Suzuki Vitara vs Suzuki Jimny

What's the difference?

The Vitara still looks great, offers impressive real-world fuel economy, possesses a sporty chassis bringing sharp steering and involving handling and roadholding characteristics, and is expertly packaged. No wonder it has remained a consistently strong seller for Suzuki.

But its lack of driver-assist safety equipment, lethargic low-rev performance and stiff, loud ride speak of a small SUV of another era. In too many key areas, it’s rapidly dating and falling behind most rivals nowadays, and can no longer rely on low pricing anymore now that the cheapest base auto is $27K plus ORC.

Still, if you don’t care about the lack of AEB… or a digital speedo, digital radio, rear cupholders or highway quietness, then there’s still a fair bit of fight left in the plucky little Vitara.

Suzuki’s been building them for over 33 years now and such experience shows.

The Suzuki Jimny XL is still very much a Jimny, just stretched.

It’s pretty ordinary on-road, it’s on the wrong side of small – especially in terms of its cargo-carrying ability – and it’s still an exercise in driver-adaptability because it’s so basic, bouncy and requires so much effort to keep it driving in a straight line. 

But if you’re willing to fully embrace the fun and cop a few of those compromises along the way, you won’t be disappointed. 

Remember that first Vitara of 1988? The chief designer of today’s LY series, Takehito Arai, told us back in 2015 that its squareness and smaller size were inspirational in shaping the current model.

To that end, he went for a muscular look, with off-roader detailing like the five-slot grille, strong shoulder line, clamshell bonnet, blistered rear mudguards and higher-than-class-average ground clearance (of 185mm), evoking other Suzuki 4x4s like the Jimny and Sierra.

Nearly six years on, the design has stood the test of time surprisingly well, with the Suzuki still looking handsome and contemporary – no doubt helped out by the big standard wheels that fill in those arches nicely, along with the vibrant colour options (like our rich beige test example) and two-tone paint application.

The 2019 facelift, by the way, ushered in changes to the toothy grille, bumper, tail-lights lenses (now LEDs), alloy wheels, interior trim and instrumentation (which went more colourful), along with higher-quality-feel interior trim and materials.

The standard Suzuki Jimny is 3965mm long, 1645mm wide, 1725mm high and has a kerb weight of 1185kg.

The Jimny XL is 340mm longer than the three-door Jimny (so it’s 3985mm from end to end if you need help with your maths) and its wheelbase is 2590mm (up from 2250mm), but it remains the same width and height, 1645mm and 1720mm, respectively, as the three-door Jimny.

In terms of appearance, it looks like what it is: a stretched and heavier Jimny with a couple of extra doors. It retains that distinctive retro-cool boxy shape of its smaller stablemate.

The interior is seemingly a homage to the basic but functional cabins of 4WDs of yesteryear.

There's still plenty to appreciate the instant you slide yourself on to those lofty cushions.

The Vitara is packaged to transport a smaller family (and include much of their clobber) with ease, from the moment the big doors open. An excellent driving position that inspires confidence, heaps of storage in the doors and centre console, good vision and a light and airy ambience are further drawcards.

And while the seats may seem a bit wide and flat to begin with, they're amply supportive over an extended time in them, with a softness to their shape and texture that makes them quite cosy. No lumbar support for the driver is disappointing, though.

Still, it’s easy to see why the Suzuki remains such a consistent seller after all these years without change.

In 2021, the dash has held up pretty well, mainly due to clear instrument dials and Suzuki’s ever-present 7.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system that is ridiculously easy to operate. Never mind the hard and cheap-looking lower-lying plastics, the cabin is beautifully screwed together as well. And it's likely to stay that way for a very long time.

But there are annoyances, beginning with the lack of digital speedometer, especially now that the cheapest Vitara is a near-$30K proposition; for the same reason we’d have hoped for a DAB+ digital radio, auto lights on, rear-seat cupholders and more than just one USB port (located under the climate control system).

