Suzuki Vitara - Off-Road in the Fields - Journal Entry #3 

Thanks :) It was nice trip. Pefect conditions to test in some mild mud.

Glad to hear :) You must be smart with it, but this is capable car :)

Thanks. another one from winter is comming, but less extreme this time :) Regarding tires. Better winter ones than summer "road" ones. :) I think winter ones are not far worse than AT. They are softer and have some visible tread in comparison with summer road tires. However, hard to do one to one tests ;) But they have saved me already in some bad situations.

Indeed - I love its versatility. :)

WAAR. Nu we sneeuw hebben in Polen, ga ik misschien nog een keer op reis. Als het niet smelt.

@@OutdoorAdventure0 ik kijk er nu al naar uit 😎

Niet te veel sneeuw nu, om het extreem te maken. Maar genoeg om het uitzicht schitterend te maken. Ik zit midden in het offroad-weekend :) Groeten

Thanks for your kind comment. Great motivation to record next ones.🙂

Thanks. Congratulations :) Welcome in the club :) Do bigger tires work well for you? No issues? Do they fit ok? When you will do the lift, let me know what are your impression about car stability in normal roads.

@@OutdoorAdventure0 hey! My setup is done, my car is already prepared with tires + lift. Ground clearance and breakover angles are the main gain by far. Both attack and departure angles are bit higher, but due to the characteristics of the project it's impossibile to have huge increases in this area. Firstly I drove for a few days only with the tire update. No problem at all. Tires are a bit harder, but without any considerable impact over comfort. These tires don't touch the internal parts, so it fits well. With tires + lift it's notable the visual change and also the feeling of driving in a higher position. I'm with the car for 30 days now. 2.000km so far, most of them in the highway using the stock setup. I only drove 100km with the new setup in urban areas. Soon I'll hit the road again and I'll also have the opportunity to do some off-road. I'll share my thoughts them.

I am very interested, waiting for your next update :)

@@OutdoorAdventure0 hi there! So far I drove 1.300km with the new setup. 50km off-road (light/medium, places acessible only by 4x4 vehicles), 1000km on the road (highways + minor roads), 250km in the city. My impressions: City: minor changes, but feels better to deal with roles and bumps on the way. The feeling of "driving from above" has increased and it's good as well. Highway/roads: car still having a good dynamics but it's quite easy to note a decrease in stability, grip and driving control. Not a big deal, still a great and well balanced vehicle, but with less capability to drive as fast as before due to the oscillations of the bodywork. Off-road: I don't have how to compare with the original setup but for sure there is a notable gain. Talking to some folks who owns Vitara or S-Cross I understand that the new angles and ground clearance delivers a safer experience through the trails. Tks!

I hope still your setup proof to be beneficial :) I like drive fast from time to time, so having AT tires was for me already some compromise :) Not sure if I will be able to slow down even more. You have it from day one, so you dont miss so much ;)

For such slippery mud, probably only MT and much bigger size would do the job perfectly. But MT, is something I will never equip this car.

Really appreciate your good words :) And the car rarely fail me.

You welcome. Indeed :)

Dzień dobry😂, I miss the food in Poland so much😂, like kebab and spagatti😢

Haha, Kebab and Spagetti are not really very traditional Polish food ;) But glad you enjoyed it here. :) 5 years in Poznan, I can guess you were studying there?

@OutdoorAdventure0 yup, so what is the most traditional food?🤣

Haha, I guess special kind of dumplings (with white cheese and potatoes), bigos, cabbage rolls. "Chinese/Vietnamese" (instant) soup if you are poor student ;) It memorize me my university years ;)

​@@brc966Kebab?Come Türkiye bro

Exactly, at least there is some fun and some challenge. :) And you must think a bit how to succeed, not to just use brute force of 33 inches wheels ;)

Thanks. I love 4wd, it is giving so much freedom :)

Hi, Thanks for watching. :) Depends what do you mean by mountain routes. To some extend it behaves fine in mountains. But I haven't been in real rocky ones. Bottom of the car is not steel like durable. There is plastic cover there partially. So with rocks better to be carefully. If you plan to sleep inside - it is not very comfortable - by default. No flat bad. But if you are 180 cm you should fit. I am thinking about some clever solution for this issue. Good for long trips but not for more than for 1-2 person - not very big trunk. It is rather agile and versatile. You can go on-road and with 4x4 you have plenty of possibilities off-road. Nowadays - hard to find similar, so versatile option in similar price.

Nice to hear you like it. This is not very ipopular ganra:) My one is pure gasoline. Recently I decided to buy manual winch but a bit better quality. Still no chance to test it. With full blown electric winch, I am not sure if even there is a sensible place to mount it...

🙂 Glad it was helpful. Welcome in the club. Where are you from?

@@OutdoorAdventure0 Slovakia originally, but living in Serbia at present.

So not so far away from Poland. Always interesting where Suzuki is working well. Now I see you have S-Cross, not Vitara. I think not a big difference in fact.

@@OutdoorAdventure0 Very few Suzuki's here in Serbia. They are more popular in Slovakia (and Hungary, of course) than here.

Dzieki :) Haha, to fajna baba! :) Ale jak kiedyś będzie musiała odkopywać samochód to jej sie odechce ;) No chyba, że brudna robota to tylko do Ciebie należy. ;) Jeżdziłem tam kiedyś po okolicach Pisarzowic, ale było bardziej sucho, oprócz jednej dużej kałóży - to jest nagranie gdzieś za kopalnia koło Odry: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Aa5IAeCyVWU.html Mówisz, że teraz błoto... kusisz ;)

@@OutdoorAdventure0 🤣, no, śmiesznie jest, ale już wygrzebywała raz nie moją, tylko kolegi Toyotę z piachu... No i raz za linę trzymała kiedy szarpałem inny samochód... Szkoda że tego nie nagrałem, bo jak z procy wyfrunęła, ale nie płakała 🤣

No to taką babę to aż by się chciało zabierać w offroad, nie marudna i robotna ;) Pozdrowienia dla Żony ;)

Thanks for watching. :) I have still factory ones. As for now seems I dont need to replace them. So I wont be able to give you any advice on this matter. Maybe somebody else will comment...

Yeah, approach Angle is painful from time to time. I often hit ground with bumper. And if you hit hard, your "radar" may need re-calibration. I am considering if there is possibility to customize car in this regard. Ground clearance for its segment, is in the middle in comparison to other cars, not bad, not perfect.

I always use Lock in such cases. In LOCK mode - 4WD is connected permanently.

In most parts car can drive with 2WD. Problem starts where you have road covered with mud/water. Definitely in such situation, you use anything you have available to not stuck in the mud, even 2Wd could be maybe enough. But you never know fully, what kind of mud you have in front of you and how deep. Every soil type can differ and can have different effect on your tires. 4WD will provide you more control and ability to exit unexpected situation. And bigger margins for errors.

Hi, I use LOCK. But unfortunately always forgot to set ESP off.

Yes, of course it is All Grip. :) In Winter(and this recording) I am using Dunlop Winter Sport. For Snow they are great, for mud not perfect, but not bad, what you can see in Video. In Summer I use Cooper AT. They never failed me, at least till now. However they are not so good on wet asphalt (maybe general issue for ATs). But next ones I would consider Yokohama ATs. They do not have perfectly matching size, but anyway they fit somehow (at least I heard so). Not a lot of choices in Factory size unfortunately.

i am using Falken AT3 , take a look , so far so good

I replaced silver(chrome) with black ones, this is one of the customization possible. I think they came from black(pearl?) paint model.