Suzuki has answered the world's call for a five-door version of the little off-roader that could. Heartbreakingly, though, they're still not coming to the United States.
The Suzuki Jimny is a fun-loving petite 4x4 with serious off-road chops that belie its cute exterior. While the vehicle has proven popular overseas, it has often been criticized as impractical due to its three-door layout. Suzuki has now seen fit to rectify that by releasing a long-awaited five-door version. The model will be sold in India, Africa, Latin America, and Australia. Unfortunately, though, there are no plans to bring the Jimny to the European or U.S. markets.
The new five-door body adds 13.4 inches in length and approximately 220 pounds to the curb weight, with the new model landing at 2,668 pounds in its heaviest trim. The new bigger model naturally comes with more cargo space, with 7.3 cubic feet in the rear, up from 3 cubic feet in the three-door. That expands to a full 11.4 cubic feet when folding the rear seats down.
The new model shares the same drivetrain as the three-door model. It relies on a naturally aspirated 1.5-liter inline-four, good for 103 horsepower and 106 lb-ft of torque, paired with either a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual. It will feature Suzuki's brake-based "Limited Slip Differential" technology to help with traction in tough conditions. Best of all, though, it still features a proper low-range transfer case just like a real 4x4 should.
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The five-door layout also dings the vehicle's off-road angles, but not excessively. The three-door model has approach, breakover, and departure angles of 37, 28, and 49 degrees respectively. That shifts to 36, 24, and 50 degrees for the five-door model. Primarily, there's a slight loss in breakover angle, as you'd expect for a vehicle with a longer wheelbase. For context, though, that's still over a degree better than that achieved by a four-door Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.
Adding five doors to the already-beloved Jimny will only broaden its appeal. It thus only stings more that it won't be coming to the U.S. When it was only available as a three-door, the argument that it wouldn't sell Stateside was perhaps believable. With a five-door model now on the way, though, that's an increasingly hard point to make. The Jimny is still small, and underpowered, too, at least by American standards. However, it's hard to believe that this model wouldn't snatch a good number of sales from the Wrangler. The success of vehicles like the Ford Maverick shows that U.S. audiences aren't always obsessed with size overall (though its affordability is surely another reason).
Suzuki
If you gaze upon the new five-door Jimny with loving eyes, shed your tears that it won't be here for another 25 years at least. That is, unless you somehow manage to mysteriously nab one from a dealership located conveniently close to the Mexican border. Without some chicanery, though, those in the U.S. will have to settle with admiring Suzuki's pint-sized 4x4 from afar.
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