• Lots of equipment
• Solid build quality
• Cheap materials

How is the quality and layout?

We’ll start with the good bits. Suzuki builds a solid car, inside and out – and the Vitara’s dashboard feels made to last with tight seams, even panel gaps and not a shake or rattle to be found.

However, the material choice in here is undoubtedly hardwearing rather than luxurious and almost every surface is swathed in hard, unforgiving plastic with little of the soft-touch or textured materials you’ll find in some rivals. An exception is the rather nice suede-effect seats on top-spec cars.

Another notable feature is the prevalence of plenty of physical buttons. Not only do you get a full climate control panel but there’s a bank of switches by the driver’s knee which feel a little old-school but are quite easy to use.

Infotainment and tech

Suzuki fits the Vitara with a 7.0-inch infotainment screen best described as ‘dated’. Its soft plastic display isn’t particularly high-resolution or responsive and the graphics are blocky and fairly ugly. It’s not too difficult to navigate around but it’s not a pleasure to use.

Thankfully, Apple Carplay and Android Auto are fitted as standard so you can bypass the factory software easily. This is our preferred method, although we found in our long-term review that the cable has a tendency to get in the way of the gearshift.

Comfort

Seating in the Suzuki Vitara is comfortable enough, although the seats don’t adjust quite low enough for our liking – and the lever-style adjustment for the backrest is one of the more obvious displays of cost-cutting throughout the interior.

The rear bench is rather flat and you don’t get a central armrest either, which is a bit of a shame. However the rear windows are large, giving you a good view out. A Skoda Kamiq is more comfortable for passengers, though, with more room and more comfortable seats, especially for three adults across the rear.