Also called side steps, side tubes or running boards, Nerf Bars do not just make it easier and more convenient for passengers to climb up to the truck, they also provide better protection for your paint job against swinging car doors and what not. Furthermore, the use of Nerf Bars by more truck SUV owners has become more prevalent because the market started producing bigger and taller vehicles, making Nerf Bars must-have accessories for these trucks. Finally, a lot of companies are producing varied designs, which has made people want them for the added aesthetic appeal. If you are looking for a Nerf Bar for the Suzuki Equator, here are some of the top market choices that you might want to consider:

Romik Running Board Sidesteps are made from 2.5-inch 100% stainless steel bars that are both strong and corrosion-resistant and a wide non-slip treaded surface that make climbing up quickly and safely. Installation is a breeze and do not require further modifications like drilling and cutting. For optimum reliability, you cannot argue with Romik’s track record in over 50 years of manufacturing stainless steel, but if you’re still unsure, Romik offers a lifetime warranty for the polished stainless steel and a 10-year warranty for the black powder coat finish. You can purchase these running boards at AutoAnything.

From the same manufacturer, Romik Max Bars Sidesteps provides a more stylish alternative to the usual treaded Nerf Bars that are more widely available and installed by truck and SUV owners. Romik Max Bars Sidesteps are crafted from the same superior quality materials but with a more updated style. Strong 2.5-inch burley style bars with strips of the non-slip treaded surface and stainless steel caps on polished models and plastic caps on black models serves its purpose and its inspired design will definitely get your truck noticed. Offered with the same warranty as the Romik Running Board Sidesteps, get your money’s worth with the Romik Max Bars Sidesteps. You can read more about these side steps at AutoAnything.

If you have a Suzuki Equator, choose from these two great Nerf Bars by Romik and you want cool, stylish Nerf Bars that will last for a really long time, check out both of these Nerf Bars and you will surely love it.

Suzuki offered Mark Williams of PickupTrucks.com the chance to drive a modified Suzuki Equator from Dallas to Los Angeles, a 1,500-mile route. Along the way, he will be blogging about his experiences, after which he will write a full review of the modified Suzuki Equator.

Modifications made to the 4-wheel drive Suzuki Equator he’s be road testing include larger tires, a modified suspension lift, an ARB bed-mounted collapsible tent and front and rear armor.

If you would like to read the full post at PickupTrucks, click here. Thanks to Steven Bisig for giving us permission to post his photo. More pictures can be viewed here.

If you haven’t already, please join us at the forums so we can talk about the Suzuki Equator and anything and everything that pertains to it, including performance, powertrain, towing and accessories. We ran into a few problems with the registration early on, but now it’s up and running so if you’re one of the people who tried to register and got blocked, we apologize and we hope to see you there again soon.

As for everyone else, head on over to Suzuki Equator Forums and let’s get the ball rolling! Right now, the forums are still quite empty so we encourage you to jump in and get yourself heard. Thank you very much for visiting and please check back here often!

It looks like you’ll be seeing another redesign of the Suzuki Equator once again. Along with 4 customized versions of Suzuki Kizashi sedans, the Suzuki Equator will be customized by ICON Vehicle Dynamics and showcased at the 2009 SEMA Show this coming week.

ICON Vehicle Dynamics is an off-road racing manufacturing firm that specializes in aftermarket suspension components for full-size trucks. ICON reportedly sought help from other auto suppliers based in Southern California to make the Suzuki Equator a serious off-road warrior.

ICON started off by placing its own performance coilover shocks with two-and-a-half inch piggyback shocks mounted to Total Chaos upper control arms. To enhance the performance of the Equator’s 4.0 liter V6, they added Doug Thorley long-tube headers and cat-back exhausts.

The new redesign also features TrailReady bead lock wheels around Goodyear Wrangler MT/R tires and huge Bushwacker fender flares to increase its off-road capability and an AMP Research bed extender and LightForce lights to increase its utility.

This amped up Suzuki Equator will be shown at the 2009 SEMA Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 3-6, 2009.

Even with the competitive US truck industry, Suzuki still decided to launch the Equator to cater to present Suzuki motorcycle, ATV, boat and jet ski owners because according to them, these people are 50% more likely to own a pickup than other households. To reach out to these markets, they showed 3 Suzuki Equator concepts to illustrate examples of how customers can use this truck during the 2008 Chicago Auto Show: the Quad, the Quay and the RMZ-4.

