What packages of parts would it take to get you to buy this new pickup? Diesel, 6 speed, 4-doors, IFS, Solid Axle, Towing capacity, long bed, short bed, V6, V8, leather, GPS/Stereo, etc....

-Eric

I'm torn. On ine hand I would like to see a no/minimum frills rugged 4x4 based towards off roading, decent towing capacity and a good price. Suzuki hes needed to come out with a good quailty inexpensive 4x4 again and this could the one. But on the other hand, a leather clad, loaded Suzuki Dune with a Nissan bobbed off style bed would be one sweet ass ride that I would love to drive.

Zig

Powerful engine.  It's a truck and no matter how stylish and cliquish they want stuff a majority of the buyers are expecting power to tow and haul with.

Along that vein it needs a decent sized gas V6 and an absolutely wonderful idea for North America would be a turbo diesel 4 cylinder.  I envy the rest of the world that gets those.

MANUAL TRANSMISSION, 5 speed or 6 speed with an actual LOW gear and beefy enough to at least stand up to the truck it's put in.  Not to mention I want the stick to be available with all options and configurations.  None of this no-offroad package and/or quadcab BS that Toyotas doing now if you want a stick.

Coil sprung IFS!  SFA would be cool but common, it ain't going to happen.  SKIP TORSION BARS!

Manual hubs!  Toyota and Nissan have proven that you can still do it but it's a vanishing option simply because most yuppy truck buyers don't want to get their hands dirty.

Leaf sprung solid rear axle in the rear.  A good beefy one too.  Typical Aisin stoutness or maybe a Dana 44 rear like Isuzu did.  Coils and 5 links would be great but yeah, who uses that under their pickups...?

Skidplates made of STEEL...or maybe some high density plastic.  No cheap plastic (ahem GM) or thin aluminum (virtually everyone else).

GOOD offroad package with a real locker.  TRD or NISMO esque-none of this Z71 BS.  Oh, and Bilstein shocks, none of this Monroe crap!

REAL truck tires.  No calling a Goodyear Wrangler RT/S an all terrain.  Siped mud tires for the hard core package maybe?

Deep gears.  3.73's at the minimum, 4.10's maybe, 4.56's ?  What's up with Nissan and this 3.31 crap?

Discs on all four corners!

Spray on bedliner for the bed...and the interior for a nice alternative to cheap vinyl interiors.

Let people pick and choose options so they can order what they want.  Not have to order some lame $2000 appearance package to get skid plates.  I hate chrome, I don't want it, I also don't care if my mirrors match the grille.  I just want skidplates and good shocks.

Should I go on?

There's a reason my truck is 10 years old and I see no reason to sell it in the near future.

Simple...

1-Body on a REAL frame

2-REAL 4X4 systeme(locking front hub, t-case with a STICK in the cab, not a f*cking switch...)

3-ifs with upper and lower A-arm

4-rear solid axle

5-diesel is a realy good idea...but we are in america 

6-A good V6

Fredo

I hate to burst any bubbles, but the typical re-badging exercise that car companies undergo dictates that the suzuki will be a cosmetic change from the nissan but will otherwise be mechanically identical.  Usually the donor company reserves some special model from the re-badging company, so expect nissan to have a Nismo high performance version that suzuki will not be able to match.

For referance, the dodge Stealth was mechcanically similar to the Mitsu 300 gt but not offered with all wheel steering.....

The toyo matrix is offered in XRS trim with a 180 hp engine and 6-speed stick, while the best motor and stick in the pontiac vibe is 130 hp and 5 speed.


So cross your fingers and hope, but Im expecting a nissan truck with an S on the grille and a different interior.

Now if you want to talk about what suzuki should offer.......

Put a couple (removeable)airbags in a jimny(to get it street legal in the us), stick in a mercedes engineered 3-cyl turbo diesel, a beefy transmission that takes advantage of the diesel torque but with a tall gear for gas mileage, offer interchangeable abs exterior panels that bolt to a tough tube integrated roll structure, so you can strip all your panels off in half an hour with an allen wrench, and of course keep the rest of the mechanicals as simple as possible to encourage people like us in our aftermarket support of the brand......

I think the cooperative effort with nissan is a good thing here. Remember nissan has been far more successful with current buyers than suzuki of late....


that being said, I would hope that nissan sees there is a ready market for a 4 door small pickup with a turbo diesel and beefy 4x4 package. The way I see it, they are going to have to do it, since the market will have others available with these features, and buyers will come in droves. There are a LOT of people who have been sitting on the fence of late, and are ready to buy when the product is right. There have been far too many crossovers and small utes that are not adequate for serious offroading. A lot of the folks going with small cars right now are waiting out fuel prices, and/or holding off on a pickup or suv until they get the gas mileage thing under control.

If jeep drops the approval for a diesel gladiator, you can count on Nissan/suzuki countering with a diesel in this new pickup.

