[Suzuki Hustler 2016 G]

18 hours ago, Moumou said:

Wow thanks for doing this. I can't tell you how long I've been looking for a review in english.

I dont know much about cars so i do have some questions i hope you can answer.

1. You said not to jump start the car... why? (sorry if it's a stupid question but like i said I'm not very knowledgeable on such matters 😅)

2. How does this car fair on hilly sections?

3. Can this car make a 500km drive? (planning to do so every once or twice. a year) or would you advise against that?

Thanks again for all your input! 🙏

1. The ISG (Integrated starter generator) tends to get fried on jump starts.

2. It can manage hilly roads well, I didn't notice gaps in power delivery, of course its not a 6 cyl land cruiser so within its limits (4 persons + 2 bags) it can manage. 

3. 500km drive is nothing, there was one time I drove from Colombo - Negombo - Avissawella - Ruwanwella - Dickoya - Kandy and back to Negombo in one go. 

Mind you now these cars have a reasonable no. of miles on them, there will be engine wear etc. plus our reputed sellers turning back odometers. So account for that when buying. Try to trace and correlate with auction sheets so that you can have a vague mileage of what the car landed with.

When checking out a car, make sure that the idle start stop system works. That can be an issue.

Lastly, don't get disheartened but these keis are heavily bullied on the roads so grow a thick skin.

 

Sold the car in 2019, Have purchased 4 cars thereafter, 2 being off roaders yet we still miss this car. I sold mine to a principle of a reputed institute in Kurunegala and he still tends to it like his firstborn child. During the fuel shortages he used to call me and tell me that it was doing 30kmpl when carefully driven and one full tank survived the whole period giving him kmpl to do his commute. 

Lastly a bit of a Jeremy Clarkson moment,

I made a trip in my Hustler with a grand uncle, someone who was very dear to me, just the two of us, no wives, we had a ball of a time driving up and down to Nuwara Eliya, the road had work being done as well. Was the worst of days, rain, fog, mist mud all of it. Sipping draft beer and enjoying the local produce, street food that was a nice drive. 

The only reason I didn't use a bigger car I had was as it was a difficult time for me (looking at post 2019, those days were nothing now)  and the hustler was the most frugal thing I had. 

Being nearly 80y, and someone who was a Pajero/Montero fanatic since the 1980's my grand uncle was genuinely surprised with the Hustler and by the end of the trip he was telling his son on the phone to go look for one to purchase as his daily. This was a guy whose daily was a SWB Pajero upgraded to a 4M40 from a 4D56 and tweaked for boost.

Little did I know that, this trip would be my last outing with him and he succumbed to a stroke later that year. Thereby this little car will always be in my fond memories.  

[Toyota Vitz 2016 to 19 Review]

1 hour ago, ghostwriter said:

Yes direct fit. Just plug and play.

Even the one with LED display panel and digital fuel gauge is plug and play unit. A CAN bus standard is maintained throughout all models so most of meter panels that fit in the model series are direct fit.

My wifes dinged up our one, not a panel without a scratch, it's an Led ver, with all that noobs are offering un the 5 mil range now lol. Its not even for sale 

[Suzuki Samurai My First 4x4]

I ll just leave this here,

[Suzuki Samurai My First 4x4]

1 hour ago, Gummybr said:

Thanks.

I use only the main lights the others are kept covered. So no issues yet.

What's the battery you have in her? Maybe a slightly larger battery will suffice without meddling with the alternator, besides better spark as well. And that's an electric winch right? 

[Suzuki Samurai My First 4x4]

Thank you for this! In a world with hideous so called hatchbacks posing as 4x4s And mpg crap, value for money, euros 

This Is like therapy, made my day!

[Daihatsu Mira LA300S user review]

19 hours ago, AVANTE said:

What was that about? 

Actually this was a whole ago, my wife had an exam, so I was parked beside a road in Colombo, in no way was I blocking any path, i was parked in the main road, adjacent to his entrance to the main road  besides what can a tiny car like this block, well, so a fella in a Range Rover came from a private road exiting to the main road and made a scene, with specific references to the car being small blah blah,  his being big and wide, 

It not being my turf and since it was in front of the head office of the governing body of my career, where my wife went for the exams,  I just moved the tiny car about 5 inches forward just for his sake, whereas he had atleast 3 feet both sides to enter into the main road, 

I was not in anyway encroaching into the private road whatsoever and nor was I blocking it, 

18 hours ago, fiat fan said:

Im betting its a new money euro car buyer. The ones who used to drive wine red gold batch POS cars untill the germans went 1.0 3cyl.

Lots of douchebags driving german now. Taxes changed things alot!

Yea probably, but this one got pretty rich pretty fast 

18 hours ago, AVANTE said:

Imagine if it was an X1, the guy talks trash on tivs Mira, puts on his pitakotuwa Ray bans, shrugs and stomps the accelerator only to find out the timing chain has wrecked havoc on the motor lmao. 

By douchebags.. You mean the guys who think their Odi A1 is the sickest. car in the streets because it got rings on the grill? 

Lol

 

Hence thereafter gradually phased out both my keis as there is no point being smart and trying to commute efficiently in a country like this. As numerous stunts from buses and lorries and noobs in suvs, on a daily run will one day end up with some accident.

Like my old uncle used to say, find the largest lump of metal between you and the car or tree you are going to crash with.

[Daihatsu Mira LA300S user review]

Nice review, this was one of my wifes first cars, bought one in 2017 after the kei boom

Few suggestions, get some dust trap carpeting done, including the rear exposed metal areas, 

And mudflaps! Very rare but useful.

