Am new to this forum but am a Suzuki entusiast and am interested in purchasing a 2000 V6 4 door 4 x 4 vitara.  It is a five speed.  Is there any advantages to owning a five speed over an automatic?

They are asking 6000.00$ for the rig.  Is that a fair price and what kind of gas milage can I expect?   thanks   brick

Is there any advantages to owning a five speed over an automatic?

Yes, better mpg, and better reliability.

I often go to http://www.fueleconomy.gov to compare fuel milage between different vehicles. The 5sp 4x4 Grand Vitara was listed with these numbers:

MPG (city): 19
MPG (highway): 21
MPG (combined): 20

The auto was only worse by 1mpg in both city and highway ratings so I'm not sure that is enough reason to base a decesion regarding auto vs manual. Those numbers aren't the greatest but in the grand scheme of things you could do a lot worse. From my experience the milage seems about the same as my Ford Contour SE (2.5 V6 5spd) that I owned before my 2000 GV 5spd. so it's not an un-usually harsh vechicle on gas.. Personaly I can't stand auto... Or more appropriately I enjoy shifting... the more I'm involved in the driving experience the better. If you're having second thoughts about a 5spd then you might regret buying one no matter how good a deal it is.

I love my Grand Vitara. It's a rugged unit with good off-road ability. I always ask people "would you rather have something that can do everything or something that is good at what it does".. well in todays 4x4 market that GV you're looking at would lean towards the "good at what it does" so if you want a better than average offroad 4x4 and can live without a whisper quite ride or full-time four wheel drive then do it... othewise buy a jacked up car like a Toyota Rav4 or a Honda CRV.

thanks, that was helpfull information.  Anything you recommmend I do after getting it that would be a cheap performance mod.  I read about an e prom (computer mod) resistor install, that tricks the computer into thinking that there is a mass of cold air coming into the (mass air) sensor!  Does anyone know if this mod is worthwhile?   Other than a set of headers (if they make one) and a Cal Mini lift, I have no plans for this rig other than to drive the beejeebers out of her....brick