Jimny snow performance

Keithy wrote: Jimny is fine in snow......it's all the other road users you have to get around.

That's a great video!

I agree with Helijohn. While the Jimny is very capable in deeper snow I would not say it's the ideal winter road car due to it's part time 4wd and nervous handling in 2wd. Permanent 4wd is always going to be a better, safer option. Something like a Dacia Duster on good tyres would be great, and has the same ground clearance as a Jimny so would be no less capable in deep stuff. Cheaper too.

Just had a chance to drive our Jimny in snow / ice and found it to be very capable in the Derbyshire moorland. I did have concerns as it has standard size summer road tyres fitted (205s), so just in case I had a set of snow socks in the back, but I did not need them.
I didn't find the handling was nervous in 2wd, infact on wet roads its like a go cart, advantage of road tyres??
I simply used the push button 4x4 selection as required and switched it off when not needed, so not having permanent 4x4 was no big deal for me.
I like it, but the snows melted so its back to 2wd till next year.

Busta wrote: I agree with Helijohn. Something like a Dacia Duster on good tyres would be great, and has the same ground clearance as a Jimny so would be no less capable in deep stuff. Cheaper too.

The Duster is one I considered before my Celerio but I have a narrow drive and the Duster is about the same width as a Vitara. In fact it reminds me of a large Ignis. If I had my time again I would have an Ignis or Swift rather than the Celerio but trouble is the Celerio is a really cheap to run car, very nippy blah blah blah - just not allgrip - so enter the Ignis!!
When it comes to the 'small' cars I think Suzuki have it all tied up.

Lambert wrote: I'm afraid I'm not with you both on this.

That's a shame
However, my thrust is that if you want the vehicle mostly for snow then because we get so little of it and because we get other weathers I would always suggest a form of permanent 4x4 and failing that a front wheel drive. Then again I span my MG Metro and that was FWD.

I do agree about tyres and I have had loads of rear wheel vehicles that have coped with thick thick snow - one was a Ford Anglia back in the 1960's that went where others couldn't. Maybe it was the driver...meeeeeeee.... who was the key, maybe the clearance or maybe the tyres but I always had very wide wheels on my Ford Anglias (one was a van!) so they never cut through snow like a narrow tyre would...................go figure.
Also I would always recommend an automatic but that's not because of the weather. The reason I say go auto partly applies to saying go permanent 4x4 of some type. The reason is I am a lazy driver and hate fiddling with sticks, buttons and God knows what else. Push and go is my motto here I think (might have to if we have some Chicago snow! lol).
I think the worst I had was my Cherokee where the 4x4 selector was in the passenger side.............oh wait, it might have been my short wheelbase Landy that was the worst. That was an absolutely awful ride but it did what I needed.

Gadget wrote:

Keithy wrote: Jimny is fine in snow......it's all the other road users you have to get around.

That's a great video!

Put good winter tires on a 86 sapphire cosworth, and you would have _no_ problems driving in those conditions in that video..

Not kidding. The only reason people struggle in those conditions, with any car, is due to no good all season tires. They are completly rubbish compared to real winter tires.

Lambert wrote: I'm afraid I'm not with you both on this. The Jimny is a perfectly acceptable winter vehicle when fitted with suitable tyres and driven with a sense of decorum. I would further contend that if a suitably equipped Jimny is too much for some drivers then they are very likely to be having difficulty no matter what they are driving.

Perfectly acceptable, yes, and capable of being used in the very worst conditions. But not as user friendly. If somebody was asking for a suggestions of a good car for winter driving I'd always suggest permanent 4wd over selectable 4wd simply because lots of people struggle to understand when to use 4wd in a car like a Jimny. Add manual hubs into the equation and it's complicated further. Then consider that when in 2wd the Jimny's capabilities in snow are lower than a typical FWD car (assuming the same tyres), with the added complication of a tendancy to oversteer.

I have quite a bit of experience on driving a Jimny on snow (although I live far closer to the Equator than most other members on this forum ).

For mixed on-road packed snow / wet tarmac / dry tarmac driving, a Jimny is a poor choice. Reason: part-time 4WD transmission without inter-axle differential. This means that, in such conditions, you constantly have to be careful in which transmission mode you are and to shift between 2WD and 4WD whenever the road surface changes between packed snow and somewhat dry surface.

Also, depending on tyres, on packed snow a Jimny can still be relatively unstable even in 4WD (depending on tyres, speed and driving competence). It does require some "active" driving to properly use its potential and avoid its weaknesses. When done so, it is a strong performer.

If you happen to be unable to engage 4WD for any reason, a Jimny in 2WD on packed snow is WAY worse than any ordinary 2WD FWD car, even worse than a 2WD RWD like a BMW. It can be pitiful in how trivial situations a 2WD Jimny becomes helpless on snow (example: reversing uphill).
I drove a diesel Jimny so this issue was even worse as its front-rear weight distribution is even worse.


However, on not so packed snow (and especially in somewhat deep snow) Jimny is a particularly strong performer. It will ultimately get bogged if the snow depth is above 20 cm (the light rear end begins to shake under throttle and thus jumps around and loses traction further).
Even if you get bogged in snow, it is rather (relatively) easy to get unstuck either by shoveling under it (shorter car - less snow to shovel from under it) or by pulling such a light car out with another car.

I got stuck in snow a few times in quite embarrasing situations and once a passing Fiesta 4 pulled me out and a Golf 2 did so as well on another occasion

You can't expect such help if you get stuck in a Grand Cherokee or in a Defender ...

Agreed Lambert.

It comes down to what tires you have, what load you have in the car, the tire pressure and of course your driving style. Where I live we are used to drive on snow. Further north even more so, and further south not so much...
Your personal experience will play a large part.
I think that all these variables is just as important as the car itself.

I follow the stock of incoming car-wrecks in a database and the beginning of winter has the most wrecks. It gets less and less during the winter.
It is the same for Jimnys as all other kinds of cars.

We all have our own perspectives and experiences so we can all be right from where we see things.

I'm with Lambert on this one. Been very pleasantly surprised at how well these little trucks perform in all sorts of conditions including new snow and packed snow. Decent tyres are everything and an understanding of what to do and when and you would be hard pressed to get properly stuck.