• Lots of standard features
• Solid build quality
• But cheap materials used

How is the quality and layout?

We’ll start with the good bits. Suzuki builds a solid car, inside and out. The Vitara’s dashboard feels made to last with tight seams, even panel gaps and not a shake or rattle to be found.

However, we thought the material choice is hardwearing rather than luxurious. Almost every surface is made from hard, unforgiving plastic with little of the soft-touch or textured materials you’ll find in rivals like the Peugeot 2008 and Renault Captur. Is it forgivable in a car with the Suzuki’s low price? Perhaps. Rather nice suede-effect upholstery on top-spec cars, though.

Another notable feature is the prevalence of physical buttons dotted across the dashboard. Not only do you get a full climate control panel below the infotainment system display, but there’s a bank of switches by the driver’s knee which feel a little old-school but are quite easy to use.

Infotainment and tech

The Vitara has a 7.0-inch infotainment system that’s bought in from an outside supplier and is best described as ‘dated’. Its soft plastic touchscreen isn’t particularly responsive or high resolution, and the graphics are blocky and ugly. It’s not too difficult to navigate around but it’s not a pleasure to use. Even the Dacia Duster’s system looks and feels more up to date.

Thankfully, Apple Carplay and Android Auto are fitted as standard so you can bypass the factory software easily. That’s our preferred option, though the lack a wireless connection irked Gareth Evans during his long-term test. He explained: ‘The cable I use to connect my smartphone to the USB socket in the centre console invariably ends up wrapped around the gear lever, and that can be irritating when driving.’

Comfort

Seating in the Suzuki Vitara is comfortable enough, although the seats don’t adjust down low enough for our liking. And the old-school lever adjustment for the backrest is one of the more obvious displays of cost-cutting we found in the interior.

The rear bench seat is rather flat, and there’s no central armrest, so back seat passengers aren’t especially well catered for. They do get a good view out through large windows, though – not always the case in this type of car. The Vitara offers perfectly acceptable comfort on long journeys, but the Skoda Kamiq is a better option if you do them regularly.