2019 Jimny Vs 2002

Thanks everyone. Sounds like light evolution rather than complete revolution. Interesting stuff, sounds promising.
My old Jimny was indeed great fun. Had lift blocks, tyres, steering damper and some other minor bits and pieces. So nothing too crazy.
The things that eventually I found hard work was the completely gutless engine and the space inside. Both of which sounds like it has improved. Secondary concern was the way it rode passengers being more put off by that than me!

As I said , always enormous fun (apart from going down the motorway!) And I enjoyed taking it off road but limited opportunities to do so near meant a long journey to get to play sites was quite off putting....

The 1.5 engine is nice. It revs freely and willingly to the redline. But will also pull smoothly from 1200-1500rpm in top.

On open roads the vehicle doesn't feel slow IMO. In traffic you will have to work it a little harder to keep pace, as while it doesn't feel slow. Many modern cars are actually quite peppy (diesel autos).

But I do know peoples perceptions are quite different. The reality is, it isn't a fast vehicle. But for me, that just doesn't matter as the sense of occasion is so high.

No issues driving on the motorway in our Gen 4

Ignore the motoring magazines, the new Jimny is fine on the motorway as long as you don't drive it flat out, as they seem to do.

65mph all day, cruise control on, we have driven on the motorway in appalling weather on the way back from Wales and was fine.
Noise levels are fine up to the legal limit, certainly no worse than our VW Up GTi.

Obviously an Audi A7 is going to feel more secure, but the Jimny is nowhere near as bad as some magazines would have you believe.

As l said, so long as you drive it with regard to the type of vehicle that it is.

Given the gen3 and gen4 are so similar and have the same shortcomings, how about buying a tidy gen3 and modifying it? 1.6 engine, new suspension, comfier seats, better stereo, LSD etc etc. For £20k less than a standard gen4 you could have a comfier, faster, more capable car.

We had a 12 plate Jimny which i loved, but my mrs hated it. It used to make her feel sick so when one of our cars was due for replacement sadly the Jimbo had to go. Fortunately she works at a Suzuki dealer and we were lucky enough to have a long weekend with the new Jimny when it came out. She was easily won over by the many improvements over the older model. We will have had it a year come March and it's very rarely that i get to drive it now as she loves it. It seems to me that many of the gripes with the older Jimny have been addressed.

Buy a tidy Gen.3, modify it, ie add £3k and finish up saving £20k on the price of a Gen.4. Amazing, tell me more.

Roger