1 month with a Maruti Jimny: Some observations to help future owners

The steering defies all logic and turns out to be fabulous. I don’t know how they did it.

BHPian shourya_lahiri recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Got my car delivered on the 14th of last month and yes I have taken a bit of time before penning this down. The reason was that I wanted to get over the initial "halo phase" and get to know the car a bit practically before putting any conclusions. My intention here will not be to justify my purchase, but rather to point out matters and observations from a first-hand experience, and be of help to others who can gain any kind of help regarding their queries and decisions.

Senior BHPian 1100D’s throughout involvement require a special mention. Not only his insights and experience were the basis and foundation of our decision to firstly consider waiting for and going for the Jimny (something that was decided years back), but he had also dwelled in various mathematical and mechanical analyses, which resulted, in times, in hours of conversations (involving gear ratios, final drive ratio etc…) All this while in the other part of the universe random reviews and speculations about the car were sprouting like weeds. So basically we already had a very clear picture of what to expect and what not to. 1100D had also listed the accessories I should go for, sadly NEXA hasn’t been able to provide most of them.

My journey with Hachiko began on 16th Jan, when my vessel was anchored in Argentina. There was just news that the car was launched and bookings are open. Have been waiting and following the car for years now and from what I knew, all I had to ensure was that the Jimny truly had 5 doors and a 2nd row of seats. Nothing else was there to check or verify from my POV since the car was already an established one worldwide and its credentials were nothing new. So booking is done online, ships sail out the next day and my wait begins.

On 7th May the display vehicle arrived at my dealership.

1100D & I paid a visit and gave the car a thorough checkout. All we could take away from our first introduction with the car were smiles. One really could not help but notice how well the vehicle has been put together. There is purposeful engineering written all over it!

14th of July we took Hachiko home and on the 15th Saturday, we were doing this

The next week, After making it very clear that Hachiko loves to get dirty, we (me, 1100D and Sandip da) headed to put the car in its natural habitat. And boy what fun we had! But what surprised us was that Hachiko was having even more fun! Please note I am still running on stock tires at the stock recommended pressure.

Now wrapping it up here are a few key points I would like to mention:

The car doesn’t have seat height adjust, and I am a very short guy. Seemingly no Jimny on earth has it. This, as I said was also taken into account and I had acquired a lumber support/ cushion for this purpose, way before the car was delivered. Things are under control now.

Lack of storage spaces – This thing is a bummer. There is practically zero place to keep anything at all. This needs to be addressed before I head out for any kind of a long journey. Thankfully there are accessories available for this purpose, something I will install as the time comes.

The steering defies all logic and turns out to be fabulous. I don’t know how they did it.

The rest of the pros and cons are a part and parcel of every car there is and I don’t think any one of them requires a special mention other than these. I am intentionally refraining from giving any kind of opinions and review from my side since there are plenty of it already everywhere. And since I am owning the car, there remains, if not a slight possibility of confirmation bias playing on my side.

Having said that the only word that can define the car is ADEQUATE.

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