Glenn,

You guys did a lift for the Grand Vitara. The action pictures on your website are fairly impressive for a compact SUV.

http://www.rocky-road.com/media/grand_vitara_lift1.jpg

http://www.rocky-road.com/media/metatrox_lift.jpg

I notice that there seems to be a decent amount of extension on the GV's rear wheel.

What are your feelings comparing these two vehicles, now that you have had the chance to work with their suspension systems? Obviously, you haven't gotten a hold of the FDII Patriot yet, but with what you have seen, which one looks to be the more capable?

It seems from the top pic that the rear tire is already off the ground...not that much droop. IFS/IRS are just not going to get a lot of droop (disreguarding high dollar Baja Racer Truck). The Patriot should get that much with easy. Disconnecting the rear sway bar might net another .5"-1" of droop in the rear.

Someone need to put a jack under one front tire and jack it up until a rear wheel lifts off the ground...then measure how many inches the front tire(that is on the jack) is off the ground...measure as close as you can to the middle of the tire. Then plug that number and the wheelbase number into this calculator to get an idea of the Patriots Ramp Index Stock.

http://www.4lo.com/calc/rticalc.htm

That will give you a starting point...then try disconnecting one side of the rear sway bar and see if it will go any higher...

Then get the Patriot that is lifted to do the same...

The GV is a 6cyl correct?

Or is that just on some models?

"Capability" is very hard to judge. I've waltzed thru alot of stuff in Moab with our Liberty that rock buggies stuggled with... only because I knew the line from decades of playing there. It would be the same thing with these vehicles. Two different drivers would get two different performance results.

I do have to say that the Patriot is a much better deal. The Grand Vitara is a bit pricey.

The Patriot was certainly a more challenging suspension to design, considering the stability control system and touchy ABS.

Nearly Normal, yeah the GV comes only with the 6 cylinder, with a locking rear differential for those really hairy situation... I can give you my opinion on both since we have both in out household.. The misses drives the Patriot and I drive the GV, we have switched back and forth and she prefers the Patriot because of its more car like drive and I like the ruggedness of the GV. Both vehicles have preformed well on the few trails we have played on. I come from a long jeep history and I must say for a Suzuki I am loving it... I am not taking anything from the Patriot because overall I love it just a little more because of one reason and that's because it's a jeep. if you have any specific questions I will be glad to answer them.. Have a great day...