My Chiffon Ivory JB74 SZ5 - blog/mods/build thread

Hi there,

It makes me wonder if the jumping outta low range could be to do with your driving course. Do you experience any wind-up in the drive train making sharp corners. If it was slippy then the wheels would slip, allowing for equilibrium, maybe that is the reason??

Just thinking aloud.

Hi Andy,
It should stay in gear even if you are driving on tarmac with no wheel slip (don't do this). Not aware they have fitted a torque transducer to measure wind up and get the ECU to drop it out, but you never know.
Accidentally drove my Land Rover in 4x4 on tarmac (no lights to tell you), if felt odd, then it jumped in the air with an explosive bang as it unwound, luckily nothing broke.

Hya scimike,

Ive done that too. Reversed amd turned in 4h, felt like i ran over a dog and then banged as it unwound. Only dod that once!!

Scimike wrote: Hi Andy,
It should stay in gear even if you are driving on tarmac with no wheel slip (don't do this). Not aware they have fitted a torque transducer to measure wind up and get the ECU to drop it out, but you never know.
Accidentally drove my Land Rover in 4x4 on tarmac (no lights to tell you), if felt odd, then it jumped in the air with an explosive bang as it unwound, luckily nothing broke.

It's got nothing sophisticated. Simple lever operation

It can only be the traditional items such as broken mounts or rubbers, selector fault (broken or worn selector, missing ball bearing etc)

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Thanks for the thoughts. I'm pretty sure it jumps out when the ground is wet, so plenty of scope for the wheels to slip.

My gut says it is something simple like the linkage. But I'd rather get it looked at under warranty. It was one of the main reasons for buying new, to save me having to crawl under to fix them.

So if the wheels are slipping on the "green ice" then the Allgrip system will burst into life and will rapidly modulate the brakes to act as an e-diif. At this point snatching vibration will be fed into the driveshafts, I wonder if this is causing it to jump out?

Ya know what, ive just thought, mine was slipping out of low range when i didnt engage the lever hard enough. Sometimes it would still beep to tell me i was engaed in 4l, but nevertheless it would jump out. A silly thought perhaps, but really make sure you press down firmly and all the way back.

Andy2640 wrote: Ya know what, ive just thought, mine was slipping out of low range when i didnt engage the lever hard enough. Sometimes it would still beep to tell me i was engaed in 4l, but nevertheless it would jump out. A silly thought perhaps, but really make sure you press down firmly and all the way back.

Thanks, I appreciate the sentiment.

Although I'm not sure I could reasonably engage the lever any harder when selecting low. And when it first started exhibiting this issue, I did experiment to make sure it wasn't simple user error. I must have driven it off road at least half a dozen times or more before encountering the problem. Then every time since, without exception it has jumped out of low.

The vehicle was fine when I first started using it off road, then out of the blue it started exhibiting this behaviour. And not wishing to blow my own trumpet, I'm not exactly a novice to off roading or 4 wheel drive vehicles. Have been off roading for nearly 30 years and grew up on a farm with loads of interesting machinery to play with. I've also rebuilt a few Land Rover's and extensively modified them. And have been competing in off road competitions since the late 1990's.

Hi, you have posted pictures of the front tie down & your transfer box with debris stuck in them. You might have damaged something or have something stuck in there. Transfer guard is a must. I hope its a simple fix.

I have had it a few times with mine, where I push the lever down and back, the ESP-off light goes on, but when I try to pull away I get a lovely grating noise. I then put it back to neutral and give the lever another hard shove, it is usually OK after that.

300bhpton wrote: Living with a Jimny – The 2 week Road-test Review

I have had my Jimny for two weeks now. Yes, that’s right, it is mine. Undoubtedly this review will be slightly biased. However, having now spent 25 hours or more seat time and over 650 miles covered. I suspect I’m well placed to offer an initial opinion. Remember many motoring journalists may only get a few hours or a day with a vehicle to review it.

I’ll dive straight in and say it is an extremely pleasing and satisfying vehicle to pilot. It isn’t 100% perfect, but no car is. However, it is getting rather close for me, with only a few minor niggles or complaints.

