I’ve just spent the last week playing with the new Suzuki Jimny, and, I have to say, it’s brilliant off-road. Even on standard road/summer tyres, the traction is phenomenal - even when you think it won’t go any further, just hold a steady 1500/2000rpm and it’ll usually find grip by braking individual wheels.
Inside, it’s a big step forward from the previous car, with good connectivity, climate control, heated seats etc. The only thing I can’t comment upon is it’s on road performance, as I simply haven’t driven it far enough. After four days, my car has an average speed of 4mph!
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What was the average mpg? I shudder to think!
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Last time I looked, just under 14mpg. I will check again in the morning to see if it has improved...
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I'm really jealous and would love one!
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Love these! I’m delighted the my kept it close to the origional. Simple engine and running gear, well made and rugged good looks. Any previous gen examples that appear at auction always sell and for good money even if a bit tatty. Nice to hear it’s still brilliant off-road and I look foreard to hearing how it copes on the road.
Edited by SLO76 on 22/11/2018 at 20:21
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Even when old as the hills and rusted to bits (the body that is) they still fetch a few hundred quid, cos if you like offroading, what could be cheaper fun than chuck one of these light things on a trailer with a set of aggressive offroad remoulds fitted take it there have fun chuck it back on the trailer and take it home, doesn't come much cheaper than that and the little blighters often go places the bigger 4x4's fail to cope with.
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Tomorrow’s the last day of introducing it to, initially, the dealer network, and, secondly, members of the motoring press. Once I’ve got footage off the camera and onto YouTube, I’ll post videos of it’s off-road abilities.
Only real downside to its practicality is a boot that will hold maybe a dozen rolled-up umbrellas, unless you want to fold down a rear seat or two.
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The Autocar website put it up against a short wheelbase Toyota Landcruiser and it does well.
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I love it......but from what I read, demand will initially at least, far outstrip supply,,,great news if you manage to buy one.!!!
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I had an SJ413 van in the 90's as a work vehicle - brilliant tough little tike of a 4x4.
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Owned the SJ's ancestor, the LJ80. Amazing little car, excellent off road and less likely to sink into mud than its bigger brothers. All of 800cc but full 4wd system.
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Be interesting to see what this little beast is like on wet open road handling, my previous experience of such part time 4WD designs, not as light as this, has shown them to be very tail skittish and tyre choice most important.
If you keep your wits about you, in slippery on road conditions you can drive these things with the 4Wd engaged (which improves stability considerably), but it does mean the centre diff lock is engaged, so you have to think at all times, if you suddenly find some good grip on a tight corner it could break something but usually you would feel the vehicle scrabbling first (just like some £50k AWD Mercs then :-), i used to do this to exercise the system if it wasn't seeing much 4WD use.
Edited by gordonbennet on 23/11/2018 at 10:58
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Seemingly better than the old one, but cannot match any modern hatch from the last decade or two on ordinary roads:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/suzuki/suzuki-jimn.../
...but then it was specifically designed to be primarily an off-roader. Handy for those living in the more remote areas on a lower budget who need a decent 4WD car to handle local roads in poor weather and in winter, and that's small and narrow enough to pass down country lanes and farm tracks, unlike most crossovers.
Might be (as before) handy as a cheap secondary car for farmers on a budget who can't afford the mainstream expensive 4x4s where they need more than a quad bike around the farm.
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Owned the SJ's ancestor, the LJ80. Amazing little car, excellent off road and less likely to sink into mud than its bigger brothers. All of 800cc but full 4wd system.
The LJ was actually based on something called the 'HopeStar ON360',
i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--wJu_r...g
made by the 'Hope Motor Company'. It was a sales flop so Suzuki bought the design and production rights, restyling it and replacing the Mitsubishi engine with their own 360cc 2 cyl 2 stroke, then marketing it as the Suzuki LJ10 Jimny. The engine grew, first to a larger 540cc 2 stroke and ended up with the conventional 800cc 4 cyl.
For the 2nd generation, what we would think of as the SJ, the Jimny name (i think) was only used on the 'kei' car versions. Initially this had the later 540cc 2 stroke from LJ before moving to a conventional 550cc 4 cyl (which is what kei car regulations allowed at the time). This was then enlarged when the Kei car regulations were changed to allow up to 660cc, which is still the case.
Edit, The Hope Motor Company also marketed this tiny truck,
i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--td0DI...g
How cool is that?!
Edited by badbusdriver on 23/11/2018 at 15:11
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There's a fascinating Wikipedia page devoted to the Jimny in all its guises:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Jimny
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Girlfriend wants one (that'd be the previous model here, and almost certainly auto since I doubt manual is available in Taiwan)
I'd like one too, but "the voice of conscience" has been forcing me to be "the voice of reason".
