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Suzuki Grand Vitara 2006 through 2008

1048 messages,  Last post on Jan 14, 2012 at 11:29 AM

You are in the Suzuki Grand Vitara/Vitara Forum.

What is this discussion about? Suzuki Grand Vitara, SUV

Messages Page 103 of 105

#1019 of 1048 Tire Rotation by xostnot

Apr 26, 2010 (8:43 pm)

I suppose with a 2wd, rwd, you can get away with having dissimilar front and rear tires. Our GV is 4wd, and I wouldn't consider having mismatched tires.
 
And since they're matched, it doesn't make sense NOT to rotate them and thus spread the wear over all four. Rotation doesn't, of course, change the amount of wear, but by spreading the wear over the tire faces of the set, you don't end up with two completely worn out on one side of the tread.
 
Even if the alignment is correct, and it sounds like yours is far off, the GV must have tires rotated because of the cambered rear wheels.
 
As I've said before, our '06 GV has about 35,000km on the original tires, and they're not quite half worn out. They have been rotated at about 4000km intervals.

#1020 of 1048 Re: another bad review [denverleigh] by lil302000

May 13, 2010 (6:59 am)

Replying to: denverleigh (Mar 13, 2010 9:41 pm)
Hi all, 52800 miles on our 2006 2WD and still going strong. I will say we only got 20000 miles out of the junk Yoko tires. We replaced them with Sumitomos and they are still on the GV. I just changed the OE brake pads last week and I replaced the OE air filter with a K&N at 15000 miles. The only other things that have been done are oil and ATF changes.
I did read a report that the GV was more expensive than CRV over time, not for me so far. Try to get a leather and loaded CRV new in 2006 for 24,000 dollars as far as resell not an issue when you keep your car over ten years like I do. I just dropped my 2000 Tundra at the shop for a new front axle it has 128000 miles on it and this is the first time in the shop for a non routine problem.

#1021 of 1048 Cost of Ownership by xostnot

May 13, 2010 (5:54 pm)

Thanks for reporting in. You might want to join truedelta(dot)com.
 
I wasn't aware of this until recently, but apparently manufacturers have been "gaming" the cost of ownership stats. The way they do it is to cut far back on maintenance visits, (ahem, BMW) which means you spend less on servicing. You then pay for replacing parts earlier, but after the surveys aren't interested any more. It seems to me that Suzuki requires the GV have a lot of service visits, which end up costing enough to make the cost of ownership look bad. But presumably the vehicle will last a lot longer.
 
I did my own survey to compare resale values to original cost, and the GV didn't do badly. The Escape and the Forester had the worst resale values compared to original cost. CRV and Rav4 were only a little better than the GV.

#1022 of 1048 Re: Cost of Ownership [xostnot] by lil302000

May 14, 2010 (4:57 am)

Replying to: xostnot (May 13, 2010 5:54 pm)
Hi xostnot, I don't think that is the only games being played. I think the gas mileage game is in play and needs an update. I used the CRV, but to be honest I could not find another cute ute as nice as the GV for the price when I went shopping in 2006. I think Honda makes a great product, but what I don't like is they charge extra for everything from floor mats on up. By the time your done you have 30 grand in a midsized to small ride. Back in 2006 the Honda dealers didn't deal a lot, getting a set of floor mats thrown in was like cutting out wisdom teeth.
Another cost of ownership when it comes to Hybrids battery replacement. True story here my daughter and her husband have a Hybrid, I will not say what one because I'm not here to bash any brands. Back to the issue at hand, after five years the batteries died and the cost to replace them is eight grand. So add the the extra cost at purchase with the cost to replace batteries and that is a crap load of gas. As of today they now have an under powered non hybrid hybrid.

#1023 of 1048 Should I Buy a 2008GV by girldriver1

May 20, 2010 (12:37 am)

I have read tons of messages on this forum as well as reviews and am now hesitant about buying a 2008 GV base model automatic with rear wheel drive. I found what I thought was a good deal at a Non-Suzuki dealership. The car has around 6K miles, so the 3year/36K warranty still applies for 2 years or 30K miles. But with all the tire issues and other problems I am not sure it's worth it. Are there owners who have not had as many problems, but just don't post encouraging comments on this forum. I am also wondering about a RWD and how it handles the east coast weather. Thanks

#1024 of 1048 Re: Should I Buy a 2008GV [girldriver1] by tidester

May 20, 2010 (12:52 am)

Replying to: girldriver1 (May 20, 2010 12:37 am)
There is a general tendency for people experiencing problems to seek out solutions while people who don't experience problems are less motivated to write about it.
 
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

#1025 of 1048 Re: Should I Buy a 2008GV [tidester] by girldriver1

May 20, 2010 (1:16 am)

Replying to: tidester (May 20, 2010 12:52 am)
Thanks. I am also going to post in 'purchasing used vehicles' to get an idea of pricing and negotiating with the dealership.

#1026 of 1048 Tire Wear Risk by xostnot

May 20, 2010 (8:58 am)

The best source of reliability information I know about, which is Michael Karesh's truedelta, rates the GV as average for cuv's. Just take great care to make sure you're not buying one of the GV's with the tire wear/alignment problem (although competent Suzuki dealers can fix it). With only 6000 miles, the 2008 should have the original tires and show very little tire wear.
 
My guess is that about 5-10% of the GV's had this problem.
 
I have no idea how it will handle your driving conditions, unfortunately.

#1027 of 1048 Re: Should I Buy a 2008GV [girldriver1] by lil302000

May 20, 2010 (3:27 pm)

Replying to: girldriver1 (May 20, 2010 12:37 am)
Hi girldriver1, I live in Ohio and we have a 2006 2wd GV. We have had good luck with ours and it does do well in the winter for us. I would not take it off road, but if it's bad enough outside that the GV can't get around then one should not drive anyway.

#1028 of 1048 2007 GV REAR END ISSUES by shooshoo

May 24, 2010 (10:21 am)

I'm having some real issues with my rear end fishtailing around on any snowy or moderately slick surface more than normal. I've got a 4 wheel drive and have driven several different 4 wheel drives in my life time and have never experienced anything so squirmy in my life. My rear tires are wearing bad and I've only got 17000k on this set. I've taking it in and had it checked out to make sure my strutts where ok. They didn't find anything wrong with it other than being a little out of alignment. I don't feel safe taking it out in the winter any more! This defeats the purpose of having a 4 wheel drive. Has anybody experienced this with their's and how do I find out how to correct this as the dealership is of no help? Any help would greatly be appreicated!

Messages Page 103 of 105

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