Offered an Auto

Jimx5 wrote: Don't ever settle for second best.
I have no knowledge on a auto Jimny, but i once owned an auto BMW and what a waste of a car.
If your set on a manual...wait for it.
Then if you don't enjoy the Jimny it's nobodies fault.

Sorry but I don't agree with the auto being second best it really isn't. The only occasion when the manual is really the one to have is that rare occasion when the B road opens up before you and there is no one else around and for a few minutes you can enjoy screaming the rods out of the block until reality shows up again. The rest of the time the auto is just as useful and much less frantic to drive and is much easier off road. If I were redoing Dreadnaught again it would be an auto too.

I suspect the "second best" phrase refers to getting the exact model you want. When it comes to Gen4s, good luck with that. I've owned a bit of both over the years and whilst I have preferences I wouldn't condemn either.
As a footnote, remember manuals will gradually dissappear from the options list as electric vehicles become the norm.
Chris

I've driven both the manual and auto Gen4, opted to buy the auto and have put 6000 miles on mine so far. It doesn't feel massively slower than the manual to me and if anything is probably quicker off the line for the average driver, as it's just point and squirt, with no risk of bogging down or fluffing a shift to 2nd.

I live in an urban area with lots of traffic and it's fantastic in stop-start traffic, far less wearing than driving our other, manual car. Cruises well too, 60mph on the speedo is just under 3000rpm, which is pretty much identical to the manual.

It is however a basic auto box. Probably a good thing in terms of reliability, but you only have 3 gears plus lockup overdrive which means in some situations you can end up kicking down when you don't want to. Typical examples are when trying to maintain a set speed on the motorway and hitting a long incline, where it has a tendency to drop down one or even two gears and won't change back up until you're back on the level, which is all a bit shouty and noisy with the revs at 4000+ . You can avoid this to some extent by using the overdrive button to manually drop out of top.

Economy isn't as good as the manual (think 3-4mpg worse) and a characteristic of the box is that it won't lockup into overdrive until warm, so if you go straight onto a fast road from cold, it will be a bit revvy for the first couple of minutes.

It's better off-road than the manual in that you don't need to burn your clutch out to balance the car through tricky low speed obstacles, with the torque converter giving that precise slippage. You tend to have less wheel spin than a manual over the same terrain.

Rarely, when I'm on a nice quick twisty road I think it would be nice to have a manual, but most of the time I love the auto and wouldn't swap it.

i got offered a SZ5 manual over the SZ4 in black that i want.. however i was being told that my order (which may or may not have ever existed) was being cancelled and i'd have to start over.

luckily for me another dealer had two unregistered in stock.. so for fear of not getting one at all i took it.

if their not gouging you on price i'd take it, especially if you want that colour

Jimx5

I have no knowledge on a auto Jimny, but i once owned an auto BMW and what a waste of a car.

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Slightly off topic, but....
I have only ever had one automatic, my last [company] car a BMW320d, I didn't want the auto, but had to have it as I had a tow bar fitted and BMW have some stupid restrictions. Anyway, got it with the sports steering wheel (flappy paddles), it was superb, in full auto, never used it in manual/flappy paddles, you must have had a bad one.

I am not a boy racer, but can swap cogs as fast as anyone I know, I would have been hard pressed to keep up with the auto in a manual version and every change was perfect, 0-60 was quoted as the same and mpg was slightly better (8 speed box).

I am not sure what the Jimny Auto is like, if it is 3-4mpg worse and a bit slower, I think I would go for the manual, but an auto is nice in town and the beemer was good on the snow (bit of a surprise that).

I guess if it is an auto or a long wait, I would have the auto and love it just the same.

crash486 wrote: Auto is considered by many to be the better off road configuration as there is no riding the clutch. It is a matter of preference but there is 2cents worth of opinion.
New Jimny ... be happy !

My first experience of driving a 4X4 in serious off-road conditions was in an automatic. I was initially very dismissive and said I would prefer a manual transmission. However my instructor said that the capabilities of an auto transmission would surprise and delight me in extreme conditions and off we went to test the vehicle's capabilities. I will admit to being pleasantly surprised at what could be achieved with an auto transmission - although the vehicle was powered by a very large capacity American engine with enough torque to tow quite a few Jimnys behind it as we scaled the colliery bings of Ayrshire. Do not dismiss auto transmissions for off-road vehicles - I've driven quite a few and they have a number of advantages when the going gets tough. At the end of the day buy the vehicle that suits your own needs.