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Suzuki Grand Vitara 2006 through 2008

1006 messages,  Last post on Oct 11, 2009 at 9:29 PM

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#452 of 1006 Re: trusting suzuki [norwoodsmn] by vitdean Apr 09, 2006 (10:11 am)
Replying to: norwoodsmn (Apr 09, 2006 7:53 am) The bottom line here as I said is for me to depend on my vehicle to get from point A to B. I've been left stranded by stupid things going wrong in the past with the carmaker badge I've depended on in the past. 300 miles from home driving a 1994 f-150 the power steering gearbox seal blew out on a holiday weekend, 60 some thousand miles on the truck- and of course the 36 month whatever warranty was kaput. Fun vacation. My parents are retired, my Moms 2004 Focus left her stranded only 25 miles from home. Bad starter 1500 miles on a brand new car, yes it was fixed. Fathers 2005 Escape developed this cool gas smell after you drove awile and got out. After about a month of my dad telling the dealer he smelled gas and nothing was done, I called the Ford place for him. The service manager (I guess) told me it was not actually a gas leak but just gas vapor we were smelling. REALLY! Don't you have to have a leak someplace in order to smell gas? Anyway, after a couple more calls the broken fuel line was replaced. 6000 miles on this vehicle. Sorry, It's nice to be brand loyal but I need to get to work. I've read on this forum about other GV owners picking obout how the back door opens wrong or the fuel mileage thingy does not compute the average MPG. Hopefully my Grand Vitara will prove as reliable as Suzuki motorcycles and by the way, getting 23 miles per gallon with a vehicle you can depend on beats the hell out of the Escort that got 40 MPG I had before my Vitara that cost me a days pay because the harmonic balancer came apart with 40 thousand miles. So please let us not gripe obout little things on the Grand Vitara. The valve adjustment might scare some people, but believe me, it's not that hard to do as I have checked valve clearence on their bikes and in the at least 10 or so times I have done a valve adjust on a sazook motorcycle only once have I had to adjust a valve .002 thou, which I could have left alone but since I had the cover off...... Replies to this message: norwoodsmn (Apr 09, 2006 3:15 pm)
#453 of 1006 Re: trusting suzuki [vitdean] by norwoodsmn Apr 09, 2006 (3:15 pm)
Replying to: vitdean (Apr 09, 2006 10:11 am) I hear ya. But, for instance the Focus is now probably the most reliable vehicle Ford makes. Back when it was intro'ed, it got nothing but stellar reviews, but then... But then, (praise be!), they actually fixed it! All I'm saying is, likewise, don't be too surprised if you encounter a few bumps in the road in this teething period for the new GV. But Suzuki will stick by you with warranty service if you need it.   My four year old Zuke road wagon hemmoraged it's coolant all over the passengers side carpet last week, (defective heater core). After bitchin', (though it's out of warranty), "the big boys" covered the $500.00 7 inch radiator!, (beware some Suzuki parts costs), that is the heater core. I pay $300.00 for labor, and the dealer eats the extra cost beyond the 2.6 by the book hrs. Suzuki allows for the removal of the dash, etc. to replace the heater core. It takes the dealer all day long to do this job, and mine will be the third one they've done here at this dealership in ye Norwoods.. They tried to stick me for the cleaning of the carpets, but this wheel SQUEAKED badly in response over it!, so the dealer will pick up that multi day job, (cleaning, drying out of carpets), as well. So I guess take some heart from this out of warranty sad story. Never owned another vehicle that did this, ever....   See consumer reports current annual car review issue for data on the Suzuki XL-7. In prior posts here, I'd expressed I thought I might just pick up a used '04 XL-7, which was the last one offered with both a manual 5 speed tranne, and the low range transfer case. Figured they must have gotten better with age, so... Wrong, the 2003 model was more reliable. Go figure...   Keep a postin'. We're all interested how they prove themselves on down the road.
#454 of 1006 Re: trusting suzuki [norwoodsmn] by xostnot Apr 09, 2006 (9:31 pm)
