Advice, please

Had my Jimny 'driven-delivered' yesterday. Only thing is, the guy who delivered it drove the 50 miles from the dealership on a motorway with it in 4WD. The manual says:
"Never operate your vehicle in 4H or 4L on dry pavement and, as much as possible, avoid using 4H or 4L on wet pavement, as this may seriously damage the drive train"
!
The road(s) condition was damp. What do you think?

Thanks, Martin. But what do you mean by that? Should it have packed up way before 50 miles, is that it?

It's definitely worth taking up with whoever is responsible. It will be difficult to know what damage has been caused as it will most likely manifest as accelerated wear rather than anything being broken. A Suzuki dealer may be able to inspect and advise.

I was thinking the same. It might not just be the 50-mile delivery. Someone might have test-driven it in 4WD and it's been left in it for god knows how long. At the moment I'm leaning toward a legally-worded guarantee that if a fault manifests itself, they will pay for it, even if it doesn't happen for years. I can see this could get nasty. Or I have the legal option to reject the car, I think. Maybe I'd best contact someone technical at Suzuki UK first.

Yes, I understand that. What you describe, about feeling like treacle etc., would that be in 4WD-H and 4WD -L? When I tried it in 4WD-H it felt different, but not markedly so.

I sent him an email after he had delivered it:
"By the way, when I got in the Jimny for the first time, it was in 4WD. Did you realise you had driven all the way with it in 4WD? Should have felt a bit weird on tight corners – the front wheels snatch."
He replied:
"I thought it felt a little bit snatchy! That would explain it, sorry about that."

I tried it briefly in a car park, to see the difference in performance. In 4WD the front wheels did indeed briefly snatch on cornering. I didn't try it in 4WD-L as I was getting concerned by then! The Jimny has been owned by a young girl since new, and maybe she never had it in 4WD once! I come from the world of Defenders, and our forums often reminded drivers to engage low 4WD every now and again. Indeed, the lever on my Defender was hard to engage if I hadn't moved it for some time.

Update on this:
I contacted Suzuki, who don't have any technical people to talk to at all(!). They said I should ask my local dealer's mechanic. He said it's ok and won't hurt, but Suzuki are going to ask their technical team to respond, but it takes two days, minimum, apparently. Must admit, I'm not at all impressed with Suzuki UK. I have a Fiat van, and I thought Fiat UK were useless, but at least they have a technical department here in the UK that can assist with enquiries on the phone. When you have something that is a concern, you don't want to wait at least two days, nor really talk to a local dealer, you want an expert (maybe this is why I tend to buy British!).

All this has managed to take the shine off my new purchase - I always knew something would.

So, despite what the manual says, it would appear to be ok to drive in 4WD-H!

Barry wrote: The road(s) condition was damp. What do you think?

I'd be fuming, gutted and angry. There is no recourse I can think of on this. When I had my latest Suzuki (Celerio) brought up from London they were going to drive it up so I asked a lot of questions about the driver knowing how to treat a new car with an automatic like that has. In the end they had it trailered up and said they did that because they didn't want the slightest problem in delivery to please me.
The same should have applied to your Jimny.
Martin is right in what he states. I drove my SJ and Jimny for a (very) short while in 4x4 on the dry and you can feel the wind up so if he drove it 50 miles it is either broken or it wasn't in 4x4 for him to be able to say say he didn't notice. One point I make is that sometimes the 4x4s I have had for various reasons have not engaged 4x4 like they indicated they had even with the stick in the engaged position. He might have been in just rear wheel drive. You are so right in saying it takes the edge off your new purchase and I don't know how the dealer could ever get the smile back on your face. One thing I can say is that with regard to dealerships I knew there was a lot of ignorance and this was reinforced in my buying the Celerio. I cannot begin to express my disenchantment at your all to common garage experience.
Good luck.