The Suzuki Jimny is the most hard-core cheap off-roader money can buy. But what's it like as an urban fun machine?
Fun factor. That’s not usually much of a priority when shopping for a compact daily runabout. That is, unless the fringe-dwelling Suzuki Jimny is even on the edge of your ownership radar. Of course, fun is subjective: one’s fun of downhill mountain biking is another person’s fun of couch slouching with old TV series reruns. The Jimny’s skewed more towards the former types, out for a bit of rough-and-tumble enjoyment, the more grit and less comfort concessions the better.
Imagine marketing a vehicle with three-doors, a four-speed auto and a three-star NCAP crash rating. But the Jimny is a unique little jigger. Some say safety sells, but Jimny’s rating is proving no hindrance to sales here. Suzuki can’t spit them out fast enough, with every example they can make having been sold. Place your order now and it’ll likely be Christmas before it’ll turn up. It’s been 20 years since Suzuki did a new one of these and many things remain true to the original.
Despite a rapidly urbanizing world, the Jimny remains an SUV in the traditional sense. Everything is new, but the song remains the same. It rides on a full chassis with solid axles, coils and control arms at both ends. Steadying the ship is a sway bar up front and a panhard rod on the rear. It has superb off road credentials with approach and departure angles of 37 and 49 degrees, respectively, the ramp over angle is listed at 28 degrees, and there’s ground clearance of 210mm. The Suzuki Jimny is still a wee thing, and is now actually 30mm shorter than the old one.
It’s a machine as quirky as it looks, one that largely thumbs its bluff nose at sensibility and demand that in the experience for the fun of it.Â
Just look at it. If its boxy, caricaturist throwback design doesn’t give you split-melon grin, you might as well wipe the Jimny off your shopping list from the get-go. The Jimny’s petite dimensions and accompanying lightness (just under 1100kg) are a bonanza off-road. With minimal overhangs, it can bump up and over decent obstacles and apart from the deep ruts, it has plenty of clearance too. There’s grand articulation considering its short wheelbase and it takes bumpy paths in its capable stride. Its ability to turn around in tight spaces is handy, and the driveline doesn’t bind up nastily on full lock when in 4H mode.
Lean out the massive windows and you can see exactly where the wheels are heading, making it easy to place. It chews up gravel roads, the suspenders smoothing ruts and the stability control not too fussed over the loose surface. Until you try to ‘hang it out’ that is, when it’s on the case quickly. Hoons won’t like that you can’t fully disable the electrics either, reactivating above 40km/h, but that’s today’s Health and Safety-obsessed world, we guess. So does such a utilitarian approach still have merit in today’s automotive landscape?
While there’s more plastic in the interior than in your tupperware drawer, it suits the Jimny’s utilitarian character. It’s screwed together tightly and there are no sharp edges about. After bumping it around for a few hours in the rough, the cabin remained squeak free. Just the basics of modern motoring are present; remote locking but no smart key, and Suzuki’s simple but easy to use sat nav infotainment with smartphone hook up. It’s surprisingly roomy and airy up front, a little narrow in width but ample legroom and huge headroom. Such an expanse of glass you often feel like you’re driving a fishbowl. Outward visibility is excellent (bar the spare wheel blind spot) aided by the high seat positioning, with no height adjustment, which leaves the driver’s windowsill as a handy surrogate armrest. There’s no wheel reach adjustment either, leaving the driving position a little compromised as taller drivers might need to sit more upright than is ideally comfortable.
It’d be fair to say there are hints of Land Rover Defender, Jeep Wrangler and Mercedes G-Class in the design, but despite its rudimentary ladder-frame chassis, it’s better to drive and more comfortable than before.Â
The sole 1.5-liter naturally aspirated petrol produces 100hp and 130Nm of torque.
Given its small size, you’d expect the Suzuki Jimny to be well suited to town driving. However, the steering is slow and vague, which makes parking and low-speed maneuvers quite tricky; if you don’t wind the lock off quickly, you’ll find yourself on the wrong side of the road.
Built to cope with some of the most challenging off-road routes, deepest streams and highest mountains, the new Suzuki Jimny simply can’t match the best crossovers for on-road handling. All versions come with ALLGRIP Pro all-wheel drive as standard, with three settings: 2H, 4H and 4L. In normal driving, the Jimny is driven via the rear wheels only but, in case you were wondering, this is no sports car. While it feels much more secure than the old Jimny, it still rolls through the corners, shimmying over rough tarmac and potholes.
Due to the car’s low kerbweight, it feels sprightly enough. There are two gearbox options: a five-speed manual and a four-speed auto. We’ve only tried the automatic model for the time being, and while it is responsive enough in the lower gears, the short fourth cog means it is noisy at motorway speeds. A sixth gear would improve things in this regard.
Space in the back of the latest Suzuki Jimny is acceptable, but the boot is absolutely tiny
The Suzuki Jimny’s tiny footprint means it isn’t the most practical car. There’s enough room inside for four passengers to sit relatively comfortably – albeit without any luggage whatsoever. The boot is positively minuscule, in fact - even with the seats lowered. Still, if your idea of practicality is a small SUV that can go almost anywhere, the Jimny could be the car for you. At less than 3.5m-long, the latest Suzuki Jimny is shorter than all its main rivals. It’s 30mm shorter than the car it replaces, in fact, making it easy to park and maneuver; or at least, it would be if the steering wasn’t so slow to react.
By providing adequate rear-seat space, Suzuki has sacrificed the Jimny’s boot to a great extent. With just 85 liters on offer with the rear seats in place, there’s more luggage space in a Mazda MX-5. You’ll find enough room for a laptop bag or soft rucksack, but carrying anything more requires you to fold the two back seats. You can’t even blame a bulky spare wheel, as that’s fitted to the back door like before.
Sure it’s a bit of a pain to drive on tarmac- with not much width, hence the chaffing on my elbow. Steering is appalling when you’re maneuvering in tight spaces. But having said all that, all these little quirks made me see how loveable the Suzuki Jimny can be. It has a unique personality, call it a soul even. My team and I spent 3 days with the Suzuki Jimny and it only took us less than a day to discover all it’s flaws, but it took us a third of that time to love it and grew an attachment to the car. We’ve taken the Jimny to places we never knew it could go. From the busy streets of Metro Manila, to the breath-taking mountain passes of Magallanes. In every possible terrain we could ever find- or could not find, the little mean green machine just makes a path of it’s own. Without a doubt, Suzuki nailed it with this fourth-gen model; it is bags of fun to drive whether you are cruising around town or heading out on your next all-wheel drive adventure. Prices start at Php 1,055,000 for the Jimny GL (Monotone) 5-speed M/T. The top-spec variant Jimny GLX (2 Tone) starts at Php 1,175,000. I recommend it- but the only issue you might face is actually getting your hands on one of these. Global demand is so high right now that Suzuki can’t make them fast enough. Be patient, it will be worth the wait.
