THE ESSENCE OF ADVENTURE

The iconic little Jimny is finally in India! Five doors, four-wheel drive, manual and automatic choices, high-profile rubber, and that extremely lovable face intact. We put Jim in the Jimny to bring you this first-hand review of this condensed essential SUV

- Jim Gorde

CAN A SMALL CAR BE AN ICON? OF COURSE! And Maruti Suzuki know that more than well enough, what with the 800 and the Gypsy firmly cementing themselves in the history books. The Gypsy, of course, was a Jimny in the global market and, after what feels like forever, the new-generation Jimny - around for a while in three-door guise-now finally comes to India in a new five-door avatar.

Excited? You betcha! I've been waiting for this day for years. We all knew it was coming and, yet, I could barely contain my excitement. So, when we got to Dehradun, there was only one thing left to do.

The Suzuki Jimny was long rumoured to be coming to India in its previous generation. However, it never did. Now, however, building on the three-door model, the new car that we get here has its wheelbase extended by 340 millimetres to accommodate the rear bench-seat and another pair of doors and that translates into a length of 3,985 mm. The styling, though, is what grabs eyeballs. It looks very distinct and the vibrant shade of "Kinetic Yellow" looks great, with no real connection to Valentino Rossi whatsoever. The five-slot grille is one of the many features the new Jimny retains as visual cues of its design heritage, along with more subtle ones like the round headlamps, low-set tail-light clusters, rear-mounted spare wheel, narrow tyres, and three gills, among others. But, there's evident evolution. The headlights are projector LED units and have spray-washers, the tyres are Bridgestone Duelers in a special 195/80 size on 15-inch alloy wheels.