Suzuki e Vitara Review 2025: Price, specs & boot space

It’s certainly worth considering if you’re looking for a compact electric SUV on the smaller side of the spectrum, and you want plenty of equipment for an affordable price. Its long warranty and strong reliability record will also give you peace of mind. If you’re looking for ultimate practicality or the most polished driving experience, though, there are better options out there.

We think that most buyers will want a tad more range than the entry-level car can muster with its smaller 49kWh battery, and we think that the range-topping 4x4 model will be a needless expense for most buyers. That means the mid-range powertrain - which pairs front-wheel drive with the larger 61kWh battery - will be the one to go for in most cases. In terms of trim level, we reckon the base-level Motion version has enough kit for most buyers, especially since the upgrade to Ultra trim is quite an expensive one.

To say that the car market is not short of small electric SUVs at the moment might just be the greatest understatement of modern times. This is very much a boom area of the business right now, so most mainstream car manufacturers have at least one contender, if not more.

If you’re looking at the normal factors to compare the e Vitara with rivals, things such as size, price, power and range, then its most direct rivals are arguably the Ford Puma Gen-E, Kia EV3, Hyundai Kona Electric and Volvo EX30.

With any of those factors, though, relax the comparison thresholds just a bit, and many, many more rivals will come under consideration.

Look around the e Vitara’s interior, and you’ll notice that almost all the surfaces that surround you are hard, rather than chafing a squidgy, soft-touch finish. This might lead you to feel that the cabin has a rather low-rent feel compared with some rivals, but we think that’s a little harsh. The fact is that the same is true in quite a significant chunk of the e Vitara’s rivals, so it doesn’t feel any less appealing. 

What’s more, these hard-touch plastics are still textured in such a way that they look and feel pleasant and interesting, and there’s an appealing mix of textures and colours on display, giving a generally cheery feel. The toughness of the materials also means that they should be pretty hard-wearing.

All versions of the e Vitara’s infotainment system have two large screens placed side-by-side on the dashboard. The 10.25-inch one behind the steering wheel acts as your digital driver information display, while the 10.1-inch screen immediately to its left, which sits in the middle of the dashboard, takes care of pretty much all other functionality. That functionality includes Bluetooth, navigation, DAB radio, and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard in all versions. High-spec Ultra trim adds wireless phone charging and an upgraded sound system.

It’s fair to say that the system isn’t perfect. First off, the driver display screen isn’t very customisable, because there are only three layouts to choose from, and they all contain pretty much the same information and look very similar. The central screen, meanwhile, plays out annoying animations as you switch between functions, and these take far too long and actually delay you in doing the thing that you’re actually trying to do.

Despite these irritations, however, the interface is actually pretty good from then on, from an ergonomic point of view at least. There are shortcut icons on either side of the screen, and these help you to find the function you want quickly and easily. The sensitivity of these icons - and the screen in general - is pretty reliable, while the graphics are slick enough and reaction times are quick enough. 

More importantly, the logical structure of the menus means that the main functions are mostly pretty easy to find and use. It’s true that a few of the more obscure functions are buried a bit deeper within the menu structure, so it’s not impossible to get yourself lost, but you should be able to find your way around pretty effectively most of the time. It’s certainly more intuitive than many of the overly complicated systems we've encountered in several other cars recently: that includes the one in the Volvo EX30, which the Suzuki competes with directly.

The e Vitara measures 4,275mm long, 1,800mm wide, and 1,635mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,700mm. That makes it quite a small car, but even considering that, its practicality is a bit hit-and-miss.

Climb into the passenger compartment, and things look pretty good. There’s lots of space up front, and plentiful adjustment in the steering column and driver’s seat makes it easy to find a comfortable driving position. In the range-topping Ultra version, the driver’s seat adjustment is electric, making this even easier. The seats aren’t set as high up as in many other SUVs, but it’s a loftier position than you get in a similarly sized hatchback.

Things initially look just as rosy for those in the back. There’s a really impressive amount of legroom, plus a cabin that’s wide enough for two adults to travel comfortably, and for a third to squeeze in for shorter journeys. The rear floorpan is also perfectly flat, so everyone has lots of foot space, too.

However, you’ll then realise that rear headroom isn’t so generous. Anyone up to just over six feet tall should be okay, but passengers who are any taller than that will probably feel a little hemmed in.

