Photo: Suzuki
Suzuki is known for making small, affordable cars, sometimes in the form of crossovers. The company is small, and to compensate for its shortcomings, it partnered up with the giant that is Toyota. The result: a new crossover that's bigger than the Vitara. Enter the 2021 Suzuki Across.
Now, if the styling seems a little bit familiar, that's because this is just a rebadged version of the Toyota RAV4. This CUV has quite distinct shapes around the wheel arches, which you can still make out here. In fact, the only major things they changed are the front bumper and headlights.
So it's a bit like when Toyota needed a new Yaris for America and just asked Mazda if they could borrow the Mazda2 hatch and sedan. But unlike Toyota, Suzuki probably didn't have much of a choice, as the fact that the Across is aimed at the European car market suggests it's an emissions compliance car.
The plug-in hybrid powertrain is carried in full from the new RAV4 model. You've got 173 horsepower from the 2.5-liter efficient 4-cylinder engine and one of Toyota's most powerful electric motors. Suzuki didn't release the combined output but it should be the same at 302 hp. There's also a second electric motor with 54 hp over the rear axle because Toyota didn't want to use a conventional 4x4 system.
That electric motor is hooked up to an 18.1 kWh battery pack, which is of a decent capacity for this class. As a result, the Suzuki Across can claim to get up to 75 km (46 miles) of pure electric driving range and emissions as low as 22 grams per kilometer of CO2, according to the European WLTP driving cycle.
Styling-wise, it's a pretty sharp crossover. Some might even like this over the RAV4 it's based on. Equipment is also generous, especially in the safety department. But if you're going to buy a complicated and relatively expensive SUV that's actually a Toyota, why not get the real thing?
So it's a bit like when Toyota needed a new Yaris for America and just asked Mazda if they could borrow the Mazda2 hatch and sedan. But unlike Toyota, Suzuki probably didn't have much of a choice, as the fact that the Across is aimed at the European car market suggests it's an emissions compliance car.
The plug-in hybrid powertrain is carried in full from the new RAV4 model. You've got 173 horsepower from the 2.5-liter efficient 4-cylinder engine and one of Toyota's most powerful electric motors. Suzuki didn't release the combined output but it should be the same at 302 hp. There's also a second electric motor with 54 hp over the rear axle because Toyota didn't want to use a conventional 4x4 system.
That electric motor is hooked up to an 18.1 kWh battery pack, which is of a decent capacity for this class. As a result, the Suzuki Across can claim to get up to 75 km (46 miles) of pure electric driving range and emissions as low as 22 grams per kilometer of CO2, according to the European WLTP driving cycle.
Styling-wise, it's a pretty sharp crossover. Some might even like this over the RAV4 it's based on. Equipment is also generous, especially in the safety department. But if you're going to buy a complicated and relatively expensive SUV that's actually a Toyota, why not get the real thing?
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