Well the new Suzuki did the job!!! I was a bit unsure due to a lack of ground clearance compared with most 4x4s that go off road these days, they all seem to have a 2 inch lift. But the new Suzi with auto transmission did a great job at Teewah Beach and Double Island Point on its maiden beach voyage.

We had it loaded up with gear for 2 people for a long weekend of camping.

Yeah, enough gear for a weekend camp on the beach will fit in here………….

As long we put some of it on the roof!

Yes that ground clearance ain’t massive, but the muffler under the towbar survived, somehow!

It has standard suspension and tyres straight from the factory. I had been thinking about giving it a bit more height so it won’t scrape off road and do damage underneath, but it was difficult to find a good deal and time ran out. So standard on the beach first go it was!!!

It went great and only stopped in deep sand once. I was in 4×4 High range in (D)rive and hit some chewed up sand tracks on the beach near the waters edge. I think I lost momentum due to the traction control kicking in. Anyway I turned off the traction control, put it in first gear and took off easily. It is annoying how after turning off the traction control, it turns itself back on when you reach 30km/h. This isn’t really suitable for beach driving as the usual speed is 60km/h in lots of areas. I guess it does this for other applications like snow and ice.

So it went really well and I don’t reckon I will bother with raised suspension unless I have lots of problems getting bogged or doing damage in the future.

Also brought home a bucket full of sand with the car as a result. Look at how much came out after washing it, Wow!