Suzuki
Jimny
Model Profile
From $36,490
Driveaway price · priced May 2026. Varies by state. Details →
Nothing else on sale in Australia does what the Jimny does for the money. It is a proper ladder-frame, low-range four-wheel drive shrunk to the size of a city car and priced from $36,490 drive-away. The current JB74 generation arrived here in early 2019 and built a cult so deep that waiting lists ran for years; a five-door XL joined the line-up in late 2023 to make it a touch more practical. Charming, capable and gloriously single-minded, it asks you to forgive a lot on the road in exchange for what it does off it.
$36,490
Driveaway, the cheapest genuine ladder-frame, low-range four-wheel drive on sale in Australia.
Low range
A separate ladder chassis and low-range transfer case, with 210mm of clearance and a 36-degree approach angle.
85 litres
With the rear seats up, less than some prams; the five-door XL more than doubles it.
What matters to you?
75kW
Power130Nm
Torque1300kg
Braked towing6.4–6.9L/100km
Fuel economyRange shown across the Jimny line-up. Pick a priority to see the numbers that matter to you.
Images are illustrative and digitally rendered. They may not reflect the exact variant, colour or trim. Details →
Living with the Jimny.
The Suzuki Jimny is a specialist that happens to be cheap. Underneath the boxy retro body sits a separate ladder-frame chassis, a low-range transfer case and selectable four-wheel drive, the hardware of a serious off-roader scaled down to 3.65 metres and barely 1.1 tonnes. That combination, at $36,490 to $40,490 drive-away, makes it a segment of one in Australia: nothing else this capable is this small or this affordable. Demand has run so far ahead of supply since 2019 that buyers once queued for years to get one.
The core range runs to three grades. The $36,490 Lite (2026 drive-away) is the bare-bones entry, manual-only with manual air-conditioning, halogen headlights and a steel spare, and it returns the best claimed economy at 6.4L/100km. The $38,490 three-door Jimny adds automatic climate control, LED projector headlights, privacy glass, an alloy spare and the option of an automatic. The $40,490 XL stretches the wheelbase 340mm into a five-door body. All three share the 1.5-litre 75kW/130Nm petrol four and a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty with capped-price servicing. Services are capped at about $460 a visit, roughly $2,365 over five years, so even allowing for the Jimny's highway thirst the ownership maths stay light.
The five-door XL is the one that broadens the appeal. The extra 315mm of length and the longer wheelbase lift boot space from a near-useless 85 litres to a usable 211, and the rear doors make the back seat actually usable. It costs you a little: the longer body trims the breakover angle from 27 to 24 degrees and adds around 90kg, so the three-door stays the sharper tool on a tight, rutted climb. For most buyers the trade is worth it.
What you sign up for is the rest of the car. AU reviews are unanimous on the compromises: it's slow, the steering wanders at highway speed, it gets shoved around by crosswinds, and the four-speed automatic is a generation behind anything else at the price. The manual is the better drive. Real-world fuel use sits well above the claim, and the current build carries no ANCAP rating, though six airbags, autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise are standard. The Jimny is the buy when a genuine ladder-frame, low-range 4x4 for $36,490 matters more than how it behaves on the freeway. Anyone who needs on-road manners or outright ability should cross-shop a bigger, dearer 4x4 instead, covered below.
1970
The Jimny line traces back to the 1970 LJ10, Suzuki's first mass-produced 4x4.
Jimny Range Walk
Three core grades, one drivetrain, a $4,000 spread, plus a cosmetic XL Rhino special edition added above them from mid-2026 (about $44,990 before on-road costs). The choice is less about power (every Jimny shares the same 1.5-litre engine) and more about how much kit and practicality you want for the money.
- 01
Lite
Cheapest way into a real 4x4From $36,490
The $36,490 entry point: manual gearbox only, manual air-conditioning, halogen headlights, a steel spare and no privacy glass. Lightest in the range, so it claims the best economy at 6.4L/100km.
- 02
Jimny (3-door)
The sweet spotFrom $38,490
For $2,000 more the standard three-door adds automatic climate control, LED projector headlights, privacy glass and an alloy spare, and unlocks the four-speed automatic for those who want it.
- 03
XL (5-door)
Families and daily useFrom $40,490
Another $2,000 buys the five-door body: 315mm more length, a 340mm-longer wheelbase, rear doors and a boot up from 85 to 211 litres. It trades a little breakover angle (27 to 24 degrees) and adds about 90kg.
Driveaway price · priced May 2026. Varies by state. Details →
Under the skin.
