Death of the ultimate 4x4 The Suzuki Samurai

Performance on wheels dials back the performance..... A LOT. with the cute little most likely forgotten Suzuki Samurai.

#4x4, #Samurai, #offroad

[grimsside]

Actually the truth is, if you watch the videos of the Samurai testing by Consumer Reports, that the first time around they rated it with top marks. An executive made them retest it and can be heard saying "if you can't get somebody to roll it, I will." In a test where they intentionally tried to roll it, it took them nearly 60 tries. Consumer Reports settled out of Court with Suzuki to avoid further embarrassment. What they did was orchestrate a hit piece on a well made(for the time) vehicle. No more, no less.

[LMG]

Samurai owner here and love my little behemoth. Awesome 4x4 stock and perfect for wheeling with SOA and 32s while still getting 21mpg. Can’t go fast but great mpg for running 32s with stock gearing. The 1.3L was also bulletproof like most import 4cylinder from that era.
The Samurai was the greatest little commuter 4x4 that was ever made.

[gregwhite]

I did a 15, 212 mile road trip through 28 states, 4 Canadian provinces in my 94 Samurai. Either stayed with friends or camped the entire time, can't even tell you how long it took- months.

Toasted an aftermarket Alt- twice.
Put a hole in the floor while off-roading
Blew some fuses, toasted the harness fusible link
Replaced a blown shock I found along the way

Motor ate a ring and part of a piston (still ran pretty good) not long after returning with 130k on it- but it made it trip, and even more surprisingly, I did too.

[cornsyrup]

I’ve pulled my dads ‘88 jx tin top out of the barn and have started restoring it with him and I can say without a doubt that is the easiest, simplest car I’ve ever worked on. It brings me back to the days of when I would change the chain on my bicycle.

[stewartbrand]

Love my SJ80 Jimny I imported from the Cayman Islands! My daily drive for 10 years now. Most fun vehicle I've ever owned!!!

[andy]

Love em, got a '95 tracker . Motors been knocking for 3 years now, lol

[shrekening]

I never see these anymore and their values been going up on craiglist. 10 years ago in my area these were only about $1000 on average, now about 3k

[paradiseroad]

...my wife and I have made 10 round trips from Colorado to California in our Samurai...
...with camping gear and 2 or 3 Basset Hounds...
...did the speed limit most of the way...
...shifting early and keeping the revs up kept us at 50 or better on the worst hills...
...it's the last vehicle in my fleet I would sell...
...has 340, 000 miles on it with one engine rebuild...

[lordbongonaba]

The new jimny is no joke. It has a waiting list a year long and that joke video .. the guy who did that video recently said he is going to buy one and may modify it because he loves it. He ran an offroad race chasing that g63 and it kept up

[dannyanderson]

Well guys I hate to burst your bubble. But my 1988 which is still running like a champ, with 129000 miles on it. Drove from upstate New York to San Diego California. With two kids in the back and a Great Dane in the front seat. Been offered up to 65 hundred for it numerous times, but I am not going to part with it. I have even run the trails of the California, Arizona desert completely stock alongside rubicon's.

[maximuskhann]

It's very capable off roader, Its not meant for high speed runs, I have one, And I love it. And in off roading, It puts to shame to big and Fast off roaders!

[Coombs]

I have a 1988 Samurai, , white, , looks new inside and out..This is my third one.. live a fool I sold the other two.. Young folks have no idea what it is.. I have a Tonka tag on the front.. Fun ride..

[Albisriede]

Did you mention multi-day road trip? Drove mine from Redwood City CA to Anchorage AK back in early April of '03. At the time it had the 'short version' soft top on it (which descends from the rollbar directly to the tailgate, which makes it look even smaller.
As many of you know, the heater in these things will not make you sweat. I forgot how cold it gets in the Yukon, so after a night in a lodge, the contents of my water bottle had frozen in the car, The Suzuki heater would not warm enough to melt it again until I made it to Anchorage. I love these things.

[danish]

This car was inadvertently featured in the starting scenes of Terminator 2. I grew up In India where a variation of this car is sold as a Maruti Suzuki Gypsy. It's a very popular car which ceased production only two years ago for civilian market and now only available for defense purposes.

[P.Trim]

Yes Sir there Nice little "little" being the optimal word there. Yes Sir smile to the face. Got me a 88.5 square dash. Nice shape mostly stock. Not lot rust love that little toy. New 235 75 15 mudders .
Stay safe from ur ole hillbilly buddy

[AlMartinsvidplace]

What the heck is that buzzing that happens every few minutes?

[paultrimble]

I have 88, 235-75-15 thunder trac mt tire .toyota carb, 2” shackles .soft top I luv that little thing wouldn’t sell it for 10k give it to grandson in 15 years

[EcBuddy]

I want a Suzuki Jimmy. Perfect for city living with the want to be able to go offroad. My 4runner feels huge, and I used to putt around in a abarth and it was awesome.

[nicolemorcos]

I’m in love with this car I wish they still made them

[salvador_manox]

Hey guys, liked your vídeo, but there's some things i got to say, as a samurai owner

1-About consumer union, they (as you can find it here in youtube, just look for "the truth of the suzuki samurai") didn't rolled it easily, the car surprisingly done pretty well until they really modified the course to make it roll

2-the samurai is the 2nd jimny, and is the jimny with most names of all;

Samurai, jimny, sierra, katana, corsica,

Sold also as chevrolet samurai, maruti gypsy, santana, and holden drover

3-maybe because all the story with consumer union, they modified the axles, to make the car 9cm wider

4-the new jimny is not nearly to the samurai, true, is MUCH more, it totally overpassed it, people all over the world is getting waiting lists of over 1, 5 years to 3 years to get one, suzuki sales prediction FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD, in the first year was 15k kei cars (just for japan) and 1500 sierra (wide model big engine), well, just in japan has been like 31k kei cars and +11k sierra, forcing the factory to the max, even with that nobody knows when he will receive his car

Plus, we got that shitty emissions laws in europe, thanks to that suzuki retired the car from sales

Plus maruti in india is going to start making it, to help japan to match demand, and they're developing a 5 door body, option only seen back in 80-90's with the south east asian samurai, the "katana 5 pintu"

Good to see the samurai is loved there too!! Did you ever get the long wheelbase version?

Thank you for your time!!