New GV

[cj]

Took a 4 door 2.7 for a drive today. It had just come off the truck and hadn't been detailed yet, just as well 'cause I found mud

The Sales guy told me to drive it like I stole it so I just had to oblige Oh yeah and I managed to pull a little of the plastic guards off underneath but he said it was all cool and nice to see someone actually exploring what it can do. He was even smiling when I was getting a little air, going sideways and doing a nice little reverse flick turn. It's smooth but the motor was a little tight. The fulltime 4wd certainly lets it hang on as you put the pedal to the floor on roundabouts and taking off in the gravel. It looks like a love child of a Rav 4 and a Territory. They let me have nosy under while it was up on a hoist. I would be very worried by the fuel lines under the passenger side as they hang down a little low and would be too easy to damage offroad. The front axles now have a 4 bolt flange instead of 3 but the rear was interesting as it has beefier axles and a 6 bolt flange. Wonder if it could be adapted to the fronts on a Vit for an upgrade. The 4wd high, high lock and low range dial on the dash is different. Kept wanting to use a gearstick. It's quiet, smooth and handles quite well though. There's not stacks of room in the wheelwells but slightly bigger rubber would fit. Spacers could be made up for a pseudo bodylift between the body and the supension and diff mounting points like they do for Subaru's. He was telling me that the shorty is only available with a 1.6 manual and no low range and the lwb has a choice of the 2.0 4cyl and the 2.7 V6. The computer has been worked a little in the V6 and it's now a drive by wire. What I don't get and he doesn't either is why Europe and Japan can get disc brakes on the rear and we can't and we don't get the traction control either although next year we may get a DVD Oh well it's not a bad vehicle but I wouldn't think we'll see many offroad. Anyway I had a little fun this afternoon

[antt]

nice report cj.

i saw my first one on the road last night, and only took notice cause of the big 'suzuki' across the rear wheel cover....before that i woulda bet it was a rav4. i do like the front end though, too bad about the rest of the package