Advice needed on best suzuki for living on a 16% hill

[Justme1981]

Hi all
I live in a rural village, edge of peak district, on at the top of a 16% gradient hill - its steep & windey. Its my first winter here. I need to get a new car asap currently driving a banger! I've decided on a suzuki as local dealer is offering 19% discount for nhs staff (which i am). I was looking at the swift 4x4 as Im not a massive fan of 4x4s however Im not convinced it would manage the hill! So im now thinking about a vitara....
I clearly know nothing about cars ... does anyone have any thoughts on this? My neighbours all drive SUVs of some form lots of land rovers but they are out of my price range.

Any advice would be appreciated

Many of these small 4x4 are more capable than the bigger prestige 4x4s.

I live in Hertfordshire with some pretty steep hills and horse owner. I have owned Land Rovers, Mercs, BMW (BMW X5 being the most useless 4x4 ever for anything remotely muddy) I also owned a Suzuki Jimny and a Diahatsu Fourtrack.

Out of all of them the Jimny and Dishatsu will easily get you out of trouble, and if your only navigating snowy hills I'm sure you will be fine with the vitara

Winter tyres. Not all cars in snowy, mountainous places are 4 x 4 but most make winter tyres a legal requirement.

Spend some of your NHS discount on fitting it with Michelin CrossClimate tyres. There's a steep hill locally that I couldn't get up on normal summer tyres when it was icy 4 or 5 years ago, but my 2WD Grand C-Max had no issues with it on CrossClimate tyres last winter, even stopping and starting on sheet ice with no issues. The CrossClimate tyres are also excellent in summer.

Come to that, unless your banger is impossibly expensive to maintain, you might be better off just putting CrossClimate tyres on the old banger. New cars are a money pit. You lose half the value in the first 3 years, which is usually even more expensive than a high maintenance old banger.

Hi all

Thank you for the replies & recomendations. Yes my old banger is a nightmare to maintain, hence looking for a new car. Thank you for the tyre recomendations. I will definitely get a set of those - they sound great!

Suzuki Jimny. You can go up Everest in one of those.

Jimny. But they’re vile.

But they do what it says on the tin.

Many car dealers have an NHS discount scheme so don't just focus on Suzuki for that reason.

Jimneys have awful rear seats for trying to fit children's car seats into if that's a consideration in any way? They are basically go karts to drive day to day as well, but do the job in poor weather conditions.

I have lots of experience driving in snowy/rural conditions, and actually what you need to focus on is appropriate tyres, making sure you can turn off any anti skid controls (useless in snow) and avoid rear wheel drive at all costs.

After all that thought the Swift is actually on my list of cars to consider when I get a new vehicle after Christmas for all the reasons you have identified.

Second the Jimny, watch some you tube videos against range rovers etc, leaves them standing. I don’t think they are vile at all, loved mine and would get another one tomorrow.

I've spent a lot of time driving a Jimny and whilst they are amazingly capable mini off roaders I wouldn't have one as my daily car in this country.

They are tiny, terrible interior ergonomics, appalling round corners and shit at motorway speeds.

If you live on a small island with a 30mph speed limit buy a Jimny, you'll love it, they are so much fun. If you live anywhere else buy something a bit more versatile.

Hi all
Thank you for the replies, i decided to go with the swift AWD, really love it & can't wait to drive it. I got a deal i am pleased with in the end - managed to knock down the price a bit & get 3 years servicing, so im happy, will get some decent tyres sorted once it arrives