go! Drive&CampMay2019| 33S
uzuk iSouthAfrica’s
marketingteam came
up withthe tagline
“Giantkiller ”. This
sloganstems from Jimny
owners’claimsthatthe
diminutive 4x4 can
takeonany bigoff-
road vehicle.
If youown
abig off-road
rig, you’re
suretoscoff.
Howdare
they make
such statements?
However, it is true that the
Jimn yhas merits over large and
expensive4x4 vehicle s.Howdoesitcompare?
TheJimny’s turn radius is 4,9m
comparedto aNissanPatrol ’s
12,6 m, andthe Jimnyis3 ,48 m
long and 1,645mwide
comparedto aToyota LandCruiser200’s4,99 mand 1, 98 m
respectivel y. This meansyoucan
driv eaJimnythroughapine
plantationrather than around
it in aCruise r. Furthermore:the
mostexpensiveJimny costs
R319900, whilethe cheapest
Mercedes-Benz G-Classwill
leave youR2786 653poorer.
Youalsonever seeaJimnyon
the back ofatow truck like so
manyLandRovers...(Steady on,
Cyril!–Ed)
But withthepluses, there
arealso afew things that
bother. TheJimny’s standard
Dunlop AT20 Grandtrek 195/
80R15tyresare thin ,smalland
ridiculouswhen comparedto
the standardtyres on larger
vehicles.The Patrol ,Cruiser,
G-Class and Discoveryall ha ve
betterground clearance, and
when it comestopower-to-
weightratio,the weakest Land
RoverDiscovery(the2.0 Lmodel)delivers 0,06 kW/kgto
the strongestJimny’s0,04 kW/kg
(manual).“Giantkiller?”Notquite.Inside
Thenew Jimny’sinstrumentpanel
is beautiful. It reminds oneabit
of Jeep’s instrumentation,but
it’s on asmaller scale and notas
extravagant as theAmerican.We
alsolovethe 4x4shifter andthe
grabrail forthe frontpassenger.
At the back,things look nice
enough,but thelack of cup
hold ersfor th erear passengers
is aproblem.Onour journeythrough theRichtersveld we often
had waterbottlesrolling around
on thefloor becausetherewere
not enough cupholdersforall
threeoccupants.
There’sauseful12Vsocket
in the luggagespace,but the
word“space”there is misleading
as there’sverylittle room for
luggage.Weare grateful for
the increased legroom, butthe
bodyworkshould perhaps have
been3cmor4cmlongersot hat
youcould fitaduffel bagortwo.
Theair-conditioningworked
extremelywell in the Northern>http://www.weg.c o.za