Five-door Jimny bit of a stretch

0 0 December 18, 2023 Edit this post

by Alistair Kennedy

Over the years, the compact Suzuki Jimny has become something of a cult figure with its retro looks and semi-serious off-road ability.

To date it’s only been available with three doors, limiting its potential buyer base -- but now the long-awaited five-door version has arrived.

Built in India, the new five-door Jimny joins the ongoing three-door Jimny and Jimny Lite and comes in a single variant, tagged XL (as in extra-large) – although at 3820mm long it’s hardly that.

XL is however 340mm longer than its three-door siblings, with a 335mm longer wheelbase -- although it still only has two rear seats.

Four key features which Suzuki defines as essential for a serious off-road vehicle are included:

a tough, full ladder frame
long travel, three-link suspension teamed with rigid, full width axles front and rear to deliver maximum traction
selectable four-wheel-drive with a low range transfer case that delivers more torque at low speeds to climb very steep hills and traverse rugged terrain
excellent ground clearance

The five-door Jimny has yet to undergo ANCAP safety testing, but when the three-door was tested in 2018 it could only manage three stars.

Standard safety features across the range include front, side and curtain airbags, hill-hold and hill descent controls, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, speed limiter, reversing camera, rear parking sensors, automatic headlights and ISOfix child seat anchors.

The five-door Jimny’s approach and departure angles off road are virtually the same as the three-door, an important factor in navigating tough terrain.

Ground clearance also remains the same, with a minimum 210mm.

Given that the five-door model is likely to be carrying more people and for longer distances, comfort levels have been significantly upgraded for rear seat passengers.

The rear seats having increased thickness and greater width than the three-door -- and they also have two incline positions.

Despite the extra length, boot storage space is only 211 litres with the rear seats in place, but expands to 1118 litres when folded.

The Jimny five-door gets a 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment display with Smartphone connectivity via Wi-fi or USB cable.

It is linked to a rear-view camera.

That’s a bigger, more sophisticated unit than the three-door and includes DAB radio with four speakers – two in the front doors and two in the rear.

All Jimny variants share the same Suzuki K15B four-cylinder engine with outputs of 75kW and 130Nm at 4000 rpm.

Transmission is five-speed manual of four-speed automatic.

An All Grip Pro drive train is carried across from the three-door.

When a wheel loses grip, a limited slip drive traction control automatically applies braking force to the slipping wheel so torque is redistributed to the other side, allowing the Jimny to regain traction.

There are three selectable drive modes: two-wheel high, four-wheel high and four-wheel low.

Two tone and single tone colours are offered, the two-tone teamed with a new sizzling red metallic, and chiffon ivory metallic with a bluish black pearl roof.

Monotones are a new granite grey metallic joining the existing jungle green, arctic white pearl and bluish black pearl options.

Like all Suzuki models Jimny comes with a five-year unlimited kilometre warranty

Jimny Lite three-door is priced from $30,490 (manual), Jimny three-door, $31,990 (manual) or $33,490 (automatic) and Jimny XL five-door from $34,990 (manual) or $36,490 (automatic).