Chisana Mahou
First appeared in 4x4 magazine, november 2018
Like the Suzuki Jimny, the phrase 'chisana mahou’ is Japanese. It means ‘a little magic’, which could be a pretty apt way of describing the small but brilliant off-roader that’s been slaying giants ever since its introduction in 1998.
Yes, 1998. It’s been a long time.The original Jimny lasted two full decades, but now at last the new one is here.And it looks absolutely brilliant. It looks brilliant in pictures and, now we’ve seen it in the metal, it looks brilliant for real. If anything, actually, it looks even better for real. Everyone seems to say it looks like a scaled- down G-Wagen. On the launch event, even some of Suzuki’s own people said that.You might also note a similarity to the old LJ, or go looking for a Wrangler-style cues in its styling.We prefer to see it as a new Jimny – there’s a bit of retro to it, but most of all its styling is a focused work of off-road function.
But what you want to know is whether it’s any good. And yes,it is.
Actually, here comes that word again: it’s brilliant. As brilliant as it looks. And, if you didn’t notice, it looks brilliant.
Right then, with that off our chests we can get into it.The new Jimny is a little wider and taller than the old one, but a little shorter too, and its approach, departure and breakover angles are all better. It’s still built on a ladder chassis, it still has live beam axles and it still has a dual-range transfer case.All boxes ticked so far.
Suzuki says it designed the vehicle to appeal to people who will use it professionally. People who work on the land, in forests, around construction sites and so on.The lurid green colour featured on launch vehicles is a nod to high-vis jackets, and there’s also a dark green designed to blend in with the landscape, should your recreational bag involve ridding said landscape of as much wildlife as possible with your big gun.
So, it’s aimed at the sort of people who would once have bought a Defender but who now buy a Ranger, Navara or other double-cab instead. It is, in Suzuki’s words,‘the world’s smallest authentic off-roader.’
Does this mean it still has the world’s smallest cabin? Well, it’s definitely not enormous, but it’s certainly a lot less cramped than the old one.You can stretch your legs quite comfortably and,while elbow room is still pretty slender, headroom is excellent.
In the back, knee room is as tight as you’d expect – though with soft and deeply sculpted seat-backs ahead of you, it actually is possible for one tall adult to sit behind another. It won’t feel spacious, but head room is plentiful here too and there’s a very decent view out from a position that’s bang in between the B and C posts.
Drop the back seats, and you get a near-flat cargo space with a floor that’s hard and waterproof, albeit completely devoid of grip. Some way of securing your luggage would be good, otherwise it’ll set off sideways every time you go round a corner.The rear aperture is huge and almost square, which is excellent, though when the seats are up you’re left with next to no baggage room at all.
Up front, the dash is very reminiscent of the Wranglers, both in terms of its general design and the use of exposed hex bolts to secure the trim panels. It’s all trimmed in hard plastic, of course, but none of this feels brittle – though there’s a bit of creaking from behind the facia, and the floor console is pretty wobbly.
Most of all, it looks great.And it’s home to a world of features that leaves the old Jimny far behind – think cruise, climate, heated seats, sat- nav, phone pairing and so on. Even the entry-level SZ4 model is well equipped, while the SZ5 adds a further dollop of good kit – as well as giving you the option of automatic transmission, should you want it.
This goes on to the back of a 1.5-litre petrol engine with 101bhp at 6000rpm and 95lbf.ft at 4000rpm.Those don’t sound like big numbers (well, the rpm ones do), but the vehicle only weighs in at 1135kg and the result is that so long as you don’t have stupid expectations, it’s perfectly brisk enough to keep you happy.
The engine doesn’t need an offensive amount of revs to get the vehicle going, though we found it quite easy to stall when pulling away. First gear is nice and deep all the same, though the spread of ratios isn’t helped by the fact that there’s only five of them – there’s a long step up to second, and the vehicle’s civility at speed would definitely be helped by an overdrive sixth. Not that it would ever be in its element here, with a good bit of wind and road noise at anything above about 60mph and steering that doesn’t really settle at speed.
