Wait no more: Five-door Suzuki Jimny officially revealed

UPDATE: Suzuki Auto South Africa has confirmed the five-door Jimny for the domestic market later this year, though and exact date hasn’t been announced yet.

The announcement made three years ago, Suzuki has officially revealed the highly awaited five-door Jimny at the Delhi Auto Expo in India.

Set to go on-sale in May with order books now open, the extended wheelbase Jimny, which leaked online towards the end of last year undergoing testing, keeps hold of its ladder-frame chassis without any input from Daihatsu has previously alleged, but with significant alternations to the its dimensions.

Space-max Jimny

At 3 985 mm in overall length, the five-door Jimny is a whopping 360 mm longer than the standard three-door, with its wheelbase increasing 340 mm to 2 590 mm and its height 50 mm to 1 670 mm. Unchanged though is the claimed width at 1 645 mm.

ALSO READ: Suzuki gives five-door Jimny production in India the go-ahead

While it retains the three-door’s 210 mm of ground clearance, the long wheelbase Jimny’s breakover and departure angles have changed from 28-degrees and 49-degrees respectively, to 24-degrees and 50-degrees with the approach dropping from 37-degrees to 36-degrees.

New infotainment systems

Besides its newfound length, the only other change is inside where the infotainment system has changed to the new seven-inch unit used on the Baleno, with the bigger nine-inch display featuring on higher-end trim levels.

The rest of the interior continues without change, although an uprated Arkamys sound system complete with what the brand calls surround sense audio has been confirmed for flagship derivatives.

Mild-hybrid in place of turbo

Up front, reports of the Jimny possibly receiving the acclaimed 1.0-litre turbocharged Boosterjet engine has not materialised as it will continue to be powered by the normally aspirated 1.5-litre petrol engine, albeit now the newer K15C unit with standard mild-hybrid assistance.

Outputs are unchanged from the older K15B unit though at 75kW/130Nm with the same applying to the choice of transmissions, namely a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic.

As with the three-door Jimny, a low range transfer is standard along with a limited slip differential, Hill Start Assist and Hill Descent Control.

In India, a choice of six colours have been selected; Granite Grey, Bluish Black, Nexa Blue, Sizzling Red and Pearl Arctic White, as well as Kinetic Yellow that comes with a contrasting black roof at standard.

Will it come to South Africa?

As mentioned, order books in India have already opened and while pricing wasn’t disclosed, a significant premium over the three-door is being expected.

Although not confirmed for South Africa at present, an announcement confirming the five-door Jimny is expected soon after the Hamamatsu’s Brand Marketing Manager for South Africa, Brendon Carpenter, remarked to The Citizen on the side-lines of the updated Swift’s launch two years ago, “we know that the Jimny is a very favourable model in South Africa so if (the long wheelbase) is made available, we will definitely be looking into it”.

Additional information and images from cartorq.com and team-bhp.com.