Living with a Jimny and a baby

[mattvdm]

Hi Guys

Does any one here own a Jimny and have a new born?

If you do how is the experience living with both? i.e taking out baby seat and so on?

[FWM]

Hi Guys

Does any one here own a Jimny and have a new born?

If you do how is the experience living with both? i.e taking out baby seat and so on?

I have done the and its not so bad. If you love your Jimny enough it wont be a problem. Packing space becomes a bit of a problem though.

[xrapidx]

I think we would have died - moved from my Jimny to a FJ Cruiser just before my wife got pregnant (was unexpected - we'd settled on the fact it wasn't going to happen )- and the FJ Cruiser is difficult enough.

I think once you have a fixed seat in the vehicle, it'd get a bit easier - but the taking in and out of the new born seat will be a mission with no back doors.

[Rebel 4x4]

Hi Guys

Does any one here own a Jimny and have a new born?

If you do how is the experience living with both? i.e taking out baby seat and so on?

I have, my daughter and Jimny turning 7 this year.

I had no issues. My baby seat was a snug and safe that clipped onto a base.

Thereafter had the Ferrari seat that also had a built in booster seat.

[Gustav Jimny]

Speak to minibus taxi drivers, they somehow get 48 kids into a Quantum.....

[RvanZ]

I think we would have died - moved from my Jimny to a FJ Cruiser just before my wife got pregnant (was unexpected - we'd settled on the fact it wasn't going to happen )- and the FJ Cruiser is difficult enough.

I think once you have a fixed seat in the vehicle, it'd get a bit easier - but the taking in and out of the new born seat will be a mission with no back doors.

Sorry to OP for going a bit off topic brand, but why is the fj a problem with a baby?

[Hooly]

Buy a Renault Duster 4wd!

[xrapidx]

Sorry to OP for going a bit off topic brand, but why is the fj a problem with a baby?

Just difficult getting the baby in with her rear facing seat - also, the passenger front seat has to move quite a bit forward. My wife and myself are quite tall, 1.83m and 1.87m - so the passenger seat is pretty much not usable.

I have a little Aygo for work and back - its easier getting the seat in the Aygo than it is the FJ.

[Rebel 4x4]

Buy a Renault Duster 4wd!

Duster is a problem child.

[DiscoJan]

Why? Do you own one?

Duster is a problem child.

[Hooly]

Duster is a problem child.

On what is that comment based?

[Hooly]

What I can tell you is that it is really comfortable, the suspension does very well on our less than perfect secondary roads.
It's super light on diesel.

It is very well equiped, mine has surround cameras plus rear pdc, satnav, apple car play, cruise control and climate control.

From what I have seen on the internet, they can hold their own in most reasonable offroad scenarios, it is great on gravel roads (first hand experience).

Space wize it's about the same as a Golf, where as a Jimny is the size of half a Polo.
For someone who has a baby to drive around, to loose the low range transfer case that the Jimny has and gain on every other aspect of what the Jimny does't offer should be a no-brainer.

[Big Ray]

A car with 4 doors and fair sized boot would be a lot more convenient, I guess it depends what you want.
A 2 door car and a baby will certainly be more of a faf.

[4WD]

I am following this with great interest. We have three month old girl that I will soon have to transport in my Jimny. Our other vehicle is Nissan Qashqai with loads of space. It is the mommy mobile but at times I will have to put her in my Jimny as well. It does mean I will have to put my back seat back in as it has been out for the past few years.

I do want to request other posters to keep this thread on topic as i already see derailing taking place.

[DJR]

Raised 2 boys, first with a SJ410, then a SJ413. For a few years we had 2 kiddy seats in the back. It stayed my wifes main transport throughout although we also had a Defender for big trips. The Suzuki was the everyday fetch and deliver car. Only thing that caused a problem was when both boys played keeper and we had to load 2 hocky keeper kits. Roofrack and stretchies solved that one. Only mistake I made was to sell it, because it would have been the perfect vehicle for when they started driving. Now 19 and 21 years old respectively. Do whatever you do, even buy a bigger car, but KEEP the Jimny, that would be my advice!

