Suzuki Jimny SZ5

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300bhp/ton

Original Poster:

41,030 posts

190 months

Monday 29th June 2020
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595Heaven said:
Oh, and by the way, INEOS reveal the Grenadier on Wednesday...
thumbup

595Heaven

2,419 posts

78 months

Monday 29th June 2020
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There’s a teaser pic of the bonnet on Autocar (and probably elsewhere)

Macron

9,881 posts

166 months

Monday 29th June 2020
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Impressive you're improving it already, so much better than most which will just be ferrying to school (when they're open again).

Is your brother's Trailhawk the 2.0D Auto (based on your description of the 9-cog box)?

Scrump

22,022 posts

158 months

Monday 29th June 2020
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Thanks for keeping this updated. I am enjoying reading about your Jimmy.
Bumper looks good (although I prefer the other one with the light bar, not that it matters as it is your car). Going to replace the rear bumper as well?

300bhp/ton

Original Poster:

41,030 posts

190 months

Monday 29th June 2020
quotequote all
Macron said:
Impressive you're improving it already, so much better than most which will just be ferrying to school (when they're open again).
Thanks beer

Macron said:
I
Is your brother's Trailhawk the 2.0D Auto (based on your description of the 9-cog box)?
It is indeed the 9 speeder.

anonymous-user

54 months

Monday 29th June 2020
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595Heaven said:
Not sure the interface to the front wheel arch is particularly good.

How does this affect insurance? Bull bars aren’t illegal, but the Department of Transport state ‘It is not illegal for vehicles to be fitted with bull bars, but the Department for Transport doesn’t recommend it unless it has been shown that they don’t pose an additional risk of injury to other road users.’

As standard, the Jimmy actually scores ‘good’ (52%) in EuroNCAP for pedestrian protection, but that will no longer be the case with all that metalwork. If the worst were to happen and you hit a pedestrian in a vehicle modified in this way, I suspect the outcome won’t be good...

Did you get the transfer box sorted?
It's a grey area but you would certainly need to inform your insurance company if you fit them. Whilst having them fitted isn't illegal I thought that selling them was? Or I could be mistaken.

595Heaven

2,419 posts

78 months

Monday 29th June 2020
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ruprechtmonkeyboy said:
595Heaven said:
Not sure the interface to the front wheel arch is particularly good.

How does this affect insurance? Bull bars aren’t illegal, but the Department of Transport state ‘It is not illegal for vehicles to be fitted with bull bars, but the Department for Transport doesn’t recommend it unless it has been shown that they don’t pose an additional risk of injury to other road users.’

As standard, the Jimmy actually scores ‘good’ (52%) in EuroNCAP for pedestrian protection, but that will no longer be the case with all that metalwork. If the worst were to happen and you hit a pedestrian in a vehicle modified in this way, I suspect the outcome won’t be good...

Did you get the transfer box sorted?
It's a grey area but you would certainly need to inform your insurance company if you fit them. Whilst having them fitted isn't illegal I thought that selling them was? Or I could be mistaken.
I’ve found a further paragraph on the DoT site here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bull-ba... that states:

There are no plans for legislation to require bull bars that are already fitted to be removed. However, since 25 May 2007, it has been an offence for bull bars that have not been approved as compliant with those safety standards to be sold. Approved devices will carry an indelible ‘e’ mark (for example: e1 01 1471)

I can’t see that bumper being compliant to be honest. If so, surely insurance Is going to be voided.

Maybe there’s a loophole that regards a bull bar as being a separate item to a front bumper, so an aftermarket bumper with integrated bull bar isn't covered?

Either way, I’d rather not be a pedestrian in its way...


300bhp/ton

Original Poster:

41,030 posts

190 months

Monday 29th June 2020
quotequote all
What about being a pedestrian in front Of a 1990 Discovery with a bull bar? Or a 1960’s muscle car. Or a bus or a lorry or a van or a pick up truck? Pretty sure the lightweight Jimny with modern brakes would still likely be the safer by miles.

As far as I understand the bumper is compliant. Else there wouldn’t be a business being an official importer and having a shop fitting them. Such bumpers are also advertised in paid for UK magazine ads. Which again would be odd if they weren’t legal. Not just this company or fitter. But quite a lot for almost any make of 4x4 or pickup.

595Heaven

2,419 posts

78 months

Tuesday 30th June 2020
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300bhp/ton said:
What about being a pedestrian in front Of a 1990 Discovery with a bull bar? Or a 1960’s muscle car. Or a bus or a lorry or a van or a pick up truck? Pretty sure the lightweight Jimny with modern brakes would still likely be the safer by miles.

As far as I understand the bumper is compliant. Else there wouldn’t be a business being an official importer and having a shop fitting them. Such bumpers are also advertised in paid for UK magazine ads. Which again would be odd if they weren’t legal. Not just this company or fitter. But quite a lot for almost any make of 4x4 or pickup.
Agree, I wouldn’t want to be hit by any of them! Or even the standard spec Jimny. They”d all really hurt. Point is though that they were legal at the time of sale. Legislation, and the power of achieving a good Euro NCAP score means that more modern cars are much, much safer for pedestrians in a crash. Yes, good brakes and AEB might prevent some accidents, but where it all goes wrong, you want the vehicle to be as kind as possible to pedestrians / cyclists. The standard Jimny scores quite well for ‘vulnerable road uers’, but that will change massively with the bull bar.

https://cdn.euroncap.com/media/51142/euroncap-2018...

You can’t be naive enough to assume that everything on sale is compliant to legislation. Look how many car parts are sold for ‘off road use only’ or ‘show use only’ or ‘Not e-marked’)

Even the magazine article you found sounds a note of caution. Just because It is compliant with ADR means nothing for compliance with EU legislation (which still applies in UK).


