My week with Jimny

If I hear another person call the Suzuki Jimny cute I am going to drive over them with it, and believe me, the Jimny will have no issues with this task. I hadn’t had the priveldge of driving a Jimny before so when asked to take it for a week I was thrilled at the prospect. I had only heard good things about it from my colleagues and was eager to see what this ‘little’ guy could do.

As I had no plans to go anywhere that would involve a bit of off-roading, but figured that would come later (I am due to go on a Suzuki 4×4 course soon) I decided to approach the week as one would who owned a Jimny, going about my daily life – which doesn’t always involve a 4×4 course does it?

There were only a few things that hampered my daily living with the Suzuki Jimny, one being the boot space…or lack thereof. Wow, that space is just silly. Grocery shopping became an art form as I strategically placed parcels on top of each other creating a balancing act for my milk and eggs. There is the backseat, of course, but what if you have people sitting on them? My other slight issue was the cabin light; it turns off far too quickly. Late and night or early morning, I would climb in and within seconds need to have the key in the ignition, otherwise I was left in darkness scrambling around scratching the dashboard trying to find the keyhole…waiting to be hijacked.

Other than these minor complaints (both of which you would learn to live with), I fell completely in love with Jimny. I began to think of him, yes him, as my right-hand man. He is has such character and got looks wherever I took him. He got called all kinds of names like “Barbie car” (which I didn’t like), “A piece of feta” (which made me laugh) and “the little engine that could” (ok enough now!).

I can’t say he is the best on-road performer as he felt a little bit, well, as my colleague put it, “roly-poly”. With the short wheelbase and narrow tracks, the ride is a bit bouncy but, for me, this just added to the character of the car. This car is built for fun and it feels fun.

Every morning when I came out to him, I smiled. This has to be a good thing. I mean if your car has the smile factor then you have hit the mark!

I look forward to taking him up a mountain or down a cliff face, round a mountain pass or over boulders, down a river or up a creek. I have such faith in my little guy, I feel like I could take him anywhere with me…and apparently, I can!

 

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