Suzuki Jimny Twisted review

You might remember that Suzuki had to take the Jimny off sale just two years after launch, in 2020, due to the implications of its relatively high official CO2 output (178g/km), but a regulatory quirk enabled it to return in 2021 as a van. Basically, it just lost its cramped rear seats.

The Jimnys that Twisted modifies are LCV examples, for now. As with its Defenders, the differences aren’t just visual but mechanical. The grumbly 100bhp 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine has been turbocharged, lifting power to 165bhp, with an endearing overrun chirrup.

Underneath, there are new springs and dampers, and while the standard Jimny runs a front anti-roll bar only, Twisted has developed a rear one too. It then fits 16in alloy wheels with its pleasing signature five-spoke design and a different wheel offset, plus BF Goodrich all-terrain tyres.

The look is completed with body-coloured mirrors and grille bars, plus a hip stripe with Mercedes-Benz G-Class vibes.

Inside, there’s quite a lot of leather going on, and I’m all for it. There’s a workmanlike quality to the standard Jimny, and actually a fair degree of that is retained.

The major instruments, speedo and rev counter sit in their own little binnacles that look visibly bolted to the console, and those remain, although they are now soft-touch. And the switchgear and climate controls operate as normal, with some soft-touch surrounds.

What I like most is that they weren’t shoved into a touchscreen in the first place. Other touchpoints have, like the seats, been given padded leather. It’s not uniformly successful, but it’s a notable lift over the standard Jimny and for the most part first-rate.

The rear cabin is trimmed well and there’s a new double-DIN Alpine head unit with phone mirroring. And there are additional measures to reduce noise inside. There isn’t a conventional new car on sale that’s bad at long journeys, but the regular Jimny is one of the worse ones, and these mods lift it a fair few positions. 

Still, chassis alterations and more soundproofing or not, you’re not going to turn a rufty-tufty 4x4 into an Audi Q7. It’s still a tiny off-roader.

The driving position is tall and visibility is great. It’s dead easy to place the edges of the car, but given that it’s only 3.6m long, it wouldn’t be a disaster if you couldn’t. The control weights are light, the gearbox is vague and the steering is a yawning 3.9 turns between locks, and you have to get acclimatised to all that before setting off.

The route I take for testing and pictures is one that we have driven hundreds of times. These parts of North Yorkshire are some of the prettiest parts of the country, with some great roads too. It’s not well served for green lanes (byways), but given the fragility and uniqueness of the heathland, that’s to be expected. 

It’s a while since I drove a standard Jimny, but on the road I can still tell the Twisted version is a more serious piece of kit. Partly that’s because it’s quicker. Of course these things are relative, but it has decent zip.

There are no motorways on our route, so I can’t tell you about high-speed straight line stability, but you probably don’t care anyway. People who choose a Twisted 4x4 are more likely choosing one for living in the sticks, as a cute town runabout or to keep at a second home. It won’t be first choice for going distances.

But it is fun to drive. Not in the ‘Porsche Cayman at full chat across the North York Moors’ sense, because the steering is still as vague as you like; I don’t suppose the tyres have the profile or compound that has the engineers from Michelin’s Cup 2 development team sweating at night; there are departments of government that act with more haste and precision than the steering; and hard cornering is something best left to be described in purely conceptual terms. But at normal road speeds, it’s fine.