Buying a Jimny, I've been bitten!

I've always liked 4x4s, since I was a child.
Had a 4x4 remote control Defender when I was about 8, I drove it over every ditch, hole, or uneven surface and it was such fun.
I'm only 19 now but have decided I want a 4x4.
The Jimny is extremely low on insurance for me, less than half what I'm paying now on my Cooper S.
So are they easy to live with as it'll be my daily driver, and my fun at the weekends.

I'm going to look at one tomorrow and don't think I'll sleep tonight 'cause I'm really excited.
My budget is about £3500 but I think I should be able to get a good one for that.

Any advice peeps?

Just found this forums on tapatalk too woop!


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I am here: maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.162982,-3.155551

It will be a totally different drive from your Cooper S. Make sure you are happy with the way it drives for two reasons:

1. It will be so different from your Mini, if you are going to drive it every day make sure you are happy with the fairly harsh ride and the leaning on bends. It is also rear wheel drive so be prepared for it to be tail happy in slippery conditions. (These are not problems, just the way a typical 4x4 is, remember that, in common with most 4x4's, the driving technology is distinctly 1970's)

2. Jimnys do have some problems in the general drive characteristics. Make sure it drives and stops straight, there is no wobble as you gently accelerate and decelerate between 35mph to 50mph. No clunks bangs and whines.

If its an older one, look for rust in the boot floor.

Goodl luck

if you want a modified one have alook at Gazert's that he is selling on here

You'll already know about "harsh ride" - Cooper S with run flats :sick:, at least the Jimny has softer seats!!

£3,500 budget - I'd buy one for 2k and spend the rest on mods!! Nice......

Also bare in mind that you will have next to no power in comparison to the Cooper S.

Mine struggles to do 40mph up a hill

Just test driven a 2004 model at a Suzuki garage. They offered me a straight swap for my 05 Cooper S!
It was very slow compared to the Cooper S, but I can deal with that.

How do I find Gazerts on here?

After test driving, I still want one!
It had no buttons for 4WD 2WD etc, which I though they did?
It had like another gear stick, but I couldn't read what it said on it.

That means the one you saw is a definite 2004 rather than a 2005 year model as they changed to electric switches for the 4WD in the 2005 model year.

If you are going to modify it then that is good news as the electric ones require a bit more work to modify (ie. you have to play with the wiring to fool the computer into thinking the electric system is ok.). Therefore 2004 is the last of the manual ones and simpler to work with,

Martin

Alan16ac wrote: Just test driven a 2004 model at a Suzuki garage. They offered me a straight swap for my 05 Cooper S!
It was very slow compared to the Cooper S, but I can deal with that.

I bet they did! They won't struggle to shift the mini and i'd say its worth about 1-1.5k more than the jimny depending on condition, I know p/x will offer less but it just doesn't sound like much of a deal to me. On autotrader there are 2005 cooper s for nearly 7k and 2004 jimny's are nearly 3k retail!!

I'd be selling the mini privately unless you need rid in a hurry, just looks like your selling yourself short.

I look after my Cooper S like it's my baby!
It's in mint condition, the alloys are mint, never curbed.
Oil change every 5000 miles.
Down side is I love driving it so much it's now on 92000 miles.
I'm selling it privately for £5000, there's a few mods on it which I will strip and can sell for about £800.