[abhi_tjet]

Well, Jimny isn’t my first car. However, it offers a lot of firsts to me.
Its,

• My first RWD vehicle.
• My first Ladder frame chassis car(SUV).
• My first 4*4 SUV.

My first impression of Jimny's predecessor - Gypsy

Sometime in early 2000’s we visited Pachmarhi, a famous hill station in MP. Out of many scenic spots, there was a tourist spot(can't exactly recollect the name) which warranted a drive in a 4*4 to be able to reach the spot. I saw a hell lot of Gypsy with beautiful modifications doing the duty.
Drivers were carrying 4-6 people and were literally driving on steps made with boulder. There was no road, just boulders arranged as stairs. We too made the trip and it was more fun than any Hawai Jhoola. Gypsy earned my respect that day onwards and I have always admired it since then.



I always wanted to own a no nonsense 4*4 SUV(read - relatively cheap to own/maintain) and not some raised hatchback or sedans in SUV guise. I even test drove Safari Storme and Aria during my Linea purchase in late 2013. Budget issues aside, I found Linea T-Jet to be more value for money in terms of safety, thrill, reliability and features for the variant I was able to afford. Accordingly, the SUV chapter was closed(albeit temporarily, since here we are).

With a brilliant official review, Jimny being a global model and so many details and expert observations shared by esteemed forum members, I don’t have much to add.

I can only share a quick (my) point of view of my automatic Jimny on the basis of some 1500 odd kms which I have clocked in past 2 months.
My frame of reference will mostly be a Linea T-Jet, for either positive or negative experiences.

First click after reaching home


Jimny hurray

• Design - The retro looks with proper squarish profile is a definite plus. One cannot just ignore it, more so in the kinetic yellow shade. It is a bigger crowd puller than some superbike. Cladding design and its thickness looks neat and purposeful. Definitely not overdone. A thumbs up from my side.
  
• Space - Despite what the size suggests, it is fairly spacious for average built adults and quite easy to onboard/offboard.
  
• ORVM’s – The size is perfect and they provide good visibility with minimum blind spot. It can be opened/closed with just a button click. Thanks, Maruti for not skimping on this.
  
• Size. The biggest positive. The primary reason why I chose Jimny over others, even over my earlier favorite - Thar.
  
• Visibility – Its good all around. The big windows, visible bonnet line, reversing camera, relatively thin pillars - they all aid in providing a super clear view of surroundings.
  
• Tried and Tested equipment– Jimny comes with a reliable hardware consisting of a trusted engine, gearbox and 4*4 components. A vehicle supposed to go in wilderness should be as reliable as it can. I can live without a feature or two.
  
• Global model – Kudos to Maruti for not skipping the export spec features such as headlamp washers, auto on/off boot light, vanity mirrors on both sun visors (I was surprised with this, Linea does a one better still with providing illumination). Also, it comes with 4 rear parking sensors and not just 2 like on some cars.
  
• Easy to drive – The drive experience is smooth with no sudden lurching or constant change of gear felt. The low-speed drive quality is splendid and very easy to drive in traffic conditions. As other bhpian’s have communicated, looks like, its made to be used on narrow winding country roads with windows down and doing sub 80 kmph speeds all day long, irrespective of terrain and road conditions.
  
• ICE – The sound quality of OEM ICE setup is surprisingly nice. More so, if compared to Linea. However, its still not a match to our Tiago’s Harmon Kardon unit. The display though is crisp and touch response is decent. No complaints here.
  
• Ride quality – It is plush and suspension works absolutely silently. Coming from a Linea, it handles even the sharpest of potholes with a nice cushion effect. Its just so fun to attack a bad patch where other cars line up and traverse carefully in a queue.
  
• A/C - It comes with ACC which is a chiller. We have set the temperature to 24.5 C with passenger side vent closed as compared to 24 C in Linea. The extra green tint with UV cut glass definitely helps.
  
• Tires & Alloys - OEM Bridgestone Duelers are surprisingly silent. Apart from the transmission noise, the engine and tires work hard to provide a smooth experience in city speeds. Alloys though lifted straight from 3 door version are beautiful to look at.
  
• Fit and Finish – It's consistent and quite good. The parts feel solid to touch and nothing flimsy. We all know the reason of using hard plastic so won’t discuss much on that.
  
• Steering wheel – A lovely leather wrapped steering which feels nice to hold. I would have loved some grooves at 10:10 position as well though. The steering button feels nice and provides better feedback than one’s on Linea. I also like the slow response from steering like a true old school Jeep. Though quite similar on heft, they are different as chalk and cheese on feedback and precision.
  
