If you enjoyed watching these off-road heroes, then check out our mega group-test of the best 4x4's of 2017: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t5nPt6cHIe8.html
The Defender may be better in the mud with deep track marks but he too can't go to places where Jimny can go, I've seen the Jimny used by the rangers from a mountain reservation, it is amazing how it can climb and it's about the only offroad car that is small enough to fit through the narrow path that goes up the mountain.
2:28 you can easily see they were doing this on purpose. the jimny did not HAVE to use the wheel imprints left by the rover. also, the rover seems to be equiped with ATV wheels, while the jimny tested is using standard road tires. the rover has diff locking, jimny it's an addon.
It was written in the iron-clad rule book, you HAVE to straddle the middle ridge. And there are ridges that the Defender wouldn't be able to straddle. Those of us with brains would know to straddle the ditch, not the hump.
You can give it all the lift you want but the diffs are still only 5" off the ground, then try doing this course with 1/2 ton in the back and see how far you get.
@@4wdsome444 You are a fool ! If you put larger diameter wheels on a Suzuki it would hardly drag itself along , what was meant was wider tyres, hence the same diff ground clearance, plus you have the other part of my comment, that it would not do this with anywhere near the load that the Defender can carry.
@@453421abcdefg12345 ln standard form a Defender will outperform a Jimny but when modified a Jimny would be better, l had a LWB SJ 413 with front and rear difflocks, 6.5 to 1 low range transfer gear ratio, a 2" body lift with 30" mud terrain tires, heavy duty drive shafts and clutch and it was better offroad than my 90" Td5 on mud terrains.
@James Gillingham We all know that the defender is a better off roader. The thing was to see how a little jimny could keep up with one of the best. And it did really good :)
Explain to me how a physically larger, heavier vehicle , with a longer wheelbase would "beast" that "shitty car"? Good luck with that. Go back to dreaming about owning a 4x4 in your mum's basement :)
Jimny is almost legendary here in Japan. It's a real hardcore off-road SUV that is desirably compact, light, cheap, reliable and fun to drive. there is no other car that could match Jimny.
He never mentioned the 2 to 1 low box both in the LR and Jimny or that the LR can tow 3.5 ton making gross train weight of over 6 tons legally. They are both a bit dour on the main road. Thanks for posting.
I have to hand it to the Jimny. Had a rental one in Iceland last year with off road tires and it was so much fun to throw it against the volcanic landscape!
The Jimny is an epic little car and I have seriously enjoyed driving my friend's one in the off road club, but, the axle differentials do sit rather low to the ground. Smaller wheels and higher profile tyres do help it off road though with a lift kit.
Great comparison with two factory specs. From experience lesser weight has a lot to do with greater 4x4 capability, plus maintainance in the long run if its a daily offroader. With the price difference the jimny can have the right lift, proper gearing, diff locks, and all terrain tires to make it more capable.
I recently put a deposit on one but because Aus are only allowing 100 of the 2017 models in to the country, (and 2016's are all sold out) i have to wait 2 months for it to arrive :/
Scott Porteous Actually, the very short track and wheelbase as well as the small front and rear overhangs give it surprisingly good ground clearance. Most modern offroaders that come out of the factory need a bit of lifting and bigger tyres for offroading anyway, since manufacturers know that the majority of buyers will mostly use them on the road and so they are specced that way. All things considered, the Defender is the superior vehicle without a doubt, but if you're after a cheap, reliable and low-maintenance 4x4 that can offroad with the best of them after a few mods, you can't go wrong with the Jimny/Samurai.
Or if you need to tow, or carry a load heavier than a gallon of milk, if you don't want to die in a minor collision, or if you want to sell it and actually make money on the purchase.
OK. Fair point. You clearly know more about this than I, so I'll bow to your superior knowledge. I get wound up when people interchange "stress" with "strain" and "force" with "pressure" !!
Love both, but LR is now nearly 2 tons. Back in 1947 it was a Jeep replacement and weighed less than 1200kg. Perhaps it's time for LR to bring out a Jimny-type lightweight. But no, they won't since wealthy Americans and Russians won't pay 75000USD for one. Britain, my country, what has happened?
hello people i was looking to purchase one of these jimnys second hand for my first car would it be bad for the rolling point of view obviously it is slow so you wont have to worry that much about that i guess any tips leave in the comments got insurance around 1800 anually
Can you even get all terrain tyres for a jimney? Didn't really think much of it until I watched this vid but good on the underdog. I'd still have a defender mind
I have a Defender 110 and son-in-law has a Suzuki Sierra with 2in lift and it goes everywhere and usually easier especially on the soft sands of Oz beaches. It is easy to fix, easy to get parts and costs bugger-all. While I love my Defender, the Suzuki is brilliant fun and more than a match for the big blokes.
