ICELAND BY VITARA **CAUTION VERY PICTURE HEAVY**

Day1

Having been to Iceland several times and hired Suzuki Jimny's, Grand Vitara's i was hoping to find a rental company with the new Vitara to try on Icelands varying roads and weather
After several google searches i came up with nothing so a quick email to Suzuki IS and i received a friendly reply telling me that Procar IS purchased 20 new Vitara's for their rental fleet

Another few emails and the Vitara is guaranteed for collection at Keflavik airport and i'm set to go  

Arriving at Keflavik we were collected at the airport and taken a few kilometres to the Procar office where i am then taken to a Hyundai  
I explained i had ordered a Vitara and the guy tries to suggest the Hyundai is an upgrade to which a raised eyebrow suggested to him i knew the Hyundai wasn't an upgrade, after several Icelandic mutterings under his breath he finds the Keys at last to my Silver Vitara for the next 4 days........





The airport is around 45 minutes from Reykjavik where our hotel was which give me some time to compare this Vitara to my SZ5...



Looking around the Vitara it had cloth trim, no sunroof, privacy glass, 17" graphite alloys and indicators in the wings so was the equivalent to a SZ-T here in the UK but a big difference was it being an Automatic
I have mentioned this Vitara in another post and explained the transmission was very reluctant to change up from 4th gear into 5th or 6th unless you manually shifted up using the paddle shifts yet the slightest of inclines and it kicked down into 4th  
A quick walk round at the next service station and i think the problem was being winter and Studded/Winter tyres being compulsory the rental company had fitted an oversize tyre (obviously due to cost) which was confusing the Automatic transmission



The studs were a welcome though as this was to be a regular occurrence...



After checking into the Hotel i left my fiancée to settle in and found the main Suzuki importers in Reykjavik to see what 4x4 they have (if you think Suzuki dealers are sparse in the UK you should try Iceland, i have only ever seen two dealerships and i think there are 5-6 service centres across the island)





Rare USA spec Suzuki XL7...



Suzuki Kizashi AWD...



Suzuki Jimny Iceland style...



Day2

Todays plan was to head East along Ring 1 leaving the snow in the West behind...





The main reason for this route was to visit a DC4 plane wreck on the South Beach Sólheimasandur, originally you just had some GPS co-ordinates but it appears people have been getting lost and it is now sign posted to a new entry...





After the initial tyre tracks it soon turns into a black beach, I have driven this route before in the snow and with low cloud you can soon become disorientated...





Driving over one of the last dunes before the sea you are then greeted with this on the horizon...





In 1973 a United States Navy Douglas Super DC-3 airplane was forced to land on Sólheimasandur’s black sand beach, various rumours surround the crash from bad visibility, icing of the fuel leaving the plane to run out of fuel yet a local Icelandic farmer reported he attended the wreckage soon after and retrieved a vast amount of fuel from the aircraft which as farmers do he ran his equipment on for several months for free









Heading back from the wreckage towards Ring 1



A thing I have learnt in Iceland is if you see a fuel station take advantage and fill up, distances between stations can be vast and although most fuel pumps are automated you cannot use a normal credit card and have to use a prepaid N1 fuel card, something not many tour guides or rental companies advise  you...



The above mentioned distances should also be taken into consideration when planning your route/itinerary, what you think will take an hour to travel can often take two to three times that, with so much to view/photograph and varying weather conditions it can often add hours onto the journey as we found out arriving at the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon just as darkness fell, excuse picture quality but luckily in person the headlights of the Vitara did a great job...





On the return to Reykjavik that evening I experienced this warning on the dashboard...



...even being 7'c it turned out to be a build up of ice in the S badge/radar on the grille, once removed the RBS was resumed



In all day 1 was just shy of 1000km from Reykjavik to Hofn then returning to Reykjavik with the added diversions from Route 1...



Day 2

Breakfast in the Hotel was a colourful experience...



4WD is such a way of life in Iceland even the Arctic Truck 4x4's feature on the milk for your coffee in the hotel...



Our aim today was to Visit Akureyri in the North for an overnight stop after the previous days marathon, looking at the rental guide we decided to hug the West coast with the central area's being out of bounds or closed due to weather conditions...



This is a typical road condition report from http://www.road.is/ with Red roads being impassable, Pink difficult, Blue slippery etc



Early Suzuki SJ410 surviving the Arctic conditions better than they have in the UK...



