Gen3 v Gen4 performance?

We've got a Gen3 and Gen4 at home and when you jump from one to another it's hard to tell the difference. The older car rattles more and the newer car is smoother (it bloomin' well should be). If I had a late Gen3 it would be a fairer comparison but out '08 has seen life. I feels to me that the extra power of the 1.5 has got lost in the plumbing. Doesn't matter they're both good cars. Chris

Any Jimny will not come alive much below 3000 rippems, they are small petrol engines and need revs to make torque. They are not a diesel that is running out of revs at 3500 rpm. We used to have a mk1 terrios and while it was much the same character the Jimny is a better choice, the torque is much wider in the range.

I’ve driven two Gen 4 Jimnys.

The first last year was a 1,300 mile silver one and it felt a bit gutless, l wasn’t that impressed.
The second was a 6,300 mile yellow one this month and it was a lot better, it seemed more eager and generally pulled better.
Maybe the yellow one was just a good one, or it had loosened up better after 6,000 miles.

Another thing. I was impressed with how well they pull low down. 30mph in 5th for instance. And will pull sub 1500rpm in top too.

Flat out the Jimny pretty much matches my V8 Range Rover to about 80-85mph.

The 1.3 12 valve Starlet engine comes from the Toyota stable and if it has been grafted into a Terios then it may or may not be standard. Also don't confuse a probably noisy engine that gives the impression of power with the installation of a modern engine in the gen.4 that is impressively quiet. I bought my gen.4 in March this year and due to lockdown I have only just clocked 1300 miles and the engine is still not fully run in but 50 - 70 in 5th gear in 13 seconds is still impressive for a car with the aerodynamics of a brick on edge.

You can't change gear at 3,000rpm and then complain the car is slow! It's a small petrol engine that makes peak power at around 6,000rpm, and it is designed to be driven accordingly. If you choose to only use a third of the available powerband of course it will be slow. Use it how it's designed to be used and it will be fine.