When you have a business called Seriously Suzi that does nothing but develop and sell products for Suzuki 4x4s, you’d think the all-new Jimny would be the best thing since low range.
That would be the case if production shortages from Japan didn’t leave would-be owners with months of waiting to get a new Jimny, and the demand for them pushing prices up way beyond what they were originally listed for.
The JB74 Jimny is a great little thing and it has attracted a whole new group of enthusiasts to the Suzuki brand. Not all of these people are four-wheel drivers or people who want to modify and take their Jimny off-road, but that hasn’t stopped Seriously Suzi’s Alan Johnson from developing products to improve the diminutive off-roader.Alan’s collection of Suzuki 4x4s extends from the earliest LJ models through to the Stockman, Vitara, Sierra and the latest JB74 Jimny, and he loves modifying them to improve their ability. In fact, we challenge you to find anyone more passionate about Suzuki 4x4s than Alan.
He’s even driven a solar-powered Suzuki across the Simpson Desert using nothing but the sun!
Improving the breed
When we bumped into Alan at Woods Point and he took my seat in the Sandy 60, he tossed me the keys to his latest creation and led us up into the hills.
Alan’s JB74 has been an ongoing development for almost two years now, taking his vast experience with previous Suzukis and adapting it to the latest model to make a good thing better.
Having driven stock standard JB74s in the High Country previously, we found them to be very capable and a lot of fun, but also that the factory suspension is compromised and produces a very jiggly ride with not much axle travel, and the small wheels and tyres that come standard fall in to holes and hop over rocks to make tough going of the tracks. We’re happy to say the Seriously Suzi JB74 has well and truly addressed these problems with the standard car.“We went and bought off-the-shelf suspension kits from four of the known aftermarket suppliers and tried them all out,” Alan told 4X4 Australia. “They all had their good and bad points but none of them got it all right, so I’ve used those lessons to develop our own suspension for the Jimny.”
Alan played with many spring and shock absorber combinations before settling on what he has now, which are around 50mm longer than the factory parts. This required custom-made front lower arms and a dropped front crossmember kit to give the needed clearance plus extended brake lines, to cope with the added height and travel.
For wheels and tyres, Al again played with a few combinations and the Zook now wears 30×9.5 – 15 muddies mounted on -12mm offset steel wheels.“We tried bigger tyres but they killed the gearing for off-road use” Alan says.
He also told us he’s happy with the way the suspension has turned out and that Seriously Suzi is now at the stage of working out pricing for the full kit. We say it’s a kit you’d seriously look at for your own Suzuki, even if you never go off-road. It’s a great improvement in ride quality and control in any conditions.
On tour
Alan’s Jimny modifications don’t end with the suspension. Also on the car are an ARB bullbar with a VRS winch in it, while the rear bumper is a prototype ‘recovery bar’ that is under development. It’s designed primarily to give users a place for rated recovery points, but also includes a towing hitch receiver.
After our drive, the bar was taken off and sent for lab testing to quantify the ratings before it goes into production and becomes available. Not only does the bar provide recovery points, but it’s tucked up high so it doesn’t affect departure angle and adds some heavy-duty protection to the back of the Jimny.
Running down the sills are a set of Seriously Suzi rock sliders which are a 50mm twin-tube design and made to tuck up high, to give protection without compromising the ramp-over angle.
In the back of the Jimny, Al’s installed a storage shelf that sits over the folded rear seat and allows him to securely carry a fridge, a Space Case and a few extra bits of adventure kit. There’s an ARB air compressor under the driver’s seat, to power the front and rear air lockers as well as tyre-inflation duties.
Below the factory switchgear in the centre stack of the dash is a Seriously Suzi auxiliary switch panel housing a couple of power outlets, a voltmeter, and Carling-type switches for the compressor, winch, extra lights and the auxiliary fuel tank. That’s right, Al has supplemented the Jimny’s paltry 40-litre fuel tank with an extra 30-litre unit under the back to increase the car’s touring range.
The red aircraft-style switches alongside the park brake don’t launch rockets, they activate the air lockers to launch the Jimny over the toughest terrain.
Form following function
The modifications to Alan’s Suzuki are well-planned, expertly executed and work as they should. The Jimny is already a capable little vehicle, thanks in part to its relatively low weight.
The mods fitted to this car address the ride and handling issues we’d experienced on stock Jimnys in the past, improve the on- and off-road ability from good to unstoppable, and increase the smiles per mile you’ll find on the face of anyone who gets their JB74 out on the tracks.
Our couple of days in the Woods Point and Mount Terrible area of the High Country were in convoy with the Offroad Images portal-axled LC79 and the hugely capable Sandy 60 with its thumping V8 diesel, and never was the little Zook left behind. While the big V8 diesels generally loped their way up hill and down dale, the Jimny needed a few more revs from its relatively tiny 1500cc petrol engine.
The superbly set-up suspension not only improved the ride quality in spades, but its compliance gives more axle articulation resulting in less wheel lift on deep ruts and more control in the rougher stuff. Only once did I employ the rear air locker to ensure an easy ascent on a steep and rutted track, and the Zook felt unstoppable! It was never left behind by those bellowing V8s.
While the typical buyer of the latest Jimny might not be an avid off-road enthusiast, it’s reassuring to know that for those who are and want to use their JB74 to the best of its ability, Alan Johnson and Seriously Suzi are passionately developing specialised equipment to ensure they can. The gear on this car takes the standard Suzuki to another level and I had a ball driving it.
If you want the same performance and smiles from your Jimny check out www.seriouslysuzi.com.au or hit up its Facebook page.
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