[JdmFan]

Hey folks.
For the past couple of days I've been lurking and soaking up what I can from your forum to help me on a decision of whether to buy a jimny as my new daily driver (15 mins each way 2 or 3 times a day light traffic and a bit of highway) capable of a little bit of fun (beach, light off road on holidays, maybe a trip qld to uluru next chrissy). I'm considering subi outback or rav4 also but they are much less capable than these wonder wagons, also the subi's EJ enginers are VERY thirsty and they get more maintenance heavy around the 200,000k mark. I'm happy to do regular servicing and maintenance but I also own a Silvia which I've dropped a skyline RB engine in so if I wanted to be on the tools every weekend I'm already sorted. Just need something reliable for work and the weekend camping so not looking to go crazy on mods just need a car to last reliably for 70k-100k kms.

I'm looking at manuals 2007 onwards (to 2012ish) as vvt and a few more creature comforts are a must and havent found much specifically about these later models once theyve racked up a few miles which brings me to my first question. What are the Jimny's and their M13a power plant like around 100,000kms and beyond? Many of the ones on car sales range from 80,000 to 180,000 so I took a read of the service manual and it doesn't go beyond 90,000kms - a bit unnerving, is this their serviceable life and beyond this expect anything and everything to possibly fail? A mate who's a mechanic with 15+ years in the industry says they have big problems after that milestone (coilpacks, sensors and gearbox was mentioned) but obviously his sample group are mostly the ones that need fixing. In your experience what is their lifetime before you're fixing something every other month or real big ticket jobs come up?

Also I realise from reading here and chatting to a mate who's had one that wobble in the front suspension and steering assembly is pretty much a factory feature. Has this gotten any better in later models? Once fixed how long does it typically hold until issues arise again? The idea of having to replace the whole system all the time simply to make the car drivable is pretty daunting.

Anyway thanks for taking the time to read my spiel, I'm going to try and arrange a test drive later in the week so I can get a feel for them but any info in the meantime is greatly appreciated!

[watermouse]

Engine longevity is probably slightly less than most cars due to the high revving nature of them. They just do more revs for a given mileage. You may find that cars above 200,000kms are getting a bit tired. My '98 jim did 230,000km on the original engine before I replaced it (with a 1.6), Tired but still running ok. Back then they only warrantied Suzuki cars for 60,000km/3years

Nothing about the engine, steering or driveline is throwaway. It can all be fixed when needed and, compared to most cars, parts are obtainable and affordable. Steering wobble is easily remedied even if you have to do it again down the track. It's an adjustment not a replacement of any significant parts.

Although factory servicing may stop at 90,000km make sure you find one with servicing records beyond that to be sure that it has been serviced well.
As a daily driver they are much more liveable than a Sierra and they are great weekend warriors offroad. You'll enjoy it!

[vet 180]

There are some pretty good arguments for both options:

New. Stress free, good depreciation, well priced new, all new parts bushes, clutch, driveline, seals etc

Used: reliable and simple cars, mods/parts cheap and easy to source, money can be spent on simple tasteful to improve the car from factory spec, cheap and easy engine conversions (m15,18 etc)


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[sideways]

Mine has 180'000 on it and is still perfectly reliable(does 120km a day), drives nicely and the interior is holding up well. The clear coat is peeling in a few places which is a shame given the condition of the rest of it. It's never really wobbled in the time that I've had it (70'000kms) though it did shimmy a bit when I used a very ratty spare tyre on the front. A friend has an early model (G13bb) with around 300'000 on it and the motor is a bit rattly but I don't think they've had any problems aside from an engine oil leak in the last 3ish years but it doesn't get driven a lot. The interior is pretty sad but it's had dogs and kids in it. The paint was pretty terrible when they got it but they had it repainted.

That said, I looked at one for sale with 86'000kms and whilst pretty good mechanically(it had oil leaks and I suspect it hadn't been serviced as well as it should) it was really quite rough. The interior was really bad (kids and dogs) and the exterior wasn't much chop either. It had been bought new by some very wealthy people, had an ARB catalog thrown at it and I think they just didn't give one single fuck.

FWIW I think the M series engines (what you're looking at) are a lot longer lived than the G series. No one seems to wear them out and they don't have the cracked block/head/headgasket issues that the G series are well known for.

I agree with watermouse that anything mechanical on a Jimny can be sorted relatively easily and cheaply. Given a Jimnys resale value at the end of their lives it's unlikely to be scrapped/sent to a wreckers instead fixing something major. I reckon most Jimnys get to the point where the clear is peeling and the interior is tatty and are sold off to off roaders for cheap and wheeled to death.

