Unsung heroes: Suzuki Jimny

It has been quite some time since I wrote anything for this blog due to other things going on - I have plenty of new posts drafted in my head but just haven't had the time to write them down. Today the unsung heroes series makes its overdue return with an especially unusual and largely overlooked choice. Here is a car that wasn't even remotely advanced when it first appeared, yet has now been produced for two whole decades with no major changes. In this modern world of fickle consumers demanding new models every few years, that is really quite a remarkable achievement but has gone virtually unnoticed and totally uncelebrated. I'm talking about the Suzuki Jimny - many of you have almost certainly forgotten this ever existed so it may amaze you that at the time of writing UK customers can still buy a brand new one in basically the same form as the 1997 original!

The Jimny was nothing special back in 1997
(By Mytho88 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

The Jimny made its first appearance at the 1997 Tokyo Auto Show and was introduced in Europe the following year to replace the SJ-series Samurai, itself a long-running design dating back to 1981. It wasn't in any way sophisticated even by 1990s standards, quite the opposite in fact with its ladder chassis, old-fashioned transfer case and beam axles, yet these features have remained unchanged ever since. It was given a facelift in 2013, but one so subtle you'd only notice if the two were parked side by side, and outwardly a 2017 Jimny is all but identical to a 1997 one. When you consider how much most other cars have changed in that time, it is nothing short of astonishing that Suzuki have just carried on producing the same old design for such a long period and seen no need to replace it.

The current 2017 version. Spot the difference!
(Image: Suzuki UK)

It was never a big seller and has steadily declined in popularity, but every one of the few Jimnys now sold must be almost pure profit as the decades-old tooling will have long since paid for itself. It certainly is cheap with current prices starting at just £13,000, but don't expect anything in the way of refinement as the Jimny is not an SUV but one of the few remaining old-school 4x4s that prioritise off-road ability at the expense of ride comfort and handling instead of the other way round. While mechanically rugged, fit and finish is not great and on the tarmac it's crude, slow, uncomfortable and noisy with nothing to recommend it as a road car. Get it off the beaten track though and it starts to make a bit more sense, so it still has appeal to farmers and serious off-roading enthusiasts who care more about mud-plugging ability than road manners and just want something cheap and capable in rough terrain.

Let's off-road! The Jimny doing what it does best
(Image: 4x4 Magazine)

Although a Peugeot-engined turbodiesel was offered in mainland Europe, and in Japan there is a 660cc version that complies with kei car regulations, all UK Jimnys have a rather underpowered 1.3-litre petrol four. A new twin-cam version was introduced in 2000, and since then this has remained under the Jimny's bonnet with only necessary upgrades to meet new emissions legislation, so it is really showing its age now. The model was initially offered in hard and soft-top forms, but the latter were actually built under licence in Spain by Santana and have not been available since Santana and Suzuki parted company in 2009, so the range is now confined to hardtops only in spartan SZ3 and slightly better-equipped SZ4 trim levels.

Soft-top versions were made in Spain but disappeared in 2009
(Image: parkers.co.uk)

It had a great run but time has at last been called on the old Jimny as the all-new 2018 model has just made its debut at the Tokyo Auto Show after images were leaked a few weeks ago. Happily for fans of the original, this appears not to have succumbed to the trend for car-like SUVs and is still a proper off-roader. It has rugged, boxy and clearly retro styling that harks back to the SJ but somehow already looks even more old-fashioned than its twenty-year-old predecessor does now, hopefully combining this with rather more refinement and on-road comfort. We'll have to wait and see if it lasts anywhere near as long, but that seems very unlikely given the way the motor industry is changing so rapidly nowadays.

The 2018 Jimny revealed in a leaked image. It looks even older than the 20-year old current model.
(Image: Motor1.com)

Like the Land Rover Defender, the Jimny is a relic of a past era that seems very out of place in the modern world, and I admit to being utterly amazed when I found out it is still available new after all these years. For being nothing special, and arguably never even a very good car, yet somehow managing to last for such a long time without any significant changes, I feel the old Suzuki Jimny is the very definition of an unsung hero and a worthy inclusion in this series, but what do you think?