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2006 Grand Vitara vibration problem
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Comments
I am back and this time very happy. After all the pain and misery that My Grand Vitara has caused me, I decided that the whole thing was going nowhere and problems after another and keeps getting BS from the suzuki dealer mechanics. I am now a proud owner of a 2007 Nissan Xterra (off road version) I can tell you guys how glad I am that I got rid of that car. There is definitely a big difference in terms of the design quality. Some people may say that there is a price difference but when you experiance what I had been through with the Suzuki Grand Vitara that I owned for two years. You will say that the few thousand dollars differrence is nothing. When I think back to what I had been through getting that car back and forth to the dealership shop for repair time and time again since I bought it. I just smile and say to my self. I wish I never bought a Suzuki Grand Vitara (It is the worst vehicle I have ever drove) The only thing I can say now is good luck and hope that Suzuki will treat you a lot better than how treated me because if you ask me, They have given me zero customer service after sale. All i got was a bunch of BS. This is my message to all...I! in my lifetime will never ever drive anything that is made or design by Suzuki. Thank you all
I just want to clarify that on my last post. I was not compairing the capability of the Xterra and the grand vitara. I was compairing the quality of the two vehicles. For example, On my previous car(Grand Vitara)when ever I put it on second gear I hear the very annoying noise from the transmission. Well shouldn't I be hearing just the engine running instead of some other noise that isn't suppose to be there? This is just one of the things I experienced with it. Thanks all
Oh really? You sure about that? :lemon:
Well, I have found a very nasty Lemon-Law attorney that has dealt with Suzuki before, and told me to start looking for my next car, because Suzuki is at fault, and is liable for my loss. :lemon:
I'm sure glad I took pictures and documented everything, including all my warranty repair invoices, showing miles and date/time in service. I even recorded all my phone calls to Suzuki of America and all the dealerships I have dealt with. (four Suzuki dealerships in my area have gone bankrupt and shut down). I now have to drive 35 miles to the nearest dealership. :lemon:
I'll let you know how it turns out. :lemon:
Regards, Vitaranot4me :lemon:
I think it's entirely fair that you posted your unfortunate (an understatement) experience with the Grand Vitara here. I don't think you're alone, yet there is no way of knowing what the rate of lemons is. I would also expect some Xterra owners are regretting their decision also. The old Xterra was too crude for us, being a revision of the original Pathfinder. And the new Xterra is just too big for us.
Our GV is absolutely amazing in bad conditions. Just last night we went through a blizzard on the Coquihalla. No problem. A month ago we came from north of Vernon over the Coquihalla to Vancouver in that horrendous storm on a Sunday. We saw only two vehicles travelling faster than us: an Audi quattro wagon and a Murano. Saw about 50 cars in the ditches, mostly sedans. The GV seemed designed to travel fast and safe in conditions that had most drivers at 50-60kph.
Glad to hear you're happy with your vehicle. No sense living with a pos for no good reason.
I do not know if you are still out there or not. My 06 Grand Vitara, 2WD now has 60,000 miles and the Vibration issue just started. Its right at 55-60 MPH. Anything above or below is perfect. I have new tires and everything else checks out. My problem is that the dealers in South Florida are clueless to the flash. My vehicle is out of warranty. They want $100.00 just to try to diagnose the problem. Is this considered a Drivetrain issue? Should they cover it under warranty? Please help if you are still around, its been awhile!
The GV is very popular around here and I just see happy faces. For me it was the best damn car to ride here with the over 500cm of snow we received this winter.
1973 Dodge Dart from 1980 to 1981 (very good for a first car)
1981 Pontiac Phoenix :worst car ever, sold it after 4 months, everything broke
1982 Ford Escort from 1982 to 1989: Not bad, good for a student, was reliable
1989 Suzuki Sidekick from 1989 to 1997: Fun 4x4, reliable
1989 Dodge Lancer (wife) from 1993 to 1996: Was ok for a second car with kids.
1996 Dodge Neon (wife) from 1996 to 1997: Nice to drive but sold it before end of warranty
1996 Jeep Cherokee Country from 1997 to 2006: the best vehicule I ever owned
1997 Ford Aspire (wife) from 1997 to 2005: not good, not bad, cheap to maintain.
2005 Dodge Caravan (wife) 2005 until now: confortable and practical
2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara from 2006 until now: I like it even more than the Cherokee, hope it will be as reliable, trouble free and last as long as the Cherokee.
