I am into 4th week of ownership of the newly launched Maruti Suzuki 5 door Jimny and can never imagine I have to start a new thread on post purchase issues and niggles of most famed and hyped Maruti Suzuki SUV, that is, the Jimny.
A brief account of Maruti Suzuki 5 door Jimny purchase hurdle and successful delivery: I booked the Jimny on 12th January, 2023 when it was unveiled in AutoExpo 2023. After the price reveal and start of delivery, my dealership did not show any interest to deliver the car despite of several interactions, follow-up and referrals. Hence, I decided to book another Jimny from another prominent NEXA dealership of Gurgaon. However, they also could not provide me the delivery as promised before the booking. Bhpian Anuj Purohit helped me immensely at this point, and through his referral I could finally check out a free Jimny Alpha AT Bluish Black colour at the stockyard of Platinum Motocorp NEXA, Manesar. The unit was apparently found to be clean during initial PDI at their stockyard. I gave them go ahead for the formalities. And finally I could drive out the Jimny from their showroom on 28th July, 3 days after the initial PDI at their stockyard.
Issues and niggles:
After we reached the showroom on 28th July, I did a thorough PDI along with their sales person. The car functional checks were found to be completely okay and acceptable. The ICE head unit was also functional, they played music by connecting their phone. And in between the SA received phone calls also. Hence, there was nothing wrong that I could notice. After the paper works and payments, they started installing the accessories and I had opted for an illuminated scuff plate for the front doors. After the formal handover, I did a mistake and did not perform functional check of the electricals and features again.
Caution: I would strongly advise to perform/ repeat the functional checks of the electricals and features of the car before finally driving out the delivered car from the showroom.
It started raining heavily when I drove it out from showroom. The visibility was also very low after sundown, and the usual traffic of Gurgaon becomes complex if it rains. Hence, in order to avoid any distraction, I decided to keep the ICE screen off and not to play music/ FM etc. while driving to home.
After performing the puja in the same evening, switched on the ICE head unit to play music. But there was no sound from the speakers. Tried to explore and change various settings on screen, but nothing worked. Next day, called up the dealership and they suggested to explore the ICE screen and check whether all settings are properly done or not. On Sunday, when I decided to visit their dealership, they informed that dealership is running on low manpower and asked me to visit on weekdays.
Next Saturday, on 6th Aug I visited a nearby NEXA service centre (PASCO, Sector-17-18, Gurgaon). They had no clue how to check Jimny infotainment unit. Since I was insisting, they opened the driver side door trim to check the speaker and suspected that no signal is coming from the head unit. Guided them to open the ICE head unit. But all connectors were found to be properly connected. Then I asked them to open the job card and arrange a warranty replacement of the unit which they denied. This NEXA service centre refused warranty claim saying that it shall be attended by the delivery dealership only. Called up the showroom and found same answer from them that they are on low manpower and I shall visit on weekdays only.
Frustrated, I sent escalation email to all Maruti Suzuki Sales and Services escalation matrix email ids and also to
contacts@nexaexpeeience.com. That perhaps worked and the dealership sent service guys to my home to check the head unit. However, as usual they had no clue. They said I have to leave the car at their service centre for few days for check-up and replacement of faulty units, which I refused. My demand was all check-up shall be done in front of my eyes. Visited their service centre on 12th Aug, after another round of escalation communication.
Initially, service centre was trying to avoid touching the Jimny and opening job cards. When I raised my voice and informed that I’ll be compelled to send escalation again; they started attending the car.
MSIL Dealership and Service centre staff and technicians are not trained at all for servicing the Jimny. They are not aware of any ABCD about the Jimny and its' electro-mechanicals and most importantly, the 4x4 hardware and electronics associated. Mine is AT variant and the service centre guys were trying to drive it by engaging 2H-4H-4L lever. They were not able to engage it forcefully and then tried to fiddle with AT lever. I had to ask them to leave driver's seat and drove the car to their service area.
Then service supervisor arranged a fresh unit from Clarion and after installation of this new unit, sound started working for all 4 speakers. Welcome annunciation also worked. However, while checking the phone calls through ICE (both Bluetooth and Android Auto) I found that other party is not able to hear my voice from driver’s seat. I suspected mic related problem. However, the service guys said “Sir, you are new to the vehicle and new head unit has been installed. Please go home and check the settings. It would start working”. Came back to home and tried many times, but no help.
I had to visit service centre once again. The Clarion guys came along with another new ICE head unit. After many combinations, it was detected that the mic module inside the overhead light and mic combined assembly was not working. The service centre did not have any spare of this mic. Hence, I came back home.
Finally, on 21st Aug, they called up and informed the mic module part has been arranged and the service guy visited home and replaced it. Now, it is working fine.
Touchwood, there is no mechanical issue I have observed so far. Hope my beloved Jimny need not to visit service centre again other than periodic maintenance schedule. Bringing home the Jimny was a heart over head decision for me. These 4 weeks were really tough for us.
My observations:
1. The service centre staff are not aware of the features and functions of the Jimny electro-mechanicals yet. Hopefully, in 1-2 years time MSIL service centre technicians will get to break enough hardware to learn servicing Jimny.
2. Warranty replacements are denied by NEXA service centres owned by other dealerships. Hence, servicing MSIL cars anywhere is a myth. You have to remain dependent on the dealership owner service centre only.
3. No response comes from MSIL if you escalate these matters from first communication. The escalations are redirected to the same dealership guys or service centre guys. Things start moving after Reminder-1, Reminder-2 etc.
4. Many owners complained about alignment issues, and Jimny pulling to left or right direction. And those complaints are not yet attended. MSIL service centres are clueless about how to attend or how to diagnose and resolve these mechanical issues reported.
5. Spare availability- Jimny deliveries started from 8th June, 2023. Even after 6 weeks+, Service centres do not have Jimny spare parts. They should either have at least one set in their stock or shall be able to quickly source from regional spares stock centre.
Hope this new Jimny issues and initial niggles thread does not grow beyond single digit post count.