Suzuki brings Vitara facelift with 1.0-litre BoosterJet engine

MANILA: The Suzuki Vitara is an adorable SUV from the house of the Japanese automaker and it has gained a lot of success. It is precisely engineered and fed with loads of features in every department. However,  one thing was due until now and that too has been taken care of by the company with glee.

Seen on the Suzuki S-Cross (another popular crossover, sold in many Asian countries) facelift before, the updated Vitara gets the new 1.0-litre BoosterJet (turbocharged) petrol engine. And it is just this one single engine that was left to be included in the lineup.

The new 1.0-litre BoosterJet petrol motor produces 115 PS of power. The bigger 1.4-litre unit from the top-end SZ5 variant was reserved for the Vitara S only. This bigger mill makes 140 PS of power and 220 Nm of torque that comes anywhere between 1,500 rpm to 4,000 rpm.

As for the transmission, the company hasn’t revealed a lot of details. However, it is expected to get the same transmission options as the facelifted S-Cross. This means, there could be the same 5-speed manual for the 1.0-litre models and 6-speed manual for the bigger 1.4-litre variants. However, a 6-speed automatic will be given as an option in both the engine trims.

But it is not only the engine mechanism that takes the leap in the new facelifted model, the safety features have experienced a hike as well. In addition to the standard safety, the new kit includes lane departure warning with prevention, blind-spot monitor, traffic sign recognition, rear cross traffic alert, and autonomous emergency braking system which includes dual sensor braking support.

Apart from these, there aren’t many big changes in the new car. Minor changes include the six-vertical-bar chrome design and chrome surrounds for the LED DRLs. Other changes include new alloy wheels and LED tail lights on the outside and soft touch material dashboard and new MID on the inside.