GEARING AID
The four-speed automatic – yes, you read that correctly – with overdrive – again, correct, and no, you’re not in the 1990s – has trouble deciding whether to change up or stay in gear and fire all 75kW of hilarious rage and a weirdly sufficient 130Nm of torque.
It’s not smooth in any sense. Go hard or stop hard, is its mantra.
When you need to get going, the only option is to floor it, and wait for the cogs to change. The 1.5-litre petrol-four is a brilliant little engine, with mountain goat-like take off and consistent throttle input at low-speeds and for crawling over the crest of a dusty slope.
But in traffic it peaks so quickly there’s nothing smooth or progressive about it, you’re just going or stopping. Hard. Hard because the brakes also lack grace and feel; preferring a lunging stomp on the middle pedal to wipe of speed (see-sawing on the front shocks) rather than a confident squeezing press of the pedal.
The fact it weighs less than 1.1 tonnes in both auto or manual is your advantage here. it doesn’t carry a great deal of momentum.
The manual, however, is much better, presuming you remember what to do with the stalk sticking out of the floor. In a few quick movements you’re already in fifth gear, but again, in the real world, fifth on the freeway commute, still revs sit on 3000rpm at 100km/h – like a 40yo Torana!
Also, on freeways, especially the likes of the M80 Ring Road where large sections are susceptible to high winds, so too is the slab-sided Jimny. While on said freeway, trying to overtake means revving its proverbial bits of, building up speed to the point air rushes over the windscreen and the cabin is filled with the rumbles of brick-like aerodynamic efficiency.
When things calm down and you take a moment to appreciate the funky retro cabin design, the front passenger grab handle is one of the highlights (although the tough-looking hex-bolts are fake), and the use of space is clever considering there isn’t much.
Window switches are on the centre dash in front of your left hand because there’s literally nowhere to put it on the door trim, the Suzuki infotainment system is joyfully easy to use, and a conventional manual park brake means less electronic faf to go wrong.
However, the cupholder – singular – is totally useless sitting almost behind your left kidney, and the centre console bin is so small it should’ve been made into an armrest because there’s literally nowhere to put your left elbow. Also redundant is the door bin, which is so thin you can’t get your hand in to retrieve anything. This includes your phone which started the journey placed vertically for easy removal, but fell horizontal as you braked for traffic.
TalkCars Hot Tip: Connect your phone to USB ports and use the cable to winch it out.
The lack of a digital speedo means you’re guessing the set cruise control speed, until the dash cluster displays your needle is somewhere between 98 and 101km/h.
This begs the question why a digital readout couldn’t have found its way in, given the guerilla-style level of anti-speed enforcement in our modern world. How much would it have cost? And no, you shouldn’t just use a phone app, although there are some good ones. You should not be glancing at your phone just to check your speed.
The Jimny is a remarkable vehicle and pulls the enthusiasts. A bloke named Eddie pulled up out front seeing the bright white 2019 Jimny on my nature strip.
His 20-something lilac Sierra, is still going strong, despite faded stickers, crackled paint in places and an interior true to its odometer reading nearly 200,000km.
We spoke for at least 15 minutes as he tried to wipe the smile off his face that he could get himself into the new one for less than 30 grand.