Is the Suzuki Jimny good for families?
The joyful Jimny has captured South Africans’ hearts since its inception, and when the new Jimny was released in 2018, our readers raved. But is the 3-door version a little too small to fulfil the role of family SUV, or will you be able to make it work?
Will the 3-door Jimny suffice if you're looking for a compact family car, or should you rather pay a bit more and get the 5-door version? (Find out if the 5-door Jimny is a better bet for families, here)
Let's find out how the 3-door variants do when it comes to family life.
Safety
The Jimny has an excellent reputation for bundu-bashing and loves a good four-by-four track as much as a mountain goat loves mountains. Its short wheelbase, high ground clearance, tough chassis, and low-range transfer case make mincemeat of rough terrain. Safety features include ABS, EBD, brake assist, hill-start assist, stability control, downhill brake control and two airbags in front. There are ISOFIX child seat anchorage points on the outer rear seats. GLX models feature automatic LED headlamps, front fog lamps, and auto-headlamp levelling.
Space and comfort
Comfort features are mostly geared to the driver and front passenger, and the poverty-spec GL model is quite low on modern convenience features. At least it has air-con and a trip computer.
The GLX models' spec sheet looks considerably better: There is Bluetooth, a USB port, a touchscreen, cruise control, electric windows , electrically adjustable mirrors, and satellite buttons on the steering wheel, along with automatic headlights, and front fog lamps.
Related: New Suzuki Jimny - It's finally here!
The 3-door Jimny may be big on off-roading, but it’s not big on space. And neither is comfort if you’re in the second row. The 3-door Jimny seats four people on paper, but the second row is super cramped and not very supportive. Two primary school kids should be okay, but the real issue is boot space, or rather, the lack thereof.
With the rear seats up, there are only 85 litres of space available. That doesn’t leave much space for school suitcases and sports bags. If you have only one child, though, one of the seats can be folded forward, but then you would have to secure the bag(s) so it doesn’t become a safety hazard should you have to slam on the brakes in an emergency situation.
There is a solution for the lack of cargo space, though: Invest in a roof box or roof rack of some kind, especially if you’re going to be using your Jimny for camping trips. Suzuki offers a wide range of aftermarket accessories for the Jimny and there’s plenty to choose from in the storage department. But are you really going to secure your kids’ suitcases to the roof racks en route to school every morning, loosen them, fasten them again when you pick them up and unfasten them again when you get home? No, we didn’t think so!
Verdict
If you only have one child, the Jimny could work. But, if you want a bigger and more practical, compact family SUV with four-by-four capabilities that does not cost the earth, the 5-door model is a way better bet. 5-door GL models start from R429 900, while the GLX manual costs R457 900 and the automatic version is R479 900.
For even more room, the Suzuki Vitara can be considered too, as well as the Grand Vitara, but it won't have the Jimny's rock-crawling abilities!
*Pricing for the latest 3-door Suzuki Jimny models in SA is as follows:
Suzuki Jimny 1.5 GL AllGrip, R390 900
Suzuki Jimny 1.5 GL AllGrip auto, R412 900
Suzuki Jimny 1.5 GLX AllGrip, R416 900
Suzuki Jimny 1.5 GLX Allgrip auto, R438 900
Read the 2023 5-door Jimny launch report here
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