PROJECT SUPER EQUATOR - BUILDING A WINNING A WINNING TRAIL TRUCK

摘要

IT'S NO SECRET THAT WE LIKE THE Suzuki Equator. After all, it just won the 2009 4x4 of the Year (Feb. '09). You're probably still scratching your head and wondering how this mild-mannered, midsized truck bested the competition. We're still a little amazed ourselves. The turning point in the con-test was watching Editor-in-Chief Rick Pewe fly up a challenging hillclimb in the Fquntor with three other editors along for the ride. The little truck didn't spin a tirr on its way to the top. The Equator is comfortable on the highway and has good payload and towing capacity, and the 4.0L with Z61 hp and Z81 lb-ft of torque has plenty of power and gets up and goes when asked. We relish the fact that we can stuff an amazing amount of junk into the four-door crew cab and fill the longbed with a pile of 4×4 parts. As even-keeled as this truck is in factory form, we need to keep in step with the tradition of Petersen's 4-Wheel & Off-Road and take a perfectly good truck and church it up.