The Quad caters to their ATV owners, which they can simply throw at the back of the bed and the Quay is for their boat owners who need to tow them using the truck. The RMZ-4 is geared towards their off-road motorcycle owners and is equipped with an off-road package and an in-bed tie-down system.

However, for the Suzuki motorcycle to fit on the Equator short bed, the truck needs a little help. To deal with this problem, Suzuki offers the Bed Extender Moto Style with a unique shape to transport motorcycles and ATVs alike. It’s designed with a quick latch system so that the bed extender can quickly be detached and reattached. The Bed Extender Moto Style is just the perfect size to accommodate the rear tire of standard motorcycles.

For those people who simply want to have an extended cab capability but not necessarily for motorcycles, Suzuki offers a Sliding Bed Extender and a Fixed Bed Extender. Both these bed extenders are made from lightweight aluminum tubing and powder coated for a smooth finish. You can also adjust both of them at any location. The main difference between the two is that the Fixed Bed Extender is intended for extended cab trucks with side mounting provisions and the Sliding Bed Extender is intended for trucks that have the cargo tie-down system like the Bed Extender Moto Style.

For more information about the bed extenders as well as other Suzuki Equator accessories made by the manufacturer, click here.

The entire Suzuki Auto line including the 2009 Suzuki Equator experienced a huge drop in sales after the conclusion of the Cash for Clunkers program in August. Since the Nissan Frontier-based pickup hit the dealers late last year, sales have gone up very slowly for the Equator. Earlier, Suzuki announced that they are targeting sales of “a few hundred units per month” for the Equator and after posting only double-digit figures since they started selling in December, their April sales increased 4-fold and reached 202 units. That’s more than the 116 units they sold in the first four months.

Since then, their numbers have stayed strong and consistently increased though gradually until the height of the Cash for Clunkers program in August. After the conclusion of the government subsidy, their sales have plummeted to 72 units in September from 561 in August. Whether this is just because of low inventory or the aftermath of the Cash for Clunkers program, we’re hoping they bounce back from this slump next month.

As of September, they’ve sold a total of 2046 units of the 2009 Suzuki Equator in the United States. To boost their auto sales, Suzuki is offering a $500 price incentive to owners of Suzuki motorcycles and boat motors.

Three custom versions of the 2009 Suzuki Equator trucks were shown at the Chicago Auto Show once again after they introduced the Equator concept at the same event last year. This time though, Suzuki worked alongside three different publications that cater to truck and off-road enthusiasts to give the 2009 Suzuki Equator a couple of minor updates. They worked with 4Wheel & Off-Road, Truckin’ and Off-Road magazines. Each group had the opportunity to work with the 2009 Suzuki Equator as a blank canvas and given the free will to do several mechanical and styling upgrades.

4Wheel & Off-Road Magazine who awarded them the much coveted 4×4 of the Year after comparing the Equator with various trucks and conducting several performance tests. While 4Wheel & Off-Road found the 2008 Equator quite impressive, they decided to kick it up a notch and worked with a few industry-leading suppliers to achieve their ideal off-road truck. They gave the Equator a new Total Chaos high performance custom suspension system, new Hankook Dynapro MT tires, Allied Wheel custom aluminum beadlock wheels and reinforced its protection with a custom bumper from ShrockWorks. They also threw in MasterCraft RS Camelback seats and reupholstered the rear bench to match the seats.

Off-Road Magazine was already impressed with the 2009 Suzuki Equator because of its amazing off-road stability and power, but they wanted more height, better wheel travel and high-performance tires. Off-Road solicited the help of PRG Products and installed the Nissan Titan Swap Suspension Kit compatible with the Equator because of the shared platform. This not only gave the truck some height, but also gave it a better off-road ride with its coil-over shocks in front and piggy back reservoirs at the back. They also added a Carli Suspension sloping front bumper and brought more character to it by adding some KC HiLites carbon fiber HID lights. They also fitted the stock RMZ-4 wheels with some BF Goodrich ATKO tires.

Finally, Truckin’ Magazine decided to make their creation a lighter and lower version of the 2009 Suzuki Equator. They added a MagnaFlow performance exhaust, coupled with Stillen performance brakes. To enhance the Equator’s styling, they teamed up with L&G Enterprises who did the custom paint job using Summit Racing paint to match the Suzuki GSX-R sportbike they placed on the truck bed. They also used 22-inch Giovanna Double-G wheels fitted with Nitto low-profile 265/35R22 tires. Truckin’ Magazine then used AIM Industries’ custom lowering kit to achieve their desired look. For entertainment, they placed three Polk Audio 12-inch subwoofers, along with an additional 1,800 watts and 3 amps audio upgrades at the back to enhance the sound of its Sony DVD video system.

