Boston.com's view

WHISTLER, British Columbia — We are looking for purchase in the high country — the kind you get when at least one wheel on your SUV gets grip on a steep trail as gravel and rocks break loose beneath your tread.

Remarkably, I’m in the 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara and I’m not sure I’d have bet it could climb some of the rock-pocked portions of this trail as easily as it does. I doubt I’d get a Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4 over this same course with as much ease.

The Suzuki proves one tough little mountain goat with a low-range gear box, locking center differential to assure purchase power at all times, and short approach and departure angles (short overhangs front and rear so they don’t hit steep ground coming or going).

Yet I can’t help but ask myself who, after buying one of these, will stress it this hard?

Suzuki probably meant this exercise as a display of what the third-generation Grand Vitara could do so we automotive writers could assure readers that, if it does this, imagine it in simple winter snows or muddy back roads.

Hirotaka Ono, executive general manager of overseas marketing for Suzuki, introduced the new Grand Vitara as an ”off-road athlete.” I’ll grant him that if he has the casual mountain biker or day hiker in mind, but not if he’s talking about an ice climber ready to traverse New Hampshire’s Presidential Range.

The Grand Vitara (on sale now) is a counterpunch in Suzuki’s bout to make strong inroads into what has been for them a less than stellar market. A 1-2-3 combination will follow this introduction, with a mid-size SUV featuring 250 or more horsepower, a mid-size sedan, and an entry level, five-door hatchback aimed at young singles all to follow in 2006.

The 2006 is powered by a 2.7-liter V-6 with 185 horsepower and 184 lb.-ft. of torque (the latter helping to pull tow capacity to 3,000 pounds, enough to tow small boats, ATVs, or lumber or loam for weekend projects). That’s 20 more horsepower and 22 lb.-ft. more torque than the 2005 model.

It comes with either a five-speed manual or optional five-speed electronically controlled automatic transmission. I drove the automatic in a run into the mountains from Vancouver and found it a smooth shifter, even as the 185-horse engine had surprising strength in climbing and passing.

The new Grand Vitara is also a bigger car. The 2006 is 11.5 inches longer overall, has a 6.3-inch expanded wheelbase, and is 1.2 inches wider.

Headroom and leg room front and rear are commodious. The rear seat, most comfortable for two passengers, splits 60/40, opening to a modest rear cargo space. The front seats were a bit soft under the thighs, and for longer trips, a firmer boost would be better.

I particularly liked the protruding center console with easy-to-use controls for sound, air, and heat. And even the use of plastic as ”aluminum” trim or synthetics as textured ”leather” worked in what is a well-appointed cabin in this price range.

Outside, predictable SUV struts of ruggedness included flares over the fenders, an upright stance, cladded fascia, corners, and lower doors.

As other Asian companies have done, Suzuki is loading the Grand Vitara with a fine array of important standard content, including ABS, traction control, electronic brake force distribution, and front and rear side air bags.

It is available in rear-wheel drive or two modes of four-wheel drive: full-time, single-mode, or full-time four-mode with high range, high range lock for snow or mud, low range lock for off-road or truly deep snow or mud, and (OK, I’ll give them this one) neutral mode in case you want to tow it behind your RV.

It comes in a range of trim levels that run the price up from about $18,000 to $25,000. The EPA mileage estimates are 18 city, 23 highway for the manual transmission, and 19/24 for the automatic.

But this is only the first upshift in the Suzuki plan.

”This is just the first step in a North American strategy,” Ono said. ”We’re not stopping here.”

Besides three more vehicles in coming months, there are plans to increase US dealerships from 532 to 600. Suzuki would like to sell 200,000 vehicles annually in North America by 2007 and hopes to sell 50,000 Grand Vitaras a year.

So they have a plan: more product, more content, more dealers.

Can it work? Imagine a small Asian company encroaching on the hegemony not only of American builders, but of Toyota and Honda:

Now say two words: Kia. Hyundai.