Buying a jimny - rust

Hi everyone, looking to buy my first Jimny. As it’s my second car i’m on quite a low budget! I’ve found a potential option and asked about rust in the boot floor. He’s kindly sent me some pics, I was just wondering if anybody could advise on how much of an issue it is. The car is an 02 with 95k on it, last MOT didn’t mention rust at all just a wheel bearing which the owner has already had replaced.

I just purchased our first Jimny but was very shocked at the level of rust even on new cars. A low mileage 2016 had visible surface rust on the chassis welds, something I was not expecting with a modern vehicle. So I looked at as many as I could and came to the conclusion that underbelly rust protection is very low on Suzuki's list, and certainly all the ones I viewed had rust starting to take hold. For this reason I purchased as new as I could afford, even then getting it on ramps for a good look underneath. Ours is sound, but will need surface rust treatment this year to halt its progression.
So you can assume that they all suffer with rust, look carefully.
The pictures you have posted look like a vehicle thats going to need welding at some point to fix what are holes in the floor pan. Its not going to get better and assume the rot area is larger than you can see. If you can weld and its cheap enough go for it, but i would look at a few more in the same price / age range to decide if this is good or bad deal.

The very front of the vehicle and metal above the rear axle appear to be the areas most affect by rust, but as its a short vehicle thats not leaving much good in the middle. :laugh:

As the car has a separate chassis and they are normally ok except for the occasional ones with a body mount rotting then the MOT wont pick it up as the body is non structural. But to see the real extent of that rust you need to get under the rear of the car and if you can check behind the headlamps and the crossbeam that runs across the front in the wheel arches. That needs the arch trims removing to inspect properly.

I'd say that level of rust is fairly typical, possibly above average for the age of vehicle you are looking at. If the price is right I'd go for it but bear in mind that it will need welding done at some point over the next few years. If you can do it yourself or find a good garage the cost of repairing rusted areas isn't actually that bad, and is possibly even cheaper than a rust prevention work over the lifetime of a car.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I decided to go slightly higher mileage (117k) and pick up an 05 which is super clean both inside and out. Added bonus that it has the facelift interior, drove it home this afternoon and I’m buzzing with it. Only issue is I’ve priced up more in wanted accessories than I spent on the car!

I have a family friend who's just bought one via the internet on the basis she could return it if not what she wanted. I looked it over to find it in a similar state to that but with some bodged repairs to the boot floor trying to cover the rust up.

It was close to the rear body mounts, which was why she was looking for a new Jimny in the first place as her old one was rotten just there too.

So I think you've dodged a bullet there.

I'm glad you've found a good one!

Kirkynut