[Jones]

Looks like we can all expect a facelifted and ESC equipped new Jimny to arrive end of next year!

Quote:

Also due by late 2014 is a facelifted Jimny complete with electronic stability control (ESC), which became mandatory for all passenger cars sold in Australia from November 1.

The upgraded version of one of Australia’s cheapest SUVs (from $20,490) is the result of continued lobbying by Suzuki Australia, which still sells about 45 examples a month and has about 270 pre-November plated models in stock.

That means the current model will be discontinued by around March, leaving Suzuki without the Jimny until the upgraded model arrives later next year, after which it will continue on sale indefinitely.

http://www.carpoint.com.au/news/2013/su ... year-40369

[Marko_SJ]

Hopefully a step forward rather than back....

Nice find.

[Jones]

Hopefully they dont just stick esc in and call it done, they should use this opportunity to give it a bit more of an upgrade. Stick a 1.6 in it

Its promising to see that Suzuki have realised there is still demand here

[sideways]

That's really awesome news. Hopefully it's true, I'l have to hit up Suzuki and see.

Hopefully that means a decent offroad traction control too and with that, they'd probably have to stick some stronger CV joints in it. With ESC they'd be a lot more willing to put a bigger engine in it, we can only hope.

I bet there will be another, unique set of bullbar mounts on it.

[Chop]

Thats all well and good if its not that blue thing like we've talked about in the other thread.

[Jezza86]

1.6L, 235/75's and make it a bit wider (call it the jimny WT) with full float rear and discs all round.

[got_bar_work]

They should put the m18 in it
Nice 6 speed auto would be good
And upgrade the diff to a vit size to cope with the power

[Gwagensteve]

And the front axles. And the front diff, and the radius arms, and add fuel range, and give it lockers, and a snorkel, and a low range transfer case, and sell it for $10k.

Meanwhile nobody wants to pay decent money for set up second hand jimny's, nobody wants to pay proper money for heavy duty driveline parts and I think approximately one person has put a temp gauge on a jimny auto.


These threads are funny.

Steve.

[tanshi]

can i add, make them far far far less ugly to the list while we are pipe dreaming??

[henno]

I'm hoping for two non-functioning bonnet scoops.

[Gwagensteve]

And diesel. Definitely diesel, but a mechanical diesel with no emissions controls and mad hektik spool noises. And with removable doors. Yeah. Rad. And no stupid stability control. Yeah. Oh, wait.... Why did this thread get started again?

[sideways]

henno wrote:

I'm hoping for two non-functioning bonnet scoops.

I'm hoping for a rally style roof scoop and the optional spoiler to become standard.

And HIDs.

[Jezza86]

Gwagensteve wrote:

And the front axles. And the front diff, and the radius arms, and add fuel range, and give it lockers, and a snorkel, and a low range transfer case, and sell it for $10k.

Meanwhile nobody wants to pay decent money for set up second hand jimny's, nobody wants to pay proper money for heavy duty driveline parts and I think approximately one person has put a temp gauge on a jimny auto.


These threads are funny.

Steve.

they did that with the jeep http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_Wrang ... 282011-.29
not the 10K part. but id probably pay a extra 10K for a fatory set up jim that could handle a bit more wheel diameter and had lockers if i was looking at buying new.
go back in time, your on the showroom floor and have the choice between a NT and a WT, what would you buy on the day?
dosent have to be a overhaul to sell. just look how quick those non functional bonnet scoops are popping up!

[Marko_SJ]

Jezza86 wrote:

Gwagensteve wrote:

And the front axles. And the front diff, and the radius arms, and add fuel range, and give it lockers, and a snorkel, and a low range transfer case, and sell it for $10k.

Meanwhile nobody wants to pay decent money for set up second hand jimny's, nobody wants to pay proper money for heavy duty driveline parts and I think approximately one person has put a temp gauge on a jimny auto.


These threads are funny.

Steve.

dosent have to be a overhaul to sell. just look how quick those non functional bonnet scoops are popping up!

X2, just add whats necessary. They do the job as is for all but some. Leave lockers to the aftermarket. Although something should be done about the front diff and possibly to the suspension.

Perhaps the reason for the thread is to give the opprtunity for certain people to make wanker comments.

[Gwagensteve]

I'm going to say my 2c in relation to this and I won't post again on this topic.

A Jimny is a light duty vehicle. It's backward technologically and dynamically.

Jimny's sell at 45 units a month Australia wide, excluding Vic. Vic might account for maybe another 15 units, so that's 60, tops. 60X12=720.

Now remove the sales to commercial users, security companies etc…
now remove the people who want the cheapest car possible and won't pay for the extra heavy duty gear
what are you left with? 150 cars a year?

ADR approving a different tyre size etc for 150 cars are year is very hard to justify when the car is $100K, but at $20K it's just impossible.

The four wheel drive market has been all but abandoned by suzuki because suzuki owners, in general, don't take their cars off road, and it's not worth adding value to a car for them. The owners aren't interested. In fact, I reckon Suzuki would sell more Jimny's if they sold a 2WD one for $16K than "heavy duty" 4WD ones at $24K

And I reckon no more than about 5 people on here would buy one. I certainly wouldn't because regardless of what's on it, it won't have enough room or payload to be a reasonable camping/touring type car, and it couldn't run enough tyre to be an off road car.

