Suzuki Jimny (JB74) Roadtest Review

[Retroanaconda]

Price outright is not an issue so much these days as most cars are bought through leases, all that matters is the monthly payment.

Plus in the future a lot of people will move away from ownership entirely towards rental models.

[Anderzander]

I think that’s the way the credit works - because the expensive ones retain more value the payments are lower. 

[Bowie69]

Sounds like a terrible bubble ripe to burst, to me.

[Anderzander]

They even call it balloon finance - very bubble like ! 

[smallfry]

14 hours ago, Bowie69 said:

Anyone else think the price of new  cars is just ridiculous,  whatever you are buying?

Only going to get worse with electric cars... even Vauxhall are saying that the average person won't be able to afford a car once ICE cars are banned.

Yes it is. While I will make no secret of the fact that I am now living on a pittance, and couldnt afford it anyway, I just dont know where or how people find the money to buy one. Let alone justify it. You may as well stand on a bridge and throw your money off into the wind. The depreciation and running costs are ridiculous to me, and NONE of them do anything more than my "old bangers". Might be quieter and maybe quicker but thats all.

As for the "environmentally friendly EV" Well, are you really taken in ? Its only another form of damage.

As for leasing, once you start, why would you want to pay whatever ad infinitum and once you dont or cant pay, you lose it ? Again to me its madness. At least what I do own, I can keep, and long as I discount the "metal collectors"

[simonr]

Thanks Mr Drumstick!

I love these Jimny's - I tried in vein to get a test drive - and then they were withdrawn!  Hopefully I'll get to drive on one day though - I still want one!

The Jimny is much closer to what I hoped the new Defender would be, styling wise at least.

My plan was actually to put a Tesla rear drive in it, replacing the transfer box - and fill the rest with batteries.  Then see how well it handles with best part of 500BHp

 

[simonr]

20 hours ago, smallfry said:

As for the "environmentally friendly EV" Well, are you really taken in ? Its only another form of damage.

You're right - but, other than walking, what's the alternative?  Every alternative (probably including walking) is a form of damage.  Some EV's at least just provide a better damage to utility ratio than some ICE vehicles.  Personally I like them, but for all the wrong reasons!  The same reason I like V8's & Td5 Engines (strangely enough).  They all make a great sound (none in the case of an EV) and have loads of torque / power.  I love how hackable they are at the moment - I'm much more comfortable playing with HV Electrics than most modern mystery box engines!

Si

[Bowie69]

35 minutes ago, simonr said:

You're right - but, other than walking, what's the alternative? 

For office workers,  Zoom. Its a nonsense to have people doing 2 hour commutes on a daily basis just to sit in an office. Of course you must meet people in person, but to do it five days a week is just a bit baffling.

But your point stands for everything else. Roll on hydrogen fuel cells

[geoffbeaumont]

2 hours ago, Bowie69 said:

For office workers,  Zoom. Its a nonsense to have people doing 2 hour commutes on a daily basis just to sit in an office. Of course you must meet people in person, but to do it five days a week is just a bit baffling.

But your point stands for everything else. Roll on hydrogen fuel cells

Even that doesn't come without an environmental impact - network infrastructure and electricity for data centres. Though I would imagine it's a great deal less than the impact of commuting (by any means other than Shank's pony).

Hydrogen fuel cells are pretty good at point of consumption, but generating the hydrogen is currently both uneconomical and environmentally horrendous. Though there's interesting research going on in the area. And it still doesn't deal with the problem of road building/maintenance and congestion.

Fundamentally, the whole way we currently operate as a society isn't sustainable.

[Bowie69]

Agreed, Geoff.

If we get environmentally clean energy generation sorted out, hydrogen becomes not so bad, infrastructure aside. This would be the ideal, I think.

It would be wonderful if we could actually properly harness the power of the sun, rather than these 20% efficient panels we have the moment....

3 minutes ago, geoffbeaumont said:

Fundamentally, the whole way we currently operate as a society isn't sustainable.

It's all going to be like 'Blade Runner' or 'The Fifth Element' in the end!:  

[Chicken Drumstick]

23 hours ago, smallfry said:

Yes it is. While I will make no secret of the fact that I am now living on a pittance, and couldnt afford it anyway, I just dont know where or how people find the money to buy one. Let alone justify it. You may as well stand on a bridge and throw your money off into the wind. The depreciation and running costs are ridiculous to me, and NONE of them do anything more than my "old bangers". Might be quieter and maybe quicker but thats all.

