Re:What's your thoughts on power and braking with the Jimny?

I wanted a Jimny long before I'd ever driven one. The first one I drove was 2015 auto that was on sale at a used car lot. Despite it being a bit gutless I wasn't put off. I mentioned my thoughts to the salesman that the brakes seemed poor. He shrugged.I ended up buying a 2010 manual. I still like the car, but its power output leaves a lot to be desired, and I really wish the brakes were better.Power: it was rather embarrassing driving on a county road behind a rather slow-moving Landcruiser the other day. It had a trailer (maybe doing 95kph). I've long since stopped attempting to overtake anything on the wrong side of the road for fear of losing my life. A hill was coming up in the distance along with the friendly Overtaking Lane sign. The Landcruiser begins to slow on the hill. I changed into 4th and flattened the accelerator and I'm overtaking. Then I start to slow as the hill takes its toll on me and the Landcruiser is gaining in the other lane. I'm flat out and I'm dropping behind. There's a queue behind me. With the top of the hill approaching, I gradually speed up and get past. But bloody hell, I wish it had more guts. My car has had a 1600 motor put into it too. Is this common?Brakes: My car's brakes are like the 2015 model's brakes were. Much less than great. Other makes of cars I've driven have a light touch to the brake pedal and your stopping. With the Jimny I have to lean into the pedal quite hard. It's like there's no power boost. And this is after having the (rear) brakes done. I didn't worry too much since I know the shoes need to bed into the drums. That was ages ago. That should have happened by now.

Is this common and has anyone done anything about it? Things like a different booster, different front brakes - I don't even know if that's possible.

Having owned a number of reasonably powerful vehicles before getting my Jimny (my other car is a 2.7l Boxster) I have always thought that my 1,300 Jimny is under powered, although now I realise if you drop a gear and rev it above 4,000 rpm, it does a lot better, it is alien to me to do that.

As for braking, the brake on my Jimny are just fine, certainly good enough for the speed and weight of the vehicle and will stop my Jimny just as well as I stop in my Boxster.

Yours with a 1,600cc engine should be a fair bit faster, so as Lambert suggest perhaps a brake binding, collapsed CAT, blocked air filter etc.

Robin

I doubt the brakes are dragging. Whenever I stop at traffic lights the car begins to roll even on the very slightest of slopes.

That's an interesting one in regard to the catalytic converter. Thanks for suggesting it.


Never driven a Boxter, so can't tell. (I really have driven a huge variety of vehicles over the years.) But I imagine the Boxter would have rather good bakes. I take your point about high revs. I had a Toyota MR2 and it only went well when the revs went up. Though, it seems wrong to me, to have the Jimny rev so high that I have to make it sound like an F1 racer just to make it go like an ordinary car.


The tyres. Good point. I don't know the standard size. Mine are 215/75 15. I understand that a larger diameter wouldn't help (brakes nor performance), but at country cruising speeds I wouldn't have thought that would matter so much. You've got me thinking though.


There is some extra weight on it, but wouldn't most Jimny's have bolt-on accessories (mine has a bull bar, winch, toe bar, sidebars, under protection, roof rack, 2nd battery). All of that would cause it to lose performance, but it has a 1600cc engine. And in regard to the brakes, they are not better or worse than the 2015 model I test drove. So, despite the weight, I suspect the brakes are performing to spec.

ebc green stuff - good idea. Thanks. The website claims 10-15% improvement. That would make a noticeable difference.

Before you responded I had been wondering if the brake booster was working. I was pondering the idea of pulling the vacuum tube out and taking it for a drive to see how much difference there was on the braking effect. I might still do that as an experiment.

I'll probably have to put up with the performance issue. There's a thread here somewhere about someone fitting a turbo. As nice as that might be (I had a car with a turbo once - Nissan EXA. And it went like the blazes), I'm not going down that road.

It's been on the weighbridge. Part of the process in getting the registration in my name. Unladen Mass: 1280kg. That was part of a series of tests to ensure it was okay to be registered, they loaded it up to simulate two people plus luggage 1442kg; four people plus luggage 1604kg; then plus cargo 1648kg. With its heavier springs, it passed and was certified okay.

So, there's extra weight, but the thing that got me was that the one I test drove from the used car lot was stock standard and it was kind of gutless too, and seemed (in my mind) to have poor brakes just like mine.

The Jimny is underpowered and under braked in my humble opinion, In both cases it's just enough. Hills will see the speed drop and a few gear changes and braking, whilst initially has good bite, lacks any further performance the harder you press.
As I said just my opinion and that of others may differ, and I am comparing to most modern euro boxes which is usually in your rear view mirror trying to get past. Bit of an unfair comparison, but that's life.
Just check everything is in good order, particularly the front brakes as said above, and enjoy it for what it is. Still going to make you smile.
 

Unladen is 1280kg. The weight is all bolted on. With two people that makes it about 1440kg without luggage.Scimike, I think you hit the nail on the head - underpowered and under braked. Though, in regard to brakes, I don't get a 'good bite' initially. It's pretty much progressive: the harder you push the quicker you stop. The car was put on a brake dynamometer (I think that's the correct expression). With the front wheels on the rollers and my foot on the brake the machine physically pushed the car off. With the rear wheel on the rollers no matter how hard I pressed the pedal I could not get the wheels to stop rotating. That was following new drums and shoes on the rear. Anyway, from a practical point of view it's the front that does most of the braking. So, my next set of pads will be something better than standard, as Lambert pointed out: EBC Greenstuff, or similar.There's plenty to love about them off-road. I've discovered that already. I just have to get used to having the feeling I'm driving an old truck. Taking off from traffic lights, by the time I'm getting into 2nd gear other cars are generally up my arse or changing lanes to get past me.