From the Archive: 1986 Suzuki Samurai JX Tested

From the January 1986 issue of Car and Driver.

There seems to be no end to the number of Far Eastern car manufacturers eager to hawk their wares in America. Mitsubishi and Isuzu joined the existing five Asian exporters in the first half of this decade when they set up their own distribution networks here, and at least two more will attack our market before the decade is out. The first of these is Suzuki, the well-known motorcycle manufacturer.

Suzuki, which has been building cars since 1961, is a relatively small carmaker both in volume and in car size. Its produc­tion last year totaled only 647,000 units, and the biggest car it builds is powered by a 1.3-liter engine. The company’s best­-known car is the Cultus, which has been marketed here for the past two years as the Chevrolet Sprint. For its first venture into the American market under its own name­plate, Suzuki wanted a unique product, one that wouldn’t tangle head-on with any established competitors. Fortunately, the perfect machine for the job was already in the company’s lineup: a mini-Jeep called the Samurai.

The Samurai isn’t a total stranger to America, for it’s been sold in Canada, Ha­waii, and Puerto Rico for several years. In fact, it has been sold in more than 100 countries since it was introduced fifteen years ago. If our experience with our test Samurai is any guide, America is ready and eager to be added to the list. Every time we stopped, people wanted to know what it was, how much it cost, and where they could get one.

What the Samurai is, in essence, is a pint-sized four-wheel-drive truck. Com­pared with the classic Jeep CJ-7, itself no giant, Suzuki’s mini-Jeep is about twenty inches shorter overall, five inches narrow­er, five inches shorter in height, and, at 2100 pounds, about 900 pounds lighter. But even though it’s been scaled down ap­preciably, the Samurai embodies most of the design features of the traditional Jeep. In normal driving, the rear wheels do the work. When the going gets rough, the part-time four-wheel drive can be engaged through a dual-range transfer case con­trolled by a floor-mounted lever. If the manually locking front hubs have been en­gaged, the high range of four-wheel drive can be elected on the fly, provided the Samurai is traveling in a straight line. To engage low range, it’s necessary to come to a complete stop. Although not the most sophisticated four-wheel-drive system available, the Samurai is easy to use and fa­miliar to traditional off-roaders.

Underneath its skin, the Samurai is basi­cally a compact copy of the Jeep. The front and rear suspensions each consist of a rig­id axle located by leaf springs. An anti-roll bar is used only in front. An unassisted re­circulating-ball steering gear directs the front wheels. The major components are bolted to a full-length ladder frame, which also supports the steel body with rubber mounts. All in all, the Samurai chassis couldn’t be more conventional.

Under the hood, however, the Samurai departs from Jeep practice. Instead of a large-displacement, slow-turning, cast­-iron pushrod engine, the Suzuki is powered by an all-aluminum, 1.3-liter four-cylinder version of the Chevrolet Sprint’s 1.0-liter triple, complete with a belt-driven overhead camshaft. This mod­ern engine develops 61 hp at 6000 rpm and 71 pounds-feet of torque at 3500 rpm, and it revs to a lofty 6500-rpm redline. The output from this high-revving humming­bird is converted to low-speed grunt by well-chosen gearing.

We took the Samurai off-road and were impressed by its pulling power. On a dirt road, climbing a hill that got steeper as we went, the Samurai ran out of traction long before it would have run out of power—and it didn’t lose its grip until we were so far up the grade that backing down was our only option. Going downhill, the low range provided a reassuring brake on the Samurai’s speed. We wouldn’t want to pull a heavy load up a loose-surfaced mountain with the little Suzuki, but it certainly has no problem hauling its own weight.

The Samurai also maneuvers well in the dirt. With its compact dimensions and short wheelbase, it can turn on a dime and slip through passes that would be too tight for larger vehicles. The short wheelbase also helps keep the chassis components from dragging over rough terrain.

Although its off-road capabilities prove that the Samurai is a real truck, not just a compact car in Jeep clothing, we suspect that most Samurais will turn most of their miles on paved roads. Unfortunately, the Samurai is no match for a normal car in civ­ilized environments. On the other hand, it’s not bad for a basic four-wheel-driver.

