, this engine will be the most trouble-free.

Now a few words about the V6. Of course, with them Vitara accelerates more fun. The 2.7-liter engine with the H27A index most often came to us from America. And cars from America are “dark horses” themselves. Check them need very carefully! And if in doubt, do not buy at all.

In general, a good motor. Upset only replacing chains. There are three of them, and you need to change them all at once, also with tensioners and stars. And this is not a belt for you to wave on “Chirik”.

However, the later 3.2-liter N32A engine, which was not created without the intervention of GM, is also not as cheap to operate as the row fours. Here, with the chains, it is usually necessary to change four phase shifters as well, so one cannot count on a cheap replacement.

Another rare engine is the diesel 1.9 DDiS, which is also the F9QB from Renault. There are few machines with it, although there were no big problems with this engine. At least, on small runs. However, you can forget about it – in the secondary market, finding a diesel Vitara is very, very difficult.

With gears, too, everything is fine. Most cars are Aisin AW03-72, on versions with a 3.2-liter engine – Aisin A750F (TB-50LS).

Nothing bad can be said about AW03-72. Yes, she is somewhat thoughtful, and Vitara travels slowly with her, but she does it for a long time. The A750F serves slightly less (on more powerful machines and is driven more often), and its locking mode is a bit tougher. But in general, also a good unit.

Well, traditionally for all-wheel drive cars with the purchase you have to look at the drips of oil from the gearboxes and check the frequency of changing the oil in them. In addition, in Vitarakh, the transfer case and gearbox joint often flowed. So under the lift spend the maximum amount of time.

On this, perhaps, everything. Not the most problematic car, so the probability of finding Vitara in good condition is quite high. Here are just some of the owners of these cars did not spare, and drove them to the tail and mane. And now we will see this.

Sheer frustration
The first meeting with Vitara upset and machine, and the seller. The owner was clearly not set up for dialogue, and even less so for the shooting. And he was why nervous.

The car of 2009 is offered for sale for only 490 thousand. Mileage – 90 thousand kilometers, almost fantastic. Box – manual, engine – 2.4 liters. Unfortunately, in life, this crossover looks much sadder than in the ad.

Despite the fact that the paint on the car is really dear, everything looks very unpresentable: a beaten hood, a broken bottom of the bumper … It seems to be a trifle, but it hints at the features of operation.