[fordem]

Back in early 2021, we bought a JB74, 3 door Jimny, the deposit was actually made on January 2nd, and we took delivery of the first of the JB74s on the road here on January 27th - it has remained relatively "unmolested" as it was a joint purchase between my wife and our youngest daughter. Tint, weathershield visors, active subwoofer under the driver's seat (which my daughter loves & her mother hates), 215/75R15 all terrain tires and that's pretty much it.

Fast forward to 2024, and after waiting for pretty much an entire year between the announcement and the arrival of the JC74, 5 door Jimny, there's one in my driveway - this one's mine, so let the molestation begin. I do have plans for it, high up on my list of wants is the LongRanger 80 liter extended range fuel tank, yes, it is expensive, but what are the alternatives for a Jimny? The question is what will it cost me delivered in Guyana, assuming my local ARB dealer can be persuaded to bring it. It's already been tinted (the dealership took care of that), weathershields are in short supply, but those are on the short list, as are the same General Grabber A/TX tires that we have on the three door.

On to the comparison, the three door is a 5 speed manual, the five door is a four speed automatic, the auto is much, much quieter than the manual, the manual has notably more "zip" than the auto - I had my wife drive the five door home from the dealership, assisted by our eight year old grandson, or rather distracted by our eight year old grandson who I am told rolled around the backseat investigating everything that was different between the three & five door models.

My wife likes the five door, has threatened to keep it, offering the three door in return, pronouncing it much more stable than the three door, even on the OEM 195/80R15 tires, even on a wet road. Her biggest complaint about the three door was that it "danced" too much, this is actually a criticism of the road manners, and the solution was to replace the OEM Bridgestones with a slightly wider tire.

The five door is 340mm longer than the three door, with the wheelbase extended by the same amount and most of that ending up behind the rear seats, the trunk space is quite small but it can accommodate two full size suitcases (28" spinners) and a roll aboard, without folding the rear seats. We did an airport run with it early Monday, fully loaded, four people plus luggage, no lack of power when overtaking, this was one of my concerns given that the three & five door models are mechanically identical. Height & width are identical, interestingly enough the five door Jimny actually has more rear legroom than the five door GV (SQ420) that it will be replacing.

[SPEEDY]

The rear leg room is amazing in such a little car, at ove 6 foot tall and 110kg I'm not little and I find the back seats in mine quite comfortable, more comfortable and much more room then my previous dual cab ute had.
Two things I noticed about the auto that's not as good as the manual are the adaptive cruise control makes it look like your going to blow up with the amount of lights and warnings that come on when the two cameras on the windscreen get blocked by water spray, morning frost or low direct sunlight. The other annoying thing is it makes you drive more sensible on dirt roads, if you start having fun and push it, the traction control works quite hard and heats up within 30min.
Drive like a grown up and it's no problem.

I also find to avoid excessive reving when it drops down to 3rd on hills, turn the traction control off and drive it slightly slower.

Other then that I find they are a much better vehicle then the 3 door, the auto is better around town in traffic and off road, but the manual is better for hilly highway driving, and it's more fun if you want to give it the boot.

I'm sure your going to love it as much as I love mine.

[fordem]

Mine has cruise control, but I don't think it's adaptive, for certain I don't have the dual camera module - I had originally planned to get a manual, but, given the long wait time & the relatively small difference in pricing between the manual GL & the automatic GLX that was immediately available, I took the automatic.

There are significant "variations" in what is being offered in different markets - in India for example, you can get either transmission in either trim level (Alpha & Zeta), Australia I think is similar, either transmission in either trim level (GL & GLX), but in the Caribbean, the manual is only available as a GL and the automatic in both GL & GLX, my dealer is only stocking the automatic GLX and a manual would have mean a special order and a year's lead time. Curiously, despite the three door being a good seller, they have decided not to stock those either, my daughter was considering one and her husband is considering a five door.

[SPEEDY]

Sometimes I love the adaptive cruise control, most of the time I'd rather not have it, so I think that's a good thing.
It blocks visibility and when it has a dummy spit its really annoying, so I think your better off, funny thing is when I tested one it was one of the deciding factors to go auto.
But the big advantage to an auto is once you go off road, unlike the manual you don't have to keep the revs up, makes it smoother and easier to drive off road.

[fordem]

The JC74 has a noticeably larger turning circle, caused by the longer wheel base - not really a problem on the street, at least not until you try to park. I haven't tried parallel parking it yet, that should be fun.