[DJR]

A car with 4 doors and fair sized boot would be a lot more convenient, I guess it depends what you want.
A 2 door car and a baby will certainly be more of a faf.

Easy to load the baby into a kiddy seat (in the back) by doing it through the back door. Much easier than to do it through the front door.

[Rebel 4x4]

On what is that comment based?

My colleague and I bought our vehicles at the same time. He has a Duster, me a Jimny. Both are 2013 models. For oil services, he paid R3k at Renault (75 000km service) I paid R1200 for my 75 000km service at Suzuki.

When we book our services in December, I take him to Renault and a few days later he takes me to Suzuki for my service. Many a time, I end up taking him back to Renault to sort out issues during the year. So far, I never had to ask to return the favour.

I do 4x4 with my Jimny, he uses it to commute to work and home. He had to replace shocks (this driving on road)

Eventually, he decided to sell. So he wanted to trade it in. Resale is a shocker. For a vehicle that cost more than mine new, he gets less for market related than what I would get for trade. So, he kept it - pay the higher service cost and pays the hefty price for parts due to reliability issues.

Back to the baby issue, my daughter is 7 years old this year. Same age as my Jimny. Had her in the baby seat from day 1. Very happy I never sold the Jimny for another vehicle - especially a Dustbin.

[Hooly]

My colleague and I bought our vehicles at the same time. He has a Duster, me a Jimny. Both are 2013 models. For oil services, he paid R3k at Renault (75 000km service) I paid R1200 for my 75 000km service at Suzuki.

When we book our services in December, I take him to Renault and a few days later he takes me to Suzuki for my service. Many a time, I end up taking him back to Renault to sort out issues during the year. So far, I never had to ask to return the favour.

I do 4x4 with my Jimny, he uses it to commute to work and home. He had to replace shocks (this driving on road)

Eventually, he decided to sell. So he wanted to trade it in. Resale is a shocker. For a vehicle that cost more than mine new, he gets less for market related than what I would get for trade. So, he kept it - pay the higher service cost and pays the hefty price for parts due to reliability issues.

Back to the baby issue, my daughter is 7 years old this year. Same age as my Jimny. Had her in the baby seat from day 1. Very happy I never sold the Jimny for another vehicle - especially a Dustbin.

Fair enough. I have a new Duster, drive train the same as the old one's but the refinement is much, much better. Will still see what reliabilty is like I am currently at about 15k km. But I still don't think its a bad option, as with any vehicle some owner will have issues. It still lookkes like nothing major that comes up, I still believe for the OP's circumstances it's a better fit. I am sure if you create a "problems" thread on any vehicle, none would come out with a clean sheet on the other side, not even the "invincible" Land Cruiser.

[rog163]

My colleague and I bought our vehicles at the same time. He has a Duster, me a Jimny. Both are 2013 models. For oil services, he paid R3k at Renault (75 000km service) I paid R1200 for my 75 000km service at Suzuki.

When we book our services in December, I take him to Renault and a few days later he takes me to Suzuki for my service. Many a time, I end up taking him back to Renault to sort out issues during the year. So far, I never had to ask to return the favour.

I do 4x4 with my Jimny, he uses it to commute to work and home. He had to replace shocks (this driving on road)

Eventually, he decided to sell. So he wanted to trade it in. Resale is a shocker. For a vehicle that cost more than mine new, he gets less for market related than what I would get for trade. So, he kept it - pay the higher service cost and pays the hefty price for parts due to reliability issues.

Back to the baby issue, my daughter is 7 years old this year. Same age as my Jimny. Had her in the baby seat from day 1. Very happy I never sold the Jimny for another vehicle - especially a Dustbin.

Funny, had a duster for 4 years, never had an issue with it, trade in I got 20K less than what I paid for it 4 years previously, although it was second hand. Would take a duster any day over the jimny.

I guess Different strokes for different blokes, very happy I didn’t get a jimny and join the hair dressers club

[Rebel 4x4]

Funny, had a duster for 4 years, never had an issue with it, trade in I got 20K less than what I paid for it 4 years previously, although it was second hand. Would take a duster any day over the jimny.

I guess Different strokes for different blokes, very happy I didn’t get a jimny and join the hair dressers club

Sticks and stones don’t break my bones