CurbOver Group participated in the recently conducted Jimny media drive by Maruti Suzuki. The venue was Dehradun, specifically the river bed of the Maldevta river which ultimately joins the Song river and further empties into the Holy Ganges.
The start of the day was surreal with an overcast sky and a patchy mizzle, enough to keep the temperatures down but not heavy enough to drench you. It was a perfect setting for experiencing the Jimny in all it’s glory.
At 6 AM sharp I was at the Hyatt Regency hotel porch and was greeted by a convoy of Jimny’s all lined up and raring to go. Beautifully queued up in alternating Kinetic Yellow and Sizzling Red Colors it looked like an exquisite necklace of Red Rubies and Yellow Garnets.
I was allotted the 10AY (Number 10, Automatic Yellow) Jimny for hauling me to the trail venue. It was a brand new car 2023 manufactured and had been doing the very same route for the last 4 days. Unable to control my excitement, I gingerly tried opening the door, it was open and the keys were beside the AT Gear shifter. In an instant I slid into the driver seat and for the next 5 minutes was totally immersed in admiring the view. What a neatly laid out console, everything was just in the right place and the ergonomics were spot on for every small thing.
The instrument console with its timeless twin pod layout of-course reminded me of the Gypsy, but the small MID in the middle gave it a modern sense of appeal. The steering arc and the Twin Pod Clusters are perfectly aligned, and their curvatures match so as not to obscure the meters in case you adjust the steering for height. There was no reach adjustment but then it was not needed either. The seating is spot on and everything is within easy reach of the driver, even the glovebox. The sense of being in control is omnipresent in the Jimny, whether it is reaching for controls inside the car or when tackling obstacles that would make one’s jaw drop.
Next I started checking the Media Entertainment Unit. The large 9 inch screen is crisp, sharp and responsive and most importantly does not block the drivers view. My Samsung S22 Ultra automatically fired up the Wireless Android Auto and I got the prompt to confirm the connection. I respectfully declined the invitation and instead chose to pair using Bluetooth. I wanted to see how good the music fidelity was with an ordinary Bluetooth connection. The pairing completed without any fuss, and I had my collection streaming through the 4 Arkamys speakers in no time. I was half expecting the sound quality to be mediocre at best, after all who wants a Bose 9 speaker system in a rugged no nonsense 4x4 offroader, but boy I was delighted with what I heard. In no way is the sound mediocre, in fact it’s far from it. The various sound adjustment modes work pretty well and the sound being emitted from the speakers noticeably changes. You can see me put the Media Unit through its paces in the video below.
By this time I was grinning from ear to ear and I had not even fired up the engine yet. To put it mildly, I was salivating like a hungry dog whose owner is preparing his meal. The anticipation was too much for me and I pressed the Start/Stop button. The engine purred to life and settled into an almost inaudible idle. There was no start-up shake nor was there any indication that the Jimny was ready to pounce. I liked the refinement. I tapped the accelerator, and the RPM needle had an instant deflection. I pressed it down fully and the engine roared to a redline of 4k and then the rev-limiter kicked in. So in neutral the engine will not go beyond 4k RPM apparently to protect the engine as also the environment. Well Done Maruti!
By this time the other participants had also arrived, and it was time for the Jimny convoy to head out. We were all flagged off for the 18 Kms drive upto the start of the off-road trail at the Maldevta farms. The weather was perfect with light pitter patter all around us and cool mountain breeze that was quite refreshing. The fatigue I had accumulated in the last 24 hours of non-stop travel from Bangalore to Delhi to Dehradun and the sleepless night (Due to the excitement of driving the Jimny the next morning) had all but vanished.
During the next hour or so we drove over cobble stones, broken tarmac and smooth highways. The first impressions can be summarized in one line. “I was at home with the Jimny within the first 5 minutes of driving it”. Everything fell into place, there was no need to get familiar with anything, it was as if though I had been driving this for ages. I loved the simplicity and ease of use. I could easily concentrate on driving and not worry about beeps and switches and A/C controls and what not that are usually present in modern cars. The MID was discreet enough to not demand any extra glances to it and so my focus was unknowingly channeled by the Jimny on stuff that matters, pure driving and nothing else.
Since I had no distractions, I started exploring the drivability angle with a critics’ view. I had read and heard a lot about the pre-historic era 4 speed automatic and that was my first target. I was driving sedately till that point since I was part of convoy, however I decided to build a gap between me and the car ahead. I slowed down a tad and built a safe gap and then I went all out Rally Style. I got my co-passenger to film the gear shifts and what happened next was enough for the already hungry dog to start chasing it’s tail.
Watch the video below and listen to the engine note as I red-lined the Jimny through all the gears. You will ask what gears? It’s an automatic isn’t it? Yes you are right, but this old dog has a few tricks up its sleeve. You can manually shift the AT gearbox between all the 4 speeds. You start with the gear shift in “L” which is actually first gear, slam the accelerator and let the car redline to 6500 rpm, when you hear the lovely engine note of a rally prepared Gypsy then you lightly tap the gear shifter forward and it slots with a reassuring click into the “2” position, the RPM’s drop just a little and the raspy engine note again crescendos’ at the 6500 rpm mark.
