Hello!
I am a new writer on this forum, but I have been reading it occasionally for quite a while. I live in Bosnia and Herzegovina (down here in Southeastern Europe).
I am considering buying either a Suzuki Samurai or a Suzuki Jimny.
My choice has been essentially reduced to either:
1. Santana Samurai with Renault 1.9 diesel engine (they made them for continental Europe), from year 2001 to 2003.
2. Suzuki Jimny with standard Suzuki M13A petrol engine, from the similar era (2001 - 2004).
As I can get both of those models for a similar price range (4000 - 5000 EUR), the question now arises which one is better for the money. And that's of course a complex question, as the "better" criteria is always highly dependent on someone's needs and usage.
I would mostly drive them on inter-city traffic (between towns) and then doing some moderate-to-serious off-roading when I get there. So every aspect of the car is a bit important to me. It has to be practical and a bit comfortable for me and my passengers when driving to distant towns. But it also has to be capable, and quite durable for offroading. I hate to have to visit my mechanic more often than my mistress, as I do now with my Fiat Panda 4x4 Mk2.
So I made a meticulous research on the 'Net and also "on the street", and compared the two cars from all aspects (ignoring the engine differences of course), as much as I could (without actually driving any of them more than a few hundred meters unfortunately).
What I (think I) determined is the following:
1. Jimny is around 20 cm longer than Samurai (with a ~22 cm longer wheelbase);
2. Jimny is about 5 cm wider than Samurai;
3. Jimny's interior, despite the car being longer and wider, does not appear to be larger than Samurai's (probably due to extra plastics inside, and bigger front console etc.). The rear passenger's leg room does not appear to be larger in Jimny comparing to Samurai. Is all this correct?
4. Jimny's boot (trunk) appears to be of exactly the same capacity as of Samurai's. Correct?
5. Jimny has some interior space-utilisation improvements, like the book holders on front doors, small stashes on the sides of the boot, and also on interior rear wheel arches, cup holder near the handbrake, etc.
6. Jimny's rear seats are split-foldable, while Samurai's rear seats, while also being split, appear to be non-foldable (on one Samurai which I checked, I could only tilt 'em forward, or take them out completely).
7. Jimny has a lot of comfort and safety features which Samurai does not (air bags, electric door window movers, electric mirror adjusters, ABS, air conditioning, central door locking, what else !?).
8. Jimny, due to coil spring suspension, should be significantly more comfortable than Samurai, which uses leaf spring suspension. Correct?
9. Overall, Jimny should be significantly more comfortable than Samurai on all aspects (interior ergonomics, sound insulation from the engine, sound insulation from outside winds, seat positioning, etc.). Correct?
10. Jimny appears to have lower ground clearance than Samurai ('Net data: 190 mm for Jimny, 205 mm for Samurai). Correct?
11. Samurai's suspension design is significantly more robust and durable than Jimny's suspension design. Correct?
12. Samurai is significantly more capable off-road than Jimny due to slightly shorter wheelbase, slightly higher ground clearance, more rugged suspension (better wheel articulation, tougher springs and arms), lower gearbox and axle transfer ratios, etc. Correct !?
13. Samurai is significantly cheaper and simpler to repair than Jimny, and especially simpler and cheaper to upgrade with modifications targeted for off-road usage. Correct?
14. Jimny is faster than Samurai on the road (more agility for overtaking other cars for example). Correct?
15. What about general build quality of Jimny's chassis, bodywork and mechanics (gearbox, transmission, drivetrain) versus Samurai's?
16. What about any nasty weak points of both cars?
I would appreciate your comments on any of these points! And I hope that someone on the 'Net would find these findings and conclusions useful one day!
Kind regards!
- Bosanek
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