ant wrote:
VtSkier wrote:

Richard Henry wrote:

"Sven Golly" wrote in message
. ..


"Richard Henry" wrote in news:42purfF1jp1uhU1
:



Raising the center of gravity? Yeah, that'll help.

Those mods also widen the track. Suzuki rollover claims were highly
exaggerated. No worse than your typical Jeep CJ.


http://www.crash-worthiness.com/arti...i-lawsuit.html


Which really isn't saying much.
My son rolled a Geo Tracker, the first generation after
the Samurai. A former employer's son was killed in a
Jeep CJ roll over.

Tall, narrow, short wheelbase = easy roll over.

The Geo Tracker is a Suzuki Vitara, and it's not narrow at all. It's almost
square, in fact. Gives it horrible axle hop, due to short wheel base and
tight suspension, but it's not particularly tall and it sure ain't narrow.

My son's was narrow. Early version, first iteration after the Samurai.
They got wider as they got updated. I drove one of the first Samurai's
in the area. The price was about what a good used pickup was at the
time. About 7000 bucks. I actually liked the Samurai, but bought the
pickup (this was in 1988 or 89) because the Samurai just wasn't big
enough.

They will go over though if you hit a bump at high speed. That's the axle
hop.

My son got a wheel off the edge of the pavement and corrected too
much. Did a barrel roll down the ditch line. Fortunately didn't
hit anything.

There's a pic on that site of someone jumping a vitara at a beach. It's
getting some good air.

Compared to my...
1) Subaru Forester, it's narrow and short. (Subaru was traded for...)
2) Toyota Tacoma. The Tracker is still narrow and short.
3) Wife's PTCruiser, the Tracker is still narrow and short.

about the same height as the Forester and much shorter than the
Tacoma.

BTW, my son's Tracker was a soft top, which had a shorter wheelbase
than did the 4 door version.

VtSkier wrote:

BTW, my son's Tracker was a soft top, which had a shorter wheelbase
than did the 4 door version.

So's mine. 1994 model. The wagons had quite a good, long wheelbase, and
rode tracks much better. The short wheelbase version meant you couldn't go
as fast, unless you had new suspension fitted. I've been thinking about
that, too. I've seen a few on the road with big colourful struts, but the
first thing you notice is how they ride the road differently from my car.

--
ant

Richard Henry wrote:
"ant" wrote in message

http://kaos4x4.com.au/pages/suzuki/sierra.htm

These blokes service my Suzuki, and I've seen most of these monsters
"in the metal". We call them sierras.

Raising the center of gravity? Yeah, that'll help.

You should see the axles on those things. The can climb over rocks and stuff
and not fall over.
We didn't get the epidemic of Sierras falling over that they got in the US.
Not sure why.
They are pretty popular, although now they are Jimnys.

I'm thinking of getting them to drop a more lively engine into the Vitara,
when the current carburetted one starts to conk out. It's getting pretty old
(12 years). Still going fine though.

--
ant

ant wrote:
Richard Henry wrote:

"ant" wrote in message


http://kaos4x4.com.au/pages/suzuki/sierra.htm

These blokes service my Suzuki, and I've seen most of these monsters
"in the metal". We call them sierras.

Raising the center of gravity? Yeah, that'll help.

You should see the axles on those things. The can climb over rocks and stuff
and not fall over.
We didn't get the epidemic of Sierras falling over that they got in the US.
Not sure why.

Stupidity of American drivers? Actually I thought the body style
was far better in what you call "Sierra" and what we called
"Samurai" than in later offerings.

One of the things that happened was that "Consumer Reports"
put out a "special report" detailing their findings on the
potential tip-overs for this vehicle. I never read the report,
but just the fact that it was published was enough to kill
the public's interest in the vehicle.

I noted in an earlier post that my son had rolled his Tracker.
He actually did a barrel roll begun by a ditch, was going too
fast and had had a couple of drinks. You tell me the cause.

They are pretty popular, although now they are Jimnys.

?Jimny? Do you mean Jitney?

I'm thinking of getting them to drop a more lively engine into the Vitara,
when the current carburetted one starts to conk out. It's getting pretty old
(12 years). Still going fine though.

VtSkier wrote:
ant wrote:

They are pretty popular, although now they are Jimnys.

?Jimny? Do you mean Jitney?

These things:
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/st...50935_00mg.jpg
Evidently an updated Sierra.


--
ant