New Suzuki e Vitara first drive: a refreshingly simple small EV
April 15, 2025 by Jamie Edkins
Car changing is a big deal
Carwow’s News Editor Jamie Edkins has been driving the new Suzuki e Vitara ahead of its official UK launch later this year. The brand’s first EV shows great promise as an honest small SUV, but the price needs to be right.
This is the new Suzuki e Vitara, the first pure EV the brand has ever sold in the UK. It’s an alternative to cars like the Kia EV3, Peugeot E-2008 and the Smart #1 and will go on sale in the summer, and you can expect a similar starting price to those cars as well of between £30,000 and £35,000.
The e Vitara is Suzuki doing what it does best: making simple and well-equipped small cars which are easy to live with and nice to drive. It’s not as exciting to look at as a Peugeot E-2008, but it’s still a handsome-looking thing with some rugged charm thanks to the black cladding around the lower half.
Step inside and things are equally inoffensive. The interior design is nothing to write home about, but more importantly for this sort of car everything is logically laid out and really easy to use. You get physical buttons for the climate control, which is much better than the touchscreen-based setup you get in the Volvo EX30, and the infotainment system is intuitive as well – it’s a huge improvement over the one we had in our long-term Suzuki Swift. Quality is decent as well. Everything feels nice and solid, although there are quite a few hard plastics around the place.
If you’re thinking that this interior looks familiar, that’s because it’s shared with another car – the Toyota Urban Cruiser. Under the skin these two models are almost identical, although it was designed entirely by Suzuki.
This parts sharing means that the e Vitara is just as practical as the Urban Cruiser we had a look around earlier this year. There are plenty of cubbies around the cabin, and rear legroom is decent for a car of this size. Taller adults will struggle for headroom though, and the Kia EV3 is a lot more spacious.
This extends to the boot, which at 244 litres is far smaller than the Kia EV3, Ford Puma Gen-E and the Hyundai Kona Electric. However, if you need more space you can slide the rear seats forward to expand your luggage capacity to 310 litres. That makes it around the same size as the Smart #1’s boot, but at the expense of pretty much all of your rear legroom. Still, it’s nice to have the flexibility.
Powering this car is a choice of two battery packs: 49kWh and 61kWh. You can also choose between a single motor model or a dual-motor version with all-wheel drive – something which won’t be offered on the Toyota Urban Cruiser.
The e Vitara can manage up to 266 miles on a charge according to official tests, although this drops to 246 miles if you go for the dual motor model. That’s up to 33 miles more than a Ford Puma Gen-E can do, however it’s some way short of the Kia EV3 and its 375-mile range.
Out on the road the Suzuki e Vitara is perfect for driving around town. You get a great view forward and the boxy shape makes it really easy to slot through gaps in traffic. Top-spec versions also get a 360-degree reversing camera to help you negotiate tight parking spaces.
The suspension does a good job of dealing with big bumps, although it does fidget about a bit over smaller imperfections. It’s pretty good on a twisty road as well. There’s not much fun to be had, but it feels safe and predictable through corners with minimal body roll.
Get out on the motorway and the e Vitara feels less at home. You do get adaptive cruise control as standard which is nice on longer drives, but you do get quite a lot of wind noise as your speed climbs which gets intrusive after a while.
Suzuki e Vitara verdict: why should you buy one?
The Suzuki e Vitara is a solid small electric SUV. It may not be game-changing, but it goes about its business in a pretty fuss-free fashion and it’s pleasant to drive.
It falls behind some alternatives in terms of range and practicality, but one of the e Vitara’s biggest selling points is the amount of standard equipment you get. All versions get adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, keyless entry, front and rear parking sensors and a 10.1-inch infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
The e Vitara also gets a 10-year battery warranty, two years more than most manufacturers offer, and you can get up to 10 years of warranty coverage on the car if you keep it serviced within Suzuki’s dealer network. That’s great peace of mind.
As long as the Suzuki e Vitara is priced competitively against alternatives like the Kia EV3 and Peugeot E-2008, it’ll be an easy car to recommend if you’re after a simple, well-equipped electric SUV which is easy to drive.
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