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-   -   Maruti Jimny Review | My Jimny 2590 : Alpha M/T (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/287752-maruti-jimny-review-my-jimny-2590-alpha-m-t.html)

Likes;

- Boxy Looks, Rugged feels, Stylish with a Retro Vibe.
- Modern Enough with Satisfactory feature list & Safety kit.
- Feels Exclusive to drive & own even after almost 1+ year on Sale.
- 1.5L N/A Engine + Old School M/T should be reliable both On & Off Road.
- Ride Quality is very good, hence full marks to the Suspension & Chassis tuning.

Dislikes;

- Boot Space is Tight.
- Wide Turning Radius is cumbersome.
- Needed Tyre Pressure Read Out / Monitoring System.
- Projector Headlamps needed a (retro) DRL, a missed opportunity IMO.
- Naked Wheel Well Area looks good but doesn't inspire confidence, same is with the underbody (missing) protection.

My Jimny Story;

Jimny is an icon in its own right, with each generation it has redefined Automotive Simplicity with its retro vibe, off road capability & this 4th iteration adds a touch of modernity to it hence makes it a very desirable package. Since 2018 I had been tracking the Jimny & hoping for it to launch soon in India. Things got exciting once the local manufacturing for the 3 door started. However when the news, test mules of the 5 door development came into limelight I personally was not sure if the 5 door would look as good as the 3 Door. I have been pretty vocal that I always wanted the 3 Door Jimny & was not keen on the 5 door until few months back when I saw a Jimny 3 Door in flesh in one of my foreign trips, seeing the 3 door was un-appealing to say the least & it rewired my fascination for the XL version & Slowly the 5 door starting growing on me.

Buy Decision;

As one thing was clear that even if the 3 door launches the 5 door was the one which I would pick hence the Buy decision was finally clear. All this clarity came in around August 2024. Discounts had no role to play in the buy decision as I personally believe the 5 door Jimny is anyway decently priced in India compared to how it is priced across the globe and still selling well.

Next was the availability, I wanted one in WHITE which unfortunately I could not find any stock of nor in MH or GJ hence I waited for one to arrive before booking. Weeks passed, Interestingly the cars which were coming were all of May manufacturing. This also gave birth to rumours in the internal Nexa circles that Maruti is now just interested to liquidate the stocks and the sales in India would stop. Hence I did not wait any further so on 12th October (Dussehra 2024) I booked my Jimny.

Buying the Jimny without a Test drive;

A confession here, I had booked the Jimny without a Test Drive & nor I had experienced or sat inside one. Personally I had tremendous faith in the product on paper, the design & what it stood for. Hence It was a complete blind buy. I had total clarity that I wanted a Manual variant, A/T was not considered at all. Also wanted to save all the excitement for the Delivery Day when I get to experience & drive the Jimny for the very first time which is captured in the VIDEO;

https://youtu.be/sawKuYe3NII

^ The above video largely consists of three parts, you can watch based on the timestamps provided below;

00:00 - Intro, Drive to the showroom
02:21 - 1st Sighting, Walkaround & My Thoughts
06:17 - Emotional Scenes, Handover, 1st Drive Out.

2590;

Its know as Jimny in India, however in some markets where the 3 door was already on sale its sold as Jimny 5 Door & also Jimny XL. The difference between both the cars is the wheelbase which is elongated in the 5 Door / XL version.

Hence while choosing the number I did not opt for a fancy VIP number instead adopted the technical route & went for the no. which defines the Jimny 5 Door / XL i.e. Wheelbase (2590 mm).



As we are aware that the Indian factory also makes the 3 door variant (Wheelbase - 2250 mm), hence for the 5 door variant (Wheelbase - 2590 mm) the classification/nomenclature at factory level is also done via the wheelbase route;



Was lucky enough to find the same exact wheelbase number at my RTO to classify my Jimny;



:thumbs up

Initial Ownership Experience;

Engine Performance;

K15B engine performance is something I was looking forward to experience & it has matched my expectations so far. Whoever thinks the Jimny lacks performance may not know how to gauge performance. Because performance is not just about outright speed or acceleration but also how the engine behaves in various situations or does it knock in low speed / RPMs or how linear it is or how strong the bottom end is or how it performs with emissions (apparently it still meets the norms in most countries, just check the export numbers) & finally how simple it is. 105 HP is good enough in my personal opinion and it keeps you engaged in a good way to gain speed, it keeps you busy. If a person just senselessly has been going pedal to the metal in fast turbo A/T cars who's Insta reel happy will surely bad mouth the Jimny's engine & complain about the lack of power. Another important point to note is that I have been running on RON 95;



The one downside I feel so far is the refinement (or is it the engine note ?) which is not as expected, may be will get better post running in & an oil change. Personally for me as I have multiple other fast cars in the garage still I really appreciate how the Jimny achieves speed if you drive it well & I can feel this in the running in period (not having crossed 4k rpm yet). Overall the engine does feel rev happy. A lot of the driver engagement comes in from what we are going to discuss next;

Manual Gearbox;

As a Manual Gearbox conservationist ticking the M/T option was a must for me.



Long gearstick adds to the old school cool factor, however the gearshift action is not as long as the gear lever but not too short as well hence suits the car's personality. 1st to 2nd is smooth, 2nd to 3rd is smoother, 3rd to 4th is the best, 4th the 5th is still freeing up. Downshifts are good too. The clutch is light & the short 1st gear means you can very easily release the clutch with no throttle and crawl along in traffic easily. The manual would be quicker to accelerate than the A/T due to the shorter 1st gear & more drivetrain loss for A/T's (As Jimny's A/T is not modern).

