I would be lying if I told you the Suzuki e-Vitara was a track weapon. It isn’t. Not by any stretch. So you can imagine our surprise when Suzuki Philippines invited us to Batangas Racing Circuit to drive the subcompact crossover for the first time.
“As in… on the race track?” I clarified with our publisher Carlo when I read the assignment. He told me the track would probably be divided into sections—one for a slalom course, one for an acceleration test, and another for an ADAS test. But nope. Suzuki said “track session,” and track session they meant.
What’s the saying, again? “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” Well, this thing looks like a pissed-off duck waiting to abduct the next balut vendor it comes across. It tries its best to look mad, but because of its subcompact size, it looks adorable instead. I’m sorry, e-Vitara, I’m taking your threatening aura seriously, I promise.
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Suzuki calls this design language the ‘metal beast.’ The front fascia has ‘three-point matrix LED’ headlights, low-mounted fog lamps, and a frowning matte black grille. The sides feature high-slung fenders and black cladding on the doors and fender mouldings. The rear, meanwhile, stares at you with frowning smoked taillights and a rugged matte black bumper.
While I wouldn’t call it a sporty-looking car, it definitely isn’t a happy-looking car either. It’s more of an I-want-to-destroy-you-looking car, but in a cute way. That being said, while I had lower expectations for its performance, I wasn’t going to ‘baby’ it.
Each driver among the three batches would have two laps each. This included the outlap, so in total, one full-speed lap. I was lucky enough to get two speed laps as our video producer Aaron Pagador gave me his driving slot (thanks, Aaron).
Aware of the limited time with the car, I gunned it from the start. Batangas Racing Circuit features 14 turns, and while it wasn’t a very technical track, this was my first time driving on it, so I was getting a feel for the car while also figuring out the racing line and putting my trust in the cones and kerbs as my braking guide.
Hidden behind those fan-like 18-inch wheels are huge brake calipers. It only took a few corners for me to get a sense of how good these brakes were. By the time we got to the main straight, we managed to hit 140kph before scrubbing off speed into Turn 1, and while the road tires were fighting for grip on the tighter bends, the stopping power was phenomenal. Okay, e-Vitara, I see you.
As you may know, the e-Vitara is the mechanical twin of the Toyota Urban Cruiser, and while both our managing editor Leandre Grecia and contributing editor Niky Tamayo agree on the Urban Cruiser’s stiff ride, the same suspension components helped keep the e-Vitara grounded on the race track. The e-Vitara particularly held up well through the chicane even when the tires were starting to skid.
Power and torque are instant at lower speeds and taper once you hit 100kph. The crossover uses a single electric motor delivering 172hp and 193Nm of torque. That might not sound like a lot with modern EVs spewing insane amounts of torque, but the surge of acceleration is very present while exiting corners. It’s a quick little crossover, that’s for sure.
Through the final sweeping corner before heading to the pit lane, my thoughts on the e-Vitara’s race-track performance were concluded… Then I realized none of those thoughts were voiced out for the video; hence, Aaron giving me his slot. (Again, thanks, Aaron.)
The e-Vitara is admittedly a fun car on the track. This won’t be the primary use case for this car—heck, it won’t even be the secondary, tertiary, or so forth. But the fact that it could survive a track session without the battery overheating and, more important, give the driver confidence while driving hard made me think this crossover has more than meets the eye.
Suzuki didn’t put all the e-Vitara’s eggs in one basket. It’s a versatile machine that can function as a grocery getter, a mountain-road carver, and a dirt-path adventurer. And yes, fine, a track toy as well, if you really wanted to.
The first thing I would do if I owned one of these would be to swap out the stock wheels for something more aggressive to show off those brake calipers. The crossover is already trying to look angry, so you might as well help it out. While you’re at it, install some grippier tires as well to unleash the car’s fun factor.
I won’t be able to talk about the e-Vitara’s daily driving experience, tech features, and how it compares to the Urban Cruiser just yet. But right off the bat, the e-Vitara with a P2,020,000 price tag (P115,000 more affordable than its Toyota-badged twin) is looking like the more competitive package.
