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"Don&amp;#039;t feel badly if the Suzuki Equator didn&amp;#039;t immediately cross your mental meridian. A lightly reconfigured Nissan Frontier, the Equator circumnavigates Suzuki&amp;#039;s motorcycle and ATV customers&amp;#039; one-stop-shopping requirements\u2014and quite nicely, we might add.   What those Suzuki customers know is the Japanese transportation company enjoys an all-terrain roster that few manufacturers can match. To augment this strength, Suzuki teamed with off-road aftermarket specialist ARB to dress this Equator 4-door demonstrator for enhanced on- and off-road prowess, turning us loose for a quick romp on the highway and in the Arizona and California dirt.   Starting with a 2009 4x4, 4.0-liter V-6 and automatic transmission model\u2014the Equator is unchanged for 2010 we&amp;#039;re told by both Suzuki and geologists\u2014ARB fitted their bumpers and fold-out tent, along with a select group of functional accessories from ARB-associated companies.   Most obvious are the ARB bumpers front and rear. While they are designed to accept Warn winches, none were fitted in keeping with the concept&amp;#039;s informal, dual-purpose nature. If cable capabilities are desired, the ARB bumpers are designed to accept Warn winches as bolt-ons, so a fitment is certainly not difficult. A class III receiver hitch is integral with the rear bumper.   The ARB bumpers provide substantially increased protection against ground contact\u2014while still being engineered to fold as necessary to retain the Equator&amp;#039;s crumple zones and airbag effectiveness. Sweeping the brush back from the Equator&amp;#039;s ample wheel flares is accomplished via wraparound tubular side rails that travel far enough around the Equator to help form running boards. In back, the brush guards start just in front of the rear flares where they provide more protection from rocks and embankments. Attached to both the stout bumpers at one end and the frame at the other, the ARB jungle gym also gives a &amp;quot;we&amp;#039;re on safari&amp;quot; look that&amp;#039;ll soon have you wearing khaki shirts with epaulets.   Interestingly, ARB says that exotic look is much more common outside of the U.S. where tube fender guards are the norm.   Yielding a 1.75-in. lift, the ARB Old Man Emu suspension is a bolt-on affair of springs, shocks and struts. By offering a range of standard and heavy-duty suspension tunes, Old Man Emu strives to tailor each vehicle with the best compromise between on-pavement control and off-road suspension travel possible. Suzuki set our test Equator up with the appropriate heavy-duty shock valving to compensate for the weightier ARB bumpers and fold-out, roof-top tent.   On pavement our test Equator retained normal road manners, giving up nearly nothing in precision or ride. The larger Walker Evans wheels with their faux bead locks and 265/70R-17 BFG All-Terrain LT tires did lightly tamper with acceleration and braking, but not enough to bother. Suspension firmness was worth a quick mental notation, but it certainly was far from punishing or even jiggly, and once past the first drive you won&amp;#039;t think of it again.   Making more difference than anything was the ARB &amp;quot;rooftop&amp;quot; tent on the Thule telescoping rack above the bed. Its heft can be sensed, but nothing like towing a trailer, which is what the tent replaces. Unfortunately, we didn&amp;#039;t have the Equator long enough to raise the aluminum Thule rack to the highest of its five positions, flip open the tent and climb up its ladder for a snooze on its 2.5-in. thick foam padding. But it&amp;#039;s no contest we&amp;#039;d like it better than pitching the ol&amp;#039; pup\u2014or sleeping down with the snakes.   Off-road, the Equator demonstrator maintained a well-damped ride that kept us in a sporty frame of mind on smooth fire roads, and definitely helped tame the rougher bits. Stiffer and shorter-traveled than the pogo-stick deflections of a dedicated off-road &amp;quot;pre-runner&amp;quot; suspension, the Old Man Emu suspenders give a useful increase in dirt suspension utility, exhibiting more compliance over modest bumps. Combined with the taller tires, this Equator has the ground clearance to ford shallow streams should the spirit move you.   At night we enjoyed the extra, well-aimed lumens from a pair of IPF Xtreme Sport Series auxiliary lights. These were separately switched, but wired to operate when the headlights were in the high beam position for dead-simple on-off operation. They provided a nice combination of distant and mid-range light augmentation.   All said, the Equator demonstrator was much more capable off-road while keeping good on-pavement hustle\u2014a great dual-sport combination. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/first-drives/reviews/a15795/2010-suzuki-equator/>