Rough start to my Jimny ownership: Issues & niggles in the 1st month

Bringing home the SUV was a heart-over-head decision for me. But, these 4 weeks were really tough for us.

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I am in 4th week of ownership of the newly launched Maruti Suzuki 5-door Jimny and can never imagine I have to start a new thread on post-purchase issues and niggles of the most famed and hyped Maruti Suzuki SUV, that is, the Jimny.

A brief account of the Maruti Suzuki 5-door Jimny purchase hurdle and successful delivery: I booked the Jimny on 12th January 2023 when it was unveiled in AutoExpo 2023. After the price reveal and start of delivery, my dealership did not show any interest in delivering the car despite several interactions, follow-ups and referrals. Hence, I decided to book another Jimny from another prominent NEXA dealership in Gurgaon. However, they also could not provide me with the delivery as promised before the booking. Bhpian Anuj Purohit helped me immensely at this point, and through his referral, I could finally check out a free Jimny Alpha AT Bluish Black colour at the stockyard of Platinum Motocorp NEXA, Manesar. The unit was apparently found to be clean during the initial PDI at their stockyard. I gave them go go-ahead for the formalities. Finally, I could drive out the Jimny from their showroom on 28th July, 3 days after the initial PDI at their stockyard.

Issues and niggles:

After we reached the showroom on 28th July, I did a thorough PDI along with their salesperson. The car functional checks were found to be completely okay and acceptable. The ICE head unit was also functional, they played music by connecting their phone. In between the SA received phone calls also. Hence, there was nothing wrong that I could notice. After the paperwork and payments, they started installing the accessories and I had opted for an illuminated scuff plate for the front doors. After the formal handover, I made a mistake and did not perform a functional check of the electrical and features again.

Caution: I would strongly advise performing/repeating the functional checks of the electricals and features of the car before finally driving out the delivered car from the showroom.

It started raining heavily when I drove it out of the showroom. The visibility was also very low after sundown, and the usual traffic of Gurgaon becomes complex if it rains. Hence, in order to avoid any distractions, I decided to keep the ICE screen off and not play music/ FM etc. while driving home.

After performing the puja in the same evening, switched on the ICE head unit to play music. But there was no sound from the speakers. Tried to explore and change various settings on the screen, but nothing worked. The next day, called the dealership and they suggested exploring the ICE screen and checking whether all settings were properly done or not. On Sunday, when I decided to visit their dealership, they informed me that the dealership was running on low manpower and asked me to visit on weekdays.

Next Saturday, on 6th Aug I visited a nearby NEXA service centre (PASCO, Sector-17-18, Gurgaon). They had no clue how to check Jimny's infotainment unit. Since I was insisting, they opened the driver-side door trim to check the speaker and suspected that no signal is coming from the head unit. Guided them to open the ICE head unit. But all connectors were found to be properly connected. Then I asked them to open the job card and arrange a warranty replacement of the unit which they denied. This NEXA service centre refused warranty claim saying that it shall be attended by the delivery dealership only. Called up the showroom and found the same answer from them that they are on low manpower and I shall visit on weekdays only.

Frustrated, I sent an escalation email to all Maruti Suzuki Sales and Services escalation matrix email IDs and also to contacts@nexaexpeeience.com. That perhaps worked and the dealership sent service guys to my home to check the head unit. However, as usual, they had no clue. They said I had to leave the car at their service centre for a few days for a check-up and replacement of faulty units, which I refused. My demand was all check-ups shall be done in front of my eyes. Visited their service centre on 12th Aug, after another round of escalation communication.

Initially, the service centre was trying to avoid touching Jimny and opening job cards. When I raised my voice and informed them that I’d be compelled to send escalation again; they started attending to the car.

MSIL Dealership and Service centre staff and technicians are not trained at all for servicing the Jimny. They are not aware of any ABCD about the Jimny and its' electro-mechanicals and most importantly, the 4x4 hardware and electronics associated. Mine is an AT variant and the service centre guys were trying to drive it by engaging the 2H-4H-4L lever. They were not able to engage it forcefully and then tried to fiddle with the AT lever. I had to ask them to leave the driver's seat and drive the car to their service area.

The service supervisor arranged a fresh unit from Clarion and after the installation of this new unit, sound started working for all 4 speakers. Welcome annunciation also worked. However, while checking the phone calls through ICE (both Bluetooth and Android Auto) I found that the other party was not able to hear my voice from the driver’s seat. I suspected mic related problem. However, the service guys said, “Sir, you are new to the vehicle and a new head unit has been installed. Please go home and check the settings. It will start working”. Came back home and tried many times, but no help.

I had to visit the service centre once again. The Clarion guys came along with another new ICE head unit. After many combinations, it was detected that the mic module inside the overhead light and mic combined assembly was not working. The service centre did not have any spare mic. Hence, I came back home.

Finally, on 21st August, they called up and informed the mic module part had been arranged and the service guy visited the home and replaced it. Now, it is working fine.

Touchwood, there is no mechanical issue I have observed so far. Hope my beloved Jimny does need not to visit the service centre again other than the periodic maintenance schedule. Bringing home the Jimny was a heart-over-head decision for me. These 4 weeks were really tough for us.

My observations:

1. The service centre staff are not aware of the features and functions of the Jimny electro-mechanicals yet. Hopefully, in 1-2 years' time, MSIL service centre technicians will get to break enough hardware to learn how to service Jimny.
2. Warranty replacements are denied by NEXA service centres owned by other dealerships. Hence, servicing MSIL cars anywhere is a myth. You have to remain dependent on the dealership owner's service centre only.
3. No response comes from MSIL if you escalate these matters from the first communication. The escalations are redirected to the same dealership guys or service centre guys. Things start moving after Reminder-1, Reminder-2 etc.
4. Many owners complained about alignment issues, and Jimny pulling to left or right direction. And those complaints have not yet been attended to. MSIL service centres are clueless about how to attend or how to diagnose and resolve these mechanical issues reported.
5. Spare availability- Jimny deliveries started on 8th June 2023. Even after 6 weeks, Service centres do not have Jimny's spare parts. They should either have at least one set in their stock or shall be able to quickly source from the regional spares stock centre.

Hope this new Jimny issues and initial niggles thread does not grow beyond single digit post count.

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