[OpenRoads]

Samba, it was a nice read and happy to see you are enjoying the car to the fullest.
After Gypsy there was a long void which Jimny now fills in Suzuki's lineup.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by Samba

Presenting our 2023 Maruti Jimny Alpha MT

Attachment 2611777

Index

Why Jimny?

Dealership Experience

Pros & Cons

Exterior

Interior

Lights, wipers & defoggers

Driving the Jimny

Taking the Jimny off the road

Living with the Jimny

Fantastico. Superb articulation of thoughts on ownership experience. This review deserves to be published in an auto magazine as a hard copy. I really enjoyed reading it through. I agree to most of the points except that my 10 month Jimny is an automatic dual colour yellow alpha car and hence donot know the pros and cons of a manual wrt Jimny.

There are a lot of people sitting on the fence to buy Jimny with all the negative reviews on the net and reading your review would make them more comfortable to make the final decision.

I personally feel that price doesnot matter if your heart is fixed to owning Jimny despite its draw backs. I donot even know how much was paid for my Jimny.

Australian reviewers have said that 4 door Jimny has no competition in this world and I donot understand why it is compared to 2 door Thar in India ( I love Thar and Mahindra and they are great in its own right and I am saying this as a owner for 12 years of a top end Mahindra Scorpio).

The only competition to Jimny in future both in India and across 200 countries is when we see a baby Land Cruiser coming with similar dimensions and NA petrol engine. Until then it will be a unique vehicle.

If I am to choose the best small SUV and big SUV, it would be Jimny and Pajero. Nobody as of today will ever complain the capability of Pajero on tarmac. It is a dream vehicle for all enthusiasts to own today even with its 20 year old avatar. The 1.5 L NA petrol is given to Jimny 4X4 for a good reason as Suzuki has no ideas of diluting the Jimny brand for small financial success by giving RWD. The NA engine feels at home in off road situations where it is the home ground for Jimmy. But as in any other vehicle designed commercially, one has to consider all terrains. For a comparison like hovercraft for instance, it needs to be designed to handle both water and ground and hovercraft may not be the best on ground or tarmac.

[amol4184]

Nicely written review! I loved all the photos too, very well done. The Jimny is slowly growing on me.

Do you have any usability mods planned for it? e.g. I am curious if anyone has custom molded, stick on type bottle holders for rear doors or a retractable step board (even a manual one will work, not electric) to ease the access for elderly folks.

[crdi]

Originally Posted by Samba

But when a single tire needs to be replaced using the stock jack, it's the square part on the top right with a hole in it.

Sure about this? IIRC, The Jimny Owner's manual mentions a different jacking point.

[Freespirit27]

A very honest and detailed review. At the end of the day if you like your wheels and can use the adjective, "perfect" very often, I guess its a good buy to live with.
Yes Maruti is getting greedy and there market research at launch is more of a miss than a hit. They lost it on Baleno, SX4, Kizashi, Multiple small cars like Zen Classic, Estilo the list will continue to grow! But they have given some useful cars like Esteem, Swift, Dzire, new Baleno.
Lovely clicks. Like they say, enjoy the ride and I say, stay safe!

[Samba]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Exceptional reviews of a car make it to tbhp's hall of fame, and I do hope this one gets there as well.
Maruti will never learn from the past. Remember the OG Baleno, Versa, OG Grand Vitara and now this.
Maybe you could look at the dimensions of the hood insulator from the old Vitara Brezza and see if that can be retrofitted

Thanks a lot, Vigsom. I am a fan of your car reviews. Especially the stories you share about the old cars.

The most fun part is after these cars became flops, Maruti launched their diluted versions like the new Baleno, the Eeco, and the new Grand Vitara, & these cars are market hits!

In the aftermarket, there are customized hood insulators available for the Jimny.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Exceptional, unbiased & detailed ownership reviews of cars have started going to our homepage reviews box. It's the ultimate stamp of trust from Team-BHP (as a platform) because lakhs of visitors every month check out reviews from there & make purchase decisions.

Thanks, Aditya, that's an honor for me.

