We took the first opportunity we could get to get out of the city and put the new Jimny to the test! With a thunderstorm brewing in the background, we definitely had a day of fun ahead of us.
It started out pretty casually, the first few bumps here and there were criticially judged to assess the performance of the suspensions and to listen out for any rattles or squeeks. It felt well built and solid so It gave me the confidence to start playing around on some of the obstacles!
A lot of the sections were pretty easy and were more there to test your vehicles wheel travel and group clearance, which the Jimny is the top of the class so there wasnt too much of a challenge there.
We continued our adventure, trying to find something a bit more testing…
After finding a couple of nice deep ditches, to drive in and out of, got me testing the Low Range gears a bit.. slowly getting a feel for the car. Next up we had some axle twisters, deep enough to get the new All Grip Pro limited slip diff to work its magic! Especially when we found a particularly gnarly hill, where the one wheel lifted right off the ground as we clambered over the obstacle. What a thrill!
Soon I began to feel more confident! Until it started raining… Rain can turn even the simplest trails into a challenge, and sometimes in Gauteng we can get real downpours. Luckily the rain wasnt too bad and instead just added a bit of slip here and there to look out for.
We bumped into some Jimny fans and they wanted to show us around the trail to the good bits! They had frequented the trail and knew it quite well. They mentioned something about a water crossing, so we just followed blindly… All the time slightly worried that they might be luring us into a trap, just to see our baby drown!
There it was… The crossing.. It looked pretty damn deep! I let our new friends go ahead first, their Mitsubishi Colt had some pretty good clearance and I would be able to judge the depth of the water easier once they went through. It seemed alright, so the put the car in Low 2nd and hoofed it! A bit too ambitious on my end, but I really didnt want to drown my car! Ironically enough I ended up dropping the camera and greating a bow wave big enough to wash over the whole front end of the car! Not a smart move… but helluvah fun!
The rest of the trail would see us up a few long and rocky inclines, but nothing too serious for most 4×4’s.
Overall we had a great time getting used to the Jimny and testing it out a bit.
Many adventures lie ahead!
