If you’ve had eyes on the Suzuki Jimny but can’t live with the fact that the little 4×4 only has two doors, this new Jimny 5-Door – launched this afternoon by official Suzuki distributor Naza Eastern Motors – would be heaven-sent, or is it?
That depends on your expectations of extra space, because the Jimny 5-Door is essentially the same car, just longer and with two more doors than the original that was launched here in 2021. To accommodate the extra doors, Suzuki has lengthened the Jimny by 340 mm, although overall length is still below 4m at 3,985 mm. For context, the Perodua Ativa – one of the more compact SUVs in town – is 4,065 mm long (+80 mm).
All of the extra length has gone into the 2,590 mm wheelbase, so along with the extra doors are added rear legroom and a significantly larger cargo area, which has more than doubled in size from just 85 to 211 litres. This also means that the off-roader’s clearance angles are minimally affected compared to if the overhangs were longer.
The ladder frame Jimny’s break-over angle has gone from from 28 degrees to 24, approach and departure angles are now 36 degrees (was 37) and 47 degrees (was 49) respectively, and ground clearance is still 210 mm. The relatively narrow 1,645 mm width and relatively tall 1,720 mm height are standard Jimny, but pretty unusual compared to regular car-based SUVs.
Also unusual is the Jimny’s looks, but that’s actually a main draw when it comes to this fourth-generation Jimny – what do you think of the 5-Door’s looks versus the original? Cannot, or acceptable trade-off? An even better candidate for ‘Baby-G’ mods?
Changes to the rest of the exterior and interior are minimal – on the outside, the Jimny 5-Door comes with chrome rings on the five-slot grille, while the no-nonsense, no-frills cockpit now sports a 9.0-inch touchscreen head unit, two inches larger than the HU we had in the original. Note that the four-seat layout has been retained; there’s no centre seatbelt for the 50:50 split folding rear seats.
Also unchanged are what’s under the boxy body. Power comes from a 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine with 102 PS (100 hp) and 130 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. The K15B is paired with a four-speed torque converter automatic gearbox (no five-speed manual for us, as per the three-door) and there’s Suzuki’s AllGrip Pro part-time four-wheel-drive system with a low-range transfer case (2H, 4H and 4L).
Acceleration from 0-100 km/h is a leisurely, to put it mildly. After you hit the century mark in 17.2 seconds, you have 40 km/h more before reaching the maximum speed.
As for kit, it’s less than what you’ll expect from car-based SUVs. The equipment list reads automatic LED projector headlamps with washer (manual levelling), 15-inch dark grey alloys, electrically-adjustable and foldable wing mirrors, automatic air con, the above-mentioned 9.0-inch head unit with Android Auto and Apple Carplay, reverse camera, cruise control, buttons on the leather steering and fabric seats.
Safety wise, there are six airbags (front, side and curtain), ABS, ESP, hill hold control, hill descent control (10 km/h in high range, 5 km/h in low range), Isofix child seat mounts (2x rear) and rear parking sensors.
A CBU import from Maruti Suzuki in India (the SWB comes from Japan), the Suzuki Jimny 5-Door is priced from RM199,950 on-the-road excluding insurance, a fair bit more than the three-door’s RM175k price.
Colour options are Bluish Black Pearl, Granite Gray Metallic (new to Malaysia), Chiffon Ivory Metallic (with black roof, two-tone), Sizzling Red Metallic with a black roof (see the gallery below) and the signature Jungle Green you see here. A note on the colours: metallic colours are a RM1,500 cost option (RM201,450) and two-tone options cost RM2,500 extra, which means that prices max out at RM202,450.
So, what do you think of the Jimny 5-Door? Of course, this little Suzy makes very little sense (a slight improvement from the ‘zero’ we called in our review of the original), and it’s not for everyone (most people will be better served by a normal SUV), but if its unique charms speak to you, there’s nothing quite like the Jimny on sale today – read our review here.
GALLERY: Suzuki Jimny 5-Door in Jungle Green
GALLERY: Suzuki Jimny 5-Door in Sizzling Red Metallic
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