By Bob Flavin of thenextgear.com
So the last two winters have been hard, snow and frost making the experience of getting around even harder than usual and for some impossible. There is a little help at hand and it comes with 4×4 capability but has a small exterior.
The Suzuki Jimny seems to have been around forever and when we have a bit of snow it comes into its own. There are two versions that came out here, one of them is only two wheel drive, you can tell the difference by the lack of a short gear stick, allowing you to switch into 4WD.
The Jimny is a four seat car with a small boot. It’s compact, but it’s also a very complete car. On the road the Jimny handles like a tall car, the seating position is tall and puts you above the pedals. Some will tell you that the Jimny is easily turned over – well I can tell you that it isn’t. It will keep up with most cars in the corners, the short wheel base does make it oversteer a bit, though.
Once you get off road or down a green lane, the Jimny’s short overhangs front and rear mean you can tackle any hill or hollow. Even in deep snow the little Jimny will put its bigger 4×4 cousins to shame – a pull of the handle and away you go.
The 1.3 petrol engine isn’t what you would call gutsy but it will get you where you want to go. Being a Suzuki it won’t need much looking after either, just check the fluids every now and then and keep it serviced.
There are many examples of the Jimny out there, indeed there are many rivals to it as well including the Mitsubishi Pajero Junior, which has a 1.0 ltr engine, but it’s nowhere near as good as the Jimny.
Dealers have been smart since last winter, because the Jimny is a good seller they’ve been importing some of these cars from across the pond, which is why you’ll see a good few more of them around the roads of Ireland at the moment.
Make sure you know the history of the car you’re getting (use motorcheck.ie for this) and have the car inspected properly because although there are no historical mechanical problems to speak of, you might just get the one bad car.
A quick search of the Internet shows there’s lots of choice out there, if you’re on a budget you can go all the way back to 1999 where you might find leaf springs on the back. If you’re feeling more flush, come up to 2005 where you can expect to pay €5000 or more for a good example.
If you got stuck in the snow last month, or just fancy being able to drive up a mountain, the little Suzuki Jimny may well be the car for you.
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