5-door is terrible to drive (on the road) but I love it

THERE is no denying the Suzuki Jimny is the coolest car on South Africa’s roads. It’s giving “honey, I shrunk the G-Class”.

- Lance Witten

It’s functional and highly customis-able too, and with the introduction of the five-door version, far more practical than ever.

I had the honour of testing the Jimny five-door immediately after spending a week in the spectacularly luxurious Range Rover Velar, and when the Suzuki arrived, I was more excited than I was when the footballer’s ride pulled up.

Clad in black, with its charcoal grey alloys — the Suzuki Jimny, not the Velar — it was incredibly easy on the eye.

And there’s no doubt about its off-road capability too, with a proper low-range gearbox and four-wheel drive, its skinny wheels helping with manoeuvrability in the rough stuff, great ground clearance, and pokey dimensions making it easy to navigate tight spaces when you're bashing the bundu.

But there’s no way the thousands of Jimnys that have found loving, welcoming homes (in Cape Town, at least) are going off-road as often as would be necessary to warrant ownership.

It's not some soft-roader crossover, and this is evident through its mannerisms on the road. Those aforementioned boxy dimensions don’t do the Jimny any favours in terms of wind resistance and noise. You definitely feel Cape Town’s famous south-easter even when the wind isn’t pumping. The tall stance and ground clearance also mean you're going to struggle around paved mountain passes.

Driving