We actually have an outback (2007) and a Jimny (2001) and so I just had a talk to the GF about it, I thought she'd be pro outback but she said she'd have the Jimny if we lived in the city, she doesn't like the rough ride on our unsealed roads. We live in the sticks and the outback is a much better mile eater and it is more comfortable, plus it can actually tow a pretty decent amount. The outback has good clearance for what it is but terrible approach and departure angles (long overhangs that don't taper upwards), I don't think we'l ever do any real offroading in it because there's to much risk of damage to the bumpers. That said I've done quite a lot of exploring old back tracks and logging trails most people wouldn't take a normal car down. The Jimny on the other hand really is quite impressive for what it is offroad and we've been a lot of really neat places in it. The outback actually gets slightly better fuel economy, Jimnys aren't as good on fuel as their engine size would have you believe. Jimnys are underpowered by modern standards and whilst they cruise fine at 110 I reckon you'd want to get one out on the open road and see what it's like if you're used to high performance cars.

Another point is the outback is just transport to us. It's our normal, reliable, sensible car. Everything else we have has enthusiast value and we both agree the Jimny is a lot more fun.

[vet 180]

Agree with sideways. One thing I’ll add is I know plenty of m series jimnys with well over 400,000kms. I bought my jim new back in 2015 because the previous cars where an AMG that spent too much of its life in the shop, a Hyundai branded branded pajero that I blew 3 engines on in just over a year and a heavily modified vitara that never gets driven. Wife said enough is enough. If I had my time again though I wouldn’t have bought the paj and the vitara and just went an ex fleet Jimny from the get go. The paj never felt good at high constant revs on any of the engines I had in the car and always felt too heavy and boring. The jim I have no issues sitting on 4000-6000 rpm for hours straight. The only issue is that the aircon will stop working after about 20mins at those rpms


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[markmo]

vet 180 wrote:

The only issue is that the aircon will stop working after about 20mins at those rpms

When i did my M15a conversion, the swift harmonic balancer/pulley thingy from the swift had a smaller pulley for the aircon belt, we considered putting it on due to my gearing but didn't. Im not having aircon problems from over revs but I have kept it just in case I did. Might be something to look into?

[vet 180]

markmo wrote:

vet 180 wrote:

The only issue is that the aircon will stop working after about 20mins at those rpms

When i did my M15a conversion, the swift harmonic balancer/pulley thingy from the swift had a smaller pulley for the aircon belt, we considered putting it on due to my gearing but didn't. Im not having aircon problems from over revs but I have kept it just in case I did. Might be something to look into?

The aircon works perfect for day to day driving so kinda don’t want to mess with it. It’s only out in the really tough dunes where momentum is king and you can’t let the revs drop or you get stuck. In this type of terrain it’s probably quite harsh on the engine to run with aircon on anyway.


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[Gwagensteve]

It’s normal practice for the A/C to be switched off by the ECU at WOT. Even my road car does this, and it’s not through any lack of lower.

[JdmFan]

Thanks for the responses! They've been great help and very reassuring. With the workshop manual wrapping up at 90,000 (where I guess you just start back at 0 again) just makes me suspicious of common items that would need addressing like timing chain tensioner and what their possible lifespan is. I'm surprised sideways your outback gets better mileage, every one I've ever driven or known (ej25 not fb25, my folks fb25 2016 forester averages 9L+/100 around Brisbane) has been up around the 17-18L/100km mark, for the jimny that would equate to around 200k per tank. Although it is definitely under powered does that figure sound right? Either way I'm keen to test one out, they are a bit thin on the ground around my area so may have to wait till the weekend but I'm looking forward to it.

Also are there any specific tools that are a must for working on these? All my impact, deep, flair and ratcheting sockets and spanners are imperial but I'd assume with suzuki being Japanese that's what they use.

Thanks again.

[vet 180]

I get about 450kms per tank

Average around 9 per hundred which isn’t great for a 1.3 but is a 4x4.

All jap cars I have worked on are mostly metric.

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[sideways]

The outback is EJ25 SOHC auto and normally using 8.xxL/100 on the highway but does get into the 7S. Roughly 9.xx for general driving. The Jimny uses a little more but it needs a new O2 sensor, I'd expect it to be inline with the Outbacks consumption once that's sorted. Suzuki rate them at 7.xl/100 but most people will be in the range of 8-10 depending on mods ect.

For a modern car Jimnys are extremely straight forward to work on. As long as you got a basic JIS tool kit (10 12 14 17 19), pliers and a phillips head screw driver you can pretty much do anything.