Getting in and out of the rear seat is simple, aided by wide doors and lofty seating, again on flat but ultimately comfortable cushions and backrest, though they neither slide or recline as with some other small SUVs. There's heaps of headroom; the raised rear cushion promotes a natural posture which is good for longer journeys, and enough room for three smaller adults to squeeze in. Larger feet can be tucked underneath the front seats too.

However, besides there being no device-charging facilities, you’ll also notice the lack of reading lights, rear air vents (though the front outlets' outputs do reach back OK) and beverage storage. At least the doors have space for a one-litre bottle and the overhead grab handles include coat hooks. And, like the front, it's all light and airy, with good sight lines for bored back-seat riders to stare out from.

Beyond that, the boot is fairly big and square, with a bi-level floor that’s good for hiding smaller items, while there are hooks, a light and 120V outlet for rear-seat occupants to snake some hapless charger cord to.

Cargo capacity is rated at 375 litres – raising to 710L with the 60/40 rear backrests lowered. It’s nice to see a good old-fashioned luggage board instead of the flimsy mesh items some rivals foist upon us nowadays.

All in all, a big, spacious and inviting interior that’s big on practicality and ease, but also showing its age in a few places.

The Jimny interior is basic but comfortable, erring on the side of practical rather than anything that could ever be accused of being posh. And that spartan approach gels with the Jimny’s off-road orientation.

The cabin of the XL is the same as the smaller Jimny’s – cloth seats, hard, durable plastics – and it all feels as if you could hose it out if you got the urge, although I wouldn’t recommend that, of course.

Everything, including the controls, is really practical. The buttons and dials are big so you can find them and operate them even during particularly bouncy 4WDing.

The cabin is simply a very usable and user-friendly space. 

One of the more important things to note in the XL is the fact that it is longer. There is a bit more room inside the cabin, in general, with plenty of head, shoulder and legroom in the two-seater rear pew.

In other good news, you get a tiny bit more space in the rear cargo area than you would in the three-door Jimny. Not a whole lot, but enough to give you some more flexibility in terms of what, and how much, you can pack back there.

With the second-row seats in use, boot space is listed as 211L. With the second row stowed away, there’s a claimed 332L of cargo space.

The Suzuki Jimny is a four-seater wagon with a price-tag of $34,990, excluding on-road costs.

It’s available with a five-speed manual gearbox or four-speed auto transmission. We have the manual.

Standard equipment includes a 9.0-inch (up from 7.0 inch) touchscreen multimedia system (with wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto), AEB, adaptive cruise control (on auto variants), rear parking sensors, a rear-view camera, LED headlights and 15-inch alloys.

Exterior paint options include 'Arctic White Pearl', 'Chiffon Ivory Metallic' (plus optional Black Pearl roof), 'Bluish Black Pearl', 'Granite Grey Metallic', 'Sizzling Red Metallic' (plus optional Black Pearl roof), and 'Jungle Green'.

In some markets, the Vitara is offered with Suzuki’s punchy little 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine, as well as the Turbo’s 1.4-litre four-pot turbo option as seen here, but the bulk of Australian sales are powered by a 1586cc 1.6-litre twin-cam 16-valve four-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine, known as the M16A.

A peaky unit, it produces maximum power of 86kW at 6000rpm and 156Nm of torque at 4400rpm. Despite modest outputs, a pleasingly low kerb weight of just 1120kg ensures that the Vitara has a favourable power-to-weight ratio, of 76.8kW/tonne.

Drive is transmitted to the front wheels via a six-speed torque converter automatic transmission, complete with a big pair of paddle shifters for some manual manipulation. Or you can just buy the superior six-speed manual and enjoy a substantially more involving drive.

The five-door Jimny has the same 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine as the three-door – and that produces 75kW at 6000rpm and 130Nm at 4000rpm.

The Jimny punts along simply because it is so small and light, even in XL form, but the engine is a little bit wheezy for this bigger Jimny.

It has a part-time four-wheel drive system with high- and low-range and off-road traction control.

That flyweight mass also pays dividends with fuel economy.

