Suzuki Jimny JB23 from Japan: what to check before you buy

I used to drive a JB23 Jimny. Honestly, it isn't a car you need to fuss over. If I had to name one thing, it would be where it's been driven: I'd want one that hasn't been worked hard on forest tracks. A Jimny that's been used around town is a better bet.

What I'd look for

A town car, not a trail car

Some Jimnys have spent their lives on rough tracks. I'd rather have one that's spent its life in town. My impression is that the Land Venture, being one of the dearer versions, is less likely to have been thrashed off-road, but that's an impression, not something I can show you.

Repairs to the roof

The thing I'd check most is whether the roof has been repaired. For what a Japanese listing's "repair history" line does and doesn't cover, see repair history and flood cars.

The underside

Then the state of the underside. What can and can't be seen from the ground is on underneath a car from Japan, and how rust on the body differs from rust on a part is on rust on the body or a part.

Beyond that

To be frank, unless a Jimny looks as if it's been absolutely hammered, my impression is that most are fine. As far as I remember, the JB23 went through about ten versions over its life, and the details differ between them. Suzuki's own pages don't list those versions, so take that as my memory and ask the dealer which version a car is.

What Suzuki's own pages say

• What it is. Suzuki says the JB23 arrived in October 1998, when Japan's rules for kei cars changed to allow a larger body. It's the kei-car Jimny: a 658cc three-cylinder turbo engine, rated at 64PS, with a three-door hard top.
• What changed from the Jimny before it. A newly designed ladder frame for the longer wheelbase, air locking hubs, and an automatic gearbox that went from three speeds to four. There was also a five-speed manual.
• When it ended. Suzuki's history lists the JB23 from 1998 and its successor, the JB64, from 2018. It doesn't give the last month of JB23 production, so neither do we.

In the US

A JB23 built in October 1998 passed 25 years in October 2023, and cars from later years cross the line month by month, so for a JB23 the build month decides it. Japanese papers usually show the month a car was first registered, not the month it was built; see proving a Japanese car's build date and our USA import page.

What we can't tell you

• Where a car has been driven. A dealer may know, or may not. Whatever they say is their answer, and we'd mark it as Reported.
• Whether the roof has been repaired, for certain. We photograph what we can see. We don't certify repair history.
• Most of the underside. We look from ground level and don't lift the car; anything we can't see is marked Not verified in the report.

We don't tell you whether to buy.

Found a JB23 in Japan? Send us the listing and tell us whether it's the roof or the underside you want looked at.

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Questions to ask the dealer

1. Has the car been used off-road, or mainly in town? Whatever they say is their answer
2. Has the roof been repaired? Ask for photos of the roof, and of the pillars where it meets the body
3. Photos underneath, from the front and the back, as far as they can see without lifting the car
4. Which version is it, and is it the manual or the automatic?

A Remote Check is where we put these questions to the dealer in Japanese for you. We mainly cover the Tokai region (Aichi, Gifu and Mie) for viewings in person; for a car elsewhere in Japan, ask us and we'll quote the travel before you pay.

Written by Yoshiaki Sagara, a paintless dent repair and detailing technician in Japan. He looks at cars for overseas buyers through Ninja Desk Japan. About us

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