The Suzuki Jimny represents the continuation of a little 4x4 legend that's been punching above its weight for five decades.
It’s not very spacious, not particularly comfortable, but surprisingly comes with most modern features you expect in a new car. It even packs decent safety features, but does fall short with a three-star ANCAP safety rating. This rugged little charmer trades on its cuteness and heritage, though, and it epitomises honest, simple motoring at a good price. And it’s surprisingly capable off road. Rebuilt from the ground up in 2019, it offers just one powertrain; Suzuki’s clever 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol backed by a five-speed manual or four-speed auto.
Current prices range from $30,490 for the Jimny Gl Lite (Qld) to $38,490 for the Jimny Xl.
The Suzuki Jimny is available in white as standard, or 'Jungle Green', which is a premium/metallic paint and comes at an additional cost of $745. Other colours include 'Kinetic Yellow', 'Chiffon Ivory', 'Sizzling Red', 'Bluish Black Pearl', 'Brisk Blue Metallic', 'Granite Grey', 'Medium Grey' and 'Superior White'. Two-tone options include 'Kinetic Yellow' and 'Bluish Black Pearl'.
At a minimum, standard features for the Suzuki Jimny include a 7.0-inch multimedia touchscreen, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, updated auto emergency braking (AEB) with 'Dual Sensor Brake Support II' so the system now complies with the mandatory ADR 98/00 regulation, as well as the inclusion of lane departure prevention, adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors and traffic sign recognition.
Usual Jimny gear includes 15-inch steel wheels, halogen headlights, and a rear-view camera.
At a minimum, the Suzuki Jimny has cloth seats and expanses of durable plastic elsewhere.
The line-up's interior is plain and practical, with functionality highest on the agenda, rather than any attempt at a semblance of plushness.
The entry-level Lite now has a new 7.0-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, while the rest have a 9.0-inch touchscreen.
There’s also now a 4.2-inch digital driver display between the analogue dials on the base-spec Jimny.
There is only one engine offered in the Suzuki Jimny line-up – a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine (producing 75kW at 6000rpm and 130Nm at 4000rpm) – but you may choose to match that to a four-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual transmission.
It has a part-time four-wheel-drive system with high- and low-range, and off-road traction control.
The backlog of orders for the retro little Suzuki Jimny means that buyers need to be patient. At the start of this year, Carsguide was told that the average waiting time between purchase and delivery in Australia was between six and eight months. While ever Suzuki is experiencing demand like that, you wouldn’t expect any rush to expand the range.
That said, reports have emerged that Suzuki has, indeed, green-lighted a five-door Jimny which would have those two extra doors as well as the possibility of a turbocharged engine and even a mild-hybrid driveline (mainly to suit European tastes). The five-door concept is said to be 300mm longer and will probably weigh a little more as well.
At this stage, rumours suggest the five-door wouldn’t be in production until 2023 at the very earliest, but given Australia’s demand for the two-door version, you’d expect Suzuki to give serious consideration to sending the five-door Down Under.
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As much as I don't like to recommend that you don't service your car I think in this case you could extend the time between services, but don't let it go beyond 12 months.
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Because of the long time that has passed since the crash it will be very hard to connect the problems you are having to the prang. Crank angle sensors often fail on all makes and models, I wouldn't attribute that to the crash, and the head and head gasket problems you have had are unlikely to be related either. The second instance of head cracking and the head gasket failure are more likely to be the result of poor repairs to the head when it first cracked.
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The three-door and five-door versions of the Suzuki Jimny are four-seater wagons.
Seats are cloth and comfortable.
The front seats are four-way manually adjustable and the rear seat is a recline/folding arrangement.
At a minimum the three-door Suzuki Jimny has 85L of rear cargo space (with the second-row seats in use) and 377L of cargo space with the second-row seats stowed away.
The five-door Jimny has 211L of rear cargo space (with the second-row seats in use) and 1113L of cargo space with the second-row seats stowed away.
The Suzuki Jimny is claimed to do the 0-100km/h sprint in 12-13 seconds.
The Suzuki Jimny has official fuel consumption of 6.4L/100km (on a combined cycle).
The Jimny has a 40L fuel tank so, going by that official fuel-use figure, a full tank should give you a driving range of about 625km.