Ride Quality

I was waiting to experience Jimny's ride as I had heard a lot of good things about it, hence the 1st time I drove out of the showroom and a few minutes in I could relate to how people were appreciative about its ride quality but I still thought that the tyre pressures weren't right hence the next day I checked & found out the reading to be;



Too high, not sure how & why dealerships don't reduce it to factory recommended (26 PSI in this case) before delivery or during PDI. After reducing to around 26 PSI the ride quality enhanced like it should. The OE tyres are also a contributor here which add to the cushion. Speaking about the tyres, these are fresh too as I got 33rd week of 2024 manufactured tyres. I personally would not change the tyres to A/T yet as I would like to explore the potential of the stock car before doing any upgrades. Similar theory applies to the suspension which IMO does a good job & not sure why people rush into suspension upgrades immediately after delivery. Also seeing so many modified Jimnys on social media a stock Jimny is a breath of fresh air. Modifications, customisations etc. are inevitable for a car of this type but for me nothing immediate.

Handling;



I have experience of driving body on frame vehicles of around 15 years with my Fortuners hence I know what to expect & what to not in that sense the Jimny is a good handler. In fact it can be very agile in making its way through traffic too thanks to its compact dimensions. On the flip side the Jimny's steering keeps you busy (in a good way) as that again adds to the driver engagement as Lately cars have been too easy to drive in that aspect Jimny keeps you thrilled.

Exterior Looks;



^ Designed to Look boxy, Retro & Battle Ready to take on the rough stuff.

Lights;



Sufficient illumination & throw, but the cosmetics I would have loved a retro DRL like we see on the Ford Bronco or Toyota LR70 hence a big miss IMO.

Interiors;



The interiors carry forward the retro vibe. Space is decent but the headroom is impressive. Good amount of features provided & the screen is good (same as my HyRyder hybrid) but misses out on TPMS & USB-C. Seating position is easy to find hence no complaints that it misses out on a height adjustable seat or steering reach.

Dealership Experience;

I was looking for a White coloured Alpha Manual but there was no stock at all. In fact a dealer who has multiple dealerships in Gujarat was not interested to take the booking or follow up at its Vapi branch. As there was no stock anywhere I booked the car on 12th October 2024 at Excell AutoVista, Thane for them to place the order at the factory. The car arrived by end of October. It was a fresh October manufactured car hence it was surely an added bonus.



^ Special thanks to Mr Pravesh from Excell Autovista Nexa for his commitment to provide a good service :thumbs up

The only accessories (Free) I opted for were;

- Floor Mats
- Boot Mat
- Mud flaps
- Cargo Net

Shall keep updating this thread with new posts of my drives, adventures & share my opinion with BHPians & future prospective buyers.

Thank You !

Congratulations on your Jimny. Above all the good things in a Jimny, I personally like the Steering which is heavy, well connected to the driver and I enjoy it. I do not really prefer the Steering which comes on most of the cars, finger light, even on my Carens

Using both hands like a truck driver on full turns is fun :)

I am one of your fan & subscriber and have watched your Jimny delivery video earlier on YouTube.

I am awaiting my Alpha Automatic delivery soon and I noticed that many of my thoughts reverberate with yours, such as keeping the vehicle stock and driving it for a few months to really understand what mods it requires/doesn't require instead of blindly going behind accessories.

My dealer has a white Alpha Automatic ready in his stock yard while I have opted for the bluish black colour. Black colour is my favorite color (though it's difficult to maintain and not advisable in coastal areas due to higher temperatures and humidity) and that's going to take the dealer a bit longer to procure one.

I have taken a TD of the automatic and though I am a hard core manual transmission guy (never drove an automatic in last 4.5 decades of driving), age is not on my side and at 61 years with my joints not keeping up with my mind, I have reluctantly opted for the automatic. It's mind over heart in this regard.

Many Congratulations sir on your new shining white lovely Jimny. May you have tons of fun with your steed and hopefully we shall meet some day. Drive safe.

Congrats on the purchase. I have a small query: did Maruti update the seatbelt reminders? Do they have weight sensors now or are they still the same old stupid ones without weight sensors?

Heartiest congratulations for the purchase. Jimny is a car that slowly grows on you. Wishing you many happy miles ahead.

Nope. They haven't updated the seat belt reminder in rear seats. It's the same old story. They wouldn't do anything about it.

Okay. Unrelated but I heard they've updated it on the new dzire. Not sure how true this is.

I wish there was a way to get rid of these reminders.

I Test drove an Alpha Automatic last week and the seat belt reminder was chiming for 30 seconds or so. The TD car was a new arrival car too as it had very low mileage on the odo. I raised this rear seatbelt reminder with SA and he shrugged and said he is helpless in that matter.

MSIL has indeed updated the rear seatbelt alarm algorithm for some cars, and our Jimny doesn't get that yet. They now work the following way:

Congrats Karan! Loved reading your review & wishing you many happy trips (on-road & offroad) with your Jimny.

Seeing your signature, I just had to comment = you are building a kickass garage, with each car carefully chosen, and very special in its own way.

How many drivers in the house? Do you keep any cars on the trickle-charger?

Thanks Swami for your wishes.

Well said, yes I can relate to it now.

Thanks so much for Sir for your appreciation & support towards my content on YouTube.

Also congratulations for booking the Jimny, but I'd still want you to buy the Manual.

All the best, see you soon :thumbs up

Still beeps.

Thank You for your good wishes.

It surely does.

Thanks GTO for your special comment & wishes :)

Yes, GOD has been kind. Thank You for noticing. Interestingly all 8 Ownership reviews are active on TEAMBHP.

Well, I have to invest into one. Unfortunately my E46 suffers the most due to less usage & needing a jump every now & then. Its eaten 3 - 4 batteries in about 7 years of ownership.