[SPEEDY]

Just a few observations I made on my recent 5000km+ trip with the brand new XL auto.
I will start with the adaptive cruise control because it's a big one, fir long Strait highway runs it was absolutely brilliant and made driving very relaxing. At dusk when travelling through kangaroo hot spots I would lock onto a truck and just keep pace behind it, has the trucks avoid a few but the jimny just kept pace and braked when needed, no drams with the roo's. The con to it and its a bloody annoying one, in really wet weather if you get a truck or caravan coming the other way and it shoots up a big spray of water, the cameras get temporarily blinded and the console lights up like a Christmas tree, a warning message takes over the centre display warning the cameras are disabled and the car starts to break.
So you have to turn off the adaptive cruise control when conditions get like that, but you have to be stationary to do it which is also annoying.
But overall it's much nicer to have it then not to have it.
Oh, even if your not using cruise control it will still light up all the warning lights to let you know its not working, and it will also do it on dirt roads or if there's fog on the windscreen.

Up hill on cruise control, yes it gets a little annoying when the revs jump up to 4500rpm, at 110kph it even hit 5000rpm a couple of times, but my solution was pretty simple, when I hit stretches like that I would tap the brak to turn off the cruise control, and just control it with my foot. I might have slowed down bit but I never got under 95kph and could comfortably do 100kph up any of the hills I encountered around 4000-4100rpm which was a lot quieter and smoother.
That wasn't a problem IMO, snall car, small engine it's to be expected.

That bloody fuel tank, having a 40lt tank is fine, but because of how the electrics read it then its effectively a 30lt tank, run it until your out of range and when you fill it up it only takes at most 30lt, even with the light on for a while the most I got in it was 32lt. My average fill up was around 24-25lt.
The factory headlights, bright enough but too distance focused, I'm glad I put a small light bar on, but especially on low beam y I u had the area that was lit, then total darkness, I will be replacing those globes with something a little less direct.
The reversing camera, it's set up good for off road but, it points too low down for around town and the one bit that let's you see directly behind you that the mirrors can't, is where they put a stupid damn message telling you to check behind you for some stupid reason. The sane goes with that stupid warning message that comes up telling you not to operate the "infotainment" system while driving, every time you turn the key on it comes on just as you start driving, along with one to say your phone is connected which you have to press to clear, that you inevitably have to do while driving so what's the dawn point if it.

Other then that it was comfortable to spend up to 14 hours a day driving, I fit a surprising amount of stuff in it, handling was great and I had no dramas passing road trains or being overtaken by them, no wobbly swaying or being pushed around. The firm steering was IMO just right.

Apart from the electric nanny state BS that I really want to get turned off, it was one of the best long distance drives I've ever had, relaxing on the Strait runs, comfortable to ride in and really fun on the curving roads.
Most vehicles I've owned have just been that, vehicles. But every Jimny I've had, or Sierra fir that matter has had a personality, my wife and I both found ourselves talking to Desmond as we have called it, so the big trip became more like welcoming a new member to the family rather then just a road trip.

[sideways]

Thanks for your insights!

I was pretty well sold on the 5 door but when I went and looked at one I think they stuffed up the format. There is enormous, sedan like leg room in the back and still an absolutely tiny load area. The back seats don't fold neatly into the floor like a 3 door, they fold down to a 20 degree angle and make the space unusable like a 3rd gen jimny. The seat doesn't fold and flip or anything, just the back folds down but not all the way...

I was more looking for something like a longbody Sierra where the back seats are suitable for children and the load area is quite reasonable. I think the setup in the back of the 3door jimny is very slick but the 5 door was really half baked.

[SPEEDY]

If the seats were set up on the 5 door like the 3 door, and they gave it a a 55lt tank and a 5 speed auto box it would be an outstanding little touring 4x4.
But they are stuck on it as being weekend adventure vehicle and a city driver.
But it is really easy to remove the rear seats, and then it's like an extended 3 door. There's heaps of room then.
But the big 3 door advantage as a two seat touring rig is you can make the rear into a big square floor area. You just can't make the 5 door square.
But it is a lot more stable to drive, it's got no bounce at all now.
I did think about removing the rear seats, but I bought it fir the rear seats, so I think I will just start towing a trailer, put the camping gear in it, keep the fridge and the food in the boot, along with a bag of clothes.

[compdad]

SPEEDY wrote:

Just a few observations I made on my recent 5000km+ trip with the brand new XL auto.
I will start with the adaptive cruise control because it's a big one, fir long Strait highway runs it was absolutely brilliant and made driving very relaxing. At dusk when travelling through kangaroo hot spots I would lock onto a truck and just keep pace behind it, has the trucks avoid a few but the jimny just kept pace and braked when needed, no drams with the roo's. The con to it and its a bloody annoying one, in really wet weather if you get a truck or caravan coming the other way and it shoots up a big spray of water, the cameras get temporarily blinded and the console lights up like a Christmas tree, a warning message takes over the centre display warning the cameras are disabled and the car starts to break.
So you have to turn off the adaptive cruise control when conditions get like that, but you have to be stationary to do it which is also annoying.
But overall it's much nicer to have it then not to have it.

