Cute – sometimes it’s a baby, other times it’s a Jimny. I heard that word so much during my short date with this tiny SUV, I was starting to believe maybe they’re referring to me and not just the car. Then, they corrected me and said that the car is cute and asked if they can have a picture with it.
It’s no secret that the Jimny is a big toy for the unpaved path. Off-roaders love its capability to tackle any terrain given its price point. With the new iteration that was launched in 2019, more people got on the Jimny wagon and a good amount of them are not off-roaders. They’re just normal people who want a car for their daily drive and the Jimny’s looks are drawing them in.
I can’t blame them because the Jimny is just so gorgeous. Suzuki not only went back to the drawing board, they also went back in time and took cues from the previous iterations of their popular off-roader. The body is reminiscent of the second generation, while the front face is a mixed take on the third and second-gen resulting in a modern-retro design. But looks are not enough.
The Jimny won’t sweat on a rough terrain, but the city is a different field altogether, demanding a distinct set of features. Can it survive in the urban jungle? Of course. The question is, how much is compromised to do so?
The biggest trade-off for the Jimny was riding comfort – the size, suspension, cabin isolation, and ergonomics were all below average for a city car. Legroom and headroom was great, it’s the elbow room that’s an issue since the Jimny is more narrow than average. Even two-point turns became a chore because aside from the bigger travel of the steering wheel, my elbow kept hitting the door panel. Suspension is a bit more tolerable than I expected, but still rough. Suzuki said they’ve worked on cabin isolation but driving it around, you’ll still hear a lot of the noise outside and from the tires itself.
Ergonomics became an issue for me when I went for a long drive. The throttle was too close to the center column and a bit too far from the brake pedal, leading to more fatigue when switching between the two. The seats are also not meant for winding roads as there’s no bolster for the shoulder area. Suzuki says this is so occupants can move their body when on uneven terrain, which makes sense because this is for the wild after all.
If you can live with these compromises, then good for you because the Jimny gets better. Suzuki made up for the cabin isolation by having really good speakers despite being non-branded. The suspension may not be totally comfortable but it’s more accommodating to the ruts of C5’s truck lane or the bad sections in EDSA, you won’t feel your soul get away from your body anymore.
The size of the Jimny also has its advantages. Dimension-wise, this tall son of a gun is like the Suzuki Celerio on stilts, making it just as nimble in the tight streets of the city and in traffic. Parking is a cinch in any situation, and its high ground clearance ensures you won’t be scraping anything in the most elevated parking slots with deep gutters. Just make sure you have space at the back for the third door because it opens wide. Aside from that, it’s all too easy for the Jimny to move around in the city.
Out of town getaways is where the Jimny shines best. The two seats at the back aren’t really recommended for people during long drives so it’s better to be folded flat. Doing so reveals a great amount of cargo area for all your belongings, even if you bring a full camping setup with barbecue grill.
Fuel efficiency is also not an issue anymore. Under the hood is now a 1.5L engine that puts out 100hp and 130Nm of torque, coupled to a tried and tested 4-speed auto and Suzuki’s AllGrip Pro 4WD system. On paper, that looks like a bad combination for fuel economy, but the Jimny managed to return some impressive figures. In city traffic it reached 7.7km/l, but on the highway, it got 16.6km/l at its sweet spot of 90kph. Going for the speed limit brought that down to a solid 16km/l at 3,000rpm.
The only downside to this is acceleration as the Jimny takes a bit more time to get into cruising speed. I don’t mind it much though because if that’s the consequence of being fuel-efficient, then I’m all for it.
The advantages of driving the Jimny outweighs the seemingly minor faults it has, but the story doesn’t end there. This Suzuki Jimny GLX in two-tone color has a steep price tag of P1,175,000 as of writing. That’s cheap for a full-fledged SUV that can go wherever there’s soil, but some will say that’s expensive for a city car. Its price puts it at the same level as feature packed crossovers like the Geely Coolray, Ford EcoSport, and Maxus D60 among others.
You can’t pit them against each other though, the same way you don’t compare an iPhone to a laptop. They can do similar things but at the end of the day, they’re meant for different purposes. Some will choose mobility and get an iPhone, instead of getting a more powerhouse of a laptop.
It’s the same with the Jimny. It’s not meant to be your plush ride from A to B or a car to take your barkada with. It was built for the unbeaten path but people get it for an everyday ride in the city. It’s not perfect, far from it in fact, but its savagery is what helps it dominate the urban jungle.