• Ergonomics – Overall ergonomics is spot on for driver with all the control comes easy to hand. Finding perfect driving position is easy despite no seat height adjust.
  
• Bonus - My best half loves the Jimny. She has resumed driving since she feels confident driving Jimny. It's size is more or less similar to our Tiago.

The first 1K click which got ignored since the font is too small for an odo reading. I am just not used to it.


Jimny brickbats

• Engine - Jimny definitely could have done with some more grunt. The 103 BHP/134 NM current set up just gets the job done. That’s it.
• Brakes - They are decent. But nothing to write home about. Compared with Linea, the one on Jimny are just bricks. Maruti should have improved them considering the extra heft this 5-door version is carrying.
  
• Missing TPMS - TPMS should have been a standard feature. Its an off-roader after all!
• Temperature gauge missing - My first car with this cost cutting.
• Cramped footwell - Footwell section is quite narrow. Oversize drivers might not be comfortable.
• Missing Essentials - Absence of Rear fog light is a miss. Why no Rain sensing wipers? I am spoiled by them in Linea which works just fine even after a decade. And the el-cheapo wipers? The lesser said the better. Here again, the OEM frameless ones on Linea are a benchmark.
• MID display - The ODO reading is just a piece of information and can be missed easily. Unlike earlier cars where they generally took centre stage. Further, using the two sticks to select different MID settings is just too cheap from Maruti and not at all intuitive. Jimny has two stalks and an info button just for MID. It should have been done using some button from light/wiper stocks. Linea's implementation is still miles ahead in this.
• Roof height – Despite being a size or two small than its competitor, Jimny’s height is still too much for me (I am 167 cm) to clean it without using a prop. Need to invest in a small stool or a ladder.
• No fender liner. Bare metal is visible from wheel wells and looks cheap.
• Parking brake operation feels very light/cheap as compared to my Linea.
• Central tunnel is quite tall near gearbox area with no plastic panel covering it. You need to invest in a proper mat or it will get soiled in due course of time. I have got 7D mats for only this purpose. It costed me around 7K.
• Gearbox marking isn’t backlit. You have to confirm via the display in front till the time you get used to it.
• Blast from the past: Maruti can be such a cheapskate in some areas. Case in point here are the grabrails and even the roof liner. These both items look straight out from our erstwhile M800 and won’t be a misfit there.
• Safety hazard: Tail light cluster positioning is quite low which makes it out of sight and a security hazard in our country where people literally tail you (the front car) without any gap in heavy traffic scenario.
  

Jimny on a lazy morning with 'luxurious' background of a deserted city road


Jimny So-So

• Fuel efficiency – My frame of reference is Linea and Jimny is surpassing it. I checked once and it gave me around 11 kmpl (tankful method) with low AC usage but overall low speed and heavy traffic driving.
• Storage space – I haven’t put it in negatives since its better than Linea. Two proper bottle holders with space near gearbox to hold wallet/phone/keys, etc. is quite enough for me. A decent sized glovebox and the open section near dashboard mounted grab handle further sums up the space available. One thing missed though is a dedicated sun glass holder. Two 12V sockets are definitely a plus.
• Rear Seat – It is spacious and comfortable for average sized people (5ft8in and smaller). The seat base is quite small though which results in lower thigh support. It may not be suitable for 6 footers.
• Boot Space - It looks quite ok to me for a quick weekend gateway. There is always an option of folding the seats individually if luggage is more and passengers are less.
• Gearbox – Mine is an AT transmission and experience is satisfactory. Just the way an off-roader needs it IMO. It’s not blazing fast in switching gears like DSG but switches them unnoticeably. I generally drive calmly and it has not disappointed me yet for sudden overtakes, if and when needed.
• Horn – I would have preferred ‘PRONP’ sound as on new TATA’s/Korean’s/German’s rather than meek ‘PREENP’. It suits sedans like Linea and others, definitely not a SUV.
• Turning radius - It is something of (slight) bother. Once parked, Jimny will take minimum parking space. However, it need proper space to maneuver it into that space.

[abhi_tjet]

Alternatives considered & Test Drive Experiences

With my primary drive Linea completing a decade, I was looking for an additional car casually without any hard deadline to finalize. Linea was a rare car (either for good or bad) in 2013 to offer a full-blown turbo petrol experience in its price range and segment. I didn’t wanted a run of the mill car this time either.
My only non-negotiable ask was a petrol powered(city usage targeted) auto transmission car so that my better half can also resume driving. No EV for me now.
The car game has moved quite forward in last decade and I wanted to experience what all is on offer today with all the compliance and regulations. Accordingly, I requested and registered for various test drives. I asked to bring cars at home this time since I didn’t wanted myself to be stuck in traffic in my car shopping phase.