99% agree - not sure as to being stopped to turn Adaptive off. will need to review that one.

Quote:

Up hill on cruise control, yes it gets a little annoying when the revs jump up to 4500rpm, at 110kph it even hit 5000rpm a couple of times, but my solution was pretty simple, when I hit stretches like that I would tap the brak to turn off the cruise control, and just control it with my foot. I might have slowed down bit but I never got under 95kph and could comfortably do 100kph up any of the hills I encountered around 4000-4100rpm which was a lot quieter and smoother.
That wasn't a problem IMO, snall car, small engine it's to be expected.

YEP, the kick down and reves was a tad interesting - compared to all the other cars I have driven.. But I just got into the habbet of putting the foot down and being a tad pre emptive re some hills.

Quote:

That bloody fuel tank, having a 40lt tank is fine, but because of how the electrics read it then its effectively a 30lt tank, run it until your out of range and when you fill it up it only takes at most 30lt, even with the light on for a while the most I got in it was 32lt. My average fill up was around 24-25lt.

Am assuming they are trying to limit people saying they ran out of fuel. Full tank and the range says 340K. Yet I have done 380 plus and still a 1/4 of a tank and the range was saying about 80K. But all good. Small is good, and a 5L fuel container is a handy add in for extra long trips; no need for those big 20L containers.

Quote:

The reversing camera, it's set up good for off road but, it points too low down for around town and the one bit that let's you see directly behind you that the mirrors can't, is where they put a stupid damn message telling you to check behind you for some stupid reason. The sane goes with that stupid warning message that comes up telling you not to operate the "infotainment" system while driving, every time you turn the key on it comes on just as you start driving, along with one to say your phone is connected which you have to press to clear, that you inevitably have to do while driving so what's the dawn point if it.

As I do a bit of beach driving/fishing and lots of stopping AND 3 to 5 day trips - Solo - Have made a few changes.

1: Auto shift lights and wired correctly , so only on when lights are on.
2: Auto fold of Side mirrors. Need to manage blind spots as they are a tad narrow.
3: A real time Water temp gauge of the block - Interesting as to when the fan kicks in and what it likes to run at. Sits where the touch start would have been.
4: DC to DC converter and wiring in the rear for Li Battery and fridge.
4: Removed rear seats and and a low profile deck - has low profile split cargo protecting and these can fold forward and flat. Move the seat or seats forward and one can stretch out and sleep in comfort.
5: Center arm rest and various other little cargo pockets. Removed the little cutout - Drivers side below the switches and above the ODB2 connector. 3D printed a pocket and or some extra switch housings.
6: Front and rear Dash Cams with parking mode
7: 3D printed a nice Relay mount bracket that will allow up to 4 relays to be mounted neatly in the engine bay.
8: Recovery points; I shale never need, but may need to assist others.
9: 100deg opening of rear door - 52cm struts.
10: Bonnet Struts.
11: 215 tyres.
12: Flat base rack ARM - never again...
13: Half sized Iron Man Bull bar - over the top - but best option for mounting front rod holders
14: Rear Rod holders and fishing gear mount to rear spare.
15: Internal lights all upgraded

In Progress:

1: Switch to get rid of the Beeping when key is in and door open, still beeps if lights left on.
2: Driving Led Bar. Still looking for the most suitable wiring harness - part installed
3: Switch to permanently disable ALL traction control - part installed
4: Foldable key fob - on order
5: Window switches to be Active at all times.
6: Seat covers
7: Always other functional mods to add. NOTE: Must be functional and not bling.

Thought about:

1: Small solar panel - with 120ah Li battery and only short camping trips = Not Needed.
2: Winch - Def Not needed
3: Lift Kit - Def not needed
4: Max tracks - Def not needed - Do cary a block of wood to use for Jack base if ever required; cheaper and easer to carry than Max Tracks
5: Rear Diff lock - Functional but $$$ and may never ever need to use.
5: Many other items, considered but most are just bling.

NOTE: Have re Badged as a Toyota Suzuki Hybrid - Always wanted a true high/low range Rav 4...

