Towing advice for Suzuki Grand Vitara 2.4 petrol

Suzuki Grand Vitara used to be the budget 'king' of 4x4 towcars especially with the Renault 1.9 turbo diesel. Alas no longer made, not sure the 2.4 petrol is either ?

I recently called in to a Suzuki dealership locally to ask what do they have that can tow a 2 tonne livestock trailer (used a lot locally) the Grand Vitara USED to be able to tow 2.5 tonnes, he, embarrassed ,said they had nothing, and that Suzuki were concentrating on smaller economical cars and of course hybrids. Which of course have sod all towing ability.

I appreciate you may have a tight budget but personally for towing i wouldn't touch petrol, especially in non- turbo form. If diesel doesnt rock your boat The only caveat would be something north of 3litres with lots of grunt and go for an LPG conversion. My guess is a petrol Vitara will struggle on hills.

 ...  but personally for towing i wouldn't touch petrol, especially in non- turbo form

My normally aspirated 3.0 petrol Vauxhalls never had a problem towing 😉

Why do think that Petrol engines are no good for towing a caravan Flatcoat ???.......I towed my Lunar Delta from the Forrest of Dean to Hereford ,with a 1.4 L Escort petrol car. It was the only way I was able to get my caravan home. You have to use the gears, if in a RH drive car it is the stick to the left of you.. I drive a Lexus RX350 and it is the best car and Towing vehicle that I have ever had. I think I have sufficient experience to say this after 25+new cars averaging miles of 40,000 +for many years in my job. 

Our 2ltr diesel Sportage auto is in a different much more competent and relaxed drive ,than the same model same year but petrol version, athough the petrol had a hgher BHP it was a pig towing,

We used to tow with a petrol manual Grand Vitara it towed our old swift Conqueror fine, just had to use the gear stick a bit more, totally bullet proof.

What weight was the caravan you towed?

ours is 1475kg and we are just not sure if the car would tow this?

It was a few years ago probably mid 1300kg. We tow a 1500kg Swift Conqueror with a 2.4 petrol Mitsubishi Outlander, similar power to the Suzuki 2.4 no problems.

I am curious why the Suzuki 2.4 petrol there is better tow vehicle out there

My first tow car was a 1622cc petrol Morris Oxford. Then 1800cc petrol Wolsey, Two 1600cc petrol Cavaliers, a 2000cc petrol Capri. That's when I started towing a heavy sailing yacht. A temporary switch to diesel with a Rover Maxi, then back to petrol with a 1800cc petrol Mondeo. Then a 1800cc diesel Focus and finally my 2000cc diesel 4x4 Kuga. Yes the Kuga is probably my best tow car to date but the point I'm making is there is a lot of mythology about diesel being the only option.

Your towing with petrol ICE vehicles is very similar to mine ecept the first car i towed with was a 1500cc column change Austin A55 ,Cambridge and i went with my first diesel tow car in 1994 which was when i realised that when towiing with a diesel was in a much higher plane than petrol