I test drove quite a lot of cars such as Kia Seltos (DCT), MG Astor CVT, Renault Kiger CVT, Tata Safari TC, Toyota Hyryder(Hybrid) along with Jimny. All the cars were quite good but they provided more or less similar experience.
With dearth of empty roads, none of the cars were tested in highway speeds.

• Seltos was so much effortless but nothing special IMO. The delta difference in engine performance wasn’t enough as compared to the delta difference in price.
• Same with Astor, all the gadgets and features but no connect with car.
• Kiger was good as per the price but just too many rough edges, IMO. It felt built to a cost.
• Safari (from Saibaba Tata, Garve never has any TD vehicles) provided an opulent experience. However, I realized I wasn’t looking for such a big vehicle. I just wanted to test drive the Safari once. I could have stretched for a lower grade variant but no petrol AT option was a downer.
• I liked the Hyryder Hybrid. Good fuel economy, a silent drive and Toyota logo were enough reasons.

Below are the brands which I didn’t tried due to one or other reasons.

• Honda - I didn’t test drove Elevate. Somehow just wasn’t able to request test drive through their website. The OTP never came even after trying multiple times.
• Mahindra - Thar Petrol AT variant is somehow urban legend. None of the dealership has it. They were just not able to source one for test drive. I have driven Diesel AT earlier and liked the initial experience. Since petrol wasn’t available, I had to leave that option. Who knows, I would have bought a Thar otherwise.
• Hyundai - Didn’t test drove any this time. Creta is so perfect that almost everybody owns it. Its just too common.
• Jeep - It didn’t had any petrol option in budget.
• Citroen - I test drove C3 Aircross a while ago and it was too plain for me despite the strong basics.
• VW - MG guys from BU Bhandari came but VW didn’t. So, Taigun too was struck off.
• Skoda - Garve(Skoda) guys were arrogant(just like in 2013) and didn’t brought Kushaq for TD.

Jimny
But then there was Jimny. I test drove it sometime in May. The compact dimension outside and spacious inside was a definite plus. Engine was decent and definitely not the reason to reject Jimny. I liked the upright windshield, visible bonnet line, proper 4*4 hardware and the awesome ride quality at city speeds. I was sold.
Such is the madness for Jimny that I ignored a 15-20 kmpl hybrid and chose a car which will hardly give me 10-11kmpl.
However, Linea being the benchmark, which gives me around 8 kmpl in heavy traffic, anything more than 8kmpl was good enough for me.

Further, after covering quite a lot of India with my Linea and clocking more than 1L kms, I have experienced that on unknown roads (villages/trails/mountains/ghat roads), the smaller the car, the better the chance of it passing through without any headache or heartburn. Jimny fitted this requirement as well with distinction.
Jimny comes with decent kit as per my expectation. It’s my first car with 6 airbags, a (proper) TC auto transmission, a touch screen system with CarPlay(wireless), Key Less Entry with push button start, Cruise Control, Reverse Camera and much more. I didn’t feel shortchanged.

Thar when launched in 2020 ignited the desire. It finally is fulfilled through Jimny.

Dealership selection and booking experience
I finalized Jimny but wasn’t convinced on the price and waited since offers weren’t much on Jimny during month of May.
Nexa, Pimple Saudagar SA called me in July to update on offer and we couldn’t resist.

Pricing & other details
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-...ml#post5810470 (The "I Booked my Car" Thread)

For Jimny, I contacted at least 4 dealers but only Wonder Cars NEXA, Pimple Saudagar actually came home with car and kept me updated with latest offers and details.

Sumankirti NEXA guys approached me slightly late but I had made my mind to go with Wonder Cars by then. They tried to even better the offer but I generally don’t shuffle much after taking decision and not good at these negotiations. I took multiple test drives with Wonder Cars, so just didn’t wanted to go with Sumankirti for 10-20K bucks.

My Car, Wakad and Sai service, Baner reverted late and were active only in Whats App.

Sales experience
My sales experience was quite good. I assume typical Maruti/NEXA. These guys were fine for PDI, assisted for finance, didn’t pestered for quick payment and delivered car on promised date.
A point to highlight is Wonder Cars Maruti guys have a proper multi storey building in PCMC which houses hundreds of cars as stockyard along with service of Arena and Nexa vehicles. Cars are kept nicely and away from sun, bird droppings, rain, etc.

Few PDI pics. Mine came via train and it took good 8 days to arrive. Wonder Cars have a massive space and inventory here.