Originally Posted by Vikram9193

Kudos for such a well-observed and detailed review that does the Jimny justice, with great photos to boot. Chiming in with our 5k km of mostly highway experience, which mostly matches your review:

Thanks, Vikram. I absolutely agree with the points you shared.

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Congratulations! Excellent review as usual
Why such a serious 'black' colour on such a fun car? Didn't red cross your mind?

Thanks Suraj.
There was quite a lot of debate about the color choice! I voted for black, Dad chose white, followed by black, Mom chose red, and my wife chose Kinetic yellow followed by the Nexa blue.
After a lot of fight, I won!

Originally Posted by OpenRoads

Samba, it was a nice read and happy to see you are enjoying the car to the fullest.
After Gypsy there was a long void which Jimny now fills in Suzuki's lineup.

Thanks a lot.

Originally Posted by Mystic

Fantastico. Superb articulation of thoughts on ownership experience. This review deserves to be published in an auto magazine as a hard copy.

Thanks, Mystic. I 100% agree with your views.

Originally Posted by amol4184

Do you have any usability mods planned for it? e.g. I am curious if anyone has custom molded, stick on type bottle holders for rear doors or a retractable step board (even a manual one will work, not electric) to ease the access for elderly folks.

Thanks Amol.
As of now, I have no plans to mod it. After taking it for a few OTRs, I may install the radial arm guards.
Aftermarket modification garages like Bimbra 4×4 and others are coming up with a lot of options.

Originally Posted by crdi

Sure about this? IIRC, The Jimny Owner's manual mentions a different jacking point.

Hello crdi, you are right, thanks for pointing it out. It was my mistake. I have report posted it, so our moderators can edit it.

From the owners manual-



I once again mounted the jack and took a pic, so it won't create any further confusion.

Originally Posted by Freespirit27

A very honest and detailed review. At the end of the day if you like your wheels and can use the adjective, "perfect" very often, I guess its a good buy to live with.

Thanks, Freespirit27.
Maruti lost the plot for Jimny due to a few factors-
Greedy pricing.
They marketed this product only as an offroad vehicle. Remember the old days, Tata Safari ads? They used to show that the Safari can be used as a daily drive car that can take you to the office, plus it will suffice your weekend adventure trips. Maruti completely missed highlighting that Jimny can be used as a regular car too.

[DLC5005]

Excellent review as always Samba da.
Had been waiting for your review since long .

I was also in similar boat as yours, and wanted to replace my 2019 15k kms run Duster 2WD with Jimny, during the discount sale.
Though I couldn't get mine, I am happy for you and sure that your ownership thread will be a point of reference to other fellow Jimny owners.

Meanwhile, any specific reason for opting manual transmission instead of AT?

OT:
I still remember the day we discussed and your inputs were much helpful during my jimny plans, and had almost finalized it.
But sadly all plans went for a toss in the last minute, when my wife and dad changed their minds and didn't want to part ways with Duster.
(Both are spoilt with Duster's suspension and luggage space)

Wishing you happy miles both on and off the road.

[crdi]

Originally Posted by Samba

Thanks a lot.

I guess, this would be the notch that slots into the hole on the top of the company provided jack.

[ultimatechamp]

Lovely and very useful detailed analysis and review of the Jimny Samba. I was about to book a Alpha Jimny in white colour after taking two test drives, but later changed my mind due to the lack of the things you mentioned including small but useful things like bottle holder among other. Even my roughly 8 lakhs top model Ignis Alpha have those features which the 14+ lakhs top model Jimny Alpha doesn't have !! I was taken aback as those features were really useful and I got used to them. Ride quality and off roading capability was although what it should be in a car like this. It felt great to read your review and reading every line felt like re-living my TD experience. Finally I decided against, as I felt MSIL kind of cheated customers by NOT providing those features in a car which costs nearly 15 lakhs with all the bells and whistles

[arghyaheart]

Yet another usual to-the-point and non-dramatic review of a no-nonsense car from our very own DBHPian Samba. I too share similar views with you regarding this car. Keep updating the thread time-to-time so that people like me who looks forward to the knowledge and wisdom of an experienced driver like you are always learning something.