Even if it is compliant, you really should make your insurer aware of the modification and make sure they are happy with it.

I know I sound like an old fart, but in an age when even stickers can allow insurers to claim a car is modified (see https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-7... it really is better to be safe than sorry.

Edited by 595Heaven on Tuesday 30th June 06:54

anonymous-user

54 months

Wednesday 1st July 2020
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300bhp/ton said:
What about being a pedestrian in front Of a 1990 Discovery with a bull bar? Or a 1960’s muscle car. Or a bus or a lorry or a van or a pick up truck? Pretty sure the lightweight Jimny with modern brakes would still likely be the safer by miles.

As far as I understand the bumper is compliant. Else there wouldn’t be a business being an official importer and having a shop fitting them. Such bumpers are also advertised in paid for UK magazine ads. Which again would be odd if they weren’t legal. Not just this company or fitter. But quite a lot for almost any make of 4x4 or pickup.
Well you should certainly inform your insurer 300 as it looks like they might not be legal here based on that article. If you don't and the worst happened (i.e. you hit someone) you could find yourself uninsured, getting sued and paying for it for the rest of your life. It's really not worth the risk!

anonymous-user

54 months

Wednesday 1st July 2020
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The insurer will want to know, there will absolutley be a liability issue if you hit someone and injure them and they make a claim that they were more badly hurt because of your modification. Any loss adjuster will kick the ball back into your court on that claim if you haven't declared the modification and you'll be on the hook for a fairly substantial claim and the legal costs of handling it. I

know that if I was hit by a car with a non standard front bumper either as a pedestrian or in my car I'd certainly raise it when I raised the claim.

They may not care, they may want a tenner a year more, they might refuse to cover it, same as any mod. They'll have a policy on bull cars because they're not uncommon. All about your appetite for risk though; it's not really likely you'll hit someone...

300bhp/ton said:
What about being a pedestrian in front Of a 1990 Discovery with a bull bar? Or a 1960’s muscle car. Or a bus or a lorry or a van or a pick up truck? Pretty sure the lightweight Jimny with modern brakes would still likely be the safer by miles.
As an insurer you assess the risk on the car as it left the factory, so your premiums for those things will already be loaded for their crap brakes and crash performance based on the claim profile of the vehicle.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 1st July 13:51

595Heaven

2,419 posts

78 months

Wednesday 1st July 2020
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Any news 300?

300bhp/ton

Original Poster:

41,030 posts

190 months

Wednesday 1st July 2020
quotequote all
595Heaven said:
Any news 300?
On what? Or is this still about insurance? Don’t know why people are thinking it wasn’t sorted anyway. wink

595Heaven

2,419 posts

78 months

Wednesday 1st July 2020
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So it’s legal as well? Big surprise if so.

300bhp/ton

Original Poster:

41,030 posts

190 months

Wednesday 1st July 2020
quotequote all
595Heaven said:
So it’s legal as well? Big surprise if so.
Insurance was fine with a bullbar. And some other mods I declared but haven't fitted yet. £40 extra for the year.

300bhp/ton

Original Poster:

41,030 posts

190 months

Wednesday 1st July 2020
quotequote all
Bit of an impulse buy. But these turned up from Jimnybits today.

Super speedy service. I was really wanting to get the transfer case skid plate and the radiums arm chassis end protectors. But both were out of stock. And the tree sliders sorted of beckoned to me! biggrin



They arrived in two huge boxes and very well packaged. Instructions are basic, but sufficient.

A couple of the bungs hadn't been removed. But were easy enough to sort.



Fitting is straight forward, if a little fiddly. There are 3 separate brackets to attach to the vehicle. The front and rear go on the bottom of the body mounts. Then a bracket in the middle. You then attach the slider to the brackets and align it all up before tightening all the bolts down.

Found it easier to fit the front and rear brackets as per the instructions to the vehicle. But to then mount the middle bracket to the slider and usher the entire thing up and then locate the middle bracket on the vehicle. And then attach the ends of the slider to the other brackets.

All finished.




Reckon they look pretty smart. Although they do obviously hang a little lower than the stock sill does. This isn't like adding sliders to a Defender 90, where the slider replaces the sill panel. These hang underneath.

You also notice they are there getting in and out, as they make it wider, so you are likely to rub the back of your calf on them as you ingress and egress from the vehicle.


Mezzanine

9,218 posts

219 months

Thursday 2nd July 2020
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Jimny is looking great.

Although I am distracted and intrigued about what else is lurking in the field of surprises back there!

595Heaven

2,419 posts

78 months

Thursday 2nd July 2020
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300bhp/ton said:
595Heaven said:
So it’s legal as well? Big surprise if so.
Insurance was fine with a bullbar. And some other mods I declared but haven't fitted yet. £40 extra for the year.
Fair enough! Don’t run me over though wink

Mikebentley

6,115 posts

140 months

Thursday 2nd July 2020
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Can I ask, did you have a choice of colour when you purchased or was it down to what was available. I saw Jonny Smiths on his channel and it looked very slick in black.

300bhp/ton

Original Poster:

41,030 posts

190 months

Thursday 2nd July 2020
quotequote all
Mikebentley said:
Can I ask, did you have a choice of colour when you purchased or was it down to what was available. I saw Jonny Smiths on his channel and it looked very slick in black.
Not really no.

My first choice was the metallic blue. Then the Kinetic yellow. The Chiffon Ivory would have been third. Personally not a fan of black cars (they show the dirt up too much), nor white ones. I think if I'd turned this one down, I probably wouldn't have got one.