Suzuki is truly a separate brand in the automotive world, combining a great sense of rationality and original services that very few offer. If not for this fake SUV with real van air, almost ignoring the penalty with a slight hybridization of 48 V, while offering four-wheel drive at a price still affordable. Widely renovated after nine years of service, the S-Cross is very popular in the mountains and, we predict, will remain so.
WHAT CHANGES
The weight of the years required a facelift, and this, ambitious, went through the body to change the appearance, in particular the grille, more manly, topped by a more horizontal and masculine hood. What familiarity with the precarious Vitara? Maybe not, because it retains a more adventurous side while the S-Cross develops the practicality of a van. The rear door, with its projecting light strip and its contrasting lower extractor, tries to blur the massive back.
Car: Suzuki Vitara Hybrid, electrified adventurer
It opens with a slightly striking feel on a generous trunk (430 l), the floor of which is located on two levels. The seat of the bench folds in two unequal parts and allows the backrests to tilt for the comfort of the passengers, sitting on the shore. Large glass surfaces, which have become unusual in modern cars, are enhanced in this high-end Privilege version with a glass roof with opaque curtain to illuminate the upholstery dedicated to carbon black.
The dashboard has a deja vu air, but is now enriched with a 9-inch (7-level entry-level) HD multimedia display while the steering wheel is adorned with many previously remote features. In the mid-range Privilege, the air conditioning becomes automatic, as are the headlights and windscreen wipers, and the front seats are heated. Cruise control adapts to the speed of the vehicle in front and there is automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection. For geeks, they can play with Android Auto or Apple Car Play with more serenity. Upstairs, with the high-end style, we can even play with a 360-degree camera, useful all-terrain.
THE TECHNIQUE
In terms of technology, the center console hosts, behind the mechanical or automatic shift lever, the control of the All Terrain system so sought after in the region as soon as the altitude is intervened. Here, the system basically drives only the front wheels and attaches the rear wheels as needed, depending on the information received from the sensors. This gives you the best possible traction when needed and the economy of two-wheel drive when not needed.
The platform, combined with 48V light hybridization, keeps the Suzuki S-Cross light (from 1,195 kg) and contains its CO emissions2 from 119 g / km. As for the all-wheel drive version, it barely exceeds 1,300 kg in vacuum, for emissions of 133 g / km.
To avoid the effects of the penalty, the 48 V microhybridization gives a boost, mainly to the start-up. By the way, it reduces the official consumption and exposes the automatic version to a penalty of 280 euros. Our six-speed mechanical gearbox on the test is susceptible to 150 euros, negligible in relation to the performance of the S-Cross 4×4.
AUTO POINT OPINION
The S-Cross will not upset the canons of fashion, in particular a benchmark in this field, the 2008 Peugeot, to which it can be compared. But the Frenchman has no four-wheel drive, it is rather a Dacia Duster 4×4 that will have to look, much cheaper but without the option of automatic transmission. The mechanical version we have is more in the mountain lens and claims a lower consumption of its brave 4-cylinder 129 hp. It may not seem like much, but the S-Cross has survived, by what miracle? – a light car and has thus retained a good weight / power ratio and agility unknown to current anvils.
On the other hand, the help of the hybridization expected from the idle is too much to wait for our taste and we will play the clutch before it is really expressed within the limit of its 10 kW and 53 Nm of additional torque. After the first one, the engine is shown in the other reports in phase with the appropriate regimes to offer a pleasant driving side.
The AllGrip control allows you to select a Sport, Snow or Lock program to block the transmission of torque on all four wheels at 50-50, for example very useful in the mud. In the winter relief, the Suzuki is not afraid to play in the snow doing much better than the operetta SUV. Placed rather softly, the suspensions provide good comfort and are faithful as long as they are not abused. In the city, the Stop & Start is fluid while on the freeway, some freewheeling sequences can be activated at a steady pace. These various combinations, in favor of the consumption officially claimed in 5.8 l, update a model that has remained intelligent despite its maturity and has its followers.
During the second half of the year, a plug-in hybrid version of the S-Cross, paired with an automatic gearbox and capable of running 100% electric temporarily, will support a truly up-to-date offering.