Manual vs automatic gearbox for off-road — the definitive SA answer
Running the Suzuki Jimny for 15 months now, 88053km on the clock including 4 proper off-road trips. Here is my honest take.
The good: the off-road capability straight from factory surprised me. I have done Sani Pass, Matroosberg and multiple Kruger trips without a single mechanical issue. The 2.8L turbodiesel is 10L/100km on tar if you keep it under 120km/h.
The bad: the dealer experience left something to be desired. Also the dealer here in George could learn something about customer service, but that is a SA-wide problem not specific to this brand.
Mods I have done: ARB Summit bull bar (R13k fitted), Dobinsons shocks (R14k fitted), MaxTrax recovery boards, and a Engel MR040 fridge. Total spend on mods: around R84k. Worth every cent.
Price paid at my George dealer was R680,000 — they threw in a full tank and floor mats. Finance rate was 11.5% over 72 months which is the reality of SA interest rates in 2025.
Would buy it again. Happy to go into detail on any specific aspect.
6 Replies
On the mod budget — R61k sounds like a lot but if you are amortising it over 9 years of serious use, it works out to less than R1,000 per month. And the safety improvement in a real recovery situation is not something you can put a price on.
— christo_baard
Have you tried it in high-speed gravel? That is where these bakkies differ most. The GR Sport with the revised calibration is a different vehicle at 100km/h on corrugated gravel compared to the base model.
The fuel consumption figures you mention match what I see. The GD6 is better than the official spec suggests in real conditions. The issue for me is long-range touring — I fitted a Brown Davis 98L long-range tank to solve the range anxiety completely.
The fuel consumption figures you mention match what I see. The GD6 is better than the official spec suggests in real conditions. The issue for me is long-range touring — I fitted a Brown Davis 97L long-range tank to solve the range anxiety completely.
Good honest review. My experience with the GR Sport has been similar — the factory setup is better off-road than the road testers give it credit for. The tyres are always the first thing that needs changing regardless of which bakkie you buy.
What suspension are you running now? I have the same setup and am looking at OME BP51 bypass shocks — around R15k fitted at my local workshop. Keen to know if the ride quality improvement on corrugated gravel roads is as significant as people claim.
On the mod budget — R61k sounds like a lot but if you are amortising it over 9 years of serious use, it works out to less than R1,000 per month. And the safety improvement in a real recovery situation is not something you can put a price on.