 

I've always had a very small budget to run vehicles on. Not much disposable money/income at all and nobody to help me out if I get in money trouble. I've run plenty of bangers over the years. But have always had to do long commutes (50-70miles a day+). Buying cheap motors cost hard cold cash to buy and maintain. 

Ultimately the last one I was running as a daily ended needing some work. Nothing really major, PAS and alternator. But being a more modern car, but still a banger. It wasn't as cheap to fix as I'd have liked. Certainly not when you look at the value of the car. But the biggest issue was, I was fedup of wasting my weekends maintaining it, it was also mid winter and cold and wet and I was working outside. When you rely on such a car and you are let down, it makes getting to work very difficult, or very expensive. And it might take me several weeks to get something fixed. Ultimately I'd had enough and eventually got myself to a point that I could buy something newer.

 

I looked at buying used, but newer cars. But even at the £5000-7000 range. The finance options (HP) made the monthly repayments quite high. Or the cars were too old to even get finance on. And I didn't have the cash to pay this amount out.

A £5000 car would likely cost £200/month+ on finance.

So I looked at new PCP deals.

In 2017 I bought a new Smart ForTwo. The sticker price was just over £14k, but it came with 0% finance and only required £500 down (I think I paid about £1100 through choice). And cost £185/month finance. This actually worked out cheaper a month than I'd recently been spending keeping the banger going. Although I did have to find a bit more money a month. But I then got 50,000+ miles 100% trouble free motoring from the car. I didn't have to put a spanner on it once. Never even opened the engine cover!

It was also super nice to get into a clean comfy car were everything worked. Old bangers always have something that doesn't work on them. Modern tech and stuff also made it much nicer day to day as well. I was very happy with the swap to the Smart. Although I knew it would never be a long term keeper. But for only a bit more money a month (which I was eventually in a position to afford). I found it to be a very good step and do not regret the decision at all.

However, I did want to look at changing the Smart after a few years. As I'd done massively more miles than planned and didn't want to be stung at the end of the PCP term. The Jimny just happened along at the right time. And I was lucky to have a a bit money come my way to secure the deposit.

 

As it stands today, the PCP finance is more expensive on the Jimny. But that is due to their demand. But it is no worse than the interest a regular bank loan would cost me. The finance is £260'ish/month. Which is currently within my means to pay. And the value of the vehicle has actually gone up, although this isn't something I could have forseen. But if I sold it today, I could clear the finance and walk away with money in my pocket. However I'm not going to do this. I fully intend to keep the vehicle and will at the end of the term clear the remaining balance one way or another. I wouldn't go back to running a banger as a daily, not unless I had huge fund of money to ensure I could keep it running.

[Daan]

23 hours ago, smallfry said:

Yes it is. While I will make no secret of the fact that I am now living on a pittance, and couldnt afford it anyway, I just dont know where or how people find the money to buy one. Let alone justify it. You may as well stand on a bridge and throw your money off into the wind. The depreciation and running costs are ridiculous to me, and NONE of them do anything more than my "old bangers". Might be quieter and maybe quicker but thats all.

As for the "environmentally friendly EV" Well, are you really taken in ? Its only another form of damage.

As for leasing, once you start, why would you want to pay whatever ad infinitum and once you dont or cant pay, you lose it ? Again to me its madness. At least what I do own, I can keep, and long as I discount the "metal collectors"

Cars hardly got sold for cash these days; It is all on either lease or personal Finance. Nobody can afford the purchase price outright basically. I think the electric car will just filter through through the usual channels of second hand cars. What is a shame is that the Tesla model 3 is not available as the base model in the UK. Cheapest one is just under 40K.

I see hydrogen as a good way to store electricity, but not much else. To convert electricity to hydrogen and back to electricity means you will loose 50% of energy. 

[L19MUD]

8 hours ago, Daan said:

Cars hardly got sold for cash these days; It is all on either lease or personal Finance. Nobody can afford the purchase price outright basically. 