I'm hearing positive rumors about the Gladiator...and it's diesel engine...the Liberty already has it and Jeep/Chrysler can't make enough of them...hopefully a small diesel 4x4 war starts.

hey guys, i'm new here but thought i'd share my toughts on the zuuk pickup.
I live in belgium, and the GV we get is either equiped with a 1.6 gas, 2.0 gas engine, or 1.9 diesel, taken from an european car builder (and as a suzuki fan, i hate avery bolt of that diesel engine).
I wish we could get the 2.7 v6, but its way out of suzuki europe's budget (eg. the 2.0 will cost bout $450 on anual  tax, the v6 would cost close to double of that).

What i'd wish for in a suzuki pickup, is a fair amouth of cargo space (but here we will most likely put a hart top on it, giving it a real suv look). Good standard equipment, full time 4x4, retuned 1.6 engine (keeping the tax-rate low), useable low gearing, tough overall build.

But we're most likely not gona get it in europe.

I'm hearing positive rumors about the Gladiator...and it's diesel engine...the Liberty already has it and Jeep/Chrysler can't make enough of them...hopefully a small diesel 4x4 war starts.

jeep is discontinuing the diesel, at least in the liberty.

Only for emissions reasons and to get it recerted.  Considering the sales success it's been so far (they sold more than they could make) what kind of retards would they be if they didn't bring it back.  The Grand Cherokee is going to get a diesel soon too.  It's a different diesel that passes the new emissions regs already.

the diesel revolution has sparked but not quite caught on fire yet. jeep has started with thier lines ups but they also come with a hefty price. when i was living in germany i had an alpha romeo GTV coupe with twin turbo. this little power plant was a inline 4 cyl. 16 valve deisel that put out 198 hp at 2000 rpm to the rear wheels when in rear wheel drive. i was considering this power plant as a replacement for the 4 banger in the sammy i had back then. after shopping around at the dealership in stuutgart i had learned the plant would cost 7 grand american. after more research i learned that the motor would sell aftermarket in a auto yard for less than 3 grand. but american import laws would not let me bring the powerplant back to the US. after it sat in customs for 3 weeks i decided to ship it back at sell it to regain my loss. after talking with customs officials up the chain about my dilema its seems that particular customs law was placed by the major automotive commissioners of the big three and was enforced very heavily with some hefty fines i might add. another item i might add about this particular powerplant is i got over 38 mpg with a heavy foot in a itailian sports car. i think this is one reason it is enforced. another was the overall price one could get the plant for.

overall i wouldnt expect these first small liter diesels to be that efficent and worth buying right off the bat. considering the US literally took back all of the electric cars in fear of major demand i can see the technology coming out slowly. not to mention the oil industry having thier fingers in the pot as well. did you know that deisel fuel is the first process of extraction of bi-product in order to make pump grade gasoline?

i would be safe to say the diesel engines in the small truck and SUV market will start off slow and with more of an emphasis on emissions rather than productivity.

just my ten cents

Check your facts.

Electric cars died because no one was using them.  The government retired it's fleet of electric S10's early due to short range, high cost of maintenance, and unexpected problems.  When they ended the EV1 program Saturn had thousands of them sitting in holding lots because they had, in typical GM fashion, made tons of them expecting heavy sales.  They proved to be slow, short ranged, expensive to recharge (imagine your electric bill), and expensive to fix when their unexpected problems cropped up.  No one bought them.

As for why we can't import diesels for streel vehicles it's due to their emissions.  We test for different particles in exhaust than the rest of the world...to our loss.  Our standards are out of date and rather poorly planned from the beginning.  You can bring an engine like that into the country and put it in your vehicle...you just can't legally register it as a street vehicle.  There's a guy on Ebay that brings 4-cyl International turbodiesels up from Brazil.  Perfect wheeling motors.  The hitch is you can't use them in street vehicles.

Hell, VW has that V10 turbodiesel in the Toureg and it got rave reviews so when the Toureg was brand new VW brought a few in.  The 4x4 and sports car crowds loved the engine...then the EPA put the big NO on it's emissions and off went the diesel Toureg in North America.   In reality it's a perfectly clean and efficient vehicle but because our outmoded standards are still used we get denied a good engine...and similarily lots of other good diesel vehicles.

roger that AJMBLAZER,

it still cracks me up that a 2004 diesel powerplant in europe wont pass emissions standards in the states, not to mention there is a watch dog at the gates if you have one under your shoulder. thats all i am saying. i can agree that there is no perfect standard worldwide as you stated. i guess if we wanted the perfect rig we would have to build trailer rigs and tow them. i dont thing the suzuki pick up is going down that road.

Check your facts.


Hell, VW has that V10 turbodiesel in the Toureg and it got rave reviews so when the Toureg was brand new VW brought a few in.  The 4x4 and sports car crowds loved the engine...then the EPA put the big NO on it's emissions and off went the diesel Toureg in North America.   In reality it's a perfectly clean and efficient vehicle but because our outmoded standards are still used we get denied a good engine...and similarily lots of other good diesel vehicles.

Its back. They had one sitting at the VW deallership when I bought my TDI Jetta in april of 2007. That is the only diesel that will stay in the united states until VW brings the new diesel back to its cars in 2008

If it's going to be build by nissan I think this is how it should be



http://www.nissan.com.au/patrolcab/