Grand Vitara in the Market

American automakers get a lot of criticism for their bad decisions in the sport utility arena. There was too much emphasis on the truck-based type, and they're paying the price. Suzuki proves with the Grand Vitara that a Japanese company can make the same miscalculation. The older Vitara and Grand Vitara were always offroad vehicles, but times have changed — and so has the Grand Vitara. Where it used to be a tiny model — the smallest off-roader, with its own niche — it's now as large as the other guys. My thinking is that the people who still want to go off-roading despite high fuel prices will go for one of the best off-roaders, like the Jeep Wrangler or Nissan Xterra. I haven't driven the Grand Vitara off-road, but even by the numbers it doesn't measure up. To buy the Grand Vitara over one of the many other options out there, you'd have to really like the way it looks, and that's about the only reason I can think of.