Features / 7 May 2023 / Michael Taylor

New Suzuki Grand Vitara vs Toyota Urban Cruiser – The crossovers we’ve all been waiting for

South Africans were recently treated to not one but two of the biggest motoring-related announcements of the year with the launch of the new Suzuki Grand Vitara and Toyota Urban Cruiser.

Their outgoing counterparts – the Suzuki Vitara Brezza and the old Urban Cruiser – were two of the best-selling cars in the country on account of their decent performance, reasonable spec sheets, and general affordability.

Both the old and the new models are also half-siblings, developed in a partnership between the Japanese automakers, meaning that they share an identical architecture and drivetrain.

The new entries have seen a significant price jump, as the Grand has a starting price of R339,900 compared to the Brezza’s R262,900, and the Cruiser has gone up from R283,200 to R329,400, but this has been compensated for with new looks, an expanded list of standard features and, in the case of the Suzuki, an all-new hybrid engine.

Features

There are five options in the Grand Vitara range, compared to three for the Urban Cruiser, but the comparison is made easier by the fact there are only two trim levels for each car.

The entry-level versions of the Suzuki and Toyota are the GL and Xs respectively, with the higher specifications being the GLX and XR.

Starting with the Urban Cruiser Xs which is the cheapest model in the combined line-up, standard features include 17-inch steel wheels, bi-halogen headlights, LED daytime running lights, keyless entry and start, automatic air conditioning, fabric seats, a multifunction steering wheel, rear parking sensors, a reverse camera, hill assist, ABS, two airbags, and a 7-inch infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and two speakers.

In the other corner, the Grand Vitara GL is mostly the same, though since it costs R10,500 more than its competitor, it replaces the steel wheels with alloy ones, swaps the halogen lights for LEDs, and adds roof rails, a leather steering wheel, and a total of six airbags.

Looking at the upper tier, the Toyota in XR guise costs R18,000 more than the Xs, in contrast to the GLX which costs R58,000 more than the GL. Consequently, it’s in these trim levels that the differences between the half-siblings become much more pronounced.

The XR upgrade is relatively light, as it comes with four speakers instead of two, six airbags, alloy wheels, cruise control, and roof rails.

The much more costly GLX, in comparison, is sold with a larger 9-inch media screen, all-round camera system, leatherette upholstery, ambient cabin lighting, a wireless phone charger, four speakers, a panoramic sunroof, and a heads-up display, with paddle shifters reserved for the range-topping GLX hybrid.

One other key difference worth highlighting is that, despite the two cars having near-identical dimensions, the Toyota has a larger boot of 353 litres compared to the Suzuki’s 310 litres.

Engine

Performance-wise, the crossovers are exactly the same, as they are both equipped with a 1.5-litre, naturally-aspirated petrol engine with 77kW and 138Nm.

Likewise, they are front-wheel drive, have a ground clearance of 210mm, and are available as either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic, resulting in an average fuel consumption of 6.0l/100km.

The exception to the rule is the Grand Vitara hybrid, which combines the 1.5-litre powertrain with an integrated starter motor, 12V lithium-ion battery pack, and stop-start function for an improved consumption of 5.6l/100km.

It has a functionally identical power reading of 76kW and 137Nm and uses a six-speed auto in tandem with an AllGrip selectable 4WD system. It also comes with four driving modes for Auto, Sport, Snow, and Lock.