Suzuki Grand Vitara facelift arrives for 2013. The Grand Vitara’s last hurrah?

The Suzuki Grand Vitara has had a mild nip and tuck to give it a bit of a facelift for 2013. On sale from December and priced from £15,595.

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The Suzuki Grand Vitara was a pioneer of the more compact SUV that has now replaced the family car for many, but it got left behind a while ago as more modern competitors gave buyers car-like grace coupled with a raised ride height.

Sadly, the modest changes Suzuki has wrought for the 2013 Grand Vitara are unlikely to turn buyers back on to the Grand Vitara, even if they do freshen things up a bit.

The facelift consists of what most car makers do to try and breathe new life in to a waning model, so the Grand Vitara gets titivated bumpers, new alloys, new seat trim, slightly lower emissions (and therefore slightly improved economy) and a real spare wheel – mounted on the rear door – instead of the old puncture repair system.

About the only other change we can see is that Suzuki has given the top-end Grand Vitara SZ5 a 6.1″ colour SatNav screen complete with CD, radio, SD card, media player and Bluetooth. It’s a Garmin unit, but it’s not exactly mould breaking.

Despite the Grand Vitara’s rather ancient appeal – and the very limited facelift stuff Suzuki have wrought – there’s still something appealing about a fairly compact SUV that’s very familiar and can actually do the off-road stuff with more aplomb, and ability, than its more modern rivals.

Unfortunately for Suzuki, it’s market is probably going to disappear under the onslaught from the Dacia Duster SUV.