Suzuki e Vitara review: A ‘vestigial organ’ tells you what you need to know
The e Vitara is its maker’s tentative first crack at electric cars, and it shows
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[SINGAPORE] More than once, I climbed out of the Suzuki e Vitara and left it parked with everything still switched on, dashboard glowing, ready to go. I blame that on muscle memory (or senility), because newer electric vehicles let you simply walk away, with no shutdown required.
The e Vitara still makes you press a button, a vestigial organ that tells you a lot about Suzuki’s first battery EV.
Overall, it feels like a tentative effort made by – and for – people still slightly suspicious about this whole electric car lark. It has physical switches for the major controls, and the touchscreen doesn’t feel like someone mounted an iPad on the dashboard. I liked it for that, but modernists will post derisive comments on social media.
Yet, even though you don’t have to swipe your way through menus to turn up the air-con, the e Vitara feels very much like how you expect an electric Suzuki to drive. It’s agile, zippy and whisper quiet, at least until you get to expressway speeds, at which point some wind noise creeps in.
Like most small cars, it’s easy enough to drive that it’s a pleasure in town. U-turns are no problem, and neither is parking, and when you show it a corner, it even feels playful. There’s a nice friskiness to the acceleration, too.
It’s worth mentioning that the e Vitara was conceived as a pure electric car from the get-go, despite sharing its name with a rugged 4x4 that goes back to 1988. That’s long before many Chinese EV brands were a glint in their founders’ eyes, and it definitely feels like it came from a company that knows how to put cars together, if the test car’s beautifully applied paint is anything to go by.
The e Vitara excels at the traditional stuff, too. The air-con puts out arctic air, and the rear bench slides fore-and-aft so you can trade knee room for boot space, which you might need to do because you can cram just 306 litres of stuff at a maximum back there.
Regardless, it’s also roomy in the back for a car with such a modest footprint, although that should come as no surprise, given how Suzuki has been a master of space packaging for yonks.
That’s mostly where the good news ends, however.
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With a S$169,888 price tag (inclusive of a Category A Certificate of Entitlement), the e Vitara has its work cut out for it against a sea of generously equipped rivals from China, especially since its own list of equipment is full of holes.
For a start, it has cloth upholstery in a market that worships leather, even the artificial kind. It has no wireless charging pad, and no companion app to check on the car remotely. There’s no head-up display, and no blind-spot monitoring either, which you’re going to notice because the e Vitara’s chunky C-pillars don’t do rear visibility any favours.
There’s no frunk, and closing the tailgate requires muscle power. The stereo sounds tinny, and there are no rear air-con vents, which would be unforgivable if the climate control system were less powerful than it is.
Another way it falls short is a literal one; the 49-kilowatt-hour battery pack delivers a claimed 345 km range, while rivals from BYD (the Atto 3), GAC (the Aion V), Leapmotor (the C10) and MG (the MGS5) offer 420 km or more.
Whoever this car is for, it certainly isn’t for someone who needs enough range for, say, a straight blast to Kuala Lumpur. Instead, the Suzuki should appeal to buyers who trust a familiar badge more than an unfamiliar Chinese one, and would rather press a button than jab a screen. As long as they also remember to jab the start button first.
Suzuki e Vitara Motor power/Torque 144 hp/193 Nm Battery type/Net capacity Lithium Iron Phosphate/49 kWh Charging time/Type About 5 hours (6.5 kW AC, estimated), 45 minutes 10 to 80 per cent (50 kw DC, estimated) Range 345 km 0-100 kmh 9.6 seconds Top speed 150 kmh Efficiency 14.8 kWh/100 km Agent Champion Motors Price S$169,888 with COE Available Now
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