Suzuki Vitara S Turbo 2WD 2016 review | road test video

Richard Berry road tests and reviews the Suzuki Vitara S Turbo with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

Read Richard's full review here: http://carsgui.de/2aCK3LX

Find out more at the CarsGuide.com.au Vitara hub: http://carsgui.de/2ahUQZv

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If you're looking for somebody or something to blame for the reason why Australia is now gripped by SUV fever then... there's your culprit.

Actually that's not fair this new four generation Suzuki Vitara had nothing to do with it, but the first gen Vitara did.

When it came out in 1988 it was the equivalent of the fish that flopped out of the water and grew legs in the evolution of the compact SUV.

From there others followed until they become really popular that the rest of the car makers ran away to their sheds and built their own, too.

So how then does the latest version of that first compact SUV compare to its multitude of rivals.

Hold that thought.

There's three specifications of the fourth gen Vitara. There's the base grade RT-S, the top of the range RT-X diesel and in between them is this - the Vitara S-Turbo.

Yep it's a silly name. Especially seeing as everything these days has a fully sick turbo mate.

So what makes it an S-Turbo? Well it's mainly all about the engine. Suzuki calls it the Booster Jet engine that's kind of the equivalent of how cosmetic companies will use phrases like Advanced Revitalift Radiant Smoothing Cream Cleanser – when it's just soap.

But the Booster Jet is excellent it's small and powerful and frankly it's the best thing about this SUV and worth getting it just because of it.

What else makes it an S Turbo. There's the bits of chrome looking plastic here on the grille and fender, the tinted back windows and these glossy black alloy wheels.

Metallic paint costs $500 – this is Horizon Orange.

This car has the rugged pack – and that adds these rugged bits and you can get a black roof for $1250 bucks.

And inside you can change the colour of the dash trim, too.

The S-Turbo gets leather and suede seats, red stitching and alloy pedals. It's weird though that they've put the Turbo badge which looks like it should be on the outside of the car.

Also standard is the touchscreen which is excellent in it's reversing camera clarity and the way you can pinch and zoom around the satnav maps. Apple Carplay also standard so are front and rear parking sensors.

The Vitara S-Turbo is super practical. Storage throughout the cabin is good, the doors open wide making it easy to get out, while leg and headroom in the back is excellent even for tall circus freaks like me. The boot is on the small side for the class but we can tuck the carsguide pram away pretty easily.

Our test car here is the 2WD variant with the six speed auto. I love this engine – turbos can sometime take too long to deliver the beans, but this one has beans ready whenever you ask for them. The steering has good feel, the brakes bite hard and the steering feels natural. Now the suspension is quite firm - which is great for the handling but a bit uncomfortable at low speed over rough surfaces but I reckon most of the issue here is with the hard-walled Continental tyres – a softer walled tyre might fix this.

There were other things that bother us too like the cheap feeling hard cabin plastics and the fact that the S Turbo only runs on premium fuel.

There the doors that don't like to closing unless you really gave it a bit of force, and while the body itself is quite handsome, the designers could have gone further you know integrating the exhaust into the bumper rather than just hiding under there.

Look in some ways the descendant of the first compact SUV isn't as good its new rivals in terms of refinement and quality feel. But in other ways it's better – that engines is great and the amount of equipment you get for the money is excellent.

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