This is purely an ‘on-road’ review at this stage. The vehicle will be going off road, but it has been far to wet and muddy to get something I own completely filthy off road. Therefore, an ‘off-road’ review will be following this article in due course.
The Jimny is an Ivory Chiffon SZ5 5-speed manual. Therefore, comes with all the toys offered in the UK for the Jimny. The interior is a very pleasant place to be, the seats are squishy, but very comfortable. They are also heated and will cook your behind, they really do get rather toasty. My previous daily driver, a Smart ForTwo Prime Sport of 2017 vintage also had superb heated seats, that also heated the lower portion of the seat back. Unfortunately, the Jimny seems confined to only heating the seat base. A shame for certain, but certainly not a deal breaker.

There is ample headroom in the Jimny, not that I worry about such things, being more akin to Richard Hammond in height than that of most average Britons. And there is also ample elbow room, provided you are of a regular girth. The Jimny’s external width is quite narrow, and therefore so is its interior. Large people may end up at rather close quarters to each other.

The rest of the cabin is airy and generally a pleasant place to be. The door trims are simple plastic but fit the character of the car. The dash top is of a very nice stippled material. Which would have gone well in other places in the interior. However, the interior is my only real complaint. Not in its materials though. Just a general lack of cubby storage. For instance, there is small tray below the dash in front of the gearstick. Conveniently placed near the only USB port. Hooray, somewhere to place your smartphone. Yet, alas no. The tray is fine for a decade old iPhone 5, but a modern larger phone does not fit. Come on Suzuki, how can you make such a basic error! It is unforgivable, well almost.

While on this subject, the lack of USB ports is also somewhat of a shame. There is a 12v power outlet next to the USB port and a second 12v socket in the boot, which will be handy for a cooler/fridge when out laning or similar. But in a modern car, you are likely to want maybe four or five USB ports; smartphone, passengers smartphone, iPad (for mapping duties when overlanding/laning), dashcam and so on. My only other niggle with the interior, which some might sight is petty are the sun visors. They leave a large gap between the left edge (right hand drive car) and the interior mirror. Allowing that pesky low sun at this time of year to easily shine right past.

The rest of the interior carries no complaints, the Jimny comes reasonably well specced with Cruise Control/Speed Limiter, Climate Control, leccy windows, heated mirrors and central dashboard touchscreen with in-built Navigation, DAB radio and Apple CarPlay support.

In terms of driver focused interior components. The steering wheel is a work of art. Thin rimmed, nice grippy material and very comfortable to hold and rotate. Lots of room for your fingers and easy to reach controls. It must be one of the nicest modern steering wheels I’ve had my hands on. Mercedes-Benz, please take note. I recently drove a brand new GLA and my lasting impression is what a ghastly, uncomfortable, horrid steering wheel it had, with absolutely nowhere to put your fingers!

The gearbox in the Jimny is a joy to behold too. The standard gearknob may not look all that pretty, but in the hand, it is comfortable to use. The gearbox itself is also one of the sweetest I have stirred. It makes you want to shift cogs, even if you don’t need too. The pedals are also well placed with sensible grippy pads, something I’m sure I will appreciate even more when off road and driving with muddy boots. The handbrake is also placed exactly where you hand lands, allowing you to easily use it without the need to look down to find it.

The boot is laughably small on these. But this should come as no surprise to anyone. The Jimny has two rows of seats and a longitudinal mounted engine. All packaged into a vehicle that is only 140” in long. Fortunately the rear seats fold down quickly and easily. Offering up a fairly large load area for such a small vehicle.

Enough of the interior, what is it like on the open road? Well, I have read many a review and comment posted across the inter-web. And I often see people saying things like skittering over bumps, rolling in corners, uncomfortable, crashy suspension and other such stereotypical nonsense many 4x4’s get associated with. However, I must wonder if some of these people have actually been in the vehicle they are claiming to be reviewing? As my personal experience couldn’t be further from this.

