What's like a jimmy?

[Young Pretender]

I'm thinking of getting a little old runabout, something like a suzuki jimmy appeals to me, because they are cheap (sub £2.5K), reliable, simple and capable off road.  I think they are ok ish on fuel tool.

 

Any alternatives that fit the above criteria that I might consider?

 

..and has anyone owned a jimmy and liked it?

[Paul Gibney - Lancashire AO]

My dad had one a few years back , he wanted to give it to me as a present when he bought a new car.

I took it for a test drive and hated it , found it uncomfortable to drive didn't seem safe at all.

[Boombang]

Parkers recommends: Daihatsu Terios; Fiat Panda 4x4; or the Rav4 as alternatives (and scores all far higher).

[blue ass fly]

Get a Freelander,you can actually use it off road and youd get quite a good one for that money

[Meakin]

I've got a Jimmy and it's not bad at all. Fuel is okay no power on the road needs a letter in writing if you want to overtake.

I haven't done the full off road thing but a friend of mine that does said they were pretty good.

It definitely comes into its own when my drive and village is snowed in. It simply just drives out no problem at all. I used to have to use snow chains on the fiesta the jimny doesn't have any problem when I have seen other 4x4s like bmw fail. So I would think it is pretty good at the off road stuff. I think it's due to the manual switching of the 4 wheel drive that does it.

Hope that helps

Paul

[pickmaster Andy Lowe]

My wife has a Suzuki grand vitara SWB and it knocks spots off my Land Rover Disco in last years snow

We had 4 weeks cut off the council couldn't get a plough to us

I was bouncing off fences with my disco when I didn't put chains on, ripped my front bumper off

The wife on the other hand was driving where she wanted when she wanted in her Suzuki lol

[Young Pretender]

From what I'm reading and watching on youtube they are seemingly very capable off road even in standard form.

 

Paul, what sort of mpg do you see?

 

Cheers

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

narrow tyres on the jimmy probably make all the difference - they do look good value for a cheapy all rounder

[Meakin]

About 40 mpg mostly country lane 60 mph stuff. I don't measure it but it's not far off that I'll check my receipts somewhere if that helps

[Young Pretender]

Don't worry ball park is fine mate.

 

I've just realised they are called a Jimny not a Jimmy lol.. think I like Jimmy better 

[bigals]

The wife had one years ago and it was a cracking bit of kit took it off road and bounced over ruts that landrovers were getting stuck in. Cheep to run.The advantage is they drive across mud and snow and dont sink in But if you can find a grand vitara with the pug tdi lump in then they are even better due to having some real torque in the engine. The toyotas are better built but will cost more to run. If you get a freelander check out the road tax first as it is quite high and they like to chew rear difs so make sure that they dont have any strange clunking sounds

[Stuart]

Hire company I rented one off in Iceland had to upgrade me to a Vitara cos all their Jimnys had fallen over.  Literally - the guy had a very poor opinion of them,  But it was Iceland

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

The Jimneys are proper off roaders. Just like the SJ's before them were. They might not make the best road car, but they're not a soft roader like a lot of the small Toyota/Landrover etc products. (Though, I suppose to be fair, Landrover started to use electronics to address some of the Freelanders shortcomings, eventually.)

 

But it depends what you're really going to use it for! It's also likely to be slow, cramped, not desperately comfortable and probably not that much carrying capacity.

 

I've got an old Grand Vitara I'm hacking round in at the moment, and even though it's a long wheelbase, (yeah, right!) the boots still small! 

 

That at said, its a laugh I suspect it uses. The same drive train, so 2 wd/4 wd selectable, with proper high/low range transfer box, and auto freewheeling front hubs*

 

*slightly more complicated than just hubs! but that's not really relevant.

[stewart pickles]

I know a guy who builds jimny's  for off road and they are very good

 

when he started doing them I was horrified to see him get a brand new one from our local Suzuki dealer, it still had plastic bags on the seats he told the dealer not to bother with the pdi etc and what he was doing with it would invalidate any warranty :laugh: the first thing he did to it was cut the roof off

 

check out kap motorsport

 

www.kapsuzuki4x4.co.uk

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Not really followed the off-road competition stuff for years, but once upon a time, at least, the SJ's used to be very highly respected. Though not big and powerful, the light weight and short wheelbase meant they could excel where the heavier longer wheel base Defenders would struggle. (And vice versa of course!)

 

Mind you, still remember my sisters SJ, years ago. Possibly one of the worst road cars I've ever been in! Had this very disturbing sensation on turn in to anything other than long gentle turns at any sort of speed, where you'd feel the wheels turn in and start to track round the bend, and for the merest tiny fraction of a second, you'd feel the car body still carrying on in a straight line. (Bit like that feeling in a bus, if you stand forward of the front wheels).