Stress and pressure are identical terms. i.e. force/area e.g. PSI. Strain is the % that something stretches. A 10cm elastic band stretched by +1cm has a strain of 10%.
As a defender owner and lover, Jimnys are fucking awesome. Good off road, nice to work on, fairly comfortable, surprisingly difficult to roll (we tried), can fit them through some 2 post road signs. All good stuff. Just a mini defender, but unfortunately with quite a lot of depreciation.
Why are people saying lift the sj,put this kinda tyre on it and diff locks etc the defender is better off road end of story do the same to the Landy and it’ll beat just about anything if you throw enough money at it jeez
believe me it's not the tires that really let the Jimmy down. It's the ride height. Yes, the defender has an advantage with all terrains but you could put Trepadors on the Jimny and it still wouldn't follow the defender - its just too low in stock form for some stuff. Give it a lift and some 31's and it'd go anywhere though!
yea I have a defender yet I must admit that the Lada Niva is it equal designed as a tool to reach those extreme places without bothering about a hard maintenace , same low consumption great 4X4 makes me remember that I'm crazy to buy one of these to bad that those are rare in my country
The power is fine because the weight is so low. You need bigger tyres to raise the diffs higher, which needs a raised ride height to clear the arches but essentially that just changes where you get stuck and makes recovery harder when you do. Mine is standard apart from the tyres and amazing fun off road.
Defender is pretty good, I think only a few off road cars can outperformed it.. but Jimny, with a little bit of adjustment (winch, tyres) can go wherever the defender can
Does anyone know why Autocar magazine has never published this in the mag? I think it is really odd, almost as if Landrover have leaned on them to prevent publication. It's really obvious their tester loves the Jimny but the magazine does not even list the car under its new car guide section. Very strange.
Both are capable off roaders. A person who have money to buy Defender will probably won't buy the Jimny, and who buys Jimny probably didn't have enough money to buy the Landy
jervis jagroop If you go on autotrader, you can probably pick up an early 90 or 110 and do twice the things the suzuki would ever dream of doing for around 3k. Also, it kindof... won't fall over.
+Fraser Gordon I doubt a 90 or 110 could do twice the things the Suzuki could, and besides, to make your comment fair you really should have mentioned the fact that you can pick up a used Jimny for £1000...
brynjaminjones You get more car, more reliability, more practicality, more off road performance, more durability, and more stayonitsown4wheels ability. And also, think of the torque figures. A suzuki would be down on power going up a hill.
A Defender 90 weighs about 1700kg, compared with a Suzuki's ~1000kg. the Suzuki will still work out slightly down on power compared with the Defender, but it doesn't seem to hold them back, and isn't as huge a difference as you might think. Also, what on Earth makes you think that a Defender will be more reliable than a Suzuki!? Land rover reliability isn't exactly exemplary, and Jimnys don't seem to have many problems. Again, the off-road performance argument isn't correct. Stock to stock they're not that different, and with a couple of small mods the Suzuki could easily do everything a Defender could, yet still not cost as much! It makes me laugh how so many Land Rover people will argue to the death that their rattly old uncomfortable box is the most capable, reliable, all round best vehicle in the world, just because they don't like to admit that there are plenty of other vehicles out there that are equally capable with better reliability, and that actually offer a little bit of comfort at the same time!
I'm not going any further into this argument with you after this. From my experience, Suzukis are just as capable off road whilst being far cheaper. Everybody I know with a Land Rover has also had reliability issues, whilst the only issues I've seen with Suzukis have been a direct result of hard abuse. Don't get me wrong, I think Defenders are capable, but I'm fed up of this stuck up attitude that most of their owners have towards other brands. At every off roading event I've ever been to, the Land Rover owners wouldn't talk to anyone but each other, whilst all the other brands took interest in each other's vehicles. The moment you mention terms like "Jap crap" I know you're just butthurt that somebody doesn't like your Defender. Don't give me your bullshit about not being able to afford a Defender either. You don't know me, and don't realise that I currently own 2x 4 litre petrol 4x4s, and have been daily driving them for the last four years since the age of 18. And regardless of whether or not I could afford a Defender, it's still an irrelevant comment from somebody who has done his bit to add to the stereotype of Land Rover owners being arrogant, stuck up arseholes. I know they're not all like that, but you're not helping. Also, weight information came from here: www.liveridge4x4.com/Facts/ If I can read correctly, the weight of a D90 seems to be 1602-1727kg, no?
