Which Grand?

We pick up the story where I left off, stumped by engine choices. The car I was researching to purchase had neither a Nissan or Subaru engine in it, so I was a little out of my depth. In fact, the diesel 1.9L and petrol 3.2L aren’t even Suzuki engines! A couple of things became apparent early in the research phase – if I wanted an automatic, it had to be a petrol. Those who know me from my younger years would have dubbed me the Queen of Automatic, and that’s fair, I had mostly resisted manual cars from when I learned to drive to the point I’d blown seven automatic transmissions chasing huge power out of a humble Pulsar. My last purchase, a WRX, was manual and we have many manual press cars cycling through the driveway, and I need to be able to drive manual for work so I’d bought it to improve my manual driving skills. And they have improved to the point where I’m confident to drive manual on the road, race tracks and offroad.

But did I want a manual 4WD? Despite them being easier than ever to drive, they are still more difficult offroad; particularly during low speed manoeuvring and inevitable hill starts in precarious positions. I can do those things now. Happily? Not yet, but I can do them.

A little bit of extra research led me to find many reports of the borrowed 1.9L Renault diesel engine being unreliable and costly from a servicing perspective. Owners reported DPF and EGR issues if the car wasn’t driven long distances every week (…and even if it was), timing belt issues, oil leaks. Issues I’d rather avoid, and I didn’t really want a manual (there was no auto available), so the diesel was struck off the list.

Next decision – did I want three or five doors? The 3-door SWB is a cute little thing, but its tiny. Microscopic. While it would be mostly just myself and a passenger, occasionally it’d need to carry camping gear, and occasionally four people (but probably not both at the same time). The shorty was sounding a little less attractive purely from a practicality perspective, but I hadn’t ruled it out. There were also models with and without Low Range. I definitely wanted one with it.

But which of the petrol engines; 1.6L 4cyl, 2.0L 4cyl, 2.4L 4cyl, 2.7L V6, 3.2L V6? On paper, I’d decided against the 1.6L & 2.0L 4cyl, they were probably too gutless for me. Next in line was the 2.4L 4cyl. A couple a months of research led me to conclude that a 2.4L prior to 2012 could potentially be bad news; cracked blocks, head gaskets, overheating, and anything newer than 2012 was going to be out of my price range by the time I started modifying and adding accessories.

After all that I was looking at a V6. This left me with two choices – 2.7L V6, an older Suzuki engine harking back to the previous generation XL7, or 3.2L V6 which was a GM engine fitted to local Holdens. They both got a 5-speed auto vs a 4-speed fitted to other models.

The inner car nut screamed “go the one with the most power”. On paper, that was the 3.2L. But it was only sold for a short amount of time (2009-2011). The secondhand market wasn’t exactly awash with cars for sale as a result – owners holding onto their gems, and those that were for sale were fetching a premium. I still pondered on the 2.7L – they were cheap, sometimes half the price of the 3.2L. Fuel economy for the 3.2L wasn’t appreciably worse than any of the smaller engines, presumably because it wasn’t working nearly as hard to shift the car along. It got good reviews on the reliability front from owners. This was starting to bode well for the 3.2L. And it had some nice ‘luxury’ touches; leather seats, sunroof, premium sound, HID headlights. Okay, I was sold. The hunt for a 3.2L V6 Grand Vitara Prestige under $20,000 begun.

I started watching online car adverts religiously, sometimes checking three or more times a day for new listings. In the beginning some bargains came up, but I wasn’t ready to buy immediately so I let them slip by. The really good ones sold within a few hours of being advertised, and I kicked myself, but I still wasn’t ready. I needed to finish up a work contract, move back to Melbourne, settle back into study and prep my WRX for sale before I could think about buying another car.

And then one day I decided I was ready, and with the budget in mind I hit the online car adverts again. This time, there was scarce pickings in the secondhand market. I’d test driven one by this point, decided I liked them and was making the right choice. I made a very reasonable offer on the first vehicle but it was declined. I contacted a dealership that’d had theirs for sale at a ridiculous price for around 4 months (I’d been watching it the whole time), offered them a reasonable price, it was accepted and I flew from Melbourne to Adelaide with the intention of buying it if it checked out.

The rest is history. I am now the owner of a 2010 3.2L V6 Grand Vitara Prestige. My first 4WD! Its not without fault, but more on that later. Stay tuned for the road to registration, its first modification and future plans.