How much can the Suzuki Jimny tow?
The Suzuki Jimny is rated to tow up to 1,300 kg with a braked trailer and 350 kg without trailer brakes.
Heaviest braked trailer allowed, quoted as ATM: the loaded trailer including ball weight.
1,300 kg
Limit for trailers without their own brakes.
350 kg
Gross vehicle mass: the most the loaded vehicle may weigh, ball weight included.
1,450 kg
Gross combination mass: vehicle and trailer together. Suzuki does not publish one.
Not published
The vehicle as delivered, before people, cargo and accessories.
1,110 kg
Everything you may add, ball weight included. Calculated: 1,450 kg GVM minus 1,110 kg kerb weight.
340 kg
Calculated
Downward load on the tow ball; it counts toward GVM. Assumed at 10 per cent of the tow rating: Suzuki does not publish a limit.
130 kg
Assumed 10%
What's left once the van is hooked up
Hook up 1,300 kg with 130 kg on the ball (assumed at 10 per cent) and the Jimny has 210 kg of payload left for people, cargo and accessories.
Suzuki does not publish a GCM for the Jimny, so the tow rating and the GVM are the governing limits shown here.
Assuming 10 per cent of the trailer weight.
Two adults plus luggage is roughly 400 kg.
Over a limit. This combination does not comply.
Tow rating
0 kg under the 1,300 kg braked rating
Vehicle GVM
Over GVM by 190 kg. Lighten the load or the ball.
Combined GCM
GCM not published for this vehicle
Tow ball limit
No published limit. Vans usually need 8 to 12 per cent of ATM on the ball.
The rules and the fine print
Figures are manufacturer maximums for the Jimnyand can change with model year; the compliance plate and handbook of your exact vehicle govern. In Australia, trailers over 750 kg GTM (the loaded weight on the trailer's own wheels) need their own brakes, and over 2,000 kg they need brakes on all wheels plus a breakaway system. Ball weight typically runs 8 to 12 per cent of ATM. Axle loads and tyre ratings are not modelled here. Checking a different car against your van? Use the towing calculator.
The Jimny is the cheapest genuine ladder-frame, low-range four-wheel drive on sale in Australia, and it asks you to forgive a lot for that. It wins on real off-road ability (210mm clearance, 36-degree approach, a 1.1-tonne kerb that shames cars three times the price), a five-year unlimited-kilometre warranty, and a starting price of $36,490 drive-away. The compromises are just as plain: it's slow, noisy and wanders at highway speed, the four-speed auto is a generation behind the manual, and the current build carries no ANCAP rating. Nothing else this capable is this small or this affordable, but the GWM Tank 300 is the more rounded car if on-road manners matter. If outright capability and charm are the brief, buy the three-door for purity; pick the five-door XL if you need rear doors and a boot up from 85 to 211 litres.
- Genuine ladder-frame, low-range 4x4 ability
- Cheapest real off-roader on sale in Australia
- Tiny, light and endearingly characterful
- Five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty
- XL five-door finally adds usable space
- Slow, wandering and wind-sensitive on the highway
- Dated four-speed automatic blunts the drivetrain
- No current ANCAP rating
- Three-door boot is tiny at 85 litres
- Real-world fuel use runs above the claim
Where the Jimny has been.
Past generations. Context, not the car on sale today.
The Jimny name is older than most of the cars it competes with. The line began in 1970 with the LJ10, Suzuki's first mass-produced four-wheel drive, and has stayed true to the same tiny-but-tough formula across four generations and more than five decades on sale.
1970-1998: LJ to Sierra
The 1970 LJ10 launched the recipe; the SJ series that followed reached Australia in 1981 and earned a following as the cheeky, capable 'Sierra'. These were crude, narrow and slow, but light and almost unstoppable off-road: the template the modern car still follows.
1998-2017: third-generation Sierra
The long-running third-generation Jimny sold here from late 1998. By modern standards its crash protection was poor: Monash University's Used Car Safety Ratings give 1998-2017 small SUVs of this type a two-star real-world result, with driver protection rated just one of five. A capable old-timer, but not a safe one by today's measure.
2019-present: JB74
The current generation arrived in Australia in early 2019 to demand that wildly outstripped supply, with waiting lists running for years. The five-door XL joined in late 2023. In 2025 the three-door briefly went off-sale when its AEB couldn't meet new ADR rules, returning for 2026 with upgrades, while the XL weathered a short stop-sale that was later lifted with no fault found.
Asked about the Jimny.
By Yuri Cartland, Editor