It’s not made for the motorway, however, and both around town and on back roads it’s in its element. By that we don’t mean it’s some sort of B-road weapon, but for general tooling around it’s as zesty as you could reasonably want. It corners exactly the way you’d expect, which is no bad thing unless you wish you were driving a hit hatch instead, and is far, far smoother than the old one on any kind of road surface. Off-road, our instinct is that there’s more ground clearance than before.We were shepherded round a forest, on a very tight leash, over terrain that rarely provided any sort of test for the vehicle, but there was enough there to demonstrate good articulation from the three- link suspension system and enough space below the diffs to navigate typically rutted conditions without alarm.
Its small footprint makes it exceptionally manoeuvrable, too, and its 195/80R15 tyres are tall enough to be tractable most of the time. One thing we didn’t see much evidence for, however, was the brake-operated LSD system that’s standard on all models. We managed to break ranks for long enough to get the Jimny quite well cross-axled – whereupon its traction management software should start braking the wheels with no traction in order to shuffle drive to those planted more firmly on the ground. What we found was further evidence for what we always say: there’s no substitute for locking diffs.
Naturally, the aftermarket will already be working on solutions.There was no shortage of diff-locks, suspension lifts, bash plates, snorkels, winch bumpers and so on for the old Jimny, and that won’t change with the new one.You’ll soon be able to put one of these on your driveway and turn it into the coolest off-road ride in town.
How soon is soon? Suzuki says the UK on-sale date is 1 January, which we’re fairly sure is a bank holiday but never mind. Initial deliveries will be spoken for well before then, at any rate – the factory has allocated 1500 units to Britain in the first year, and with more than twice that number of prospective customers already having registered their interest you can safely assume that demand is going to outstrip supply.
What this means, of course, is that you can forget all about dealer discounts. Which brings us to one of the big questions that’s so far been answered solely with hints and suggestions. We asked Suzuki’s people if it was fair to assume the new Jimny would cost around 10% more than the old one, and they said ‘maybe a little more’ or words to that effect.Which we take to mean it’s going to cost about £2000 on top of what the old one used to be.
This of course means that the Jimny will be the cheapest real 4x4 in Britain by a long, long way. It’ll cost significantly less than any of the aforementioned pick-ups, and even the next- cheapest proper off-road station wagon in the UK market (the new Utility-spec Toyota Land Cruiser) comes in at about twice what you’ll pay for a range-topping Jimny. In fact, assuming those price forecasts aren’t out by an eye-opening degree, the Jimny is going to undercut most of the road-legal side-by-side UTVs on the market by a handy degree too.
Inevitably, its towing weight is going to look more like that of a UTV than a big 4x4; whichever gearbox you plump for, it’ll haul 1300kg tops. For cargo carrying, a 1435kg gross weight means you should be able to put 300 kilos’ worth of load in the back, depending on what options you’ve fitted and how heavy you are yourself.
Talking of figures that matter, the 1.5-litre engine will return 35.8mpg on the combined cycle and put out 178g/km of CO2.Those figures become 32.2mpg and 198g/km if you opt for
the four-speed automatic, which we wouldn’t be inclined to do.
All of which leaves us on tenterhooks.That the new Jimny is a totally worthy successor to the old one is, we think, without doubt. Indeed, on the basis of what we’ve seen so far we think it’s fair to say that it’s a quantum leap forward. But we’ve already had one bucket of cold water thrown over our reaction to a new off-roader this year, when Jeep told us that the new Wrangler, exceptional vehicle though it is, was likely to start at approaching £45,000 when the UK order book opens.
Yes, Jeep can get away with being greedy, because demand is way ahead of supply. But that’s the same very happy situation that Suzuki is going to find itself in. If prices do indeed rise as modestly as the UK importer says they will, this is going to be a devastating new arrival here.
We’ll find out in November. For now, what we’ve found out is that the Jimny is back – and it’s brought more than a little magic with it.
