Is buying a Suzuki Jimny the biggest mistake you’ll make this year?

The Suzuki Jimny has been around for 40 years with very little upgrades to its simplistic design. This is part of the Jimny’s winning strategy, don’t fix something that is not broken. According to the official marketing collateral, the Suzuki is built to: “Go Anywhere at Any Time”, “It will bend over front and backwards for you in any given situation” and, “Jimny’s simply don’t crack!” I know what you are thinking, this sounds flipping amazing so how could this be a mistake?

Well, it turns out that despite the beautiful customer-centric philosophy published on their website, Suzuki will go to great length not to honour their warranty agreement. You see, according to the head of marketing and product planning, “40% of Suzuki Jimny’s are bought by women in the city because they are cheap” and even though the Suzuki is marketed as a tuff, go anywhere 4x4, as soon as you drive through water deeper than the axles, your warranty won’t cover any defects. So clearly Suzuki discloses this information with great transparency, after all this is one of those 10 customer commitments? The answer is of course NOT! They tell you to go F-yourself with the below official response:

“Please note that the exact wading depth of any OEM vehicle will not be specified due to entry speed, entry angle which could influence the depth of the water, however on page 6-5 in your owners Manuel it stipulates:

The water is too deep if it covers your wheel hubs, axles, or exhaust tailpipe. Know the depth of the water before you attempt to drive through it.

We do consider the matter addressed where management has rendered their input”

Fact is: The manual does not stipulate but rather provide the above information as a driving tip!

So why did I buy a Suzuki Jimny?

In December I was channel hopping and my eye caught a 4x4 competition on the television program, Ignition. This was the Bridgestone 4x4 club challenge and on the episode, I watched, the Suzuki Jimny’s were kicking ass and taking names. I started doing research on the Jimny by looking at a ton of YouTube videos, analysing specification sheets and exploring feedback and perceptions on social media. Analysts were consistent across the board, the Suzuki is not a great fun car to drive every day and it does not even have an NCAP rating, but man it is one hell of a 4x4 off-road vehicle…

I received my brand new Jimny on Wednesday the 3rd of January and immediately started making arrangements to explore its 4x4 capability. Because I was new to the vehicle, I decided to drive an easy, controlled 4x4 track at hobbypark.co.za in Krugersdorp on Saturday the 6th of Jan. The second obstacle is a shallow (or what I thought was shallow) water obstacle, after walking the obstacle and measuring that the deepest point is not deeper than 500mm I navigated the obstacle. Unfortunately, my vehicle started taking on water at the bottom of the doors and the next day my clutch became difficult to depress.

On Tuesday the 9th of Jan I took the vehicle back to Suzuki only to be told that they must replace the clutch and that neither this nor the damp water smell in the brand-new cabin will be repaired under warranty because I drove through deep water. When I requested a definition of “deep water” because I could not find a wading depth anywhere, I was told that Suzuki does not publish the Jimny’s wading depth but there is a driving tip in your owner’s manual that mentions that water is too deep if it is higher than the axle or exhaust - This would have been awesome to know before I bought the vehicle or when I asked the salesperson what a snorkel for the Jimny would cost, boy what a na?ve question in retrospect…

Why the hell is there a snorkel for the Jimny if you can’t drive in water above the wheel axel?

Just to look pretty when driving on grass, apparently!

Here is a picture of my own Jimny directly after the obstacle, the water was clearly not that high nor that muddy taking into consideration that the wheels were only pumped 1.5 Bar.

Suzuki confirmed that they had to re-align the doors to get rid of the rattles and squeaks I initially complained about. In my opinion, the misaligned doors were responsible for the water leak.

According to my research, your clutch is supposed to be a sealed unit that should not have to be replaced on a vehicle with 300km on the clock even if you drive through a bit of water. I, therefore, find Suzuki’s response quite unreasonable especially considering that the Consumer Protection Act (2008) clearly states that Suzuki should highlight and disclose all relevant information pertaining to the Jimny on all aspects of the product, allowing the customer to make an informed decision when purchasing the vehicle.

The vehicle was not used for anything other than its intended purpose, so If Suzuki insists that this vehicle is not defective, then the Sales and Marketing teams disingenuously positioned the capability of the Suzuki Jimny through false advertising and deliberately withholding crucial information.

So, is buying a Suzuki Jimny the worst mistake you can make this year? I sincerely hope not, but would have to wait and see…