Maruti Suzuki Jimny road test, review

Even though fuel efficiency isn’t this off-roader’s core competency, Maruti claims an overall fuel efficiency of 16.94kpl for the manual and 16.39kpl for the automatic. In our tests though, the Maruti Jimny manual managed to do 10.86kpl in the city and 14.74kpl on the highway, whereas the automatic wasn’t too far behind, with figures of 10.04kpl in the city and 13.56kpl on the highway.

Despite the stretch, the 5-door Jimny is still a sub-4 metre SUV.

Both versions get an auto stop/start feature, which helps conserve fuel while idling by seamlessly shutting off the engine as soon as you come to a complete stop, and restarting it when you lift off the brake pedal (AT), or when you depress the clutch pedal (MT). Another point to note is that while cruising at 100kph in top gear, the engine is spinning at a rather high 3,000rpm in the AT and 3,200rpm in the MT, which not only impacts fuel efficiency, but also makes the engine sound quite vocal at cruising speeds.