MODEL ON TEST: MOTION 61kWh – MILEAGE – 2,726

Spurred on by sunnierweather and with a blank canvas garden at the back of my new house, I’ve spent the last few weeks on a steep learning curve, building my first vegetable patch and greenhouse. It’s also been an interesting crash course in what our Suzuki can carry.

First impressions of our e Vitara’s load space weren’t overly positive. SUVs are, by name at least, utility and Suzuki has the advantage of a dedicated EV platform to package the battery bulk
as efficiently as possible.As a family man with frequent load-moving needs, it wasn’t a good start when my picnic hamper full of shopping bags took up a quarter of the boot.

Granted, the e Vitara is hardly a road- going behemoth, but 244 litres of boot space (falling to 238 if you opt for the top-specification Ultra trim, with its under- floor subwoofer) is underwhelming.That’s a fifth less capacity than the Vauxhall Mokka Electric (310 litres) and half what you’ll get in a Ford Puma Gen-E. Both are smaller cars, and on platforms designed for combustion engines.

However, that’s a worst-case scenario. The rear bench slides forward in two sections and reclines in stages, so it’s possible to liberate a more respectable 310 litres of boot capacity while holding heavy loads in place. Unfortunately, if you need all of that space, you’re limiting the back seats to passengers with short legs and a tolerance for sitting bolt upright.

In practice, the boot space hasn’t been as restrictive as I’d feared. I was pleasantly surprised when six bags of compost and another four of topsoil stacked neatly under the parcel shelf without moving the rear bench forwards. And, as a side benefit, the sliding rear benches are useful for keeping potted plants upright on the way home from the garden centre.

The thick, 2.4-metre long wooden planks that formed the edge of my vegetable patch were more of a stretch, but the central section of the e Vitara’s rear bench folds flat so I was able to load them through the cabin with a protective beach towel protecting the front armrest.Anything longer would have come closer to the touchscreen and climate control switchgear than I’d be comfortable with, even with a passenger holding everything in place.

Household items have been a mixed bag. Scouring Facebook Marketplace uncovered a cheap pine coffee table that – to my surprise – slotted neatly into the boot with the parcel shelf removed, and a sideboard that didn’t.

It’s quite clever, with flaps that cover the gap between the folded rear seats and the load floor if the bench is slid forward. However, the entire load floor is level with the top of the boot, and the tapered roofline restricts access for bulkier objects.

Visually, then, Suzuki has an EV on the ‘sport’ rather than the ‘utility’ end of the SUV spectrum, which has never done the Nissan Juke (a reverse TARDIS – bigger on the outside than the inside) any harm sales wise. Nor has that space inefficiency done much to hamper my green-fingered learning curve. I can live with it.
ALEX GRANT

WHAT’S HOT: A sliding, reclining rear bench with a load- through provision isn’t a given in this class – and it is useful.

WHAT’S NOT: There’s no getting over the e Vitara’s small boot and high load floor, even with the seats slid forward.

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FACTS & FIGURES

ARRIVED: 11th May 2026

PRICE WHEN NEW: £29,249

PRICE AS TESTED: £29,899

ECONOMY: 4.1 miles/per kWh (official WLTP) 3.3 miles/per kWh (on test)

COSTS: None

FAULTS: None