Maruti Suzuki Jimny road test, review

The Jimny’s ladder-frame construction gives it serious off-road prowess, and when you judge it in the light of its natural rival – Mahindra Thar – the Jimny’s suspension impresses with its pliancy, its bump absorption capability and its road-holding manners. Equally admirable is its robust construction, which feels like it can take a repeated beating and it remains unfazed over the toughest of terrains. You wouldn’t think twice before taking  it off-the-beaten track, or attacking pothole-stricken roads without slowing down.

Compare its ride to monocoque compact SUVs, and the Jimny’s feels a bit unsophisticated, with some rocking movements over less-than-perfect roads. On account of its boxy, slab-sided design, crosswinds also tend to hamper its highway manners; each time a larger vehicle passes by, you’d experience a gush of wind, which could unsettle the car. And when pushing the car around a series of bends, it rolls a fair bit and understeers due to its skinny front-end; enthusiastic drivers will be left yearning for tighter body control. What also dampens the drive experience is steering, which needs a fair bit of input to persuade it to change direction. On the highway, it has a slack in the dead-centre position where it feels a touch lifeless. And it isn’t user-friendly in urban conditions either. Uniquely, it uses a recirculating ball-type electric power steering, which also happens to be tuned for off-roading rather than road use. As a result, it is slow geared and requires four turns lock-to-lock, has a huge turning radius, and what further dampens the experience is that it is heavy to twirl around too.

In off-road applications, however, the slow-geared steering shows merit, and Maruti has also added additional steering dampers, so it doesn’t kickback aggressively like many other off-roaders. The Jimny gets Suzuki’s AllGrip Pro four-wheel-drive system, and unlike the Grand Vitara’s AllGrip Select  system, it doesn’t get selectable drive modes (Auto, Snow, Sand and Lock) but gets a manual lever to choose between 2H (2WD) and 4H (4WD). It also gets 4L or 4-low range gear, which is handy to conquer challenging terrain. Combine that with solid front and rear axles, its mere 1,200kg kerb weight and electric wizardries like hill-start assist, hill-descent control, ESP and electronic brake locking differential (front and rear), the Jimny has a mountain goat-like ability to trundle through the rough. What’s equally commendable is that it hauled itself up rock-covered steep inclines, waded through water, leaned at unimaginable angles and pulled itself out of sticky situations, without batting an eyelid. This, while driving on stock highway all-season (mud+snow) tyres, which seem more than capable at their job.