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The BannerThe Era WHEELS Thursday Jan W3 Suzuki Grand at home in snowy weather IBinch on VB versions and a hard shell case for the spare tire The JLX includes all of the above plus power glass sunroof upgraded sevenspeaker sound system with subwoofer heated front seats and more The JLXL adds perforated leather seating surfaces that are well bol stered and supportive Its not often I drive a vehicle with leather seats and manual adjustments but consider ing the price point and the vehicles otherwise long list of content this is a small sacrifice All Grand Vltaras get an instru ment panel that is attractively pre sented and easy to read The HVAC is simple and its large knobs can be operated with gloved hands Overall interior fit and finish is good despite being a bit plasticky The rear seats recline offer plenty of and because they sit slightly higher than the front seats allow rear passengers a good view of the road Cargo room behind the second row isnt huge and at 81 cubic metres cubic feet its a little less than some competitors With the s dropped however its right The 2010 Grand Vitara short front and rear overhangs aggressive head lights and bulging wheel arches give it a rugged sporty look in line at just over two cubic metres The cargo area is accessed through the Grand substan tial sidehinged rear door It opens easily enough but watch for pedes trians as ft swings to the sidewalk side where it can also get in the way of loading and unloading The Grand is well equipped in teems of standard safety which includes dual front front seatmounted side airbags and side- curtain airbags Braking is accomplished with ventilated discs front and rear with electronic brakeforce distribu tion and Brake Assist You also get Daimlers proven Electronic Stability Program ESP which uses sensors to help man age the brakes EBD trac tion control and stability control to reduce front and rear wheelslip I gained new respect for this sys tem during a couple of recent snow storms With winter tires on all four and ESP kicking in and out seamlessly while I drove the Grand Vitara never once got out of shape Of course much credit also goes to Suzukis fulltime system which can operate in four modes 4H for most driving conditions which is where I left it Lode for serious offroading Lock for when youre really bogged down and N neutral mode for towing In neutral the transmission is released allowing you to pull the Grand Vitara behind a motor home without racking up mileage on the odometer The Grand vltaras suspension is Macpherson struts up front and multilink In rear Ride is reasonably smooth and with minimal lean in the comers despite this being a tall vehicle Engine noise is minimal inside the cabin even at highway speeds but punch the accelerator and youll know the 24litre four is working hard It will get you up to speed easily enough but be sure to leave plenty of room when passing The V6 which I drove back-to- back accelerates with more author ity and a nicer exhaust note But Im not sure its worth the price premium of not to mention the penalty at the pump And speaking of fuel economy the four cylinder Grand Vitara Is rated at 11286 litres100 km highway With the sloppy weather and added rolling resistance of driv ing in the snow not to mention copi ous amounts of stopandgo driving I did no better than litres100 km overall But on a few dry stretches of highway I checked the instan taneous fuel consumption readout and found it squarely between and litres much of the tune So under ideal conditions Suzukis figures are not out of the question As for the styling I like the Grand vltaras no nonsense look with its short front and rear overhangs aggressive headlights bulging wheel arches and very foursquare stance The doormounted spare tire may be a throwback to when these vehicles were more about but 1 like it After my time behind the wheel I found there was indeed a lot to like about the currentgeneration Grand Vitara With its sporty and rugged styling sophisticated interior good capability and surprisingly long list of standard and available content it is a package that continues to deliver excellent value to Canadian HYUnDHI A Greta Choice 2010 ACCENT L3DR MONTH MONTH TERM flaunt SANTA FEGL 20 10 SONATA GL 336 MONTH MONTH TERM A tariff ELANTRA Leather Sunroof Auto Air DEMO DRIVEAWAY PAYMENTS FINANCE FROM MONTH MONTH TUCSON GL Auto FWD DEMO DRIVEAWAY PAYMENTS FINANCE FROM 00 FUTURE VALUE PRICING SMART aommtimc FUTURE VALUE PRICING CLEANA PIUS GET UP TO 1000 IN ADDITIONAL SAVINGS WHEN YCHJ TURN IN YOtfcl MODEL YEAR OR OLDER SERVKE PARTS OPEN 6 DAYS A WEEK SAT 8AMNOON EXTENDED SERVICE HOURS WEDNESDAY 730AM9PM HYUnDHI 305 Wellington St East Aurora 81 vvwwaurorahyundaica