It didn’t matter the size.
The Suzuki Jimny was a real off-road vehicle able to go where any other Jeep, Toyota, or Landie could go and, sometimes, outrun them, no matter how slow it went.

In 1997, Suzuki decided to retire the Samurai off-road vehicle. It was on the market since 1970 and even with all of its improvements began to show its age. Suzuki changed almost everything when it built the first generation of the Jimny and improved it even further in 2005. The car still had to comply with the new, for Europe, Euro4 pollution norms.

Suzuki showed the world that a boxy-looking vehicle doesn’t necessarily mean an ugly car. Despite its flat panels, very appreciated for off-road, the Jimny looked balanced. It was built in a closed or open-top version. The latter featured a safety bar behind the front seats, even though the car was built on a ladder-chassis, and it didn’t need one unless it turned upside down. And that happened many times in hard off-road. In the back, the open-top version featured a side-hinged tailgate with the spare-wheel on it.

Suzuki tried to offer as much comfort as possible for a vehicle light with front and rear live-axles for the interior. There were two bucket seats and a plastic dashboard, which could have been washed with a garden hose. There was a bench for two in the back. It hardly provided any room for anyone taller than a tiny toddler. As for the trunk, well, there was barely room for a six-pack and a one-person tent.

Under the hood, Suzuki installed two engine choices: 1.3-liter gasoline and a 1.5-liter turbodiesel. Both of them were paired to a 5-speed manual, and there was no other option.