This amazes me as being the reality if I am honest. Whilst I am fortunate enough to be able to keep a few vehicles on the road, if I sold them all and paid monthly I could put that same money towards something much much newer and flashier! I just could not handle the thought of not owning it myself, or if I lost my job or something similar being signed up to paying that amount out each month and no way of getting out of it.

 

I tend to spend years owning the same vehicle and saving up for the next one, and then when I can afford to pay for it outright waiting another couple of years before I convince myself to part with the hard earned! 

[reb78]

same ^^^^^

[pat_pending]

I've spent 42 years in the motor trade and I still can't understand why people buy new cars.

And to bring the thread drift back on topic... Jimny? I can't stand the things, and the new one is even worse! Sorry, I really want to like them but they're horrendous.

Currently working at a Suzuki main dealer, so I have driven a few.

 

[Happyoldgit]

I had years of running older vehicles for day to day transport and other needs. Maintaining, repairing and modifying them myself saved a fortune on garage costs, I enjoyed it, it was a kind of hobby. What I did not enjoy were the panics that ensued when they went wrong, usually at the most inconvenient and time limited occasion. Working on a vehicle in the freezing wee hours of a Sunday night in order to have transport the following day was not fun, the same job on a hobby classic that I don't need back on the road next day would most likely be enjoyable. 
With the above in mind I would not consider managing my daily transport needs on that basis again. Back then I was younger, fitter but had less money, nowadays I am a damned sight older and less fit but fortunate enough to have somewhat happier finances. I hate throwing money away but will buy new and accept a degree of depreciation as a price I am prepared to pay for the manufacturers warranty that includes breakdown cover, repair / replace to manufacturers standards and a suitable, new or virtually new courtesy vehicle while work is carried out. My vehicle tinkering is still a hobby but not a daily necessity - as it sometimes turned out to be when I was a younger chap running older vehicles.

Edited to add: I fully appreciate why some folks choose not to buy new [that used to be me] and that personal finances and circumstances mean some cannot afford to consider it [that used to be me too]. I'm still deliberating what my next day to day vehicle will be [see my earlier thread]. Things and outlooks have changed as a result of the period of ill health I suffered last year I'm still finding it hard to get enthused over current offerings in the same way I got enthused over ratty old Series clunkers back in the 70's.

I didn't want my initial post to be misunderstood as an old f@rt boasting about buying shiny new stuff.

[Anderzander]

The only new car I’ve ever bought was a Skoda citigo for my Mum. She was being ripped off by garages maintaining and repairing older cars. 
 

So I started to think what would £5k buy me in the little, pretty new, low tax, hi mpg cars - and the answer was not much at all. So I started looking at a bit more money and a bit more money and then realised they hold their value and I was getting close to a new price.

The citigo was a bit over £9k with a deposit (can’t remember what it was) 4 years 0%, and a cheap servicing deal. It was £131 a month.

After 4 years the settlement was under £3k I think - and that was for a full service history car , with under 1000 miles on it. It was a no brainier. 

I don’t know what the exact mpg is, but it’s around 60mpg. Whilst the tax is £20.

It is very cheap motoring, and really quite fun to drive too.

[Chicken Drumstick]

10 hours ago, Happyoldgit said:

I had years of running older vehicles for day to day transport and other needs. Maintaining, repairing and modifying them myself saved a fortune on garage costs, I enjoyed it, it was a kind of hobby. What I did not enjoy were the panics that ensued when they went wrong, usually at the most inconvenient and time limited occasion. Working on a vehicle in the freezing wee hours of a Sunday night in order to have transport the following day was not fun, the same job on a hobby classic that I don't need back on the road next day would most likely be enjoyable. 

That pretty much sums my take on it too

[pat_pending]

21 hours ago, Happyoldgit said:

I didn't want my initial post to be misunderstood as an old f@rt boasting about buying shiny new stuff.

I also hope I didn't come across as telling people how they should spend their money.

I see quite a few late, low mileage Suzuki's (the epitome of reliability) traded in for new similar models, in some cases the same model just a different spec.

The tax/depreciation losses are huge.

Aside from my Land Rover obsession, I've always just bought cheap trade in cars, all of them have gone on to perform faultlessly for many tens of thousands of miles.

Any repair likely to cost more than a few hundred pounds or involves too much effort, sends them to the scrappy and I buy another.

Reliability doesn't have to be expensive.

There are few truly unreliable cars about anymore (Land Rover).