the Jimny is very capable for "playing" off-road. lets load our equipment and bugout / camping gear, Gas bottles, long range diesel tanks, Jerry Cans, Water tanks, Roof-Top tents, potjies, spades, axes, 2 spare wheels, hook a trailer, and then do the same test... See the Jimny was meant for dropping kids at school, and play at the local off-road track. the Defender was meant for use in the military, serious off-roading, very far tours, and dropping the kids off at school. it is interesting to see them in a comparison test, but in the real world, the Defender can easily keep up with what a Jimny was intended for, but, the Jimny can never ever keep up with what the Defender was intended for. The Jimny is smaller, and cost less, but the differences does not stop just there..
you can get all terrain tyres for and jimnny and I think even muds as well. Obviously there are cheaper defenders like my dads (an enthusiastic off-roader) has picked up a defender and mud tyres for under 5 grand
And still Autocar magazine in the UK do not even list it! Why not? By the way Landrovers are great for pulling heavier loads and yanking out tree trunks. The Suzuki was not designed to do that, it's just a great wee all terrain vehicle. Liked my Landies too!
Rented a Jimny on Tortola, BVI..Loved it,,perfect car for for uneven, narrow Island roads...Wish they had them for rent in the USVI...Don't sell them here in the US,,,but wouldn't be the best for hours of droning on 65-75 mph interstates in the US...
I dragged a seized up Ford 4000 tractor with my sj 410 ,iv owned and driven series landrovers for over 25 years and was astonished at the reliability and robustness of the Suzuki which I bought for 125 pounds as an mot failure ,I would have thought twice at dragging the tractor with a landrovers for fear of breaking something,I think we can all agree that with decent tyres and good technique you can get most 4x4 ' s to go anywhere
You think something would break in the defender!? When the series 1 came out which was the weakest of the landrover rand there was a video of it pulling a 16ton military plane... We had a Jimmy SJ410 once, put the 1.3 in and broke the gearbox and after replacing that the front half shaft twisted..
Point taken but it did the job asked of it here, even if that's not it's primery intended use and it clearly, from the size of it tyres and tread pattern, a high-traction capability intended.
you would be surprised what you can do with one with all the bells and whistles and i meant the range rovers and land rover Lr2 and lr3 but still a grand cherokee has a chance on a defender
in most countries and continents the vehicle of choice is the defender for the very same reasons that the wrangler is not choosen low consumption , reliability that means almost no eletronic parts and riveted aluminium body easy to fix in other words it dont get rusted
Totally agree with you RecklessAdventure, James Gillingham, this wasn't a fair test but Land Rovers do make the best 4x4 and Tata in general do build some great cars! The range of available upgrades for the defender is never ending as well, unlike the Jimny. The stats of the Defender is also better, wading depth, Ground clearance, torque. Also the defender can go further on a single tank of fuel hich is important on an off road safari. People saying that they’ve passed Defenders on trails, we all know that you’re either lying or that the defender has been in trouble as a result of the driver and not the vehicles off road capabilities. I’ve been on many SERIOUS trails where only defenders (Not even the discoveries would make it) and custom kit off roaders have managed to pass. Also it’s the status of having a defender and owning one, you wake up knowing that your cars ready for almost anything and that it’s not going to break down. A defender looks right anywhere, place it on top of Mount Everest and it looks worthy of being there! Also a Jimny with scratches and dents doesn’t look right, on a defender, they’re just battle scares that add the legendary skills of the defender. Also this video didn't show the vehicles Articulations or on a rock crawling section. Which the Jimny would of never had a chance with its independent suspension system and no locking diffs or low range.
Pity that the Jimny wasn't given all-terrain tyres like the Defender - would have been a fairer comparison, even if the ground clearance would have caught it out in certain places. Agree that the presenter was effective and would like to see him used again.
The older version of the Jimny is the Suzuki Samurai, which by itself was a very capable off-roader. A little lacking in the power, but the offroadability more than made up for it. It outdid most jeeps with its lighter weight. A little more power, some lift, and better tires, those things became off-road monsters. That's why i'm never selling mine. With all this from its predecessor, of course the Jimny is going to have a lot going for it. It's grandpa was a boss :)
