The 4WD lever is much easier to engage than the Thar.
BHPian robinmahanta recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Did a test drive of the Jimny yesterday (Zeta AT variant). There was not any rush at the showroom and the sales guys were fine with relatively longish test drives as per MSIL standards. Even the cars were readily available (just waiting for some RTO formality in Karnataka before the deliveries can officially start.
Coming to the Jimny,
Likes:
Suspension set up is amazing. It will run circles around a Thar (even with modded suspension). The speeds at which we tackled the undulations in the Jimny, the Thar will be jumping all over the place. The inherent busy and jumpy quality of the Thar is non existent in the Jimny.
Driving on a rough patch:
It was a new TD car but the NVH was very good. Quiet and no rattles at all. Hard to make out that the engine is running unless pushed to the red line.
Interior dash layout and quality is way better than Thar. The 4WD lever is much easier to engage than the Thar. I did drive on a small rough stretch of road but it was all in 2H. I didn’t get a chance to drive in 4H or 4L.
Boot space is nice, has a 12v socket as well:
Body roll is well controlled again much better than Thar. Took an expressway ramp curve at around 70kmph and it stayed flat.
Dislikes:
Seats are too narrow. It will be terrible for someone with a bigger frame. Two large guys up front will have a difficult time.
Outright power is terrible. It struggles to pick up speed. The gear box holds the gear for long to help things but absolutely pathetic power. Till 80 it is somehow tolerable but not sure how it will be in the highway runs like the new mysore expressway.
The gear box in the Thar is much better tuned. The Jimny AT feels like those outdated AT boxes where you need to play around with the accelerator to change gears. It is not intuitive at all.
No height adjustment in the seat. I love seating as low as possible but couldn’t find a good position in the Jimny. Steering doesn’t have telescopic adjustments and for some weird reason the accelerator pedal is placed at the extreme right (almost touching the plastic cladding). It will annoying to drive with large footwear.
Steering has play for the off road stuff and the turning radius is huge. But the overall feedback from the steering is much better than the Thar.
Test drove another cute little car with even worse ergonomics.
Watching the Jimny on road:
Overall, Jimny is a nice car for the city and occasional off road stuff. The biggest downside is the lack of power and the absolutely outdated AT gearbox. If they had launched the 3 door version, I would have got one just to play around with the modifications. Being a global car, some awesome aftermarket kits are available. The first priority should be to get 215 section AT tyres and turbo kit.
Looking forward to drive it in some off road events soon.
Keyword: Drove the Jimny AT: Here's how it compares with my Thar petrol AT