My Kinetic Yellow Maruti Jimny 4x4 - The first of many firsts

I always wanted to own a no nonsense 4*4 SUV and not some raised hatchback or sedans in SUV guise.

BHPian abhi_tjet recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

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.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.