As you can see, most of the cars I (or we) owned were cheap american ones, easy and cheap to maintain, since I was either a student or begining in life with a first house and new borns, with the exception of the Cherokee, Caravan and Grand Vitara for which we spent more when buying.
I can say that I was lucky with all of them, no troubles or very few, except for the Phoenix, I think that everything that can break, did. I never drove it much, it was always at the dealer, only glad that it was under warranty, I never had any other GM.
I took it to the new dealer and left it for the day with some other issues such as the warped drivers mirror and the seat material wearing. They drove it and didn't feel anything they said. They also said that the seat wear was normal and the mirror is normal. The service manager said that his GV also vibrated and this is normal??
I drove it for a couple of weeks and after a long trip of the steering wheel vibrating so bad that the wiper and turn signal stalks were a blur I took it back. I met with the tech and drove approx 50 miles and he said that that was NOT normal. His words were "Wow that is a bad vibration" We scheduled for the next week and I left it there for the week.They told me that they thought that the vibration was in one of the driveshafts but Suzuki said that the new ones were worse so take the shafts out and balance them at an independent shop. The place they took it to said they couldn't balance the shafts because of the way they were made. They then said that the front driveshaft was warped and they would order a new one? I had also mentioned that the seat that had been repaired was squeaking again and that there was a noise in front end that was a sort of creak when turning. They installed the new drive shaft and when I picked up the car the vibration was gone in the steering wheel BUT there was a low frequency vibration in the drivetrain that wasn't there before :mad:
I then took it back to them and they had it for another full week. They told me that the rear shaft was warped even worse than the front one had been. So they replaced that driveshaft. (Ahhh but there wasn't a vibration??That is why they were replacing parts.) They fixed the seat noise and also replace the seat cushion that had"normal wear" on it with a new one.I then took it and drove it with no change in the vibation. Did I mention that your ears will ring and your feet tingle after about 1/2 an hour at highway speed?
The whole time I have also been talking to American Suzuki. They have some issues with keeping in contact with the customer. I then took it BACK to the dealer and they tell me once again that the vibration is normal. I can't understand why they would replace parts if there is no problem found. I then got a call this morning that the car was ready and that the vibration is normal. I'm really gettign fed up with these people.
I'll post any progress.I am also in Ky. I'm getting ready to contact the state Attorney General next to see if they can help in this mess.
timeout740@aol.com
thanks
Jay
My brother has the 2003 XL-7 and absolutely no problems outside of general maintainence such as brakes, tune-ups, etc!
The key to any reliable vehicle is MAINTAINENCE!!!!!!!! So many people just drive and do nothing else! They don't even check the oil let alone change it!
It seems all the American made vehicles have turned into pure JUNK because CORPORATE GREED prevails over producing a reliable product! NOTHING ANTI-AMERICAN about it! The proofs in the pudding right now with the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies!
Until this country comes to face and deal with the root problem of AMERICAN CORPORATE GREED----I'll buy Suzuki, Toyota, and Honda's until hell freezes over!
The reliability stats from various sources indicate the GV is not as well-built as things such as Rav4's and CRV's, but we're talking about 2.5 trips to the dealer on average per year for build quality issues as opposed to about 1.5 trips. That would indicate GV's that truly are lemons must be fairly rare.
On a Suzuki-specific discussion site, complaints about the vibration issue have pretty well died out. So the problem must have been fixed eventually. Not that this is of any use to people who had the problem and couldn't get Suzuki to fix it.
I'm not happy with the number of issues our '06 has had, but it was an all-new vehicle, it certainly does what we bought it for, and I would be willing to buy another one or any other in-house Suzuki brand, Japanese-made vehicle.
That said, I'm also not happy with the effort needed to get Suzuki to resolve the problems we've had.
Steve Malone San Antonio tx