Hi and welcome
I had the 1.6, 16valve Vitara, and it was wonderful, towed a dream, and boy did we stick some stuff on the back of it, a lot of it, nowhere within the legal limits when we used it on the farm. I loved it off road, as even in it's standard form, just proper tyres, it was very capable in everything I ever asked of it. I did 240K miles in 3 and a half years, and was very sorry to see it go, but as it was also my company car, and it was just getting to the time when things were starting to fail, I had no choice.
I then had the 2.0 turbo diesel GV, and was very let down by it, not a patch on the old 1.6. It had terrible turbo lag, and was a lot harder to drive around town, as the pull away was so slow, and even worse if you put any load on the back. When the cylinder head split at 61K, it was the last straw, and it went.
Only had the SJ's as off-roader only cars since then.
I love the T2, and it is amazingly capable, but I am still thinking of maybe getting a cheap old short wheel base Vitara as a toy to off road, as it is so much easier and cheaper to get the toys for. I am capable of fitting things, but do not have the ability to fabricate them, or pay money to get them made.
