The standard-sized Suzuki Jimny has been a whopping hit since it launched five years ago – and a five-door version was always on the cards.

And here it is.

The XL is longer and heavier than its three-door stablemate, but it has no driver-assist tech or mechanical advantages over the smaller Jimny.

We scrutinised an XL over seven days, including a day-long off-road test to see how it’d perform.

How much does the 2024 Suzuki Jimny XL cost?

The Suzuki Jimny XL is a four-seater wagon with a price-tag of $34,990 (excluding on-road costs).

It’s available as a five-speed manual transmission or a four-speed auto. We have the manual.

What features do you get in the 2024 Suzuki Jimny XL?

Standard equipment includes a 9.0-inch (up from 7.0 inch) touchscreen multimedia system (with wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto), AEB, adaptive cruise control (on auto variants), rear parking sensors, a rear-view camera, LED headlights, and 15-inch alloys.

Exterior paint choices include Arctic White Pearl, Bluish Black Pearl, Granite Grey Metallic, Jungle Green, as well as Sizzling Red Metallic and Chiffon Ivory Metallic, which are both available with an optional Black Pearl roof.

The Jimny XL, at 3985mm long, is 340mm longer than the three-door Jimny and its wheelbase is 2590mm (up from 2250mm), but it remains the same width and height, 1645mm and 1720mm respectively, as the three-door Jimny.

Kerb weight is listed as 1185kg in the manual, and its turning circle is 11.4m.

The Jimny XL’s interior is plain but practical, basic but comfortable, with durable plastics and materials throughout the cabin.

With the second-row seats in use, boot space is listed as 211L. With the second row stowed away, there’s 332L of cargo space.

The five-door Jimny has the same 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine as the three-door – and that produces 75kW at 6000rpm and 130Nm at 4000rpm.

It has a part-time four-wheel drive system with high- and low-range 4WD, off-road traction control, as well as hill descent control, hill hold assist and more.

The Suzuki Jimny XL does not have an ANCAP safety rating, because it has not been tested yet.

As standard it has six airbags (dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting (curtain) airbags), AEB, lane departure warning, a rear-view camera, hill descent control and more.

It has two ISOFIX child-seat attachment points in the rear seat.

The Suzuki Jimny has a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is scheduled for every 12 months/15,000km. Capped-price servicing is offered over five years, but ask your dealer for up-to-date details on those costs.

What is the 2024 Suzuki Jimny XL like to drive?

The Jimny XL is a great off-road vehicle but it’s very ordinary on-road – and that’s a crucial consideration because, in reality, that’s where it’ll spend the majority of its time: on-road.

It feels underpowered and vulnerable, especially on highways, and the ride is firm and jittery via a light narrow body on a full ladder-frame chassis and coil springs.

The XL, though longer, and heavier than the three-door Jimny, is still so small, light and nimble that those characteristics are a help and a hindrance.

A help because the XL is easy to steer around anywhere – city streets, shopping centre carparks and suburbia – and, more importantly, it’s one of the easiest 4WDs to manoeuvre into a parking spot.

A hindrance because it is so small and light that it takes numerous minor steering corrections while driving it to keep the XL steering in a straight line – and that can be very tiring. 

The XL is also easily unsettled by irregular surfaces, strong wind and large passing trucks. You’d think because the XL is 90kg than the three-door Jimny that it wouldn’t share those characteristics quite so much but, while it’s marginally better at managing all of those challenges than the standard Jimny, it’s by increments.

However, the Jimny is fun and highly manoeuvrable off-road because it is so small and light.

In 4WD High or Low, the Jimny simply keeps on trucking through challenging terrain. You have to use plenty of throttle, keeping the revs up and wheels spinning in order to get the most out of that traction control, but that's part of the fun.

It lacks any diff locks but the Jimny XL does have rigid axles front and rear, part-time 4WD (with high- and low-range 4WD) and an AllGrip Pro system of driver-assist tech that includes hill descent control, hill hold assist and more – all adequately effective in terms of performance.

The Jimny XL has decent off-road angles – approach is listed as 36 degrees, departure is 47, rampover is 24 – but this 4WD is not as naturally suited to off-roading as the three-door.

Ground clearance is 211mm and wading depth is unlisted but likely around 300mm.

The standard tyres (Bridgestone Dueler H/L 195/80R15) are fine for sealed surfaces and some light-duty off-roading but invest in a set of decent all-terrains for better off-road performance.

It has a full-sized spare wheel mounted on the rear door.

A minor niggle: there's a lot of in-cabin noise on any track surface, and a noticeable transmission whine.

In terms of weights and practicality for packing, gross vehicle mass (GVM) is listed as 1545kg – 110kg more than the three-door Jimny – but the vehicle itself is 90kg heavier than the three-door.

Payload is listed as 360kg.

Towing capacity is 350kg (unbraked) and 1300kg (braked).

The Suzuki Jimny XL has an official fuel consumption of 6.4L/100km (on a combined cycle).

I recorded 11.6L/100km on this test but I did a lot of high- and low-range 4WDing.

The Jimny XL has a 40L fuel tank so, going by my fuel figures, a full tank should give you a driving range of about 345km.

Is the 2024 Suzuki Jimny XL any good?

The Suzuki Jimny XL is what it is: a heavier, stretched Jimny.

It offers up similar kinds of thrills – light, nimble and fun to drive off-road – and similar kinds of trade-offs – underpowered, easily unsettled and sometimes exhausting to drive – to the smaller, three-door Jimny, but if you’re a Zook enthusiast and you buy the Jimny XL planning to use it for its intended purpose – no-holds-barred 4WDing – then the positives will likely outweigh any negatives.