Suzuki Jimny 5 door walkaround

The much awaited Jimny was recently showcased at the Nexa showroom, South Bombay. They had made quite an event out of it. There was a live band, compere, snacks and refreshments arranged for the pot bellied, middle aged enthusiasts eagerly awaiting the unveil. After being seated under loud music mostly comprising classic hindi songs (yeh mera dil pyaar ka deewana types) for over an hour, it was getting a bit irritating. The compere tried infusing some energy into the crowd by doing the typical "are you all excited? i can't hear you" drill. Finally, just as I was about to snap and walk out, they obliged and lifted the curtains off the sparkling bright Kinetic Yellow Jimny. My first impression as I saw the Jimny in the flesh was: what is it? Such was the scale of the hype created by Maruti and social media that the one word that came to my mind when I first saw the car was "underwhelming". The Jimny looks way bigger in photos and videos than it does in real life. I would place it somewhere between a WagonR and a Brezza when it comes to road presence.

I stepped inside and the underwhelming theme continued. The cabin felt compact and narrow. Two healthy individuals sitting in the front seat are very likely to rub shoulders. In a manual transmission, the gear lever is very likely to rub against the right knee of the front seat passenger. The view from the windscreen and the three mirrors is good and there are no blindspots to speak of. But again, the short front bonnet gives it a very non butch, non SUV feel. There was quite a reach to the automatic drive selector placed closer to the dashboard than the driver's seat. The power window buttons for the front windows are also placed on the dashboard and are a bother to reach. Moreover, if you wish to roll down a front window while driving, it would be near impossible to do so without taking your eyes off the road. The infotainment system looks modern as it's straight out of Maruti's other top end models. Everything else about the dashboard looks basic and placticky. There is a retro theme to the interiors which I like and I don't mind the placticky bits but there may be car buying influencers in the family, especially of the opposite sex that might. The underwhelming theme continues in the rear seats as well. The cavity for ingress and egress is not very large and people with tall torsos or people wearing turbans might have to twist their necks to one side and get in / out of the car. Once in, this car is strictly a 4 seater. It won't even accommodate a kid as the third passenger in the rear seat. You again sit shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh with your passenger taking up personal space and transferring body heat while at it. Moving further behind to the boot, it sure seems usable for the luggage of four people on a trip. Using some smart stacking techniques, you will be able to fit in a lot more luggage than the 209 litre boot capacity number suggests.

The verdict. The Jimny is not your everyday car. It is a tool designed for a specific purpose and that's to go off roading. Ask anything else of it and it will fall short. If you live in the hills where you frequently encounter snow or if you live on a coffee estate where you drive through kuccha roads every day, the Jimny is the tool you can consider. When the new Thar came out, it sold in great numbers not because of it's off road ability but because of it's road presence. Because people literally look "up" to a Thar. Capable as it may be, that road presence, that machismo, that feeling of driving a big bad ladder frame SUV is an experience this bonsai Maruti doesn't offer. There is a reason why the Gypsy didn't sell in large numbers and that's because it was too basic, too focused and too one dimensional. Unfortunately, despite adding some features and two extra doors to it, the Jimny essentially remains just what the Gypsy always was for Maruti: a lost opportunity!