Driving a Jimny across highway, city & offroad conditions: Observations

I drive an Altroz diesel manual at the moment.

BHPian Xtremecrd recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I just had a test ride of the Jimny alpha AT variant. Did the highway route and city interior plus a little bit of offroading.

Highway: Jimny on a 4-lane highway is a decent cruiser. I never felt the lack of speed. Top speed achieved 85 km/h. Huge unscientific rumblers do unsettle it. Proper rumblers are dispatched disdainfully.

On two-lane highways, you have to know the AT gearbox capabilities for the overtake. But it is nowhere a slouch as it is made out to be. It had a decent grunt.

City: in the city, Jimny is superb owing to not having to shift the gears. There are no jerks felt while shifting the gears. I never felt the lag after pressing the accelerator.

Note: I have the Altroz xz + diesel variant which has a huge initial lag.

Offroad: this is where Jimny truly shone and proved to me that it is the mountain Goat of off-roading. It has a good entry angle and departure angle which allows it to scale any obstacles. Deep ruts are easily dispatched. Even the steep descent and ascent obstacles are dispatched despite having 24 24-degree rampover angles.

I had an absolute blast despite having no experience in off-roading.

Misc:

• NVH inside the vehicle is truly good.
• The body roll is well-contained.
• AC is a chiller, able to cool the cabin despite the 39-degree temp showing in the vehicle MID.
• There are no rattling sounds heard anywhere.

Overall I feel Jimny can be a do-it-all vehicle for small nuclear families. Yes, it is a small, not a macho vehicle, but for a person who likes to fly under the radar, it can be a truly brilliant vehicle. It is a truly abuse-friendly vehicle with Maruti service backup. I am seriously looking to exchange my Altroz for Jimny.

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