To give a little parody to this, on the day I collected my Jimny I also drove my then 2017 Smart ForTwo as well as a brand new Mercedes GLA200 (had 26 miles on the clock). Out of the three vehicles, the Jimny is easily the most comfortable and I’d argue rode nicer than the GLA did. The Mercedes was shod with massive alloys and low-profile tyres and every imperfection in the road, and I do mean every. Was transmitted into the cabin with a very audible “thump”. Which was felt throughout the entire car. The Jimny positively glides over the same roads. Yes, some may accuse me of being biased and having a personal stake in the Jimny. But at the end of the day, all I can do is report my findings and offer my opinion. And based on this, I’d rather ride in the archaic live axle vehicle, if comfort was a concern, despite popular opinion found across the internet.

I admit there are some rare occasions where a particular road surface does give a particular sensation, most likely due to the short wheelbase combined with live axles. However, I would still say the ride comfort is still very, very good. And if you are complaining about it, then you’d not like over 90% of the cars on the roads either. There really is nothing wrong at all with how they ride.

So, what about the handling I hear you ask? Well, here again I may be labelled as biased. Although, I’d much prefer to use the term experienced. I have grown up with 4x4’s. My first “car” was a Defender 90 way back in 1997. And since then I have owned a good number of 4-wheel drives from Land Rover and Jeep and driven many more besides. While not wanting to sound big headed, I suspect many people less familiar with off road vehicles simply don’t grasp that a live axle vehicle will feel somewhat different in the corners compared to a vehicle running independent suspension at each corner.

In direct regard to the Jimny, I have found it to be most pleasing and exciting out on the country roads. It handles really well and is a huge amount of fun. From the inside it certainly doesn’t feel like it is leaning and rolling excessively or uncontrollably. Which completely baffles me when people claim that it does. I’ll go as far to say, that I have enjoyed driving it as much as any sports car I’ve been in. In reality you won’t be making the same kind of progress or speed. But you’d never know you this from the driver’s seat unless looking at the speedo. You truly feel like you are flying along. For anyone experienced with how well a Defender 90 can tackle British B-roads, the Jimny drives in much the same way, but feels lighter and more nimble.

The steering may lack feedback for some, but the rest of the chassis communicates well and will reward a smooth driving style. To which the wonderful gearbox compliments this experience tenfold.

The engine is rather a peach too, on paper a 1.5 litre naturally aspirated inline 4 with only 100hp or so, doesn’t sound all that much. But it is super smooth, very characterful and will pull from nothing. Sub 1500rpm kind of nothing in any of the 5 forward gears.

With plenty of mid-range punch and will, unlike many modern turbo units happily, rev out to the red line. Obviously with only 100’ish bhp on tap, even for a vehicle weighing just over a tonne, the Jimny is never going to be a rocketship. That said, it actually has a respectable power to weight ratio when you look at certain sporty hatchbacks and sports cars from yesteryear. But here the Jimny has another party trick, the engine makes a surprisingly nice rumble above 3500rpm, one of the nicer sounding inline 4’s I’ve encountered. The engine has wonderful character and eagerness. This eagerness makes you believe and feel that it is accelerating far quicker than you actually are. Which is rather ideal out on the public roads and simply adds to the already high levels of fun. This is truly a vehicle to make you smile, while remaining at fairly sane and legal speeds.

On the subject of speed, the Jimny is no motorway cruiser. While it will happily sit at motorway speed; 70mph is nearing 3500rpm on the tacho and wind noise picks up too. However, sit at 60-65mph and it is very comfortable. But you need to change your mindset to simply not care about other cars buzzing past you. In reality you’ll probably get where you are going in almost the same time anyhow. And more than likely you’ll be doing it with a bigger smile on your face than most.

Do I recommend the 4th Generation Jimny? Absolutely!

Spot on. Agree on all points!

Excellent review, and not just because its about my beloved jimmers, but rather it was very well written. Good job.

For a vehicle from the land of the rising sun, the sun visors really do seem to have been an after thought.
"Ooops, we forgot about the sun visors, quickly grab some out of the parts bin"