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2019 Suzuki Jimny First Drive Review | Internet darling, real-world riot

FRANKFURT — Imagine a Mercedes G-Wagen hit with an incredible shrinking ray, and you'll not be far short of the new fouth-generation Suzuki Jimny, last sold in North America in the mid-1990s as the Samurai. The resemblance is astonishing, but there's enough of the Land Rover Defender, Toyota FJ, Honda Element and Jeep Wrangler in there, too, to keep Merc's copyright lawyers sitting on their hands. Cute as a family of otters in your bath, the new Jimny's proving the social-media hit of the fall, with online fan clubs starting, splintering and re-forming as they argue over which of the six new body colors is their favorite. Yet Jimny's no style pony. That lime green 'Kinetic Yellow' color might be the ultimate urban accessory, but it's formulated to make this tiny utility stand out in bad weather and on building sites. And in a world of fragile multi-clutch-based all-wheel-drive crossovers, Jimny is the real deal: body-on-frame construction, coil-sprung solid axles with three-link location at the rear and a panhard rod at the front, and a transfer-box set of crawler gears. And with entry, exit and breakover angles and ground clearance to rival that of a mountain ibex; this is a proper all-terrain automobile, just at five-eighths scale. It all started of course with Hope: the Japanese Hope Motor Company. Its OM360 was a 1960s Lilliputian take on the World War II Willys MB Jeep. Suzuki bought the design from Hope, and relaunched it with a new engine in 1970 as the first Jimny. Through three generations and 48 years, Jimny's been called variously: SJ; LJ; Farm Worker; Samurai; Gypsy; and Sierra. It's been rebadged as a Mazda and a Maruti, and has sold a total of 2.85 million across 194 countries, including at one time America, though the company pulled out of the U.S. car market in 2012. The outgoing third-generation Jimny had lost its way with a bland, wind-cheating design. The new Jimny is back to basics. Shortened by 1.2 inches, it's now 143.5 inches long, 64.8 inches wide, 67.9 inches high and runs on an 88.6-inch wheelbase. These bonsai dimensions are dictated by the Japanese Kei car, a size and taxation class aimed at tight urban spaces. The new car also gets a stronger, cross-braced ladder frame under the separate body isolated on eight rubber bobbins.

Top Gear hosts' classic bikes head for auction

The BBC seems quite certain that Top Gear is making a return to television in 2016, but James May and Richard Hammond are extremely unlikely to be among the hosts. Instead, the two of them are probably following Jeremy Clarkson into any future endeavors, but for the time being that leaves the Little One and the Slow One unemployed. They won't have to worry too much about spending money in the meantime, though, because Bonhams is selling 12 motorcyles owned by the former TG stars on April 26. "Just because I'm unemployed now doesn't mean I have to get rid of everything. I was going to sell these bikes anyway. And those paintings, and my collection of Scalextric cars. Honest," May joked to Bonhams. However, the auction house was clear in its announcement that the cycles were consigned to the Spring Stafford Sale in the UK months before the Top Gear fracas. Eight of the bikes come from May's collection and are generally small-bore, Japanese models. They include a 49cc 1974 Yamaha FS1-E and a 1976 Suzuki AP50 E, but there's also a very attractive 1980 Ossa 250cc MAR trials bike. If you're looking for a bit more performance, Hammond's four offering include a 2010 Norton Commando 961SE and a 1970 Triton 500cc cafe racer. He's also selling a Yamaha FS1-E, though a year newer than May's. Unfortunately the Vincent Black Shadow and Honda RC30 the hosts are riding in these photos aren't part of the lots, but the whole list of the available models can be read in the announcement below and checked out in the gallery, above. Bonhams Spring Stafford Sale will include 12 motorcycles belonging to Richard Hammond and James May, former presenters of the popular motoring programme, Top Gear. May and Hammond discussed the sale of their respective motorcycles in their usual humorous manner: "Just because I'm unemployed now doesn't mean I have to get rid of everything," said May. "I was going to sell these bikes anyway. And those paintings, and my collection of Scalextric cars. Honest". Hammond added: "As a serious collector of motorcycles, it's important to review one's stable regularly, and the Bonhams Stafford sale is the ideal opportunity to move bikes on and possibly acquire new ones. I also have a canoe, and some Wharfedale hi-fi speakers, if anyone's interested".

Junkyard Gem: 1998 Suzuki Swift, Schnorchel Edition

To enable the use of internal-combustion engines underwater, German submarines during the later years of World War II used a pipe system swiped from the Dutch to suck in air and spit out exhaust. This rig was known as the Schnorchel, and a similar setup can be used on modern trucks to keep the engine from inhaling water or dust during river-fording or off-roading. In fact, you can buy a new Ford Bronco with a factory schnorchel (or snorkel, if you prefer the English spelling) right now. Purchasers of new Suzuki Swifts, however, had no such factory — or even aftermarket — option, and so the final owner of today's Junkyard Gem had to fabricate one using hardware-store components. Yes, this is a fully functional air-intake snorkel, made from PVC pipe and entering the engine compartment via not-so-precision holes sliced through the fender and inner fender. Once in the engine compartment, the pipe connects directly to the engine's throttle body. Sure, for serious underwater use you need to waterproof the distributor plus any sensitive electrical components, not to mention find some way to keep water from getting into transmission vents and the like. We can assume, however, that this snorkel wasn't intended for sustained underwater use. Other limitations of the Swift as an off-road machine, such as suspension design, ground clearance, and lack of four-wheel-drive, may have become apparent once the snorkel was installed. There are some wheel flares installed, to enable the use of oversized wheels and tires. The Swift is the same car as the Suzuki-built Geo Metro, which became the Chevrolet Metro starting in the 1998 model year. Known in its Japanese homeland as the Cultus, these cars were sold in every far-flung corner of the world. It appears that you could buy a new Cultus (with Margalla badges) in Pakistan as recently as a few years ago. This isn't the first interestingly modified second-generation Swift I've found in a Denver-area car graveyard in recent years. Perhaps the "Slokyo Drift" 1996 Swift was modified by the same person. There's just something about a tiny, fully depreciated car that inspires creativity. The 1998 Geo Metro was available with either a 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine or a 1.3-liter four-banger, but every new Swift sold here that year was a big-block car with the 1.3 and its 70 horsepower. This one even has the five-speed manual transmission, for added driving fun. Just 166,280 miles on the clock.