The Ultimate Trade In

I stopped at Sam Swope Suzuki today to take a look at their offerings. Secretly, I'm hoping that if my experiment DOESN'T work, maybe when I can afford a car, I'll buy a secret bargain.

The salesperson who greeted me was friendly, and the showroom appeared dead. I looked at several vehicles, the Verona, the Aerio, and what I really wanted to see, the Grand Vitara.

The Grand Vitara was nicer looking than I expected, certainly nicer looking inside than my wife's increasingly dated looking CR-V, with nice aluminum looking accents, nicely put together controls, a simple looking stereo, and some nice solid feeling knobs. The seats were roomy and nicely done in black cloth.

The rear is not a liftgate, which I would prefer. Looking in the back though, it appears that without folding down the seats, you don't have as much cargo room in this SUV as my wife's CR-V.

Because I was just doing a fact finding mission, I didn't test drive the car, but for the money, it appears like a nicely finished small SUV for a decent price.

Definitely on my list when I start getting serious about test drives. I'm also going to take a look at the Suzuki SX4, a new cheap AWD vehicle coming down the pike.