2022 Suzuki Jimny Automatic 4×4 Review

Since its local release in 2018, the Suzuki Jimny has been hot property with some customers waiting for more than 12 months for them or paying stupid amounts to have one sooner on the used car market. With the hype slowly dying – at least ahead of the rumoured five-door model’s release – is it still as exciting as it used to be? Well we tested the 2022 Suzuki Jimny fitted with the automatic transmission to find out.

The Suzuki Jimny (previously known as Sierra) has been on the market for decades now and while it was quite popular with the introduction of this new model it seems that people have flocked to this small capable off-roader. There really isn’t much out there that rivals the Jimny so should you put your money into one? Let’s see.

Price & Equipment: 8/10

The 2022 Suzuki Jimny range is rather simple. There is the entry level stripped out model known as the Jimny Lite’ which starts at $28,490 plus on-road costs and then the model we tested here which is known as simply Jimny. This grade Jimny is priced from $29,990 plus on-road costs. Adding the automatic transmission which our test car was fitted with takes the price up to $31,490 plus on-road costs.

While the Jimny is a rugged and utilitarian vehicle it does come relatively well equipped. There are 15-inch alloy wheels (with a full-size alloy spare wheel on the tailgate), automatic LED headlights with halogen daytime running lights, front fog lights, headlight washers, single-zone climate control, a 9.0-inch touch screen (our 2021-build test car was fitted with the previous 7.0-inch screen), wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a two-speaker sound system, cruise control, a trip computer, a leather steering wheel, electric-folding exterior mirrors and electric front windows.

Safety kit is less thorough but it still comes standard with six airbags, low speed autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection, forward collision alert, hill descent control, lane departure warning, a reversing camera, driver attention detection, a reversing camera and auto high beam.

The Jimny does miss out on some key equipment such as blind-spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, a digital speedometer, keyless entry, push button start and heated seats. The latter two are both available on Jimny’s overseas but not locally.

The only standard colour on the 2022 Suzuki Jimny is ‘Superior White’. ‘Brisk Blue’, ‘Chiffon Ivory’, ‘Jungle Green’, ‘Medium Grey’ (our test car’s colour) and ‘Kinetic Yellow’ cost $500 more. A black roof is available for the blue, beige and lighter green options for $1,250 (including the cost of selecting the colour). Black cloth is the only interior option.

As far as rivals go, the Jimny seems to sit alone in this segment. There is the Jeep Wrangler though the Wrangler is priced from $69,750 plus on road costs which is approximately two and a bit Jimnies. The Wrangler does have more engine and a lot more standard equipment – plus, it is a larger car – but is it really worth more than double the Suzuki? We think not.

Performance & Economy: 6/10

The sole engine option in the 2022 Suzuki Jimny range is a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol unit. Although it only produces 75kW of power (at 6,000rpm) and 130Nm of torque (at 4,000rpm), it does only have a kerb weight of 1,090kg and that makes it feel quick enough around town. Unfortunately, it’s also quite an old engine and was actually released in 1997, as its high fuel consumption and emissions show.

The engine can be a little vocal when accelerating and it is not the most refined engine on the market, but it gets the job done. However, what would make the Jimny even better would be using the Swift’s 1.0-litre turbo or Swift Sport’s 1.4-litre turbo petrol engines from the company’s ‘BoosterJet’ family. They are excellent engines – full of character, quick feeling and they’d also likely be far more fuel efficient in the Jimny than its current engine.

There are two transmission options for the 2022 Suzuki Jimny: the standard five-speed manual or the optional four-speed torque converter automatic that was fitted to our test car. The automatic transmission does an okay job of trying to cover the engine’s meagre outputs but unfortunately, it only has four speeds – a six-speed box with a manual shifting mode would better hide the Jimny’s lack of torque. For this reason, we would recommend going the standard five-speed manual.

The claimed average fuel consumption for the 2022 Suzuki Jimny fitted with the automatic transmission is 6.9L/100km, which isn’t great. In our time spent behind the wheel of the Jimny in mostly urban driving we saw an average figure of 8.3L/100km, which we thought would be higher. The Jimny can run on 91RON regular unleaded and has a 40-litre fuel tank.

