The Equator arrived for 2009 as Suzuki's first venture into the compact pickup market. The truck is built by Nissan and features mostly Frontier hardware, but Suzuki had plenty of input in its styling. The fully loaded Equator isn't a luxurious model, but it does come in the RMZ-4 off-road package. The RMZ-4 features a moonroof, Dana 44 axles, electronic rear-locking differential, Bilstein shocks, skid plates, BFG Rugged Trail T/A tires, unique seat trim with red stitching and a leather-wrapped steering wheel.
Equator is available as an extended cab only in two-wheel drive and as a crew cab in 4x2 or 4x4 configurations. The base engine is a 2.5-liter inline-four-cylinder. A 4.0-liter V-6 engine is available in the extended cab and standard in the crew cab. There's a choice of Base or Premium trims in the extended cab inline-four-cylinder models; the V-6 comes in a Sport trim. The crew cab is available in Base or Sport with two-wheel drive, and four-wheel-drive models are available in either Sport or the off-road RMZ-4. All extended cabs have a 6-foot-long cargo bed, while the crew cab comes with a 5- or 6-foot bed.
Ignition Switch
The ignition switch has the following four
positions:
LOCK
This is the normal parking position. It is the
only position in which the key can be
removed.
Manual transaxle
• Manual transaxl ...
Off-Road
We drove an RMZ-4 Equator around several trails at Knibbe Ranch, about 55
miles north of San Antonio. The ranch, consisting of 2,000 acres of Texas hill
country, is mostly covered with scrub oak a ...
Engine & Transmission
By and large, our Kizashi GTS test car's sportiness ended with its looks,
mainly because it was equipped with the optional continuously variable automatic
transmission and all-wheel drive. The Kiz ...