The e Vitara’s also has sliding rear seats that allow you to turn some of that plentiful rear legroom into extra boot space, depending on your needs. That might sound like a fancy trick, but we’d argue that it's necessary, because the boot only measures 244 litres with the seats back, which is very small (although in fairness, the space looks bigger than that in real life). Even sliding them all the way forward only boosts luggage space to 310 litres, which is still pretty small. With the rear seats in this position, the legs of a six-foot adult will fit, but their knees will be pressing into the backs of the front seats.

Despite the small boot, there is a good amount of additional space under the false boot floor, which is handy for storing your charging cables, and there's space under there for more besides. The rear seats fold down to deliver maximum cargo space of 562 litres – again, not a great figure - but they drop in a 40/20/40 split, which is more versatile than the 60/40 split found in many rivals. The folded backrests sit level with the false boot floor, but they lie at a slight angle, meaning that half of your extended load bay has a slight slope in it.

The all-electric Suzuki e Vitara is offered with a choice of three different powertrains. The entry-level car has a 49kWh battery, which feeds a single 144PS electric motor that powers the front wheels, and this can take the car from 0-62mph in 9.6 seconds.

The next version is also a single-motor, front-wheel-drive arrangement, but with a fraction more power at 174PS. It’s a little quicker about the 0-62mph sprint as a result, getting it done in 8.7 seconds. The bigger difference, however, is its larger 61kWh battery, giving it a significantly better range than the entry-level car.

This larger battery is also shared by the range-topping e Vitara. However, this version adds a second motor to power the rear wheels as well, giving four-wheel drive. The total power output of the system only rises a little bit to 183PS, but there’s a big uplift in torque, from 193Nm in both the other versions all the way up to 307Nm. This means that the 4x4 is the quickest of the bunch, seeing off the 0-62mph dash in 7.4 seconds, but the extra drain on the 61kWh battery means it won’t take you quite as far on a charge as the front-wheel drive car with the same battery.

We haven’t yet had a go in the entry-level car, but we have had an extensive drive in the single-motor e Vitara with the larger battery. And if you’re used to driving EVs, you might find that its power delivery is somewhat unconventional.

With most electric cars, the acceleration feels at its punchiest when pulling away from the mark, and then tails off the faster you go. With the e Vitara, however, the pickup instead feels quite restrained off the line, and the powertrain feels strongest when you’re already doing 30mph or so, and then you put your foot down. What’s more, the rate of acceleration also feels more linear than in most EVs as you approach top speed.

That’s the case regardless of which of the car’s three driving modes you select: these include Eco, Normal and Sport. They alter the behaviour of the powertrain slightly to maximise either range or performance. The more restrained modes don’t serve you up any less power: it’s just that you have to press the accelerator pedal down further to get it, and there’s a longer pause before it arrives.

Even in the Eco mode - the most restrained of the three - the rate of acceleration and response is perfectly adequate for the vast majority of daily driving situations. Normal and Sport just make things feel a tad more eager incrementally, but the differences aren’t huge in truth. 

The car’s regenerative braking system also has three different settings. The system can be activated and deactivated with a button on the dashboard, which is handy, but it’s less handy that the three settings, which vary the intensity of the regen, have to be selected through the touchscreen, because it’s less convenient and more time-consuming than the steering-wheel paddles you find in some electric cars. And even in its strongest mode, the level of braking isn’t particularly strong when you lift off the accelerator.

We’ve also had a brief go in the four-wheel-drive version. It feels a tiny bit brisker off the line than the single-motor car, but the difference in sensation is very marginal.

The entry-level version of the Suzuki e Vitara has a shorter range than the rest: its relatively small 49kWh battery gives it an official WLTP range of up to 213 miles. All other versions of the car get a larger 61kWh battery, but the range this gives varies. In front-wheel-drive versions, a full charge will take you up to 264 miles according to the official figures, but where four-wheel drive is specified, this figure drops to 245 miles. Compared with the e Vitara’s most direct rivals, these official figures are nothing special, but importantly, they are competitive.

Like with all EVs, however, these laboratory-gleaned official range figures will be very difficult to replicate in the real world unless the vast majority of your driving is in low-speed urban environments. In more general use, assume that you’ll get 15-20% less, even in perfect conditions. Cold weather will see your real-world returns plunge even further, as will prolonged high-speed motorway running.

