2019 Jimny - Real Life Experience + Feedback

Reading all this info so far is very useful!

I pestered my local dealer since the first spy shots of the new Jimny were released and managed to buy one of the first batch. I am not disappointed!
I won't repeat what others have already posted here, as I agree with nearly all of it.

I absolutely love the new Jimny, after coming from a love/hate relationship with many Land Rover Defenders (I love the looks and concept but hate the many problems)! Luckily these have always been second cars and not daily drivers.

One thing that struck me immediately is that it weirdly doesn't feel much smaller inside and the elevated driving position is much the same as a Defender. It is weird because the Jimny is clearly tiny, as you notice every time you approach it! The driving experience is much the same too, especially with the steering (which quickly feels completely normal of course), but all other Jimny controls and the slick gear change feel much smoother and more refined. Performance is nothing like my last 90 (one of the last made), but this is not an issue for me. The lightness, nimbleness and external size make it so much more fun to drive in many ways. It doesn't cruise on motorways in the same way though, by a long margin.

I agree that the little passenger side additional mirror on some Japanese Jimnys would be great, so perhaps we could have a bulk buy if someone finds out where to buy them from?!

I went for the removable tow bar option which hasn't been used yet and is easy to fit. The supporting bar does reduce the rear departure angle slightly. The ball does extend beyond the line of the rear wheel on the door, so I was surprised that I could fit my Thule ball-mounted bike rack (which is nearly vertical).

I also went for the door protection mouldings which I though might add a little protection. I nearly told the dealer not to fit them because of the looks in a last minute panic, but actually I think they work with the blue/black theme on mine.

The rubber mats are good with a decent lip, so driving with muddy boots is no problem at all and the pedals are fine too.

One thing that I've never seen on a review is that when folding the rear seats, remove the headrests and then they do fold completely flat! I keep the headrests in a bag in the rear footwell.

I also bought the full depth rear load carrier, mainly because I have a dog. This fits really well, although to put it in the front seats need to go forward and it is a little fiddly to put it in the car side on and then turn 90 degrees. I put in a load liner underneath which also fixes to the rear of the front seats, so it gives great protection. Note however that the resulting space is pretty small and really quite high up, so my spoiled Vizsla gets lifted in and out.

Bad points:
Hardly anything at all really.
I also find the reversing light pathetic, in fact I got my son to check it was working as it is so poor at night. I'm interested on the replacement bulb options discussed here.
My only concern is that I do get occasional clutch judder when pulling away in first. I can't quite establish if it is the case, but it seems to happen sometimes when cold. Most of the time it doesn't happen at all. I mentioned it to the dealer and he told me their demonstrator does the same thing. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks atinod - some really useful additional observations.

Key question - does your pampered vizsla like the Jimny? (If the answer is 'yes', then I think we can all rest calmly at night!)

Yes, thanks, atinod, a really excellent first post, considered thoughts and detailed review, as well as the super pics, particularly your night-snow pic which is a great one!

You haven't mentioned where you're from, but I'll guess it's somewhere fairly northern with all that snow! :silly:

Rear seat head rests will fit neatly side by side in the pocket behind the passenger seat.

I get the clutch judder, i know what you mean by that. I'm not certain on what it is, because it's a bit like axle tramp on a front wheel drive car.

Atinod - a BigJimny welcome to you from the Cotswold Hills!

This reversing light issue is bad. When I was considering buying a Jimny (Gen3) my brother had owned one from new and regarded the reversing lights as one of the cars best features - and I have to agree with him!

The only thing I can suggest is approaching THESE PEOPLE , and fit a high power led.
Why those people? Well I'm involved with vintage cars and there is a lot of folk discussing (and switching from) oil-lamp output to modern leds, however most of the stuff on eBay is appalling quality.
I bought some leds from a UK seller on eBay claiming they were "ultra bright" they turned out to be quite poor in comparison to the far better quality leds found with those guys .

Unfortunately they dont yet stock all fittings but in the case of my reg plate bulbs they did; here is a comparison of the best I could find on eBay and the good ones from Dynamo Conversions...







As you can see the right hand one (the best I could find on eBay at the time) is a bright white glow - but the Dynamo Conversions one is dazzlingly bright.
When I made the comparison I wasn't really expecting much - but I was blown away by the difference.

Perhaps they have something that you could fit in lieu of the existing bulb that might improve matters

Thanks - VERY useful contact.

atinod wrote:
One thing that I've never seen on a review is that when folding the rear seats, remove the headrests and then they do fold completely flat! I keep the headrests in a bag in the rear footwell.

I park the rear head rests here.

Ha ha, whoops.

My dog is very happy - the Jimny means lovely countryside walks!

Thanks for the info on the reversing light, very interesting - I will look into it further and come back with any results.

I didn't consider putting the head rests in the pocket, that is a very neat solution, although it doesn't quite work with the boot liner I've got.

I couldn't be much further South, right on the coast actually. It is rare to get snow here, so I try to make the most of it!

I spent the day spinning tools on my Jimny today, fitting factory mudflaps and door mouldings and lining my rear door sills in a little experiment and I have a few notes.

The rear seats folding flat is a great feature, however the rear door sill I think is prone to scratching and scuffing if you're not careful loading and unloading, so I have lined mine with some bin-liner (truck bed liner) along with the tool well to see how it wears and will keep you guys posted.

The second note, is in loosening the inner fenders to fit the front mudflaps, there is already a lot of mud, gunk and leaves collecting back there around the front of the sills with almost no offroading as yet. I seem to recall guys drilling the underside of the body near mudflaps on Gen3s so this much would drain. Does anyone have any insight, or am I imagining this?