Suzuki Samurai

The Suzuki Samurai is the name under which Suzuki sold its small four-wheel-drive Jimny in the United States from the 1986 model year, making it the first Suzuki officially marketed there. It was an updated version of the SJ413 Jimny with the wider track, and the same vehicle had gone on sale earlier in Canada and Puerto Rico as the SJ410. In the United States it was offered only on the short wheelbase, as a convertible or a hard top, with a 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine rated at 63 horsepower, and it cost 6,200 dollars when introduced. About 47,000 were sold in its first year, helped by its real transfer case with switchable four-wheel drive and low range, which made it popular with off-road drivers. A 1988 Consumer Reports review calling it prone to rollovers led Suzuki to sue the magazine in 1996, ending in an inconclusive settlement. Low sales and pending stricter safety legislation ended its sale in Canada and the United States after 1995.