[SPEEDY]

You can disconnect that beeping when you open the door with the key in the ignition, I did that.
Same with the seat belts.
I'm actually getting the rod holders to go on the roof rails, I might only need the boards a handful of times, but they are worth their weight in gold when you do need them, so I might as well use the space.
I'm getting a false floor made up next week to let me store stuff that will live in it, and let me use the boot as a boot. Then I've got a tow bar coming as well as a slimline lithium to go under the seat.
Once that's done all I need are seat covers, and the diff breathers.
Then it's all about setting up a mini camper trailer for touring and camping, that will carry all the gear so the vehicle is left with more free space.

[SPEEDY]

Oh I'm 100% sure that you have to be stopped to turn the adaptive off, I got the shits with it and held the button down for about 30 seconds and the whole cruise control had a hissy fit and shut down, I had to restart the car to get it to work again.
Oh and you have to turn the adaptive off every time after you restart, as it automatically resets when you switch it off.

[fordem]

Fuel range is an estimate based on average consumption, and it can be realistic, optimistic or pessimistic depending on the situation - average consumption changes with driving conditions, the terrain being driven, even driving style - if these reamin unchanged the range estimate will be realistic, but if, for example, the average consumption is based on city driving and you take the car out onto the highway, the estimated range will be pessimistic, lower than the actual range, because the actual consumption is less than the average the estimate was based on. The reverse is also true, if the average consumption is based on highway use, and you take the car into the city, the estimated range will be optimistic, because the actual consumption is now higher than the average consumption the range was based on.

Where this can become a problem is heading off road after a long highway drive, you're starting with a low average consumption, but, the actual consumption in 4H or 4L is going to be quite a bit higher, so you're going to start with a VERY optimistic range estimate that plummets like a rock.

[SPEEDY]

That's what I find funny, my average when up north was 8lt/100km that dropped to 8.4lt/100km coming home in the gead wind, it's still at it but my remaining fuel shows I will get 470km from this tank.
I'm filling up today, so I will check what the actual usage is.

[Gwagensteve]

Interesting that an auto temp gauge hasn’t been mentioned. That (or an appropriate app to pull and display it from the CAN data) would be the first addition I would make.

[compdad]

Gwagensteve wrote:

Interesting that an auto temp gauge hasn’t been mentioned. That (or an appropriate app to pull and display it from the CAN data) would be the first addition I would make.

When on the beach and doing 4x4 stuff; I connect a Scan Gauge and have a few readings on my phone. But it does come back to driving styles.

Have seen a few cook their transmission of the years, but even an oil cooler can not keep a transmission safe from fools. High range, foot flat to the floor , wheel spins and it does not take too long before there are issues when you have 10k plus of soft sand on a high tide.

[SPEEDY]

SPEEDY wrote:

That's what I find funny, my average when up north was 8lt/100km that dropped to 8.4lt/100km coming home in the gead wind, it's still at it but my remaining fuel shows I will get 470km from this tank.
I'm filling up today, so I will check what the actual usage is.

After filling up and using a calculator, my fuel economy is now at 7.6lt/100km.
What I gather from this is while fuel economy is great at 100kph, it jumps up a lot when you start cruising at 110kph. Not really a big problem I think when I'm doing light highway runs I will sit on 110kph, but when I'm doing long distances then I will stick to 100kph to save some juice and get more range.
It's not a big thing, just one of those choices you have to make when you own a jimny, it's still a lot better then the 350km of range and 90kph I used to get from my old gen 3, so I can do 110kph and still get better fuel economy then it in the new one.

[Gwagensteve]

compdad wrote:

When on the beach and doing 4x4 stuff; I connect a Scan Gauge and have a few readings on my phone. But it does come back to driving styles.

Have seen a few cook their transmission of the years, but even an oil cooler can not keep a transmission safe from fools. High range, foot flat to the floor , wheel spins and it does not take too long before there are issues when you have 10k plus of soft sand on a high tide.

I'd be equally worried about highway driving. I've seen surprisingly high trans temps on the Jimny auto in an unladen Sierra on stock sized tyres on long grades - once the converter unlocks they build heat very quickly.

Whilst there is some driver input on how the transmission behaves, there's not a lot that can be done about the converter lock strategy.

[compdad]

Gwagensteve wrote:

compdad wrote:

When on the beach and doing 4x4 stuff; I connect a Scan Gauge and have a few readings on my phone. But it does come back to driving styles.

Have seen a few cook their transmission of the years, but even an oil cooler can not keep a transmission safe from fools. High range, foot flat to the floor , wheel spins and it does not take too long before there are issues when you have 10k plus of soft sand on a high tide.

I'd be equally worried about highway driving. I've seen surprisingly high trans temps on the Jimny auto in an unladen Sierra on stock sized tyres on long grades - once the converter unlocks they build heat very quickly.

Whilst there is some driver input on how the transmission behaves, there's not a lot that can be done about the converter lock strategy.

Like most things these days - Manufacturer tries to cover off on 1D0ts and 1001 conditions but will never be close to even 85% ( a wild guess).

