I think GM slapped their brand on Suzuki for the US, we had the same with Holden calling them their own. I worked for a rental fleet in the '80's, and we had some SJ410's...they got a hard life and took it well.
The Suzuki Jimny Is the Affordable Off-Roader America Needs
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Back in the early-mid nineties, I did a lot of offroading, and there was a group of guys who had modified Samurais. With just a little work, and not much expense (parts were a lot less expensive than the American and larger Japanese rigs), the Suzukis were very capable offroad vehicles. We did a lot of very tough, rocky trails that always broke one or two vehicles at every outing. This Jimny looks to be in the same class as those earlier 'zuks.
There were several reasons why Suzuki pulled their vehicles out of the US. 1st, a few years earlier they started selling a couple of rebadged Daewoo cars that were complete garbage, and they also replaced the very good Japanese manufactured XL7s with the ugly rebadged Chevy Trailblazers that weren't much better, both of which severely damaged their reputation. The vehicles that Suzuki actually manufactured in Japan (like the Jimny) had a very good long-standing reputation for quality, reliability, and durability. 2nd, the new emission and safety regulations that were coming were going to cost too much money for the company to implement, and they knew that they wouldn't be able to recoup their investment with the profits from their dismal US sales. 3rd, they had lost a significant number of their dealers in the US because the vehicles the dealers were selling couldn't make a profit.
The same things happened to Isuzu and SAAB. Their association with GM took them all down. Subaru was smart, and they got lucky.
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crash testing isn't mandatory in Europe
When do people buy "affordable" and "need"? We buy what we dream of (we get to tow our boat! we get to haul construction materials to build our home and garden! we get to haul a trailer to the camp site! isn't that great?) and we finance it.
Couldnt a Subaru Crosstrek with a lift do anything this would do?
https://ironman4x4america.com/2-all-terrain-suspension-kit-suited-for-2018-subaru-crosstrek-gt/
https://ironman4x4america.com/2-all-terrain-suspension-kit-suited-for-2018-subaru-crosstrek-gt/
The Jimny is a totally different animal then the Crosstrek and is more like a Wrangler. It has body-on-frame construction with a longitudinally mounted engine and rear-wheel-drive based drivetrain with a 2-speed transfer case, more like a truck. The Crosstrek has unibody construction and front-wheel-drive based drivetrain, more like a car. FYI, Subaru still manufactures front-wheel-drive cars but doesn't sell them in North America (at this time).
I understand that but I have seen Subarus get up some gnarly trails just fine. 90% of it is tires. Where are we taking the Jimny that requires such things?
Shoulda gotta Lada. Lots of these things around here in the '80's and '90's - NZ had a dairy deal with Russia, we gave them milk, and they gave us Ladas. I've done nearly everything on a Niva, because nearly everything broke on them. But the harder you treated them, the better they worked. At the time they were competing with the Suzuki SJ410 and SJ413, and for all their problems, the Niva was tougher, and better off road.
Drove a Jimny around Costa Rica for a month. Wish I had spent the money and rented a RAV4 instead. God was it terrible.
That is Jay Leno's illegitimate son, Douglas from a "fling" out on the West coast
. He like cars - it's in his DNA. Found fame on YouTube.
Had a Chevy Tracker 2dr soft top. in the early 90s. Fun li'l Jeep. And very affordable. It think they were around 13G out the door with a stick and a SOHC 1.6L Tough Little full frame trucklet with good steering and handling. Nice adjustable cable operated clutch.
GM pigged them out later with the larger, noisy, fragile and unreliable 2L DOHC engine in the Vitara model.
Still affordable 4WD with a transfer case and HI-LO range for crawling. My wife enjoyed hers, I told her if she drove one now she would be aghast at the lack of refinement and comfort.
GM pigged them out later with the larger, noisy, fragile and unreliable 2L DOHC engine in the Vitara model.
Still affordable 4WD with a transfer case and HI-LO range for crawling. My wife enjoyed hers, I told her if she drove one now she would be aghast at the lack of refinement and comfort.
Very good looking truck. I'd actually like to have one if it had a gutsy engine in it. I have a feeling it would be much the same driving experience as a Samurai in respect to timing its 0-60 with a calendar rather than with a stopwatch.
The Samurai was peppy and engaging with a stick It was a GP not a Gran Prix!
I will agree the heavier, wider Vitara was slow; and that 2 litre was a garbage engine.
In Moab maybe. Around here, a Subie is ok for dirt roads and that's it. W,Mass and NH trails are too rocky and slippery for a car. You need low range and higher rocker panels.
The media has a storied history with this kind of crap. Everyone wants to be the next Ralph Nader: 60 Minutes with the Audi sudden acceleration story where they never considered that someone might have accidentally hit the gas thinking they were hitting the brakes (Toyota almost got hosed with this later) and then NBC with the model rocket igniter that was needed to help a Chevy C/K burst into flames after a side impact.
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