I wish it (and I) would just shut TF up.
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I’m seeing quite a few around here, looks like it’s a sales success so far. I’d love one as a second car and would certainly have one if we lived in a rural location up here.
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Availability must be massively improved from launch, then. UK was only allocated 1200 for 2019, with dealers not allowed to sell their demonstrators. Take the press fleet from the initial batch, and it’s only 4/5 cars per dealer this year.
Edited by mcb100 on 16/03/2019 at 11:15
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Half of them must’ve ended up in Ayrshire then.
To be honest that was a ploy many manufacturers use, they pretend the car is only available in limited numbers to provoke potential buyers and dodge any talk of discount. In reality if someone wants one a car will be mysteriously found to suit.
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Seeing them in the flesh, despite having very similar dimensions to the old one, they look much more squat. I think it is due to the winsdscreen and side windows being shallower. Looks absolutely brilliant anyway!, coolest car currently on sale?
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Seeing them in the flesh, despite having very similar dimensions to the old one, they look much more squat. I think it is due to the winsdscreen and side windows being shallower. Looks absolutely brilliant anyway!, coolest car currently on sale?
I agree, they look great. It appeals to both male and female. It can be a city supermini or rural workhorse. It’s mechanically simple and well made yet cheap to run and not overly expensive to buy. If you wanted a small car to last twenty years this would be an ideal choice. They’ve never soiled it’s reputation by fitting the Fiat diesel used in the Swift.
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I've awaited the new Jimny for years and now it's here I have to admit to mild disappointment. Love the shape and overall appearance and the rugged Tonka Toy appeal. Some great colours too. But it seems to have such limited practicality for daily road use ... i.e. just 83 litres of boot space. Compared to the number of people who use a car for mainly road use with perhaps occasional light off-road use there can't be all that many who actually off-road on a serious basis in a brand new motor that cost £15 - £18k. But I could be wrong. So for the majority I wonder if it might be slightly too utilitarian.... the road tests and reviews suggest it's not that comfortable for anything more than fairly local use.
But perhaps even more unfortunate is the three star NCAP test result which advises that .... The passenger compartment was extensively deformed in the offset test, especially around the door-frame and the score for the driver's chest was penalised for this unstable collapse.....along with quite a few other damning findings. The results on the NCAP site don't look good.
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Yes, the small boot size surprised me too. You'd think that a 4x4 with particular off-road strength would be used either for agricultural work or country pursuits, both involving lots of stuff needing to be carried.
But there is I believe a long waiting list for the new Jimny. Perhaps it's becoming a sort of cult car or a fashion statement - hardly what it was designed for. We may see some nearly-new ones coming on to the market, where people whose only off-road driving is mounting the kerb in towns have tired quickly of its comparative lack of creature comforts.
Edited by Avant on 16/03/2019 at 23:55
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I believe there’s a 12 months lead time for a new Jimny - two main reasons, apparently. Firstly demand in Japan is huge, a Jimny without the wheel arch extensions qualifies as a Kei car. Secondly, CO2 figures for Jimny are relatively high, so Suzuki’s average CO2 figure will be pushed up if more are made available.
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In the 80’s the SJ410/413 was very popular as a fashion statement city car that never as much as seen a grassy field. The new car captures this but isn’t the same sacrifice on the road the earlier incarnations were. The old SJ410 remain the single worst car I’ve ever driven, in fact I refused to sell one to a lady looking for a first car for her daughter due to its appallingly unsafe handling. She still bought it (off someone else) but was back trying to return in after a matter of weeks.
The low NCAP is a result of the retention of a separate ladder chassis in such a small car. It’s designed to be excellent off-road and to be fair NCAP results depend very much on electronic trickery such as crash avoidance autonomous braking etc to get much beyond 3 stars, all of which will go wrong and add cost as it ages. I’d rather not have any of them beyond ABS.
Edited by SLO76 on 17/03/2019 at 09:03
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The low NCAP is a result of the retention of a separate ladder chassis in such a small car. It’s designed to be excellent off-road and to be fair NCAP results depend very much on electronic trickery such as crash avoidance autonomous braking etc to get much beyond 3 stars, all of which will go wrong and add cost as it ages. I’d rather not have any of them beyond ABS.
Could be worse, the poor old Fiat Panda's 2018 NCAP results had it score 0 stars!
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Re. NCAP - I could see why you might not want the electronic safety kit (ABS brakes and anti roll technology excepted) but to have a structure that deforms round the door pillars during testing seems so last century. The Austin/Rover Metro was bad for that sort of thing - but surely we've moved on since then?
Edited by KB. on 17/03/2019 at 16:53
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