Performance is the Suzuki’s weakest area, for there is no way that its small en­gine can cope with its parachute-like aero-dynamic drag. Acceleration from rest is reasonable, but it tapers off quickly as speed rises. Reaching 60 mph requires 18.7 seconds, and the Samurai tops out at a mere 77 mph in fourth gear. Fifth gear, as indicated by the Samurai’s 42.2- second top-gear time from 50 to 70 mph, is useful for little more than maintaining modest speeds on level roads. Hills require the use of lower ratios.

Fortunately, shifting the Samurai is a pleasure. The gearbox responds precisely to a light touch, and the engine gives its all freely, with minimal vibration and an eager urge to its redline. Naturally, we used the Samurai’s powertrain to the max in our test driving, but we still managed a com­mendable 25 mpg. For use in town, we found the Samurai’s performance quite ac­ceptable, though it wouldn’t be our first choice for the next One Lap of America marathon.

The Samurai’s ride motions are another reason to avoid long highway trips. The combination of the short wheelbase and the firm leaf springs does little to smooth out freeway imperfections. Harsh pound­ing is not a problem, thanks to the large, low-pressure tires, but the Samurai’s con­stant pitching and pogoing, although minor, quickly become tiresome. On second­ary roads, the Samurai is more comfort­able. There’s enough suspension travel to deal with any rut or pothole, and the firm ride seems less intrusive when the bumps become less frequent.

The Samurai is also reasonably happy on winding roads. It has nicely responsive steering and can corner to the tune of 0.71 g, thanks to its all-weather tires and pleas­antly neutral handling balance. It didn’t even do a barrel roll on the skidpad, though the inside rear tire was barely in contact with the pavement during right-­turning laps.

Mindful of the rollover problem associ­ated with other vehicles of this type, the Suzuki engineers built extensive passen­ger protection into the convertible version of the Samurai. (A hardtop model is also available, for an extra $150.) Just behind the front seats is a stamped-steel structure that is connected to the top of the wind­shield frame by four longitudinal mem­bers. In addition, a tubular roll bar sits just behind this main cage. We had no occasion to test the structural integrity of these parts, but they certainly look reassuring.

They are also well padded, lest the Sam­urai’s occupants bang themselves sense­less during rough going. Indeed, the Sam­urai’s interior, at least in the deluxe JX model we tested, is quite nicely finished, considering the vehicle’s rustic nature. The dashboard is a modern plastic molding complete with full instrumentation and a well-designed heating system. The front seats are comfortable enough for drives of several hours. The folding rear seat is more basic, but it does offer adequate room for two. Our Samurai also had air conditioning, though it was taxed to its limits on a 95-degree sunny day.

Some of the blame for the marginal cooling ability of the A/C must go to the Samurai’s convertible top. A very crude af­fair consisting of sewn white vinyl and transparent plastic panels, it is hardly air­tight. It also admits a lot of noise, enough that the sound of surrounding vehicles can easily drown out the Samurai’s own rumblings.

The top at least provides excellent wet-­weather protection. We drove the Samurai through a carwash, and afterward couldn’t find a single drop of water inside. The credit goes to the top’s elaborate attach­ment system. Its forward edge slides into a groove on the top of the windshield frame, and flaps on each side fit into vertical grooves in the main rollover structure. The bottom edges snap onto the body­work with plenty of overlap, the upper rear is supported by a folding frame, and other loose edges are attached by Velcro straps to various other tubes and frames. It takes nearly five minutes for one person to erect this roof, but it’s worth the trouble.

The Samurai may be primitive in certain respects, and it’s much less versatile than its competition, such as the Isuzu Trooper II, the Mitsubishi Montero, the Chevy S-10 Blazer, and the Ford Bronco II. The little Suzuki, however, has two aces in the hole: it’s small enough to be cute, and it’s cheap. The base Samurai convertible lists for $6550. A JX model like our test vehicle, with air conditioning and a stereo system, costs only $7650. That’s at least $3000 less expensive than any of the competitors named above, and about $2000 less than a comparably equipped CJ-7. And none of the others except the CJ is available as a convertible. What we have here is your ba­sic cheap Jeep.

In fact, if you want a rugged four-wheel­ driver for the minimum amount of money, the Samurai is the only game in town. If you live in the right town, that is: the Samu­rai will be sold initially only in California, Florida, and Georgia. As the supply in­creases over the next couple of years, Suzuki plans to expand the dealer network to cover the rest of the country.

Our advice to Suzuki is to crank up the assembly plants and send Samurais by the boatload. A hungry market awaits.