I see so many 2018 Suzuki Grand Vitaras buzzing around the roads and I’ve always been intrigued to drive one. To me, they look like a little safari jeep that is waiting for an adventure! As I'm a mum who's unwilling to give up her adventuring days, I was very eager to see how practical it would be as a BabyDrive.
The 2018 Grand Vitara did have some good BabyDrive features. It had very good legroom in the front even when rear-facing child seats were installed behind.
The spare wheel is mounted on the outside of the boot door, which means as a BabyDrive it has a great deep boot space. Storage in the boot was very good and it held as much as most mid-size SUVs but with the extra option to lay more on top as the boot is so deep!
The seats are comfortable and although there is some shaping to the seatbacks and bases, their basic nature worked in our favour so we could fit three child seats across the rear! I was very surprised in a small car like this. I could fit the Britax Unity infant capsule on one side and the Britax Graphene (rear facing) on the other with the forward-facing Britax Maxi Guard Pro in the central seat. It was a squeeze and you do need to level out the two outer seats to make their passengers comfortable.
There are ISO Fix points in the two outer rear seats and top tether for all three rear seats. The connection bars for all of these were just bare metal bars and had no labelling at all. It was fine for the ISO Fix, which were situated between the seat base and seat backs, but the top tether points were right at the bottom of the seatbacks and looked more like handles for bringing the rear seats forward rather than top tether points. To add to the confusion there were three black plastic hooks at the top of the rear seatbacks (also unlabelled) that were connectors for the cargo shelf. I would hope that no one would get them confused but I'm sure it is possible.
Visibility was good for the driver, so parking and manoeuvring were fine. It was also great for rear passengers, who enjoyed the elevated view.
The storage in the cab is limited and basic and things aren't lined with rubber or carpeted, they're just raw plastic and rattly!
Suzuki has kept doing updates to modernise the Grand Vitara, like adding the touch screen and sat-nav. The screen is still basic and feels dated but it is simple to use and did the job!
I’m pleased to say this little off-roader did not disappoint! The Grand Vitara is an old school car that just keeps on going! It feels basic in an exciting way! I felt like I could name it and take it on so many road trips!! It comes from the days before lane departure warnings, parking sensors or many safety features existed!
The Suzuki Grand Vitara scored a four-star ANCAP safety rating way back in 2006 and has six airbags as standard.
BabyDrive Indepth - Storage
In the front of the Grand Vitara, there are two cup holders in the central console that have a retractable lid. They are well sized to hold reusable and disposable coffee cups and a large refillable water bottle also fitted well, but 600ml water bottles rattle around.
However, the retractable lid just catches on the lid of a disposable coffee cup and easily knocks it off. It is a small detail but I think would be really impractical in the long term if you were forever spilling your coffee!
And we mums need our caffeine!!! I know in the early newborn days I would have slurped (quietly!!) my tea out of the cup holder if I had spilled it!!!
There is a small well in front of the gear lever which also has a cover, which would perhaps be a good spot for a mobile phone.
The central console storage box lid doubles as your armrest and it can move forward and back.The storage box is quite small, and there are USB ports in there.
The door pockets in the front are a good size and shape to hold a large refillable water bottle with an iPad and wallet, which is a great amount of storage.
The glove box is also a good size to hold an iPad and wallet.
There is a glasses case in the ceiling, and either side of it are extendable sun visors, which is always a nice detail to help shade your side windows.
There are no wells in the door handles as they go all the way through so can't be used as an extra little storage space.
Storage in the back of the Grand Vitara is also very limited. Two cup holders fold out from the back of the central console storage box and are the same size as the front ones, just without the obstructive lid so they are better for holding disposable coffee cups.
The door pockets in the rear I found not really good for any of my usual test items and I am not sure what they are designed to hold, other than perhaps you could stand a phone in them.
There is a small fold-down armrest in the central seat back but it has no storage in it.
There are map pockets in the back of both front seats and they are solid so what you put in them will not be on show, but they are not quite deep enough to conceal my iPad.
The boot door of the Grand Vitara opens outwards, it has the spare wheel mounted on the outside which makes the boot nice and deep.
The boot is basic. On the left, there is a 12V socket, two bag hooks and a light that comes on automatically. On the right are another two bag hooks and a little plastic storage well. The boot floor has a small lidded compartment you could store small items separately in.
The cargo blind in the Grand Vitara is a solid shelf at the front and connecting it to the seat backs are two flaps of fabric with three plastic clips. This method of fastening is just the weakest link, the flaps hang down in the way and the plastic clips I am sure will not with stand the daily use of a family.
The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.
Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.
I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.
