Suzuki Vitara running costs and mpg

• Discontinued diesel the fuel economy champ
• Adding 4WD and an automatic gearbox penalises running costs
• Reliability unlikely to be an issue

If you want the Vitara with the highest fuel economy, look for a used version of the 1.6-litre DDiS diesel, claiming well over 50mpg that's genuinely achievable in everyday driving. 

If you're buying new, however, it's the 1.0-litre Boosterjets that prove the cheapest to run, specifically the manual which claims 53.2mpg. This falls to 49.5mpg for the auto and the Allgrip (four-wheel drive) version. The 1.4 is thirstier, claiming between 44.8mpg for the automatic Allgrip and 48.7mpg for the front-wheel drive manual. During our long-term test of the Vitara we managed a whisker below 40mpg in an Allgrip 1.4. 

Thanks to Suzuki’s reputation for cheap-to-run small cars the Vitara will likely prove reasonable to maintain too, with economical main dealer labour rates and well-priced parts. Be aware that your nearest dealer may be quite far away though, as there’s only around 150 dealers in the UK, so travel costs could add up over the course of ownership.

Because of its all-petrol line-up, the Vitara's CO2 emissions do appear to be quite high, but they've been tested under the newer WLTP standard. 

The best performer is the 1.0-litre Boosterjet with manual gearbox, emitting 139g/km. Choose this engine with the automatic gearbox and it increases to 153g/km, while an Allgrip manual version emits 162g/km. 

The 1.4-litre units are higher still. Manual-equipped cars produce 146g/km of CO2, the automatic 160g/km and the manual Allgrip 169g/km. 

The worst performer for CO2 is the 1.4 Boosterjet with automatic gearbox and Allgrip four-wheel drive, producing 174g/km.

Reliability

The engines providing Suzuki Vitara reliability have already been seen elsewhere – in both the S-Cross and Swift for example - and so far have proved perfectly capable of suffering no problems. We can expect the new Vitara to continue that trend, and indeed it did during our long-term test. 

And as Suzuki has previously proved, with UK market Celerio models, it’s incredibly quick at reacting to any problems and places its aftersales care of customers as paramount. This reactive speed a benefit of being such a small company – plus there’s Japanese pride at stake in case of mistake.

The car is built for use by families and the interior, while not awash with ‘quality’ soft-touch plastics is constructed from solid-feeling materials – and while some of the switchgear may not be particularly inspiring in design, it’s proven to work and continue doing so for a long time without fault.

There’s no need to fear the four-wheel drive Allgrip cars either, since the firm is regarded as something of a four-wheel drive specialist.