Okey here follows my "professional" 15k km review.... (subject to a disclaimer that I will have to write another review next year March 2020 after the planned Bots trip).
Another disclaimer. My daily drive is a 1.2 swift. Swambo used to drive the Jimny and it was our weekend and vacation mobile. An upgrade to a GV is therefore better in every conceivable way for me. It goes without saying that I would love the GV... and I do.
I believe for people with my modus operandi the GV is an excellent choice. It is a very comfortable smalish SUV that can get a little though if necessary. Yes it is old design, but I fixed most of it's short comings just by fitting an after market radio and handsfree with a reverse cam (For swambo. Real men only use reverse cams to try and oggle ladies bums in a parking lot)
Mods so far: After market radio/handsfree and a dual battery system. Trips done: Kruger x 2. Western Cape x 1 and Marakele x 1. Also gone fishing once and a camping trip to Klein Kariba....
Comfort: Coming from a Jimny, a GV has oodles more space and the ride is extremely smooth. The back seats fold flat against the front seats giving you quite a lot of packing space with some hooks to secure the luggage via straps. We packed the Jimny in a similar way. Fridge fastened with straps and most other things in wolf packs. Everything fits nicely. Second battery fits under the folded up seats, so secure as well. FYI: dual battery thread here :
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=554
My sole complaint on the comfort level is that the “climate control” seems a bit over eager. I end up using the aircon manually… Oh and two stupid little things. The door lock button is in an uncomfortable place and the indicators does not have that “just tap once and it flashies three times” to assist lane changes.
Power: I know how to get the most out of an engine. Again, coming from a Jimny where you really needed to plan far ahead if you wanted to overtake. It is not difficult to break the law with the GV speed wise and to me it has more than enough power. I do however not tow anything…. The 2.4 enough likes to rev… It seems to punish you more (at the petrol pumps) in town if you try to accelerate quickly than going accelerating to 140 on an uphill…. I got some of my best fuel consumption on the N4 to Malalane overtaking vehicles on uphills at speed.
My sole complaint is that the reverse seems to be “weak”.
Fuel consumption: One of the GV’s biggest problems. Not so much to me. It’s daily drive for swambo is around 10km. The Jimny used to give us around 12.5-13.5 (km/L) in town and 11.5 to 11 on open road. With GV we get 8-9 km/L in town and 10-11km/L open road. That not a substantial difference considering it is a bigger vehicle with permanent 4 wheel drive…
It’s petrol light comes on quite early, when you can comfortably still do at least 70km.
Off road: It has not done much or anything to hectic. (That is what had an influence on buying it. We were not using the Jimny for it’s intended purpose, but rather as an overland vehicle) It handles gravel roads excellently. In it’s short life we have used low range only once. We were naughty in Marakele and took some rocky roads which we were not supposed to. The roads where partially washed away as well. Low range was very comfortable and I ended up driving it the same as the jimny due to the absence of TC or diff lock. (It only has a centre lock splitting power 50/50 between front and back) No problems to report. Low range is not that low, and this could be a bigger problem for guys that want to use the GV for more technical stuff….
Currently my only complaint is that it is fairly low. I had to keep a vigilant eye out for bigger rocks. I am planning a lift kit before next year March.
One can lock the centre diff in 4H as well, but I am not to sure what use that may have for a gravel road. Maybe better for use on sand roads...
I still believe a GV is a bargain. There is a rather large difference between advertised price on the Website and what you get quoted at the dealer.
