During a recent hunting trip, I traveled on my Vitara GLX from Islamabad to Batura Glacier, Sost and back. Stayed there a few days. Ahead of Hunza, most roads had snow which at many places had become very hard (shisha) and dangerously slippery. Vitara performed well on snowy roads when put in Snow and Lock mode. As for driving on the mountain roads (without snow), Vitara did very well. I have driven many vehicles in the mountains in the past three decades and found Vitara amongst the better performers. It is not underpowered at all, as mentioned by some of the members.
Next to Hunza River in Passu
On KKH, Passu Glacier in the back ground
In the parking area of Glacier Breeze Restaurant
Hussein village, Gojal
Along Indus River, somewhere around Thakot.
On one of the kacha roads however, a very hard pointed stone pierced the left rare tyre. This can happen to any tyre, even the best of them. The tyre didn't burst but was badly damaged. I had to put a tube in it as new tires weren't available locally. When I came back to Islamabad and contacted PS for tyre replacement, I was quoted Rs 74600 for one tyre. I asked them to recheck the price as it appeared a mistake but I was confirmed that the price of one Continental tyre that comes with Vitara is 74600/-. I got the same Continental tyre (215 55 R17) in Rs 16000 from Lahore, no difference. Isn't it amazing. During the process, I checked the prices of few other spare parts as well and found most of the prices ridiculously high. So beware, if you damage anything on your Vitara, replacement will cost you a bit and whatever discount you might have got from your dealers will be paid back here.
Other than the tire episode (which can happen even with the best and brand new tyres also), it was a pleasure to drive Vitara in the mountains. A reliable performer that is very stable on the turns. Breaks are excellent and drive very comfortable. The fuel average went down in mountains but that would always be there. It gave me around 9 km / liter in the mountains which in my view is not bad considering the mountainous terrain and very low temperature. In Passu where the temperature at night went down to -20*C, Vitara was absolutely smooth in startup and there was no difference in Islamabad and Passu. Overall, I am really enjoying driving this SUV.