The three-door Jimny has been a huge sales success – not only in South Africa, but around the world.
This success was due to its amazing off-road ability and excellent power-to-weight ratio. Reliability also contributed to the demand. The public started clamouring loudly for a bigger Jimny and a bakkie version.
Suzuki came to the party with the five-door late last year, but unfortunately no bakkie, but we can dream and hope. One day . . .
I was fortunate to be invited to the launch of the five-door Jimny in Botswana. On the trip we drove to the Botswana border from Polokwane on, at times, badly potholed roads. In Botswana we experienced beautifully graded gravel roads, dreamy soft sand in riverbeds and rocky technical bits – an excellent test of the vehicle, especially as it was at altitude and I wanted to know if it had enough power and torque. It does.
I do think the longer five-door deals with the long road a bit better than its shorter sibling due to the greater wheelbase.
Recently I had the opportunity of driving a five-door Jimny around town and in the Kogelberg area above Kleinmond. Again, I can report the bigger Jimny is a pleasure in town and a joy in the mountains.
The car feels engaging, in the best way, to drive. Just going to the shops is fun; you feel involved. Of course, it is a doddle to park.
The cruising speed on the open road when loaded is about 110 km/h. At that speed it feels relaxed and fuel consumption is good. At 120-plus km/h the vehicle feels rushed and fuel consumption tells you its not a good idea. That does not mean you cannot overtake or do shorter fast bursts, just it’s not so happy about it.
The five-door inherits all of the positives of the original, except it may not be quite as sexy looking, but that is subjective. With only a 90 kg weight penalty and at just 30-odd centimetres longer, but with other dimensions, the same the five-door is a bigger small 4×4 beasty like no other.
Fuel consumption, performance and handling are all very similar to the three-door. I got 7,5 F/100 km in town and the mountains as well as on the N2 over Sir Lowry’s Pass – very good under the circumstances.
Even though the five-door is longer by a ruler’s length, it remains a compact vehicle. The actual sitting space is not compromised, but there is very little extra space especially to stow stuff – no water bottle holder, no map or document receptacle, no hidey hole.
I didn’t feel cramped behind the wheel, the passengers on the second row have adequate knee space and all enjoy good headspace, but still there is just so little place to put anything – like a cellphone or keys – down. The boot space is almost double that of the three-door.
Visibility is excellent, as is the sitting position for the front seats. The controls are mostly physical (hooray), quite chunky and very easy to use. In spite of the space limitations I find the cabin a comfortable place to be.
My wife felt safe at all times was amazed at the leg room and enjoyed the good all-round visibility, but felt it needs more storage space.
The GL model has all the standard basic safety, security and entertainment gear as well as rear parking sensors and remote central locking.
The additional features on the GLX models include auto LED headlamps with washers, front fog lights, 9” touchscreen, leather multi-control steering wheel, cruise control, additional airbags and electric fold-in mirrors.
The Jimny range is equipped with a normally aspirated 1.5 L VVT petrol engine delivering 75 kW and 130 Nm with either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission feeding a part-time 4WD system with low range.
I don’t think many owners of three-door Jimnys will trade up to a five-door, unless they really needed the extra space and easier access to the back row. The three-door retains its place as the ultimate versatile, very capable, go-anywhere, small 4×4. “Big brother” just adds to the charm.
Since the launch of the five-door model and general availability of the five-door in November, average monthly sales have been 320 units, with the three-door moving around 58 units per month. This will even out after the initial pent-up demand settles down. We are talking about combined monthly sales of about 400 units for a very specialised, niche model. It’s amazing.
You may be asking yourself: Does the Jimny have direct competition in SA? Not really, is the short answer. Remember Jimny has low range and is a proper off-road vehicle, not a soft SUV. About the only remotely comparable car is the Renault Duster 1.5 dCi 4WD at R410 000, but it does not have low range. The newly launched GWM Tank 300 costs twice as much at over R700 000 and will have much heavier fuel consumption. The same is true for off-road Toyotas and Land Rovers.
There are three five-door models to choose from: The most basic is the manual GL at R429 900; GLX manual at R457 900 and the automatic at R479 900. Basically, each model is R40 000 more than its three-door sibling – a case of R20 000 per door. The price includes a five-year or 200 000 km warranty and four-year or 60 000 km service plan.
You either love a Jimny or you hate it. It’s not 100% objective. I admit, I love the little beasts.
Oh! I almost forgot, the one we think is lime green is actually Kinetic Yellow, apparently originally chosen as a high visibility option for the mining and construction industries. It has a bluish black pearl coloured roof, as do the Chiffon Ivory and Sizzling Red options. The other six options are monotone, of which Jungle Green and Granite Grey are my favourites.