I could get 12 shopping bags in the boot of the Grand Vitara from empty, which is a good amount for a car of this size.
The Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller fitted really well widthways in the boot with three shopping bags alongside it and there was plenty of room on top of it where you could easily store more items.
The Britax Flexx Tandem stroller frame fitted widthways across the boot with the seats nicely on top of it. Most boots are not deep enough for this and the seats have to fit in the rest of the boot space. This allowed plenty of room for six shopping bags around it!
The single Britax Flexx stroller fitted in the boot lengthways with the seat on top and six shopping bags around it. There was still plenty of space on top of the stroller for nappy bags etc.
The Britax Holiday stroller fitted really well upright in the boot of the Grand Vitara, which is rare as most boots are not deep enough for this! I could fit 11 shopping bags in around it.
You could easily transport a medium-sized dog in the boot of the Grand Vitara.
Loading and unloading the boot was simpe as the boot door opens nice and wide and it is a good height, the floor would be suitable for an emergency nappy change!
BabyDrive Indepth - Noise
The Grand Vitara is a basic car, it was made before all the safety features that make all the beeps and sirens we find in most new cars. Therefore the Grand Vitara was actually quiet in a BabyDrive sense!
There were no parking sensors to beep and wake babies! You just get the reversing camera with the visual guides but no sensors or beeps!
Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!
That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.
If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?
It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?
A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.
Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!
I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.
The indicators in the Grand Vitara are definitely baby-waking in their sound and volume. They make a distinct ‘tick-tock' sound that is quite shrill and loud.
In the short time I had the Grand Vitara, I actually couldn't work out how to hear the voice of the sat nav guidance. I found how to turn it on but no sound ever came out. The Sat-Nav was actually quite easy to navigate but the whole system is very old school. There is no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto but you can connect your phone to it.
Opening and closing the windows in the Grand Vitara has baby-waking potential as the motor has quite a loud sound and they close with a bit of a thump.
The doors are good to open and they just close with a bit of a thump, but nothing too bad or baby-waking!
The road and engine noise in the Grand Vitara is not as cocooned or insulated as some modern cars as it is old fashioned, so it is not a silent ride however I don't think it would be disturbing for a little one.
The seatbelt alarm is loud and a display comes up on the dashboard.
BabyDrive Indepth - Car Seats
The Grand Vitara is a five seater, with ISO Fix in the two outer rear seats and top tether points for all three rear seats, situated at the bottom of the seat backs, in the boot.
Neither the ISO Fix or top tethers are labelled or in plastic casings, they are all just bare metal bars. The ISO Fix are quite easy to locate in between the seat backs and base.
The top tether points however look to me like handles to bring the seat backs forward! They are right at the very base of the seats, so for some child seats I had to use a tether extension strap to reach them too.
The worrying thing is that directly above them, at the top of the seat backs, are three black plastic anchor points for the cargo blind flaps to attach to that are not labelled either
I would hope no one would attach the top tether to these by accident but it also means when the top tether straps are attached to the correct anchor points, the straps are in the way of you connecting the cargo flaps.
Surprisingly I did manage to fit three child seats across the back seats of the Grand Vitara. If I moved the two outer seats outward on the seat base and used the seatbelts instead of ISO Fix to connect them I could fit the Britax Unity rear-facing capsule on one side, the Britax Graphene (rear facing) on the other side and the Britax Maxi Guard Pro (forward facing) in the central seat.
It was a bit of a squash but it is doable if you have to! The outer seats were not level, so I found I needed padding underneath to level the child seats out and one of the rear-facing capsule carry arms was intruding a little on the central seat, so it may be worth looking at a different seat combination than I used for this test.
The front seats do fold forward really far, so it would be possible to step through to get into the central seat or help little ones fasten their straps.
With a rear-facing child seat installed in the two outer seats using the ISO Fix points, I could just squeeze in to sit between them (I'm 162cm). I wouldn't want to travel far like that as it was not very comfortable.
There is a lot of legroom in the Grand Vitara; with a rear facing child seat installed behind the passenger seat there is more than 25cm of knee room for that front passenger! That's amazing!!
The seats in the model I drove were upholstered in a beige and black woven fabric. It had a very basic feel and would be difficult to keep clean as spills would easily soak in and not be wipe-clean like leather seats. However, the woven fabric does allow the child seats to bed in more than leather seats, which are a bit firmer.
In the back with one child seat installed there is plenty of room to feed bub in the back.
Posting bub into their seats from inside and outside the car in the Grand Vitara is okay, the doorways are nice and wide and the ceiling is a good height.