Suzuki are in business to make money, not sell cars at a loss to enthusiasts who will trash them and bring them back for spurious warranty claims because they think their jimny is a 79 series Land Cruiser, GU patrol or Defender.

I was anecdotally told about a "touring" Jimny going over a weigh bridge at 1900kg recently, when packed for a trip. An owner who overloads they car by over 100% isn't the sort of owner that Suzuki are interested in, but guess who's going to buy a "heavy duty" jimny?

Steve.

[kirstyandgrace]

Not just Suzuki, a 2wd version of a Jeep (for example) would have been unthinkable 5 years ago.

Judging by what vehicles are currently available nobody goes off road anymore anyway

The main advantage I can see with the Jimny continuing is there will be a replacement engine for my
old POS Sierra when it's current motor dies.

As pointed out already, the Jimny (and Sierra) is not really a practical car.

Trips take some careful packing and are realistically limited to two people. Limited market.

I seriously doubt Suzuki releasing anything with diff locks or any other upgrades, why would they ?

It is looking like anybody still interested in 4x4ing and modifying such vehicles will need to stick to older cars.

A perfect example is Henno's thread about recovery points, newer cars aren't meant to go offroad.

edit to add, the first add that popped up after posting the above dribble was for some Kia "SUV" thing

[Marko_SJ]

kirstyandgrace wrote:

Not just Suzuki, a 2wd version of a Jeep (for example) would have been unthinkable 5 years ago.


It is looking like anybody still interested in 4x4ing and modifying such vehicles will need to stick to older cars.

A perfect example is Henno's thread about recovery points, newer cars aren't meant to go offroad.

1.3 WT and NT Sierras don't have real recovery points either, cant speak for 1 litre but, if thats an indication, off road has been dead for a long time.

[Gwagensteve]

I don't believe there is ANY car on sale with an off- road rated recovery point.

I was reading my new Defender's owner's manual this evening and it specifically states that the supplied towing eyes for "on road towing only" However, the factory optional front winch mount does have real recovery eyes on it - they are about 20mm thick.

Recovery eyes can't be rated for off road recovery for liability reasons.

Steve.

[shep]

Gwagensteve wrote:

I don't believe there is ANY car on sale with an off- road rated recovery point. .

Mitsubshi do. Every 4wd mitsubshi I have dealt with has 2 points on the front, 1 a tie down point and 1 for recovery.

Maybe that says something about Mitsubishi's

[Chop]

There is always alot of low kilometre near new jimny's forsale, people think they're great for the first month then get over them pretty quick.

[Dan85]

Don't be hating cause you guys don't have a wicked scoop! On the flip side I love my jimny. It's not practical for big long trips but takes us great places fits in tiny parking spots and off road is fun to drive. Only thing I'd like is a bigger factory engine but then again the current one does everything I want it to. Leave the car as it is nice and cheap and let the aftermarket and custom stuff make it tougher if need be. It's boring buying a car/bike/anything you don't have to modify.........

[got_bar_work]

Are hummer h3 loops rated.
The only way that 4x4 in new car continues is if they change the adr to make them build a good car and that will never happen.
It makes sense for them to do it then they could limit mods more.
If every 4x4 had 33-35 and 400 belly clearance then they could ban lifts and bigger tires altogeter

[Seth2013]

Something I'm sure many have seen from the recent auto shows - and sorry if I've reposted.

Based on jimny - (you can even see the jimny sway bar if you look close enough)



But the next image interest's me alot. electric motor on the back of the transfer case. and before all the "I hate electronics because its witchcraft" people start hating on it, just imagine the incredibly slow crawl and electric motor could provide, combined with an advanced traction control system. ARB lockers would be unecessary. the concept really blows my mind.



and yes I do agree, having that much electronics in the middle of the bush when it all fails isn't a good thing... but still.

Original story

http://www.topspeed.com/cars/suzuki/2013-suzuki-x-lander-ar160981.html

[alien]

electric motors are only cool if there's one on each wheel =)

[henno]

As mentioned elsewhere (I think by Steve) it's commonly known that concept cars are only really used to gauge interest in and opinion on possible next-gen front and rear facia and bumper treatments. Rarely do they ever see the light of day in a form even closely resembling the original concept. (FJ cruiser is probably one of the few exceptions.)

[alien]

I still want jeep to make the Hurricane concept from yonks ago... that thing was rad.

[Jezza86]

Seth2013 wrote:

http://www.topspeed.com/cars/suzuki/2013-suzuki-x-lander-ar160981.html

nowhere to install a snorkel on the a pillar
i kinda like the concept. new age of modifications. special battery, hydrogen fuel cells, and whot not with older mods to upgrade the cv's to handle explosive electric torque delivery.
even less boot space than a jimny. sports car of the 4x4 world.

[henno]

Electric motors will (eventually) revolutionise 4x4s. In other industries, electric motor nerds wave their "torque dicks" around like they are Dirk Diggler when compared to combustion engines. Comparatively, combustion engines make very little torque at low RPM and (unlike electric motors) generate absolutely zero torque at 0 RPM.

Electric motors with instantly available torque would awesome for crawling and tackling steep inclines. If only battery technology could keep up / catch up.

[royce]

Somebody should make a kit to stick an electric motor into the PTO spot on a sierra case as an aux drive for slopes when the carby stops working

[Jezza86]

need to steal honda's 110Kw hydrogen fuel cell