I’ve done long trips and short trips in Jimnys and also a good deal of serious 4x4ing, and silenced many big mouths with their big 4×4 bakkies.
So I’m more than qualified to review the latest generation of this legendary little vehicle.
Retro styling
The new boxy look works! I like it and so do all the other old Jimny owners I’ve spoken to.
The square dimensions give the little 4×4 a more robust look which reminds of an old Defender or a G-Wagon. However, looking at the new car you will notice that the roof rails are gone.
Suzuki tells me the new Jimny no longer comes with roof rails, and that’s strange because 99% of the previous generation models you see on the road have crossbars fitted to the roof rails or a roof rack of some sorts.
I’m one of them and the extra load area comes in very handy. Not having roof rails will make it more difficult and costly to fit decent attachments on top in order to create the much needed extra loading space.
And with the new Jimny parked next to the old one, you will also notice that Suzuki went for skinnier tyres; from 205s to 195s, the slightly fatter wheels looking better on the old model.
Rearranged interior
The new interior is very modern with a big touch screen display dominating the dash and a handsome leather wrapped steering wheel complete with audio controls and so on.
The centre console is a bit busy, but not in a confusing way and the co-driver gets a handy panic handle atop the glove box to hold on to when the going gets bouncy.
Inside, Suzuki went retro again, so to speak, doing away with the 4×4 buttons in the dash and opting for a second, smaller gear lever operating the transfer case.
This small, extra gear stick looks cool, but does it work as well as the buttons?
There’s more legroom for the driver and back seat passengers, but seeing that the new Jimny’s dimensions are almost exactly the same as those of the old one, where did they get the extra legroom from?
They got it from the boot! The old Jimny had a very small boot but it could hold a row of shopping bags or even a 10kg bag of dog food.
That space is no more, and to load so much as a 5-litre tub of ice cream into the back of the new Jimny, you will have to drop the seats forward.
With that said, the rear seats now fold completely flat and the big armrests at the back have been dumped to open up a large square loading bay which will quite easily swallow something the size of a washing machine.
New 1.5-litre engine
When Suzuki revealed that the new Jimny will get a bigger 1.5-litre engine, the millions of fans across the world jumped with joy.
While the old 1.3-litre produced 63kW and 110Nm, the new car now boasts 75kW and 130Nm.
Like the old model, highway cruising is still not the Jimny’s strong point and long-distance trips require the patience of a saint, while overtaking around 120km/h takes careful planning with a dash of divine intervention. The extra power is most noticeable in second and third gear, but the lower gears are where you need power when you go off-roading, so I’m happy.
The new Jimny is also happy off road because it now boasts an even better power to weight ratio, enabling it to go where much larger and more powerful 4x4s cannot.
I tested the new small gear lever thoroughly and came to the conclusion that while it looks cool, it doesn’t work as well as the buttons.
Shifting from 2H to 4H, which almost always happens on the go, is now not as easy because if you don’t find that exact, small gap where the lever has to go in, it just doesn’t engage and then you have to fight with it a bit. That’s how I remember those old transfer gearbox shifters…
Verdict
I love the new Jimny’s boxy look and the modern interior.
I’m also happy that Suzuki resisted from taking the ‘soft’ route and kept the 4×4 system and suspension as it was; two solid axles and a transfer case with low range.
The new traction control system makes up for the lack of a differential lock and improves off-road capability greatly, especially on hard, uneven terrain.
What I don’t like is the narrower tyres and the fact that there’s no boot, and I missed the buttons of the old model for engaging 4×4.
With all that said, yes, I will buy another Jimny because it’s still the most fun you can have in a 4×4.