Tuned to run on either 91 RON standard unleaded petrol or a 94 RON E10 ethanol-petrol combo, the Vitara returned an efficient 7.6 litres per 100km over our 521km drive in both inner-city traffic and on a highway jaunt.

While that’s still some way off the official combined average of 6.2L/100km (urban: 7.9 and extra urban: 5.2), it still shows Suzuki’s expertise at such economy engines. We regularly visited the Vitara tachometer’s red line – it’s in the nature of this engine to be revved hard and fast – and never really attempted any economy driving out of it.

The published average figure, by the way, translates to a carbon-dioxide emissions rating of 142 grams per kilometre.

Fitted with a 47-litre tank, nearly 760km between refills is possible.

The Suzuki Jimny has an official combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 6.4L/100km.

I recorded 11.6L/100km on this test which seems a bit steep but, as always, I did a lot of high- and low-range 4WDing and, as mentioned earlier, I did have to sink the right boot in quite often to maintain momentum to get through the more challenging sections of terrain.

The five-door Jimny has a 40L fuel tank, so, going by my fuel figures, a full tank should give you a driving range of about 345km.

However, if you use the official fuel figures in your calculation, a full tank should give you a driving range of about 625km.

For its role shifting a small and light SUV around town, the 86kW/156Nm 1.6-litre twin-cam 16-valve four-cylinder petrol engine provides sufficient if unexciting performance, and a big part of that is the fast-acting and responsive six-speed torque-converter automatic gearbox.

While the Vitara will never be victorious in the traffic lights grand prix, there’s a substantial amount of flexibility within the engine’s rev range, with maximum power coming in at just 200rpm shy of the 6200rpm red line. So, you need to really prod that pedal down if extra muscle is required, and with that there’s quite a lot of mechanical noise coming through, but it isn’t coarse.

Using the big and well-placed paddle shifters helps to draw out a few extra morsels of oomph, but the fact is, compared to the CX-3’s 2.0-litre or HR-V’s 1.8-litre engines, the Suzuki’s has to work hard – and for longer – to cover the same ground at anywhere near approaching the same time. The aforementioned rivals' effortless, torquey response just isn't available to be enjoyed. For that, you'll need the terrifically muscular Turbo.

That’s a pity really, because the Vitara’s chassis is one of the more involving and fun ones in the small SUV class.

Thanks to a light helm, tight turning circle, rear camera, large exterior mirrors and an appreciable amount of all-round vision afforded by the large glass areas, nipping in and out of small traffic gaps or slotting into tight parking spots just isn't an issue in the Suzuki. It feels bred for the urban jungle.

Equally, the Vitara's fast and eager steering provides quick and crisp handling out on the open road as well, with the front end feeling light and agile yet nicely balanced as well. Even through ragged turns, the Suzuki remains on track. Over gravel surfaces it can be driven with reassurance that the traction and stability controls are always there to reel any slides in. It’s very easy and rewarding to punt the Vitara along at speed and with lots of confidence.

But the ride is a little firm in some places, there’s far too much road and tyre noise intrusion and – after a while – the engine’s constant revvy nature becomes a little tiresome.

Note that the fact that Suzuki did not bother engineering this powertrain to take AEB is reason to believe that there probably isn’t much life left for the M16A engine beyond this generation of Vitara.

The Jimny XL, though longer, and heavier than the three-door Jimny, is still so small, light and nimble that those characteristics are a help and a hindrance.

A help because the XL is easy to steer anywhere – city streets, shopping centre car parks and suburbia. And more importantly, it’s one of the easiest 4WDs to manoeuvre into a parking spot.

A hindrance because it is so small and light that it takes countless minor steering corrections while driving to keep the XL steering in a straight line. And that can be very tiring. 

It’s also easily unsettled by irregular surfaces, strong wind and large passing trucks.

You’d think because the XL is 90kg heavier than the three-door Jimny it wouldn’t exhibit those characteristics quite so much, but while it’s marginally better at managing all of those challenges than the standard Jimny, it’s by small increments.

