Vitara vs Jimny

A mate has just bought himself a 1998 'vitara 4u' im looking forward to going laning with him to see how it compares against my Jimny. Anybody had much experience with the small vits? Are they better than a Jimny? Size and weight must be similar? Independent front suspension could be an advantage?

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would have thought IFS would be a disadvantage more than an advantage.

Barrygsi wrote: A mate has just bought himself a 1998 'vitara 4u' im looking forward to going laning with him to see how it compares against my Jimny. Anybody had much experience with the small vits? Are they better than a Jimny? Size and weight must be similar? Independent front suspension could be an advantage?

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Really depends what is for.
IFS better for onroad driving, and fast offroading. But the Vitara has a major weak point for the 1.6l petrol version. The front diff housing is aluminium, and breaks rather easy. An easy way to fix this is to put in a steel housing from a diesel or V6 petrol vitara, but with the internals from the 1.6 diff

Stock Vit v stock Jimny I think the Vit has the edge, mainly due to a little more ground clearance and better low end torque. The IFS doesn't become a disadvantage unless you want to go to silly amounts of lift or articulation, I don't recall how they compare for articulation, I would think that the Vit would have a little more.

i go laning with a couple of lads who have the swb vitaras. very capable motors.both have mud tyres fitted, one has no lift and the other has a 2" lift. we do some pretty hairy lanes and neither struggle at all in fact they certainly seem to have the edge power wise over my jimny

Rhinoman wrote: Stock Vit v stock Jimny I think the Vit has the edge, mainly due to a little more ground clearance and better low end torque. The IFS doesn't become a disadvantage unless you want to go to silly amounts of lift or articulation, I don't recall how they compare for articulation, I would think that the Vit would have a little more.

rhinoman i know you have a vast knowledge and i dont mean to offend,

but i'm sure i remeber in terms of ground clearence, they are both similar for clearence a matter of millimeters,

i think vits are great and with a steel front diff would be great as a laning toy, due to comfort and a bit more room,

but for an off roader p&p and such i'd go jimny saves the need to replace the front axle for a solid axle on the vit,


i have a real crush on my jim so will always be bias towards them

only thing that tickles my fancy is a 90 trayback but i think i'd prefer my jimny as a tray back