Replying to: norwoodsmn (Apr 09, 2006 7:53 am) Choosing between the FJ and the GV would have been agonizing, had the FJ been on the scene when we chose the GV. The FJ is unbelievably ugly, and I'm not sure I could live with those vestigal back doors. We usually carry passengers. But the off-road performance relative to the price would have been very difficult to ignore.   We did some "off-roading" with the GV this weekend, including one event of coming to a halt with diagonally opposite wheels spinning while in 4L. Which surprised me, because you could hear the traction control system chattering away trying to do something about this. But the TC system did work the rest of the time, and the GV did better than I expected as far as clearance is concerned, while going through ditches dug across the old logging road. In fact, it did almost as well as our '91 Pathfinder did on the same road a year ago. I lightly scrapped the bottom somewhere in the middle once, and put a few scratches on the muffler, but did not touch the licence plate bezel on the back bumper. The automatic allowed more precise speed control while climbing through the ditches than I'm used to with a standard transmission. Replies to this message: norwoodsmn (Apr 21, 2006 12:41 pm) xostnot (Apr 23, 2006 9:50 pm)
#455 of 1006 A little tidbit of info by vitdean Apr 10, 2006 (2:28 pm)
As I have been studying the handy dandy service manual that I bought, (well worth the little over 100 bucks) I found that with the all time 4wd version without the switch on the console, you can undo a bolt on the transfer case and lock it in 4wd high range by turning a lever then replacing the bolt. I have not done this, (I have the all time 4wd) as I have no need. Just wondering if anyone has done this and if it will void the warranty. Replies to this message: dclark2 (Apr 13, 2006 8:57 pm)
#456 of 1006 New XL-7 shown! by dclark2 Apr 13, 2006 (8:57 pm)
Replying to: vitdean (Apr 10, 2006 2:28 pm) The XL7 was shown today. It looks huge, supposedly bigger than the Torrent/Equinox. It has a reinforced frame like the GV. Two interesting things: It has that 3.6 motor!It has 250 hp and 244lbs of tq, yet claims 23mpg on the highway. Again, despite more power and a much heavier vehicle, it gets the same mpg as the current GV!Put this into the GV and it could get 24-25mpg on the highway. I'd count on it! The top line XL7 is only $29K. I say only because it is the first under $30K vehicle (at least awd ) that comes with navigation. Getting back to the first item, I can't see the GV soldering on '07 with the same old 185 hp-it'll get either a 3.2 or 3.6 vvt motor
#457 of 1006 Re: 2006 Grand Vitara update...... [vitara4me] by keoweeharry Apr 16, 2006 (11:01 am)
Replying to: vitara4me (Mar 26, 2006 5:56 pm) Please advise source for remote oil filter kit. I changed mine using 3/8 drive cap wrench part no. A257 (80 mm) from www.autopart.com. Even with custom fit wrench, getting filter out was a chore, and I was concerned with possibly damaging the O2 sensor wire.   My GV is manual tranny 4-wheel drive (full time no low range). Anybody know why they don't call this all wheel drive?
#458 of 1006 oil filter by vitdean Apr 17, 2006 (8:56 am)
Squiggle underneath behind the left front tire. There is a good sized hole in the suspension frame ( much nicer on jack stands) that you can get your right arm and hand with tools if need be up in there to get the filter on and off. The owners manual and the service manual states to go up next to the oil pan, you are going to remove that cover under there to get to the drain plug anyhow, I found the hole in the frame to be better access. The sensor wires are routed through a bendable clip, just bend the clip with the wires out of the way making sure not to stress the wires. I'ts really not that hard to get to the filter. As for the difference between all wheel and four wheel drive, poke the question in a search engine, a lot of info.
#459 of 1006 Canoe on GV by xostnot Apr 18, 2006 (1:59 pm)
Norwoodsman was interested in some pictures of the GV with a canoe on the roof, so I've posted a couple of shots in my CarSpace.   On the front, I removed the plastc cover over the tow loop (best to get underneath to see how to remove it to avoid damaging the tabs), and the second vesitgal hook that lacks a removable cover.   On the back, I used the muffler bracket and the tow loop. I didn't bother trying to protect the paint from the ropes because the ropes are fairly soft and we weren't driving long.
#460 of 1006 muffler bracket by desertb Apr 19, 2006 (2:10 pm)
I noticed on our new GV that the muffler bracket is very rusty. We live in the desert and have no snow, no rain ,no road salt. GV has about 1k miles on the car. Anyone else notice this hunk of rust. Replies to this message: budman3 (Apr 19, 2006 2:26 pm) xostnot (Apr 20, 2006 6:36 pm)
#461 of 1006 Re: muffler bracket [desertb] by budman3 Apr 19, 2006 (2:26 pm)
Replying to: desertb (Apr 19, 2006 2:10 pm) We also live in the desert, but did notice the very rear hanger by the muffler with some surface rust. The other ones looked ok. I'm not sure how, but I noticed some rust on my rear seats where they divide in the middle. It must have come from the hinge when I had them folded up but don't know how the seat would have been wet, unless the dog hasn't told me something Replies to this message: xostnot (Apr 20, 2006 6:36 pm)

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