EVs are often very refined, but you might be a little disappointed with the e Vitara on that score. Unsurprisingly, you don’t hear much from the powertrain, but both wind and road noise are far more prevalent, even at fairly middling speeds. It’s hardly deafening, but neither is it the sanctum of serenity you might be expecting.

The Suzuki e Vitara has already been tested by the boffins at Euro NCAP, and after the car was smashed to kingdom come in the name of science, it was awarded just four stars out of five. Certainly not a terrible result due to the high thresholds of the latest testing procedures, but we’re pretty sure Suzuki would have been hoping for more.

There’s no shortage of safety kit in our eyes. Seven airbags are provided, along with two Isofix points for easily securing child seats, and of course, the standard safety roster also includes the usual array of high-tech driver assistance features to help prevent you from having an accident in the first place. Such features on the e Vitara include lane keep assist, lane departure prevention, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, a driver attention monitor, traffic sign recognition with intelligent speed limit assist.

While in many cars we've tested recently, such systems have proved to be catastrophically annoying, leading you to turn them off as the first order of business on start-up, the Suzuki’s actually aren’t too bad. They’re not so oversensitive that the bings and bongs generated are too frequent, and the bings and bongs themselves aren’t too loud or annoying, so you can actually leave the systems on without your sanity being tested. We think Suzuki deserves credit for this.

If, however, you are minded to turn these systems off, then doing so involves delving into a couple of on-screen menus and 86-ing them individually, which is both complicated and time-consuming. As an alternative, though, there is also a favourites button on the steering wheel that can be configured to carry out the same task in just a few taps.

Suzuki is a perennial high-achiever in the HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index, our go-to source of reliability data, put together by our excellent sister website. In the latest edition of the study, the brand placed sixth out of the 33 car makers considered in the reliability standings, which is a very impressive result. Obviously, the e Vitara is too new to have contributed to this performance, but it should give you faith that Suzuki knows what it’s doing when it comes to building cars.

That said, you’ll probably get a good bit more faith from the brand's excellent warranty package. This starts as an industry-standard three-year, 60,000-mile arrangement, but every time you get your car serviced annually at a Suzuki main dealer, your warranty is automatically topped up by another year, up to a maximum of ten years or 100,000 miles. This is much the same as Toyota’s arrangement, but Suzuki actually goes a little further. The eight-year battery warranty that legislation demands of EV makers will also be topped up by Suzuki to ten years or 100,000 miles in the same way.

Go for the entry-level e Vitara with the smaller battery, and you’ll pay a group 20 premium. There isn’t too much of an insurance penalty for upgrading to a front-wheel-drive car with the bigger battery; these versions fall into group 23. Upgrade to one of the four-wheel-drive versions, though, and insurance groupings rise up to 27 or 28, depending on trim level.

As of April 2025, EV drivers are liable for the same VED road tax burden as drivers of all other types of car. That means you’ll pay £195 per year to tax your e Vitara. At least the car is sufficiently cheap that no version will be subject to the steep luxury car surcharge on VED that’s charged on cars that cost over £40,000 when brand new.

The Suzuki e Vitara comes in two trim levels. The more basic of them is called Motion, and even this version is impressively well-equipped. Combine this trim with the entry-level 49kWh battery option, your car will come with adaptive cruise control, front- and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, keyless entry and start, front- and rear powered windows, an electric parking brake, automatic air conditioning, automatic lights and wipers, electrically adjusting and folding door mirrors, a heat pump, interior ambient lighting, fabric upholstery, 18-inch alloy wheels, and rear privacy glass.

Combine Motion trim with the bigger 61kWh battery and front-wheel drive, and you get a few more bits and bobs. These include heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, rear air vents, and heating for the door mirrors. Upgrade a stage further to the 4x4 model, and you also get hill descent control.

The upgrade from Motion trim to Ultra trim is an expensive one at almost £3,000, and it gets you extras including adaptive high-beam headlights, LED front foglamps, 360-degree cameras, a panoramic glass roof, part-leatherette upholstery, and a power-adjustable driver’s seat and 19-inch alloy wheels. You’ll decide for yourself whether that little lot is worth the extra cheddar.