Vintage Thing No. 135 - Suzuki X-90

The future of classic trials?

The Suzuki X-90 is a car that has only just begun to have its day and even then it's having it in the obscure world of classic trialling. Not only that but it's the unloved two wheel drive variety that's found favour.

The X-90 was one of those niche cars that may have made sense when the concept was pitched to senior executives but, once let loose in the market place with everybody else looking at it, it didn't actually make a lot of sense.

I can sort of understand where Suzuki were coming from. So many people aspire to the lifestyle that a four wheel drive vehicle apparently indicates that you are enjoying that it could be sensible to offer them the look of it without all the tiresome heavy duty stuff that any self-respecting hairdresser doesn't need.

And no disrespect to hairdressers - for many years the MGB was known for being a hairdresser's car. The MGB had the look of a sports car without all that tiresome performance to worry about.

The engine was a G16A 1590cc sohc four cylinder that put out 95 bhp and had a five speed box and the drivetrain is pretty well bullet proof. It's engineered for the road, which is where the vast majority would be found. It wasn't designed for towing - there's no low box. But to my amazement almost half those made were only rear wheel drive.

The split glass roof was arguably the best feature of the X-90

The X-90 has a two part targa roof as well but this was heavy and took up all the boot space unless you left it at home and felt you could rely on British weather not making you wet..

So the Suzuki X-90 had all the look of a four wheel drive without the actual performance and in two wheel drive form without the weight drivers of its 4x4 sibling had to endure. It also lacked all those seats that can get muddy if you let people in your 4x4. It couldn't possibly fail in it's chosen niche - could it?

Nothing else quite looks like an X-90. That's what they said about Allegros, too, and we all know what that kind of remark means for the public image.

At rest after the 2009 LET

It's not so much a cross-over vehicle as a fall between the tracks machine. It doesn't do on road, or off road, very well. It is at home nowhere. Initial depreciation was spectacular as the X-90 earnt itself the reputation of being a lemon and Clarkson - in a rare demonstrative moment - declared it to be the worst car ever.

Suzuki made the X-90 from October 1995 until May 1997 and didn't replace it with anything. Nowadays they are incredibly cheap.

And nowadays they've found their niche.

Of course, MCC classic trials are a niche market far smaller than Suzuki ever visualised for the X-90. You might say it's a market leader in life style SUVs running in class 5 - rear wheel drive production sports cars. Sports cars? Shurely shome mishtake...

In fact I doubt Suzuki have ever heard of classic trials let alone Class 5 but that's where - incredibly - they make sense and it's only the two wheel drive version that suits this niche, as 4x4s are banned.

Suzuki X-90s are reliable, have decent ground clearance without the need for modifications, are cheap and can be regarded as ultimately disposable.

For a long time they still didn't perform well in classic trials but the critical factors I listed above - I did mention cheap didn't I? - meant that many people began entering them, even if they could never be accused of pot hunting. Even more people - myself included - regarded them as a kind of mobile fitness rig for long suffering MCC marshals.

Peter Jones and Robert Stone failed Blue Hills 1 on the 2011 Land's End Trial but cleared Blue Hills 2 to get a Bronze Award

But then something happened. Maybe it was better tyres. Maybe it was a demon tweak. Maybe some drivers realised what it took to get the X-90 to find grip. One driven by Nick Deacon almost cleared Simms in the 2013 Exeter Trial. I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it for myself.

Every page of an MCC trials programme lists at least one X-90 these days (apart from the motorcycle pages obviously). No fewer than 19 were entered in the main 2014 Exeter Trial - that's 85 of the whole entry and 12% of the cars. In Class O there was another 9 - that's another 12% of the entry or 16% of the Class O cars.

The X-90's star is in the ascendant a t last. I rest my case.