After showing the three publications’ individual takes on the 2009 Suzuki Equator stock, they definitely sparked some interest in their Equator truck. It’s also refreshing to see 3 distinct approaches by 3 groups of vehicle enthusiasts and the huge difference a few modifications and adding a couple of accessories can make. I’m pretty sure they picked up a few potential Suzuki Equator owners after seeing these nice trucks. I guess Suzuki hit a home run with this creative project.

Built off of the platform and powertrain of the Nissan Frontier, one might wonder why anyone would choose the Suzuki Equator over its competitors in the midsize pickup market such as the Toyota Tacoma, the Nissan Frontier and the Hummer H3. Add to that the Dodge Dakota, the Honda Ridgeline and the Ford Explorer. The market is indeed very tight. So what does the Suzuki Equator have to offer?

Introduced during the 2008 Chicago Auto Show, you can get the Suzuki Equator in both the Crew Cab and Extended Cab versions with over 10 different trims. The Suzuki Equator Crew Cab RMZ-4 also won Petersen’s 4-Wheel & Off-Road magazine’s 2009 4×4 of the Year against various trucks after they evaluated various categories such as the suspension, transmission, transfer case, style and comforts and more importantly, its off-road performance.

The Suzuki Equator is powered by Nissan’s 2.5L DOHC 4-cylinder engine that provides up to 152 horsepower and 171 ft-lbs of torque in either a 5-speed automatic or 5-speed manual transmission. On the other hand, the 4.0L V6 DOHC 4-cyliner engine based on the highly regarded VQ series V6, which both Nissan and Infiniti use on their vehicles in a 5-speed automatic comes standard in the Crew Cab and available as an upgrade to the Extended Cab version. You can achieve up to 261 horsepower and 281 ft-lbs of torque with the V6.

The 2009 Suzuki Equator, specifically the RMZ-4 Sport model offers a pretty impressive towing capacity of up to 6,500 lbs with the V6 engine. It’s also got a solid axle rear suspension, overslung leaf springs and a ladder-type frame, along with a narrow cabin to enhance its towing and off-road capabilities. For even better performance, Suzuki provides hill hold control, hill descent control and Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) as upgrades similar to what Land Rover offers. These features give it awesome off-road capabilities, but less of a car-like ride too. Its wide turning radius makes it difficult to maneuver and it rides a little rougher on streets and highways.

When it comes to safety, the 2009 Suzuki Equator doesn’t disappoint. They got pretty decent ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA for both versions. The Suzuki Equator Extended Cab got fours and fives for frontal protection while the Suzuki Equator Crew Cab received all fours. Their rollover ratings were not as successful though as their 2WDs only got three stars and their 4WDs got a more respectable rating of four stars. They also received mixed reviews from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety or IIHS with a top “good” rating for frontal offset crash rating and a disappointing “poor” rating for rear crash protection ratings. In addition, while both the NHTSA and the IIHS have not tested the Suzuki Equator’s side impact protection, it comes with front seat-mounted side-impact supplemental airbags, roof-mounted curtain side-impact and rollover supplemental as a standard feature.

As far as cargo is concerned, the 2009 Suzuki Equator is equipped with Nissan’s Utili-track bedrail system and spray-on bed liner. It’s also got an innovative cargo bed tie-down system with removable utility cleats that attach into channels in the bed floor to secure cargo properly. This application, along with various optional specialized bed accessories gives the Suzuki Equator both flexibility and cargo utility.

If you’re thinking why bother buying the Suzuki when you can have the truck it was based from, the Suzuki Equator actually has quite a few significant advantages over the Nissan Frontier. For one, it comes with a 7-year, 100,000-mile fully-transferable, zero-deductible powertrain warranty, which Suzuki calls “America’s #1 Warranty”. A lot of people also favor the Suzuki Equator’s styling over the Frontier, plus you get more options in terms of colors and wheels to complete its rugged appearance.

To sum up, the 2009 Suzuki Equator may not be the best in the market today, but it actually holds up amazingly well against its competitors because of its cargo versatility, off-road performance and flexible trim options. While it may be priced a little over the Nissan Frontier after which it was based on, the Suzuki Equator still offers a great value for your money especially with its 100,000-mile/7-year limited warranty.