Maruti Suzuki Jimny road test, review

How does Maruti’s characterful and tough off-roader perform in our exhaustive road test? Read on to find out.

Published on Sep 23, 2023 10:00:00 AM

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Like in the 3-door version that’s sold internationally, Maruti has deployed the 105hp, K15B four-cylinder petrol engine in the 5-door version. This engine performed duties in multiple Maruti models until it was replaced with a newer, more efficient K15C petrol engine. But for the Jimny, it was only viable to have a common powertrain between the 3-door and 5-door versions not only to simplify production processes, but to also help the company achieve economies of scale. Additionally, since the powertrain is longitudinally mounted (north-south layout) in the Jimny, fitting another unit would require significant re-engineering, and the company says the benefits would only be incremental.

The K15B is a peppy engine, with impressive bottom-end grunt, which makes the Jimny get off the line rather eagerly. For urban use and off-road applications, it feels more than adequate to haul its 1,200kg weight around. But demand more out of this naturally aspirated unit, and things go downhill rather quickly. As with any naturally aspirated unit, the flow of power in the mid-range feels unhurried, and to make quick progress or even for a simple overtake, you’ll have to wring its neck to extract every last bit of performance it has to offer.

Ride lacks finesse of monocoques, but very good by ladder-frame standards.

A look at the numbers tells you the exact picture – it accelerates from 0-100kph in 14.59 and 17.47 seconds in its manual and automatic iterations, respectively. And even though the 5-speed manual is the quicker of the two, it isn’t our pick of the range. Shifts are firm and warrant significant effort from the driver to shove it into gates, and it takes away the joy of rowing through a manual. So even though the 4-speed automatic (torque converter) comes at the cost of outright performance, it does the job far more effortlessly with smooth shifts and a sorted shift logic. What’s nice is that the 4-speeder gives owners the option of ‘L’ mode where it remains in the lowest possible gear; ‘2’ where it accelerates up to second gear only; as well as ‘o/d off’ where the car accelerates up to the third gear but doesn’t upshift to fourth, which is its overdrive gear. These modes give you better control during steep ascents and descents. With the automatic, however, owners will have to contend with the prominent drivetrain whine each time they rev out this engine.