Thanks for sharing!

[Samba]

Originally Posted by DLC5005

I was also in similar boat as yours, and wanted to replace my 2019 15k kms run Duster 2WD with Jimny, during the discount sale.
Though I couldn't get mine, I am happy for you and sure that your ownership thread will be a point of reference to other fellow Jimny owners.
Meanwhile, any specific reason for opting manual transmission instead of AT?

Thanks a lot. If you do not require the 4WD, enjoy your Duster. It has only covered 15,000 km.

Reasons for MT over AT-

I love driving manuals!

I feel I can have a better command on a manual car than an automatic.

In an MT, the driver can slip the clutch and launch the vehicle if the situation demands it.
For example, if you are stuck in heavy snow, you can rev till 2,500-3,000 Rpm and slip the clutch, which you can't do in an AT.

During offroad, I can select a gear individually in the MT which I can't in an AT.
AT has - L, 2 & D.
Now if you select L, the car will be in 1st gear.
In 2, the car will start in 1st and shift to 2nd depending on your throttle input. You can't choose to start the car in 2nd.
In D mode with OD off, the car can be driven till 3rd gear. On slush, I have started the Jimny MT in 4L, 3rd which can't be manually selected in an AT.
Now you can say, instead of 4L, 3rd, I can always choose 4H, 1st. There are situations where one needs to start in 4L, 1st/2nd, and then shift to 4L, 3rd which is not manually possible in an AT.

Having said the above, I must add that the AT can do 99% of what the MT can do. The above scenarios rarely take place.

Originally Posted by crdi

I guess, this would be the notch that slots into the hole on the top of the company provided jack.

Thanks, I will try this and check too. What you have pointed out makes absolute sense.
I just followed the instructions from the owner's manual and placed the Jack.

Originally Posted by ultimatechamp

Finally I decided against, as I felt MSIL kind of cheated customers by NOT providing those features in a car which costs nearly 15 lakhs with all the bells and whistles

Thanks a ton.
I hope someone from MSIL is reading this, so at least they can rectify these basic ommissions that are taking away prospective customers like you.

Originally Posted by arghyaheart

I too share similar views with you regarding this car. Keep updating the thread time-to-time so that people like me who looks forward to the knowledge and wisdom of an experienced driver like you are always learning something.

Thanks Arghya.
I guess the case will be just the opposite! Your average monthly running is much higher than me. We took deliveries of both of our Jimnys together and while I have barely covered 7,500 km, you have already covered 10,000 km!

[GhostRider28]

Nicely penned unbiased, yet passionate review. I am curious on how the sales are faring in the hills. Btw, my Duster also has a cranking issue when parked on steep inclines. I have discovered a jugad for it (more when we speak)!

[H0RSEPOWER]

One of the best car ownership reviews out there! Thanks a lot for sharing. It would surely help a lot of prospective buyers who are in a dilemma to choose this car, which is definitely one of the most unique ones in the market.(Only NA petrol 4WD vehicle in India at present!)

[Evyas]

Congratulations on the new car! Here's wishing you millions of miles and millions of smiles per mile in it.

Lovely review and wonderful pictures too, especially the one of the rain spray (or wiper spray?) on the headlights. Great aesthetics!

Do keep updating the thread with more of your experiences and do tell where you get your accessories from. As a former Duster owner it was great to read the Jimny is just as much fun and comfortable to drive and own.

Could you let me know where you got the key covers from? And have you installed a dasham of any sort and if so then which one?

Cheers and ride on!

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by Samba

Living with the Jimny


I am enjoying every bit of driving this car. I end up driving the Jimny more than my Etios even on good roads and highways! This car is super easy and stress-free to drive. Be it narrow roads, bumper-to-bumper city traffic, a tight parking spot, huge road humps, water logging, or rough roads, you do not have to worry about anything.

This is an incredibly comprehensive review and covers a lot of practical details of owning the Jimny, which is a one-of-its-kind car that deserved to do better in sales. Absolutely awesome thread, Samba and I really appreciate the time and effort you put in to capture every last detail. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread. Thanks a lot for sharing!