Heading North from Reykjavik is the 5.7km Hvalfjörður Tunnel, this saves over 45km on the journey taking 7 minutes instead of 1 hour, at some points it is 165m below sea level...





As you can see traffic is a rarity on the roads...





A feature missing on UK Vitara's but were certainly welcome and turned up to high the further North we travelled...



And the reason why the seat heaters were a blessing only a few kilometres further on...







To the left of this hut out of view was one of the many webcams mast that gave you location, current weather conditions/temperature/wind speed etc...



Dropping down from the mountains to the coast we left the snow behind and passed through a typical fishing village Olafsvik...









A common feature on Iceland roads is this sign warning that the tarmac road becomes a gravel surface, this is also the main Ring 1
The gravel roads can become rutted and with some severe pot holes from frost damage, I braced myself a few times expecting the suspension to jar my back but the Vitara simply glided across some really harsh road conditions that you would have expected to bottom the suspension out ...





Nearly all bridges are single track even on the main roads but with so little traffic it is rare to have to give way...



Stepping out of the car to take this picture I realised how good the studded tyres really are, I could hardly stand to take the picture and the wind was actually blowing me along the ice, yet the tyres were so good you were confident to be driving at 80-90kmh...



When was the last time you saw a full range of horse shoes for sale in a petrol station?



Icelandic people take their clothing serious and fashion is a bit different to the UK's Saturday night best....







Arriving in Akureyri was a pleasant surprise, as nice as Reykjavik is you cant help but notice it caters for the tourist yet Akureyri seemed to be more traditional...











Day3

Being further North we woke up to...............Snow!!!



If you look to the top right of the picture you can see the footpath's leading into the city are clear, this is from the heated pavements where the geothermal water is directed underground to give the houses free hot water and clearing the cities pavements along the way

With AllGrip on the Vitara the last thing we wanted was snow clearing so off we went up into the mountains North towards Husavik...















I like my bikes but i'm not sure I would have swapped the comfort and heating of the Vitara?



Like Akureyri Husavik was a more traditional town which apart from the Astronaut Training museum seemed to rely again on fishing...











Unlike Reykjavik the cars in the North appeared to be older and more for a purpose rather than show...







With the snow falling thick and fast and 500km/5 hours (plus a 10am flight the next day) back to our hotel in Reykjavik we decided to start heading back as there were some high roads to pass and we were not sure if any of the roads would be shut, the Vitara had performed faultlessly and the only reason I ever took the 4wd out of the Auto mode was to try the various settings out of interest, admittedly it was fitted with studded tyres but not once did the Vitara step out of line or give me concern and like I said I could not walk on the icy roads even in dedicated Sorel winter boots without holding onto the door handles down the side of the car so I think it would be fair to say the Vitara coped with some pretty extreme conditions with flying colours











Heading back through Akureyri I called in the North Iceland Suzuki dealer BSA HF where the owner told me about selling the first Suzuki LJ80's in Iceland in 1978 and we discussed the way Suzuki had developed over the years to the Vitara we have today, a really nice guy with a passion for the product he was selling rather than some finance guy you find nowadays in dealerships  





Stopping off for something to eat I saw this advert on the front of the newspaper, not like the press in the UK printing some rubbish about what celebrity is sleeping with who's grandad who used to be a woman but an advert for the full range of Yokohama winter tyres...



They really do live in an extreme place yet have adapted and the people are educated to respect the weather and it's extremities they buy the right clothes, the right tyres and the right vehicles for the job realising that the cars they buy are not for show or to impress the neighbours and probably why Suzuki is one of the most popular vehicles you see in Iceland so much so that you want a Dominoes Pizza delivered whatever the weather? then guess what they drive.....



Excuse the picture quality but -7 and 51mpg, and that is solid ice on the rear of the vitara (Procar had to get a hot pressure washer to remove the ice to check bodywork for damage when I returned the car next day) but everything from the wiper to the rubber tailgate release button worked just as it should and no rattles or squeaks from the trim plastic contracting in the cold...







I'm not sure we will ever get to try our Vitara's in the UK to the extremes I was lucky to try the rental one in Iceland, over 4 days I did over 2000 miles without a hiccup (other than the transmission holding 4th which I believe was the wrong tyre size causing it) I did have my doubts about the Vitara going transverse instead of the traditional inline 4wd setup like in previous Vitara/Grand Vitara but I was certainly impressed and glad I chose to own one

Karl

P.s did anyone spot my rental Vitara in the webcam screenshot

Great writeup and photostory Karl

Fantastic pictures Karl, and great to hear the Vitara holds its own in severe wintry conditions!
Thanks for a great journeys story!

