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The Suzuki e Vitara is a compact electric SUV offering the option of all-wheel drive with prices starting at under £30,000, meaning that it’s at the more affordable end of the electric SUV price spectrum.
Suzuki has been slow to the electric car party; the e Vitara is its first electric model. So has the brand managed to successfully blend its all-wheel drive SUV DNA with an electric powertrain at its first attempt?
Pricing Insight: Save up to £5,427 per car – see Price and Model Range section below for more details
The Suzuki e Vitara shares a new ‘Heartect-e’ EV platform with the Toyota Urban Cruiser, but the development lead has been taken by Suzuki. The e Vitara is available with a 49kWh or a 61kWh lithium iron-phosphate (LFP) battery, and with front-wheel drive or optional ‘ALLGRIP-e’ all-wheel drive, the latter drivetrain featuring the 61kWh battery. An e Axle integrates the motor and inverter.
The e Vitara looks sufficiently SUV-like in terms of its exterior styling, especially with its Land Breeze Green Pearl Metallic paint of our test car; the interior design is in keeping with the SUV exterior, and features some physical controls as well as two screens.
The e VITARA is 4,275mm long and, very sensibly for a car of this size, the rear seats can slide forwards and backwards, giving the ability to increase the boot space from 238 litres to 306 litres. There’s also space under the boot floor to store the charging cables.
Suzuki may be seen as a brand that has traditionally sold vehicles that are at the more affordable end of the price scale in the UK, but its cars have generally been direct and agile to drive, in part due to their compact size and their relative lightness. The good news is that the e Vitara shares these attributes.
Because of the instant torque from the electric motor, the e Vitara is also responsive. This can mean that an EV powertrain with front-wheel drive results in wheelspin and torque steer, but our e Vitara test car featured ALLGRIP-e all-wheel drive. This was fortunate, because the e Vitara was on test during a week of snow. Despite the car only being fitted with standard summer road tyres, the grip of the e Vitara on snow and ice was excellent, suggesting the electric ALLGRIP-e all-wheel drive, which features two independent e Axles (174 hp at the front, 65 hp at the rear), is very capable. We’d like to try one with proper all-season tyres and see how far we can get in the snow or off-road.
To help with duties off-road or in the snow (bearing in mind the 185mm of ground clearance), the e Vitara has a ‘Trail’ drive mode, which applies brakes to spinning wheels and distributes drive torque to the opposite wheel via a Limited Slip Differential function. This is helpfully activated by one press of a physical button on the centre console, and next to this button is the main drive mode button, offering options of Eco, Normal and Sport. There’s also a button for increased brake regeneration, and another to activate hill descent control. The gear selector is a rotary dial on the centre console.
The e Vitara’s ride quality is comfortable on most roads unless the surface is very poor, yet body control is good, and its steering is reasonably sharp. So the e Vitara is compact, agile, responsive and grippy.
The cabin has two display panels in one unit comprising of a 10.25-inch driver’s display and a 10.1-inch central touchscreen. In addition to the physical controls for drive modes etc, there are also physical controls for other functions such as cabin temperature, fan and volume.
Two items that don’t have physical controls, but which would be more user-friendly if they did, are the heated seats and heated steering wheel. To switch these on, you need to press a button on the screen to bring up the climate window, then select the heated seats graphic, then choose which seat you want heated; all of which is too much button-pressing.
In terms of areas for improvement, compared to some of the latest systems, the Suzuki’s touchscreen is slow to react, and the satnav mapping is poor – but you can always use Apple Maps. If you want to plug in your phone, the USB sockets are hidden under the floating centre console and are hard to access.
The steering wheel doesn’t extend very far, resulting in a less than ideal driving position for some people. But the biggest issue is the handbrake, which doesn’t auto release, so you have to release it manually every time to drive off, which gets a bit tedious.
The Suzuki e Vitara 61kWh Ultra ALLGRIP-e has an official WLTP combined electric driving range of 245 miles. After a week on test in the snow, the real-world range was averaging 178 miles. The front-wheel drive e Vitara with the larger 61kWh battery has a longer WLTP driving range of 264 miles. The e Vitara 61kWh Ultra ALLGRIP-e has WLTP consumption of 3.7 miles/kWh.
The e Vitara has a maximum rapid charging rate of 70kW, for both 49kWh and 61kWh battery sizes, which means a 10% to 80% DC charge will take around 45 minutes for 61kWh models. Suzuki obviously didn’t get our memo suggesting that 100kW should be the minimum DC charge rate for any EV. The e Vitara also supports up to 11kW AC charging, enabling a 10% to 100% charge in 4.5-5.5 hours depending on battery size.
The e Vitara features a heat pump as standard, which aims to heat the cabin in cold weather with minimal impact on the battery’s range.
The Suzuki e Vitara is available in Motion grade with either 49kWh or 61kWh battery capacities, and in Ultra grade with a 61kWh battery. The ALLGRIP-e dual-motor 4WD system is available optionally on both Motion and Ultra grades with the 61kWh battery.
The e Vitara Motion 49kWh is available from £26,249, the e Vitara Motion 61kWh from £29,249, the e Vitara Motion 61kWh ALLGRIP-e from £31,249, the e Vitara Ultra 61kWh from £32,049, and the e Vitara Ultra 61kWh ALLGRIP-e from £34,049.
The above pricing of all models includes a £3,750 ‘Suzuki Granted’ Customer Saving.
Suzuki e Vitara – typical real-world pricing
Save up to £5,427. Real-world discounted prices for the Suzuki e Vitara typically start from £24,923, or £2371 a month on PCP, depending on version and finance terms.
Pricing, including illustrative monthly PCP payments¹, is based on independent real-world market research from Insider Car Deals and is correct at the time of publication.
Insider Car Deals helps you understand what prices are realistically achievable when you are ready to buy a new car. Whether you’re sense-checking a quote you already have or preparing to negotiate with dealers, detailed pricing insights will help you avoid overpaying, buy with confidence and get a better deal. Find out more HERE.
1 All PCP monthly payments shown are illustrative only and do not constitute an offer or financial advice. Figures are based on manufacturers’ published PCP terms and, unless stated otherwise, assume a 4-year term, 8,000-10,000 miles per year, a 15% customer deposit, and any applicable manufacturer finance contribution. A Guaranteed Future Value (GFV) or final payment may be required to keep the vehicle at the end of the agreement. Always request a full written quotation from a supplying dealer before committing to purchase.
The Suzuki e Vitara is compact, agile, responsive, and with ALLGRIP-e all-wheel drive, very grippy, even in the snow, and even without all-season tyres. The exterior styling is appropriate for an SUV, and the interior benefits from a number of physical controls for key features, unlike many of the latest EVs which have all controls on a touchscreen. The sliding rear seat offers extra flexibility in terms of interior space. And with prices ranging from around £26,000 to £34,000, after the £3,750 ‘Suzuki Granted’ Customer Saving, the e Vitara is competitively priced. Things to watch out for include the maximum DC rapid charging rate of 70kW which is too slow, and the handbrake desperately needs an auto release function. The Suzuki e Vitara offers SUV capability rather than just SUV styling and is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 8 out of 10.
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Paul Clarke, GreenCarGuide Editor
