First five-door Suzuki Jimny unveiled in India; local reservations open now but Aussie deliveries unlikely until 2024
Suzuki Australia managing director Michael Pachota said the Japanese small-car brand’s local dealers are now taking reservations for the 2023 Suzuki Jimny 5-Door ahead of first customer deliveries either late this year or early 2024.
“It’s confirmed for Australia, no set time,” he told carsales. “We’d like to see it this year – hoping late this year but most likely early next year.”
Pachota said he expected the first five-door Jimny to receive huge interest from the public and dealers in Australia, where the three-door continues to attract scalpers by commanding waiting times of up to 18 months despite record production and sales, and he urged potential customers to get in quick.
“We’re yet to discuss the vehicle with them [Suzuki Australia dealers]. It only just got its worldwide premiere, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be excited,” he said.
“We have a sh*t load of pre-orders already coming through. It’ll be the same process as the three-door – first in best dressed.”
More than three years after its local launch in 2019, Pachota said Aussie demand for the Jimny three-door – particularly in automatic guise – exceeded supply by such a degree that new orders could soon be halted.
“Manuals are easier to come by versus automatics, so we have a much bigger back-order for autos. We’re still in a huge back-order situation with over 3000 orders still pending. And the orders keep rising as a lot more new customers are coming to Suzuki.,” he said.
“Right now we have about 80 per cent auto, 20 per cent manual [orders]. We have some people waiting out to a year and a half, so we’re considering whether we should pause the order list.”
Australian pricing and specifications are yet to be announced for the five-door Jimny, but Pachota confirmed it will be more expensive than the three-door, which is currently priced from $26,990 plus on-road costs.
“There’s no price guide as yet,” he said. “If anything I’d be looking at other products in the market, at their three-door models and five-door models and the difference between them. You need to consider the rest of the market.
“[But] There’s not really another a compact full-time 4WD on the market. It sits on its own.”
Other than a longer wheelbase, an extra pair of rear doors and revised rear seats, the five-door will share its key specs with the popular fourth-generation Suzuki Jimny three-door built in Japan since in 2018 (followed by Indian production via Maruti Suzuki for Latin American and Africa since late 2020).
Riding on a 2590mm wheelbase and measuring 3985mm long overall (both up 340mm on the three-door), the Jimny 5-Door remains strictly a four-seater and cargo capacity is listed at 208 litres and 332 litres with the rear seats folded.
Given the three-door offers 85 and 377 litres respectively, total volume is actually down by five litres and the extra volume is all behind the rear seats, so don’t expect any extra rear legroom.
Width, height and ground clearance are unchanged at 1645mm, 1720mm and 210mm respectively, but according to Indian specs kerb weight increases by 100kg to between 1195 and 1210kg, which should increase fuel consumption from the three-door’s 6.4L/100km (6.9L/100km auto).
Towing capacity hasn’t been revealed but should echo the three-door’s 350kg (unbraked) and 1300kg (braked) numbers, and the only other key spec differences are less generous approach (36 versus 37 degrees) and rampover (24 v 28 degrees), although the departure angle increases slightly to 50 degrees.
“It should have similar capability as Jimny [three-door] but it’s obviously got a different wheelbase, so we’ll need to wait and see how it climbs over rocks,” said Pachota.
As per the five-door, the bigger Jimny will be powered in Australia by a humble 75kW/130Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine matched to either five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmissions with low-range ratio and a part-time four-wheel drive system.
The pint-size ladder-frame off-road wagon continues to ride on 15-inch wheels with 195/80 tyres, braked by ventilated discs up front and drums at the rear.
Standard equipment should likewise reflect the three-door’s by including six airbags, autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning, stability control, anti-lock brakes, hill descent control, high-beam assist, Bluetooth, auto headlights, power windows/mirrors and a tilt-adjustable steering wheel.
However, all five-door variants could come standard in higher-spec Jimny GLX form.
Currently the entry-level Jimny Lite three-door does without several key highlights of the $1500-pricier GLX (priced from $28,490 plus ORCs), including a 7.0-inch touch-screen infotainment screen with reversing camera, voice control and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, plus alloy wheels, climate control, centre cabin light, rear 12V outlet, LED projector headlights, front fog lights, painted and power-folding door mirrors and body-coloured door-handles.
The longer Jimny, which will be available in a new Kinetic Yellow paint, may score the larger 9.0-inch display with wireless phone mirroring as seen in India-spec models, given the five-door will be assembled exclusively in India.
The Jimny five-door is expected to eventually become more popular than the three-door, which found almost 5700 Aussie homes last year (up 70%) and helped Suzuki Australia post its best sales year since 2013 with 21,578 total sales – up 23.5 per cent on 2021.
Keyword: Jimny 5-Door officially revealed