Also installing fog lamps is a diy job, u can get em off ebay,

Ours was a less blingy one but I'm sure it did 19 to 20kmpl given that we ran it inclines and slopes, 

Also the pulling power was decent for its size, manage about 2 100kg persons plug luggage when needed.

Its size and economy made it very useful, so much we used it quite often, 

One such time we were badly harassed by a c*nt in a European suv, given the fact I owned and have owned a plethora of large suvs that was a moral turning point and we gave it away thereafter. 

And buy a spare wheel, dunlop enasaves have sidewall issues 

[Suzuki Hustler 2016 G]

Thanks a lot guys, yes it has a unique way of hugging the road and managing difficult terrain, maybe its the tiny wheelbase and weight on the drive wheel combo plus the tall suspension, on 15 tyres combined with a slow shifting cvt, you cant do this in a wagon r 

 

Parts

Mechanical parts associated with engine and transmission as very much the same 

Parts associated with running repairs are also the same 

Oil filter, brake pads, fuel filter, etc

Oils are the same 

Air filter is different 

Suspension how ever, there are many differences, the entire layout is different 

Floor pan is partly shared but there are differences 

Hybrid system is the same,

Body panels are rare, tailgate very rare, yes those led halo type headlights are very hard to find and replace,

As the interior is different, airbag kit is different, 

 

 In terms of maintenance and running,

It's the same as a wagon R, might be a tad less on fuel.

[Suzuki Vitara 2019 SZT]

1 hour ago, Magnum said:

So most of the ones in SL are FWD? How much more is the 4WD with an auto box?

I'm not sure in gbp, but locally the price was the same as the 2wd, its horrendous on fuel btw

[Suzuki Vitara 2019 SZT]

9 hours ago, Magnum said:

Sweet ride! I like the styling as well, it’s one of those few new vehicles without excessive lines and curves. Simple and elegant. However a small spoiler would look nice, something similar to what you get in Vezel.

Also it seems well worth the price. 

I went through the Suzuki UK website, I couldn’t find a 4WD with Automatic transmission  option for the SZT grade.

Well I asked the fellow who placed the order, he sent the possible combinations For engine transmission and drivetrain, 

he said it is only offered in the SZT and SZ5, and the tuning is also different between the 4 models, hence the 4 columns 

well according to him the 1.0 szt or sz5 with 4wd and auto transmission is a pricey combo equal or high in price to the 1.4 hence not popular and not offered mainstream, 

our importers get 1.0 fully loaded ones on request it seems, there’s one in the famous classified site now, and a SZ5 as well.

for UK and Europe, we are stuck with the 1000cc due to the tax pattern, but there are some appealing options otherwise, will share for anyone who wants for future reference 

 

FYI https://www.globalsuzuki.com/automobile/lineup/vitara/index.html

[Suzuki Vitara 2019 SZT]

Yes I too noticed that, I got it down through a dealer via a reputed car sale, 

I guess It is not offered mainstream, 

mentioned in the auto trader article as well, most of the cars bought down 2wd,

To see I noticed it’s a rare option, only 1 or 2 cars in YouTube reviews have Auto trans with 4wd, not Plenty for sale in uk as well

 

 

[Suzuki Vitara 2019 SZT]

No similarity at all, but I’m sure they share certain underpinnings, visual cues are common amongst the SX4 and the Baleno as well, also they share the same engine, meaning front subframe has to be the same or similar to save costs, 

I doubt there will be any cult following for any of these vehicles, as they aren’t Toyotas

[Suzuki Vitara 2019 SZT]

1 hour ago, alpha17 said:

First of all, the review is a joy to read with a bit of humor sprinkled. Really enjoyed reading it!!! Totally unbiased... Thumbs up for that???

There were some interesting facts I came to know about this new kid on the block. One is that it has JBL sourced speakers, which really makes me eagerly waiting for one to be tested out.

What are the modifications you did to the Bose system in the Leaf? I’d really like to know?

Again, a great and honest review??

 

Yes he specifically said jbl, well it does sound jbl, I still dont have the guts to take apart a door just to verify this, but I eventually will give in, 

Yes the leaf, I had the bose efficiency series, meaning it's just the bose label, mediocre output, so updated the pillar tweeters to kenwood, the tweeters were cheap, nothing to do with bose, however I gave them with the car nicely wrapped and all, installed a 2 channel amp with an RCA out, the amp worked with speaker feeds used the amp outs on the stock front speakers, hid the amp under the seat, was a tiny Sony explode, used the RCA outs to run an active sub, again under the other seat as the bose sub didn't do much, but eventually chickened out on the active sub, pulled it out in a day or two,  but left the amp in situ till I sold the car, as the range kept reducing all electrical extras became a burden. This was a jdm leaf, I think uk leafs bose system was different, I never pulled a door to see if the speakers said bose, it just had this tiny ridge behind the rear seat, with bose on it, and a bose logo on top of the display. An entry pioneer system home built on a normal car will run rings around it.

[Suzuki Vitara 2019 SZT]

1 hour ago, □AVANTE□ said:

Sweet! But modern SUVS are now leaving the land of true SUVS which is no secret. Though purists may like this trend, the brand has to appeal to the general public. Hence why the car-like handling. But it may be a good thing in one way or another I guess.

Again, congrats on the purchase & hope you have a great experience with it!

BTW was that sarcasm or are you okay after falling off that ladder??

Oh yea I really did fall and nothing broken, lot of friction burns and sore shoulder and thigh, post dengue low platelet counts gave me some lovely bruises, bleeding

[Project Moggie - Disassemble Body Parts]

She’s looking good already, congrats and keep it happening !