Ride & Handling: 8/10

The driving experience of the Jimny can be quite fun, though not in traditional ways. It’s not fast, it’s not sporty and it’s not particularly fun, but it can be a good laugh because of its small size, amazing maneuverability and if you’re wanting it, its excellent off-road ability. The ride in the Jimny is rather floaty, going over bumps you seem to feel the whole car wobble and it takes a few seconds to settle. This does make it rather comfortable as a daily driver as the Jimny is not phased by things such as driveways, pot holes, roundabouts and various other road undulations.

The whole point of the 2022 Suzuki Jimny is to be a good off roader, so what equipment does it have to help? Well it comes with four-wheel drive, a low range transfer case, a ladder frame chassis, solid axles and a really short wheelbase. There are no locking differentials, though with its light 1,090kg tare weight, would you really need them? The active safety systems need work, however. The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and forward collision alert in the Jimny is quite sensitive, we found that even coming to a slow stop at traffic lights behind another car occasionally set it off. The lane departure warning system does do a good job of notifying you when you are crossing out of the lane, though there’s no steering assist..

Interior & Practicality: 7/10

Unlike most interiors these days the cabin of the 2022 Suzuki Jimny is definitely a lesson in substance over style, rather than style over substance. While that sounds mean to the Jimny, its interior is well suited to the utilitarian and no frills feel that the Jimny possesses. The materials are basic and hard wearing and while the design has a few touches of flair, it could offer a slightly higher quality feel inside.

We’d like to see the Jimny offer more interior storage as well. There are small door pockets to keep items in (not a water bottle though), a small glovebox, a small cubby in front of the gear knob to store a phone and two cupholders that are mounted quite far back, meaning they are quite hard to reach while driving. A centre console with covered storage, as well as more door storage would be appreciated in the Jimny’s cabin.

Our car was fitted with the older 7.0-inch touchscreen but all Jimny models that are ordered now come with a larger 9.0-inch screen, with doesn’t feature satellite navigation, but we are yet to try it. The older infotainment system in our test car itself is fairly basic but simple to navigate. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto was easy to connect and the inbuilt navigation was simple to set and use. Being only a two-speaker audio system, the sound quality was actually not too bad, though we would like to see the addition of more speakers – especially for those in the back seat.

Getting into the rear of the 2022 Suzuki Jimny is not the easiest or the most graceful thing to do, but it can be done easier than the three-door Jeep Wrangler. While smaller adults can fit back there with reasonable space on offer thanks to the Jimny’s boxy dimensions, we recommend folding the seats down and using it as a permanent two-seater. Some molded cupholders and storage wouldn’t go astray either.

Opening the rear door of the Jimny reveals just 85-litres of cargo space (yes, that is not a typo) which is less than half the cargo space you get in the ‘frunk’ of a Ferrari F8 Tributo (200L).

There is at least some under floor storage in the Jimny, though getting the most out of the cargo space means folding down the rear seats and opening up this space to a healthy 830L.

Service & Warranty: 8/10

The 2022 Suzuki Jimny comes with the brand’s five-year unlimited/kilometre warranty. Also standard with the Jimny and all other Suzuki products is five-years’ worth of roadside assistance. This aftersales package is on par with what other mainstream brands are offering.

Servicing the Jimny comes around every 12-months or 15,000km, which is – again – on par with other mainstream cars. The cost to service the Suzuki Jimny over the course of five years or 75,000km is $1,655 (an average service cost of $331), which isn’t the cheapest we’ve seen but certainly not the most expensive.

2022 Suzuki Jimny DiscoverAuto Rating: 7.6/10

While the 2022 Suzuki Jimny is still quite a popular car, the hype has settled down a bit and thankfully so have the wait times. So is the Jimny worthy of this almost immediate cult-like status? We certainly think so. The go anywhere attitude of the Jimny is almost addictive and the small-yet-rugged look means people are always intrigued by it. Of course, it’s not the greatest car in the world but it just has so much character that you overlook its sluggish engine or lack of interior storage.

So if we wanted a capable off roader that we wanted to daily drive would we buy a Suzuki Jimny? The simple answer is yes. There really isn’t much else that aligns with the Jimny and for its price point – you are looking at other SUV’s with nowhere near the capability of the Jimny. And as we said, there is nothing on the market for this pricepoint that offers so much cuteness and character. It’s increased in price a lot since it was released but the Jimny is one of those cars that you can’t help but love.