Selected accessories being fitted immediately after the PDI


From the D-day


More Delivery & PDI Pics
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5812480 (Maruti Jimny Review)

After Sales experience
First service experience – I took an appointment and visited the Dange Chowk MASS which also serves NEXA cars. However, the overall experience was just average with first check-up took overall 6 hours. A/C in customer lounge wasn’t working and they didn’t arranged even a single fan.
For Maruti level rush, place is quite small and they just keep moving vehicles here and there to make space. I am not sure as to what was the purpose of me booking an appointment and visiting them.

The blatant lie of getting vehicle delivered in 2 hours. It took me 6 plus hours and experience still was average.


Waiting to be dried after a pressure wash.


Ironically, my best service experience till date across car brands I have owned is from FIAT. Pandit guys were too good in their job.


Accessories

• I have got a 7D floor mat, side airbags compatible seat cover as essentials and OEM Jimny branded door strips which matches the alloy shade to complete the look and break monotony of green/yellow flat metal part.
  
• Pending items are PPF on ORVM’s and a dual channel dash cam. I generally keep my vehicles stock and Jimny is no different in that aspect.

[abhi_tjet]

Exteriors & Design
The design is evolution over previous generations and nothing radical. Contrast roof breaks the 90 degree panels monotony. Roof gators imparts a retro touch and its fun to see water dripping from them while braking in rains. Side profile is quite elegant and doesn't looks too stretched. All the 4 windows go 100% down and provides a clear view. 15 inches wheels doesn't looks small and suits Jimny's persona. I would have liked the presence of more LED's in lighting department though. Currently, only headlamps are LED unit.

Wipers comes quite close to the top edge where windscreen and roof meet, a unique sight to see. Boot door has heft and feels nice to operate. Boot space is proper square and can accommodate more than what the spec suggests.

Jimny's design is a breath of fresh air in todays age of joined DRL, joined headlights, taillights and joined what not! Full size alloy spare wheel mounted on boot with 210 mm of GC provide it a purposeful stance.

Jimny in its natural elements.


Observe the wiper markings going till almost the roof edge


Love the Gypsy inspired front fascia with bonnet design and minimalist bumper.


Interiors & Cabin Experience
Interiors are mostly functional with only the ACC panel being a bit stylish with 3 circular dials. Passenger side grabrails on dashboard feels sturdy and provides a 'macho' appeal. Jimny's cabin is super silent in roll on speeds with nil noise from tires. Its only the transmission whine that filters through.

I would have loved a central armrest but wont get it from aftermarket. All 4 seats are slightly narrow(entire car is narrow) but quite comfortable. 4 door practicality is unbeatable. Seat base is shortened to provide a generous legroom and space for average built people. Its similar in Tiago as well. 12V socket suits rear passenger perfectly and keep their phones charged.

This is my first car with a touch screen ICE. It covers all the basics. Wireless CarPlay is too good. Google maps and Amazon music(my two most used apps) works flawlessly. Again, all roof lamps including number plate lights are bulb. However, I am happy that Jimny has two cabin lamps. One at front, other at back and a separate one in boot. Good going Maruti!

I loved the font selection for Jimny emblem/engraving.


View from dashboard. It also shows the lack of any usable space to keep even an anti slid mat


Fancy ACC console with chunky dials. AC vents feels nice to touch.


Decent boot space with split back seats.


View from back seat.


Rear seats with big windows. Its not claustrophobic despite black interiors


Rear legroom which is good enough for average height people.


Sturdy grabrail with 7D mat in background


parking brake and AT console


Beautiful dials


Ride comfort, Steering response, Handling and Suspension
Ride comfort is just too good. It never gets to the order that it becomes uncomfortable, at least the front two seats which aren't very soft. Handling is decent for a 210 mm GC RWD car and is quite predictable till 40-60kmph. I went for a vacation to Wai with Jimny via Tamhini -> Poladpur -> Mahabaleshwar with 3 persons on board. Absolutely loved climbing Poladpur in it. My wife sitting in back was all good with no nausea, etc.

Its the steering one should be careful with in ghats. It needs more correction after turns and can catch anyone off-guard who is used to driving a sharp sedan.

Suspension works surprisingly silent(might be since its new) and flattens out almost anything. As repeated many times earlier, low speed ride quality is just unbeatable.

Engine & NVH
Engine might be slightly underpowered but NVH is overall good. Its the transmission whine which filters but sounds nice to me. Its completely different from Linea's turbo spool effect. More than engine, a 5/6 speed AT gearbox would have done wonders in further improving NVH.
I loved the M800's three cylinder whine. I enjoy this too.