Saw many many of the Gen4 s in the south island of NZ but no idea as to Auto or Manual. And lots of big long climbs.

When On the beach as I dont try to race the 50Psi low profile TC on; mob ( so many these days). I turn OD off and in many cases and just go about any super soft stuff in Lo 4x4. Have never had issue with any previous Auto 4x4 - while I have seen and read of many. See even more these days on the Fraser Island pages. Cooked Transmissions - 99% will be USER.

My only wish would be that the Suzuki Auto was a 5 speed, but like most things - Pros and cons and Driving behaviour ( Context is important).

PS; Loved my LJ50 but I was young and mostly out bush central north Qld. And had an old Holden to tow it when doing long highway runs. or just put it on the train (freight) - best way to get from Warric to Cairns.

[Joe]

I've always been under the impression that cruise control shouldn't be used in wet weather can't remember where I heard it but something about aqua plaining comes to mind.

[Gwagensteve]

That idea came from a video that circulated many years ago about a woman who had some huge crash she claimed was due to cruise control and aquaplaning. If I recall correctly her claim was the cruise control apparently made the car demonic, fly off the road accelerating wildly etc.

Turns out it was probably just an inattentive driver.

I can see no reason not to use cruise control when it’s raining, but obviously user discretion is required.

https://rac.com.au/car-motoring/info/mo ... %20weather.

I’m not a huge fan of most “driver intervention” features buy active cruise control is awesome.

[SPEEDY]

Even with the cruise control on, if yiu started to aquaplane then the stability control would still kick in.

[Gwagensteve]

How would the stability control know? Aquaplaning just means the car continues along like nothing has happened but there’s water between the tyre and road. It’s only a problem if the driver makes an input that the car doesn’t respond to. The real problem is what position the car ends up in when the aquaplaning event ceases. That’s when stability control might notice something is up.

If there’s little camber on the road a car could aquaplane for some time without the driver being aware. Normally the car drifts in slightly in the lane, the driver makes some big input to try and regain control and induces a crash.

I’d suggest the stability control will have no idea the car is aquaplaning. Whilst the car is actually planing nothing the stability control could do would stop the event, it may be able to gather it up when the event concludes and the car is out of shape.

[fordem]

I'm curious as to how many people have actually experienced "aquaplaning" - one of the things that IS going to happen is the drive wheels are going to loose traction, they will spin and the TC/ESP system WILL pick it up. I lack experience with the TC/ESP systems to be able to predict how they will react/deal with it, but I expect them to certainly detect it.

Back when I was a little boy, I'd go on long drives with my dad, and he owned this front wheel drive Simca (French Chrysler), the front tires would "plane" over standing water, and the way we knew it was happening is you would hear the engine rpms jump dramatically, there was no tachometer but the speedometer would also jump, once the tire made contact with the road surface, things would "normalize", but for that three or four second period, the engine would be racing and the speedometer reporting a speed much faster than the vehicle was actually moving at.

Apart from this oddity, that Simca was unusually stable and the problem was apparently just one tire loosing traction, but it only happened on a wet road with standing water

[vet 180]

compdad wrote:

Gwagensteve wrote:

Interesting that an auto temp gauge hasn’t been mentioned. That (or an appropriate app to pull and display it from the CAN data) would be the first addition I would make.

When on the beach and doing 4x4 stuff; I connect a Scan Gauge and have a few readings on my phone. But it does come back to driving styles.

Have seen a few cook their transmission of the years, but even an oil cooler can not keep a transmission safe from fools. High range, foot flat to the floor , wheel spins and it does not take too long before there are issues when you have 10k plus of soft sand on a high tide.

I don't know, I feel I enter your category of "fools". I did nearly 200,000kms of mostly highway at 130-140kph and lots of soft sand in Dubai (45+deg days, 60deg dunes, prob 30,000+kms total) runing 215/80r15 tires on an old 2015 model ( I assume same trans?) and I feel the trans cooler saved me from ever needing to do a trans. Did do trans and varios engines from other vehicles though.....the heat just kills them.

But I would go the biggest trans cooler you can fit and a guage/alarm.

Seems like a decnt rig the 4 door, but I feel it woud do great with an 8 speed. Its not that hard these days.

[SPEEDY]

It could definitely use a better gear box, top speed around here is 110kph, and at that speed a 5 speed auto would ve much better or a box that let you lock it into gear so instead of dropping down to 3rd, you can just put your foot down harder.

A couple of other observations I've made since then, the bloody adaptive cruise control also goes nuts if there's direct sunlight on the cameras, and if you want to have a little fun going fast on dirt tracks, the traction control heats up the breaks a lot after 30min or so, you can smell them heating up.
So the auto is one you have to drive a little more sensibly.