The formula is simple from here, rinse and repeat all the way till you reach “D” which is basically the full auto position. However, there is one more trick to it all. There is a small toggle button embedded in the right side of the gear shift. This toggles between 3rd and 4th gear. So when you tap the gear shift the second time from “2” to “D” you must have this small toggle button pressed already and the O/D indicator glowing yellow in the instrument cluster. This will hold the car in 3rd Gear. Once again you ascend the stairs of heaven till the RPM’s hits the 6500 rpm rev-limiter and then you simply toggle the small O/D button engage the Overdrive.
This technique lets you drive the Jimny AT in a fully manual mode. The feeling is for the lack of better word “Sublime” if you are someone who has awed at the lovely sound of rally cars hitting their redlines then this experience is guaranteed to make you climax. The video below demonstrates this technique. I hope you like it. Put on your headphones and hear the engine. Pure ecstasy. It doesn’t stop here. You can do the reverse also and have the car de-gear using the same technique!
The handling on tarmac was very well controlled with excellent damping. I was unable to bottom out the suspension of the Jimny during the entire experience including the six special stages that were laid out for us in the Maldevta riverbed. It was impressive. For folks who are wondering about body roll and side to side rocking movements, I can assertively and convincingly say that all the three movements that make you throw up i.e. Pitch, Yaw and Roll are very well controlled.
It doesn’t feel like a ladder frame chassis. My reference point is the Pajero SFX (Pajero rocks quite a bit) that I drove for 10 years and the more recent Jeep Compass that is known for its flat ride highway quality (The Jeep doesn’t like slow speeds and throws you around a fair bit). If I was to explain the ride quality of the Jimny in one line I would say it is very well sprung with the suspension working like as if though it was a Polaris UTV. To see what I mean watch the video below to get a sense of what a long travel suspension can do. The Jimny, though no Polaris, does have a long travel suspension and exhibits similar behavior. The body line remaining relatively flat when going through undulations both on and off road.
This doesn’t however mean that this is a car only for Offroad adventures. The same suspension on tarmac provides a very flat and smooth ride and dismisses the very often found expansion joints, speed breakers, rumble strips and moon craters sized potholes with aplomb. I can, after a very long time,
forget about the surface on which I am driving while I listen to Salvation by Hariprasad Chaurasia on my way back from a bad day at office.
Off the beaten track the Jimny comes into its own. With the narrow width, the finely calibrated suspension, the very well weighted steering and the wonderfully progressive brakes the Jimny gives you the confidence of driving with such accuracy that would put a surgeon to shame. You can exactly, and I mean exactly place it where you want and it will willingly oblige. No fuss, no drama, pure unadulterated control. You can for a lack of a better expression do a tip-toe with the car. You can drive with that much precision. The Brake Limited Differential works seamlessly so you can simply concentrate on the accelerator and steering and all obstacles are overcome with ease. For folks who will be heading out to the outdoors for the first time the AT transmission is the one to go for, it makes everything like a walk in the park. For the 4x4 veterans it will be a joy to expand their capabilities beyond what they felt was possible. I would definitely recommend the AT variant to everyone.
Maruti had laid out an impressive 6 Special Stage course for us. Each stage demonstrating the various capabilities of the Jimny from Approach and Departure angles to Rock Crawling in 4L to steep ascends and descends to test the Hill Descent Control features etc. The cars we drove on the last day of the drive had already done these special stages (SS) over a hundred times and even then, there was no visible marks of abuse or damage. There were no squeaks or rattles and everything worked like it was supposed to. I believe that speaks volumes of the engineering finesse and maturity that the Jimny has, after all it has been in production for over 50 years and it shows, very very clearly.
Here are some videos I took at each of the six special stages and I would urge you to see them to fully appreciate the freedom and control the Jimny bestows upon its owner. Click on the following link to see all the videos. CurbOver - YouTube Channel
In conclusion:
This is a car for everyone. It gives you the ability to do the mundane home office routine as easily as it will take you to places where you always wished to go but never had the confidence nor the means.
This is a car which you can keep forever. With a very simple, robust and time proven platform this car will be easy and cheap to maintain, heck with a little mechanical inclination you could maintain it all by yourself too, but with Maruti service being omnipresent, why would I do it unless of-course if you want to.
This is a car that will not provide you frills and fancies that other Pseudo SUV’s do, but if you can’t live without a bottle holder or a wireless charger or a mobile holder then check out our Accessories Megathread at General and Useful Accessories List - Megathread - #7 by SwingSingh the plethora of accessories that are available to cater to your every wish will make you gape in awe.
I hope this thread provides you with a good understanding of the car and what you can do with it.
Happy Driving.
P.S. This media drive experience would not have been possible without the unimaginable support that I received from Mr. Ashok Rao, MD of Mandovi Motors, Bangalore and Maruti Suzuki India Limited. My most sincere thanks and deepest gratitude to them for making this possible.
