Suzuki Jimny 2023 review: GLX manual

At just under 3.5m long (a touch over 3.6m including the rear door-mounted spare wheel), only 1.65m wide and a little more than 1.7m high the Jimny is right-sized for the city. But what do those compact dimensions mean in terms of practicality?

First of all, headroom (for me at 183cm) is good, front and rear. The Jimny is tall relative to its overall size and there's a generous gap between my bonce and the headliner.

Put a full-size adult in the front passenger seat, though, and you’re 100 per cent aware of their presence from behind the wheel. Not cramped but cosy is the best way to describe it. And it's worth calling out the steering wheel only adjusts for rake, not reach. Ugh!

Access to the rear seating (for two) is via a fold-and-slide mechanism for the front passenger seat and a reasonable degree of flexibility and athleticism is required to gain entry back there.

There is ample headroom in the front and rear. (Image: James Cleary)

Once in place, adequate legroom requires negotiation with those in the front. Sitting behind my driving position, knee room is tight.

Shoulder room is at a premium, too. So, best to reserve the rear for occasional adult journeys, although up to teenage kids will be fine.

Loading in a baby capsule will be a pain due to the confined space and front-only access. However, a car seat for toddlers, once set up, won't be too bad.

Storage is pretty scarce with only a small slot between the front seats (rather than the now customary lidded box) with two cupholders behind it, an oddments tray in front of the gear lever, a small glove box and an open tray above that.

There are bins in the doors but they’re mighty slender, and you can forget about sliding a bottle of any decent size in there.

Access to the rear seating (for two) is via a fold-and-slide mechanism for the front passenger seat. (Image: James Cleary)

Back-seaters will have to fight it out with those in the front for access to the centre console cupholders, because there's nothing else for them. Not even map pockets on the front seat backs.

Power and connectivity runs to a single USB-A port up front with 12-volt outlets in the dash and boot.

Speaking of which, with the rear seats upright there's 85 litres of boot space available, which is enough for one or two school bags or a couple of bags of groceries.

A narrow, removable lidded box, running the width of the load space behind the rear seats is handy for things like muddy hiking boots or wet gear after a beach trip.

With that box removed we were able to fit the smallest 36L suitcase from our three-piece set, with room to spare on either side.

Lower the 50/50 split-folding rear seat and you have 377 litres at your disposal, which is enough to easily swallow the full luggage set (36L, 95L, 124L) or the bulky CarsGuide pram.

The pram would also fit with only one rear seat down so there's room for your baby, and related paraphernalia, too!

Worth noting the rear seat backs are covered in a tough plastic for when they’re lowered down to form the flat load floor, there are multiple bag hooks and tie down anchors to keep large and small loads under control, and the side opening cargo door swings the ‘right’ way for our ‘park on the left’ market. That is, handle on the left, opening to the right.

If you want to hook up the tinnie or a modest box trailer the Jimny is rated to tow 350kg unbraked and 1.3 tonnes braked. Plus, a 15-inch alloy spare is proudly attached to the rear door.