Suzuki e-Vitara review: an affordable new electric SUV with real off-road skills

They say the best things come to those who wait, and other predictable clichés, but here is Suzuki's first ever electric car. And such is the brand loyalty among Suzuki buyers, you can bet there have been a lot of people waiting for this launch.

You only need to browse Suzuki's back catalogue to see how good they are at producing compact SUVs, so the fact the Vitara brand has been the first to take on the new tech is perhaps another predictable cliché.

Only, if you were expecting a renosed version of the current dinosaur-powered Vitara, with a battery in the boot and a motor where the engine used to be, you'd be wrong. Because this is a new car from the ground up.

Perhaps explaining why it's taken so long to get here, Suzuki has completely started from a blank piece of paper with the e Vitara, which has just started to arrive in dealers, priced from a rather alluring £26,249.

And from a design perspective, it's a bold look, but certainly not unattractive. The previous few Vitaras have been relatively sober to look at, but now we're seeing some relative flair, from its chunky arches, sharp creases, and an obvious nod to its off-road potential. Which I'll come back to.

The rugged theme is carried on inside with a purposeful but pleasant interior, lots of space, and the usual smattering of screens, all executed with a depressing lack of physical controls.

To be fair, there's a row of climate control buttons, which is the most we seem to be able to expect these days, but most functionality is tucked away in the central infotainment system, and it's pretty good, but not exactly cutting edge.

A rotary gear selector sits in a shiny black centre console, alongside your fingerprints which show up all too readily on the glossy surface, and there's a wireless charging pad and some sensible storage areas. You could say Suzuki has thought of everything, but there's little here other manufacturers haven't already included.

What is appealing, that said, is how much you get for your money. True to form, Suzuki has strived to make the buying process simple, with just two trim levels, Motion and Ultra, and two battery sizes, 49kWh and 61kWh. They all come with a standard heat pump, and you'll even get a free Ohme home charger thrown in.

Pretty much the only other choice you'll have to make, aside from the colour, is how many driven wheels you have. There's a bit of a price premium for the all-wheel-drive version, but this is basically the only car in its sector with genuine off-road capability. And I know how good it is because I've tested it. In conditions you would not expect a compact SUV on road tyres to manage.

This is the e Vitara's trump card, and the chief reason many buyers might make a switch to Suzuki.

But it doesn't mean it's a wallowy mess on the road. The ride is soft, but supple, and while it's far from fast, performance is reassuringly brisk, in that effortless EV sort of a way.

Slow off a bit, and Suzuki claims you'll manage 213 miles of range in the 49kWh version, and up to 264 in the 61kWh version - a bit less in the Allgrip-e 4WD model, of course.

In reality, these numbers are based on miles per kW figures I struggled to achieve in the real world, but let's just say range is adequate for the size of battery and size of car.

Prices are suppressed by Suzuki's electric grant, and it brings the 61kWh down to just below £30,000, but the premium for the 4WD version is a tad hefty, so you'd be paying roughly £2,000 for the privilege of mud-plugging.

But lease deals look pretty tempting, especially with that home charger thrown in, and a warranty of up to 10 years is very impressive, particularly considering Suzuki's reputation for reliability and the wide dealer network.

As a straight-forward compact SUV, there are some obvious rivals for the e Vitara, which are hard to overlook. But none of them will keep up with the Vitara on a soggy field, let alone a muddy off-road course.

That does put the Vitara's key strength into a pretty narrow niche, but fans of the Suzuki brand, of which there are many, will be delighted with the e Vitara. Because it's very good.