Clean and simple layout with lots of empty space towards right


Safety
Not much to say here. It comes with all the basics and some more but Maruti's aren't known for making safe cars. Rarely can we have our cake and eat it too.

Some observations

• Maruti doesn’t provides any dark tint patch in top portion of windshield near IRVM like other manufacturers.
  
• The dark roof matches with ORVMs and partially covered stepney. It provides a nice contrast to Kinetic Yellow shade and looks good.
  
• I have made peace with rear seat belt chimes. No modifications done or planned.
• Like many others, Auto start stop button is the first thing which I turn off after I start driving. It may be useful in highway runs but definitely not in our traffic conditions.
• Buttons on Central console is nicely lit.
  
• Headlights should be turned on to use the headlight washer feature. It wont work otherwise.
  
• Engine bay – It looks neat and easy to work on. By the looks of it, Jimny’s bay can definitely accommodate a bigger engine or a turbo. Further, it doesn't gets dirty easily. Linea's engine bay gets filled with dust in no time.
  
• I haven’t used cruise control or 4wd drive mode much yet. Likewise for overdrive button, not even once.
  
• I haven’t done any high-speed runs (maintaining 100 plus kmph) yet in it. So, can’t comment on the stability and high speed engine performance. I have done couple of country road trips with max speed around 80kmph and it excelled there.
• I just love the font used for Jimny emblem. Looks chic.
• I also like how they have retained the bonnet design from Gypsy. It stands out for me. Same goes for round headlamp along with the evolutionary taillight design. I am planning to keep the stock grille.
• While moving gear from P to D mode, the vehicle shakes gently and give that air suspension feel of Volvo.
• I have bought Jimny as an additional car to save Linea from Hinjewadi and city duties. I am not sure if I would have bought this as my primary car but it definitely is one of the best additional car for my needs.

Apart from tangible positives and negatives, Jimny does provides a distinct feel, connect which need to be experienced. Be it the engine which you need to work a bit – it isn’t an effortless unit which will fly with just a dab, or the slow steering which needs more effort despite the power steering set up it comes with or the transmission whine, or the upright small windshield with a minimalist dashboard which will constantly tell you that this is something different - definitely not luxury. It isn’t a regular car with latest features, it doesn’t want to be a regular effortless car - It’s a proper SUV. Despite its cutesy look and small appearance, it’s a proper SUV – A term which unfortunately, has been watered down so heavily in past years that people look for a regular car feature in a true SUV. Despite Maruti selling it from NEXA, this isn’t a gen next car with some latest tech and luxury features, it’s a proper hardcore SUV with a laundry list of compromises. It just became a bit practical with 5 doors. Nothing more than that.

Jimny performing city duties means Linea can rest.


Trivia

• The 1.5L NA engine is the biggest capacity engine I have owned till date.
• Our second Maruti came home after 26 years.
• I immediately noticed the new car smell which was eerily same as our erstwhile Maruti 800 when I entered Jimny for the first time during PDI.
• The five slats near the wiper area are for aesthetics purely, me thinks.
• A rare car which is still sub 4 metre despite being extended with a wheelbase of almost 2.6 metre. Its almost as big as my Linea.
• Export spec model gets adaptive cruise control but misses out on Key Less entry and push button start. The Jimny & All Grip branding are on same side in export variants unlike the ones sold here. We get Jimny branding on one side and All grip on other.
• Jimny is still lighter than my FIAT.

The first guests


Few pics from couple of recent trips

Towards Madhe ghat


Towards Raigad


Tamhini




around Dhom lake, Wai


from the other side of lake


Jimny is performing flawlessly currently and I hope it continues. It has big shoes to fill.
Thanks to Maruti for bringing the Jimny in Indian market and despite the pricing blunder, it’s still the cheapest true blue 4*4 with a slightly practical side which one can own.

[KarthikK]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Lovely detailed review, and very catchy color too. Happy motoring and mile munching with this one !

[GTX+]

Lovely write up. The Jimny is definitely the stand out car on roads today, the funky colors add to its overall presence.

I have never driven a Jimny so far, but I guess that box is gonna be checked soon as one of my dear friends just got his last week. Looking forward to the drive.

Wish you many memorable miles with your Jimny. Cheers.

[swami69]

Fantastic review. Happy mile munching

Jimny is like no other car in the market. Inspite of its shortcomings, once we start driving it more and more, you fall in love more and more. There is definitely some magic with this car and I am experiencing it for the past month with my Grey Alpha AT.

I do have my Carens Turbo Petrol DCT, but Jimny is the one which is picked most

Swami