Henk

Exciting place, and good job with the pics!

Great job. I would like to try my Vitara in Iceland now.

Wow!!!

Fantastic read. Thanks for the post

Nice !!

after all that karl I will stick to the harsh weather the south east has thanks.lol

Amazingly the Icelandic take it in their stride, they even had studded tyres on the pushbikes to cycle to work

Karl

Congratulations! Great landscapes !!!!!

What a coincidence. I am just about to dock in Rotterdam where i will be driving to the North of Denmark to catch a 3 day ferry (via the Faroe Isles) over to Iceland to deliver a Grand Vitara for a friend.

Will post any Vitara pics en route

Karl

Very nice photo-story, thanks for sharing.

Thank you Neu, i have recently returned from Iceland and have another Drive Report/pictures set to post once i get time, this trip involved a Grand Vitara and an S-Cross but unfortunately no snow



Karl

Great report and even greater pics. My Vitara looked the same as the one you were driving before I upgraded it with rugged "outfit".

I'm curious about one thing, though:

"A feature missing on UK Vitara's but were certainly welcome and turned up to high the further North we travelled...And the reason why the seat heaters were a blessing only a few kilometres further on..."

Your Vitara doesn't have an option of having heated seats or is this true for every Vitara in the UK?

Ziga Vitara wrote:Great report and even greater pics. My Vitara looked the same as the one you were driving before I upgraded it with rugged "outfit".

I'm curious about one thing, though:

"A feature missing on UK Vitara's but were certainly welcome and turned up to high the further North we travelled...And the reason why the seat heaters were a blessing only a few kilometres further on..."

Your Vitara doesn't have an option of having heated seats or is this true for every Vitara in the UK?

True, no heated seats for UK Vitaras. Unless you're lucky like myself and Karl.

Interesting, good to know.

Here Vitara's range of equipments are labeled differently than in the UK (and I guess that in most other countries too), we don't have SZ4/ SZT / SZ5 / etc but Comfort / Elegance / Premium / S, yet all models except Comfort have heated front seats by default.

We have new Vitara options GL+, GLX and S in Turkey. Only the GL+ (which I have) comes without heated seats (it also lacks sunroof just like S). To the best of my knowledge, dealer provides them additionally for around EUR500 although it is not listed as an option anywhere.

brilliant read,thanks for sharing this with us..

Karl, a great interesting write up and some stunning pics, thank you .

Thanks BW, I have since made several trips to Iceland and had various Suzuki Vitara/S-Cross and I am more impressed every time I rent one there and they are faultless in some extreme conditions....





If you ever get the chance to visit Iceland I cannot recommend it enough, unfortunately we were due to visit next week for our anniversary although we did get to go last February (above pics) a week prior to lockdown

Karl

i love that image ice possible drive with care at -19 i would of thought so to..and it,s a shame lockdown has ruined so many things for a lot of people but what can you do,apart from be safe and healthy

Glad to see pictures from Iceland, I did hope to see my car in one of those photos you took of random suzuki's but no luck
Seems like you visit alot!
Hopefully we will get more pictures next time yoy visit

Hey Danniorn, great to see you have found the forum

There is a Red Ignis with bonnet guard regularly parked at Glerártorg shopping center in Akureyri, i saw it 2 weeks ago and in November so I guess they work there

Not sure if you have found the Ignis posts....

https://vivavitara.forumotion.co.uk/t1789-the-21-ignis

https://vivavitara.forumotion.co.uk/t1800-ignis-allgrip-and-modifications

I will sort some more Ignis links tomorrow and PM then to you

Karl

Admin wrote:Hey Danniorn, great to see you have found the forum

There is a Red Ignis with bonnet guard regularly parked at Glerártorg shopping center in Akureyri, i saw it 2 weeks ago and in November so I guess they work there

Not sure if you have found the Ignis posts....

https://vivavitara.forumotion.co.uk/t1789-the-21-ignis

https://vivavitara.forumotion.co.uk/t1800-ignis-allgrip-and-modifications

I will sort some more Ignis links tomorrow and PM then to you

Karl

You have found my car! Hahaha and yes I work in Glerártorg.
I've already read everything í found when I searched for Ignis on this forum and also some vitara related. Nice to see some cars that people arent too afraid of modding á little