The announcement made three years ago, Suzuki has officially revealed the highly awaited five-door Jimny at the Delhi Auto Expo in India.
Set to go on-sale in May with order books now open, the extended wheelbase Jimny, which leaked online towards the end of last year undergoing testing, keeps hold of its ladder-frame chassis without any input from Daihatsu has previously alleged, but with significant alternations to the its dimensions.
At 3 985 mm in overall length, the five-door Jimny is a whopping 360 mm longer than the standard three-door, with its wheelbase increasing 340 mm to 2 590 mm and its height by 50 mm to 1 670 mm. Unchanged though is the claimed width at 1 645 mm.
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While it retains the three-door’s 210 mm of ground clearance, the long wheelbase Jimny’s breakover and departure angles have, however changed, from 28-degrees and 49-degrees respectively, to 24-degrees and 50-degrees with the approach dropping from 37-degrees to 36-degrees.
Besides its newfound length, the only other visual change is a black grille with chrome inserts for the five air intake ports, while the interior has been revised to accommodate either the seven-inch or nine-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Baleno.
The rest of the interior continues without change, though higher-end models have been confirmed as being the recipient of an uprated Arkamys sound system complete with what the brand calls surround sense audio.
Up front, reports of the Jimny possibly receiving the acclaimed 1.0-litre turbocharged Boosterjet engine has not materialised as it will continue to be powered by the normally aspirated 1.5-litre petrol engine, albeit now the newer K15C unit with standard mild-hybrid assist.
Outputs are, however, unchanged from the older K15B unit at 75kW/130Nm with the same applying to the choice of transmissions, namely a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic. As with the three-door Jimny, low range is also standard along with a limited slip differential, Hill Start Assist and Hill Descent Control.
In India, a choice of six colours have been selected; Granite Grey, Bluish Black, Nexa Blue, Sizzling Red and Pearl Arctic White, as well as Kinetic Yellow that comes with a contrasting black roof at standard.
As mentioned, order books in India have already opened and while pricing wasn’t disclosed, a significant premium over the three-door is being expected.
Although not confirmed for South Africa at present, an announcement confirming the five-door Jimny is expected soon after the Hamamatsu’s Brand Marketing Manager for South Africa, Brendon Carpenter, remarked to The Citizen on the side-lines of the updated Swift’s launch two years ago, “we know that the Jimny is a very favourable model in South Africa so if (the long wheelbase) is made available, we will definitely be looking into it”.
Additional information and images from cartorq.com and team-bhp.com.
