Suzuki Jimny SZ5

REPORT 6

£18,499 OTR/£19,149 as tested/£252pcm

WHY IT’S HERE

Can it possibly be as charming to live with as it is to look at?

DRIVER

Stephen Dobie

A SUZUKI JIMNY IN THE YORKSHIRE DALES. AS NATURAL AS A FERRARI around Fiorano or a drop-top Mustang on the Pacific Coast Highway. But good luck spotting a new one bumbling about on rural errands. On a recent break Oop North, the umpteen Jimnys we saw all took the form of its more shrunken-Vitara-esque predecessor, each wearing a natty two-tone colour scheme bespattered with muck.

Perhaps the farmers of Wharfedale are still on the Jimny’s notoriously long waiting list. Or it’s a vivid illustration of the car’s retargeting for its fourth generation. See, the Jimny has never been anything approaching a stylish car. It’s always been guts over glory. But with the deliberately retro look of its latest iteration, has it directed itself at a different audience? One that’ll never throw it down a muddy path or through crowds of baaing sheep on account of the lack of kombucha vendors near either?

I hope not. Because it felt completely at home buzzing through narrow country lanes, never shouldered into the looming dry stone walls no matter how many Discoverys, Touaregs or actual, non-Chelsea tractors came rolling the other way. Its dinky size raised a cheer where, on my mundane motorway commute, it elicits quite the opposite response.

A few months of ownership have seen me warm to the Jimny’s rough ’n’ ready charms, and it’s a process I got to see for myself on fast forward as my best mate went from chortling at its set-square styling to fighting me for driving duties in a mere day or two.

It accommodated the pair of us with ease too – albeit with every possible surface behind the front seats smothered in bags, coats and boots – the only real annoyance being its titchy fuel tank. Take one of these on the fully blown adventure it inevitably inspires and you’ll want a jerry can or two strapped aboard.