Australia being a country of weather extremes blazing sun and torrential rain means you may find it easier to put bub into their seat from inside the car. If it’s hot you can get the aircon going, cool the car down and not stand out in the heat with the door open while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether bub can be easily installed from either direction.
BabyDrive Indepth - Drive & Comfort
The front seats are actually quite comfortable, the seat bases are not too long (which is a problem I often find being 162cm tall!) I found I could have a ponytail in the driver's seat too!
I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get it just right too… said no new mum ever!!!
The seats are adjustable using handles on the side of the seat, but the handles do feel like very flimsy plastic.
In the back, the seats are comfortable too. The central seat back does not have a large fold-down armrest in it so is not hard to lean on, which is often the case, and there is no mound in the footwell that central passengers have to straddle!
The steering wheel is only adjustable up/down and not in/out, which may make it hard for some drivers to get comfortable.
There are two air vents centrally in the dashboard and then a smaller round vent at either end of the dashboard. There are no air vents in the back for rear passengers. I found it was enough to cool the cabin down on a hot day when I drove it.
The air conditioning controls are on the central console below the media screen, they are very basic dials but as I found they do the job!
There are unlit vanity mirrors in both sun visors in the front and I like the fact the visors are extendable, giving you extra shade from the sun.
The interior lights in the front are easily turned on in the ceiling and the rear ones in the ceiling between the front seats, easily reachable while driving.
I often will reach back to turn on the interior light if I am driving at night time, I find my little girl gets less distressed traveling at night that way. It helps if I can reach the interior light from the drivers seat so I can turn it on and off whilst driving. I often find my daughter will need it on as we start our journey in the dark but once she falls asleep I can turn it off.
It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.
There are handles above all four doors and the rear ones are well positioned for hanging a baby toy.
There are two 12V sockets in the central console either side of the gear lever too.
The Grand Vitara's general interior aesthetics are out of date and a bit of an eyesore! The gold plastic panelling is naff and matches with the nude maternity bra coloured, sorry, beige seats!!! Everything feels basic and old already, even though it is a new car!
The good thing about this as a mum is that you would not need to be precious about the interior of the car, you could buy it knowing it was going to get trashed during your kids' younger years and that it wouldn't matter. The perforated suede panels are definitely asking for chocolate to be spilled and melted into them and then to rub off on your nice skirt when you are on your way to somewhere important!!!
The media screen is very small in the Grand Vitara, it is not the best for quality image either. It is quite simple and easy to use, mainly because there are so few functions!
The are no rear parking sensors, just the rear camera with guidelines.
Within the list-like settings in the media screen, you can turn the sat-nav voice on or off and there is a mute option. To use the sat-nav is quite simple and I found it actually did the job well even though the screen is so small and basic.
The seating position in the Grand Vitara feels nice and high so rear passengers will be able to enjoy the view out! Visibility for the driver is good because you're high up and the windows are large, making parking easy. The only consideration when parking it the boot door, as you may be unable to access the boot very well if you are backed up to a wall or someone parks close behind you.
The Grand Vitara is fantastic to drive! It is nippy, fun and agile and there are no complications. It's just basic, old-school driving and if it had been a manual I'd have loved it even more!! The lack of safety features on paper doesn't make it the best choice for a family car or BabyDrive in our modern health and safety society. However, the reckless “we can go anywhere” before-child in me says “let's go have some fun in this thing!”
One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread when we get the big cars and utes as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, but the Grand Vitara was really easy and enjoyable to drive and to park!
BabyDrive Indepth - Safety
The Suzuki Grand Vitara scored a four-star ANCAP safety rating in 2006 and has not been retested since then!! If it was retested today I'm guessing it wouldn't even get four stars so you have to think carefully about that when putting your precious cargo in the back!
In 2006 it got an overall score of 28.87 out of 37. Getting 10.87 out of 16 for frontal offset test, 16 out of 16 for side impact and pedestrian protection was rated acceptable.
The current Grand Vitara comes with six airbags as standard, dual frontal, front side and curtain airbags.
As standard, they also come with antilock brakes (ABS), electronic brake distribution (EBD) and electronic stability control (ESC).
Good review of everyday use as a parent. We’ve had ours since 2011 and still going strong. The links you mentioned on the flap of the rear parcel shelf are still intact btw. We found that going away on a short holiday is a tight squeeze for a family of four but doable unless you’re taking a portacot, then you’ve got your hands full. My biggest gripe is the lack of a fifth gear(automatic). I find second gear lacking pull when you’ve just shifted into it unless you’ve given first gear a good rev which at times makes me wish we had bought the six cilinder as it had five gears. I believe five gears would’ve been more economical. Fuel consumption is at mid 12l/100km.