Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara AWD shows off its off roading ability [Video]

The Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara compact SUV is weeks away from an official launch in India, and media drives for the vehicle are currently on. The Grand Vitara, along with its sibling – the Toyota Hyryder Urban Cruiser – will offer a best-in-segment feature – an all wheel drive layout. Here is a video that shows the Grand Vitara AWD’s off roading prowess. From the looks of it, the Grand Vitara will be one of the most capable SUVs in the compact SUV segment. Here, take a look.

As the video indicates, the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara AWD was put through a series of off road obstacles with the objective of highlighting what the vehicle’s all wheel drive system is capable off. The Grand Vitara AWD is shown drifting on slush, and the SUV manages to do that quite effortlessly. Other obstacles that the compact SUV is put through includes deep ruts, slippery road sections and a steep off road ramp that tests the vehicle’s ground clearance, approach and departure angles. The Grand Vitara AWD seemed comfortable in nearly all the situations. All terrain (AT) tyres would have given it more traction is some of the sections, especially where there were only 2-3 tyres making contact with the ground, but that’s an easy fix as owners can always get AT tyres fitted in the aftermarket.

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The Grand Vitara All Wheel Drive trim will be available with the mild hybrid powertrain, which consists of a 1.5 liter naturally aspirated petrol engine that makes 102 PS-137 Nm, and a Suzuki Hybrid Vehicle System (SHVS) that assists the engine during acceleration, offers brake energy regeneration and idle-stop systems.  A five speed manual gearbox will be offered with this engine on the all wheel drive trim.

The all wheel drive system of the Grand Vitara is a Suzuki AllGrip unit that offers multiple modes such as Snow, Sport, AWD Lock and Auto. In Snow and Sport mode, the AWD system will offer different levels of traction while the Lock mode will keep AWD functional throughout. The Auto mode will allow the AWD system to alternate between front wheel drive and all wheel drive modes depending on traction offered by the surface that the vehicle is on.

Maruti Suzuki will also offer the Grand Vitara with another powertrain – a strong hybrid. However, the Strong Hybrid will be front wheel drive-only. Sourced from Toyota, the Strong Hybrid unit consists of a 1.5 liter TNGA naturally aspirated petrol (91 Bhp-122 Nm) running on the Atkinson’s cycle, and an electric motor that makes 78 Bhp-141 Nm. A CVT automatic gearbox will handle torque transmission to the front wheels, and the Strong Hybrid will offer an all-electric mode that allows the SUV to be driven for about 25 kilometers solely on battery power.

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The Grand Vitara will be manufactured by Toyota at its Bidadi factory, near Bengaluru, alongside the Hyryder Urban Cruiser. The Maruti badged Grand Vitara will then be shipped to NEXA dealerships across India. Maruti Suzuki NEXA dealers have already been taking bookings for the Grand Vitara, which has amassed over 53,000 pre-bookings.