The Jimny XL feels underpowered and vulnerable, especially on highways. Hit 100km/h or so and it feels like the Zook shouldn’t be pushed any harder.

Ride is firm and jittery via a light narrow body on a ladder-frame chassis and coil springs.

However, the Jimny is fun and highly manoeuvrable off-road. Not because of any mechanical or off-road traction control systems, but because it's so small and light.

The Jimny has part-time 4WD (with high- and low-range 4WD) and an 'AllGrip Pro' system of driver-assist tech that includes hill descent control, hill hold assist and more – all adequate in terms of performance.

This is a real 4WD with a full ladder-frame chassis and rigid axles front and rear. It exists in a vehicular realm occupied by other purpose-built 4WDs such as the Ford Ranger Raptor, Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series and Land Rover Defender.

And because of its size, offering up plenty of visibility and with a wheel at each corner, the Jimny is, as mentioned, very easy to steer through rough terrain, because the driver knows exactly where the tyres are at any time.

The Jimny XL has decent off-road angles. Approach is listed as 36 degrees, departure is 47, ramp-over is 24, but this 4WD is not as naturally suited to off-roading as the three-door.

Ground clearance is 211mm and wading depth is unlisted but likely around 300mm.

In 4WD 'High' or 'Low', the Jimny simply keeps on trucking through rough terrain. It doesn't have a diff lock, but because it's so small and light it still manages quite nicely without one.

You have to use plenty of throttle, keeping the revs up and wheels spinning in order to get the most out of that traction control, but that's part of the fun.

However, for the exact reasons it is such a lively drive on-road and such an engaging drive off-road, the Jimny faces a few substantial challenges on tough terrain.

This 4WD demands its driver be fully dialled-into the experience, fully committed, and, while that’s a characteristic I really like, it will exhaust some people.

The Jimny requires constant micromanagement of the steering, transmission and the vehicle itself simply to keep it on track. And that can quickly become tiring, especially if you're not used to it. 

Because it's so small and light, the Jimny can be unsettled by corrugations, shallow and deep, skipping around lightly as it attempts to maintain traction and momentum.

Also, while low-range 4WDing, any dramatic changes in the terrain or driving conditions – an abrupt wheel drop into a deep rut, or a shift in onboard load, or a wind gust while driving up a rocky hill – can create instantly tricky, even serious, issues for the Jimny to overcome.

As always, standard tyres (Bridgestone Dueler H/L 195/80 R15) are fine for sealed surfaces and some light-duty off-roading but if you’re planning to drive on anything more than well-maintained formed trails then invest in a set of decent all-terrains.

It has a full-sized spare wheel mounted on the rear door.

On a minor niggling note, there's a lot of in-cabin noise on any track surface, and a noticeable transmission whine.

In terms of weights and practicality for packing, gross vehicle mass (GVM) is listed as 1545kg, 110kg more than the three-door Jimny . But the vehicle weighs 90kg more than the three-door, so there’s that…

Payload is listed as 360kg. Towing capacity is 350kg (unbraked) and 1300kg (braked).

The Suzuki Jimny XL does not have an ANCAP safety rating, because it has not been assessed yet.

As standard it has six airbags (dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting curtain), AEB, lane departure warning, a rear-view camera, hill descent control and more.

It has two ISOFIX child-seat attachment points in the back seat as well as two top tethers.

Suzuki has switched to an industry-average five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty and roadside assistance.

Service intervals are every 12 months or 15,000km, while published basic capped-price servicing is available. Prices start at $239 (years one and five) and reach as high as $429 (year three). Total cost is $1565, averaging out to $313 annually at the time of publishing.

Vehicles under five-years old but with higher mileages up to 90,000km can expect to be charged up to $559, according to Suzuki’s website.

The Suzuki Jimny has a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty.

Servicing is scheduled for every 12 months/15,000km.

Over five years you'll be in for a high of $589 and a low of $349 for an annual service, the average being $453 per service over that period. Not outrageous, but not exactly cheap.