Renault Duster 4x4 Evolution vs Suzuki Jimny XL 2026 Comparison

A mere $1500 separates the Renault Duster 4x4 Evolution and Suzuki Jimny XL in their basic guises, though the equation is slightly more complicated when it comes to the vehicles you see here.

You can get a Duster from just $31,990 plus on-road costs (ORCs), but that is a front-wheel drive, dual-clutch gearboxed variant that has plenty of merit but won’t be much chop in tackling the sort of roads a Jimny makes light work of.

The all-wheel drive Duster starts at $36,490 (+ORCs) for the Evolution tested here, while the higher-grade Techno will set you back $37,990 (+ORCs). We’ll get into what that means in terms of specification in a moment, but the optional Sandstone paint brings the final as-tested figure to $37,430 (+ORCs).

Three-door Jimnys can be had for as little as $30,490 (+ORCs) for the super basic Lite manual, though supply has been an issue recently.

That said, we needed a five-door XL to match the Duster. The manual ($34,990 +ORCs) would’ve been perfect, but the only car Suzuki had was the $37,490 (+ORCs) automatic, which along with the two-tone paint scheme lifts the as-tested price to $38,835 (+ORCs).

So, after all that, around $1500 separates our two protagonists, albeit in the opposite direction.

The surest sign that both the Renault Duster 4x4 Evolution and Suzuki Jimny XL are no-frills machines is the fact you have to insert a key into the steering column to start the engine, though a button press is all that’s required to unlock the doors.

To be fair to the Duster, it’s far from a bare-bones environment, with a six-speaker stereo, auto lights and wipers, one-touch power windows all ’round, dual-zone climate control, fixed roof bars and 17-inch alloys. However, the upholstery is cloth, the seats are manually adjustable and the high beam lights are halogen (with LED low beams).

Equipment the Evolution lacks compared to the higher-grade Techno includes front fog lights, keyless entry and start, auto high beam, power folding mirrors, a height-adjustable driver’s seat, premium textile upholstery, modular roof bars and 18-inch wheels.

In the Jimny, there’s single-zone climate control, power windows, a four-speaker stereo, LED headlights, front fog lights, power folding mirrors and 15-inch alloy wheels.

Both manufacturers offer five-year/unlimited kilometre warranties and five years roadside assistance. Servicing for the Suzuki is required every 12 months or 15,000km at a cost of $2265 over the first five visits, while the Renault’s intervals are 12 months or a whopping 30,000km (handy if you do mega miles) and will set you back $1980 for the first five services.

If maximum safety ratings are a priority for you, neither the Renault Duster 4x4 Evolution or the Suzuki Jimny XL will fit the bill, but that doesn’t make them unsafe.

All-wheel drive Dusters are unrated, though the two-wheel drive version wears a three-star ANCAP rating based on Euro NCAP testing of the Dacia, as it’s known in Europe. This is primarily due to its 60 per cent vulnerable road user protection and 58 per cent safety assist scores, as its 70 per cent adult occupant protection score is ok and its 86 per cent child occupant protection score is very good.

Again, these scores don’t technically apply to the Duster 4x4, but given crash performance is largely down to the overall strength of the vehicle’s structure, it seems reasonable to assume it would perform similarly. The gear is all there, with AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection, forward collision warning, lane-keep assist and departure warning, emergency brake assist and traffic sign recognition, though only the Techno has blind-spot warning, front and side parking sensors and a multi-view camera.

If you’re not a fan of safety assists, though, Renault – like Land Rover – has one of the best systems for silencing them quickly. You can set up a custom safety profile for the driver aids you want and while they are all active every time you start the car, a quick double-tap on the button to the right of the steering wheel will activate your personal mode. No wading through menus. Ace.

It’s a similar story with the Jimny. Until it expired at the end of 2024, three-door variants wore a three-star rating, while five door models were unrated. Like the Duster, the Jimny’s crash protection was reasonable, with 73 per cent for adult occupant protection and 84 per cent for child occupant protection, but 52 per cent for vulnerable road users and 50 per cent for safety assist won it no friends with ANCAP.

It too has autonomous emergency braking, emergency brake assist and lane departure warning as well as adaptive cruise control (auto only), but only the three-door has traffic sign recognition, high beam assist and lane departure prevention.

You’re not going to find cutting edge technology in either the Renault Duster 4x4 Evolution or Suzuki Jimny XL, but the former in particular once again offers everything you need, including a 10.1-inch infotainment touchscreen with wireless smartphone mirroring and AM/FM/DAB radio.

Wireless charging is standard as well as a pair of USB-C ports in the front and rear and two 12V sockets. One letdown is the digital instrument display, which doesn’t really convey any meaningful information.

At this level the Suzuki Jimny’s plain analogue dials are just fine and there’s a 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen with wireless smartphone mirroring, AM/FM/DAB radio and voice control, though the Apple CarPlay connection was quite hit and miss during my time with the car. A USB-A port is your only option for charging, though there is a pair of 12V outlets.

These are not cars for people who like to get places in a hurry. While the two-wheel drive Duster has a 113kW/270Nm 1.3-litre turbo four-cylinder, the Renault Duster 4x4 uses a 1.2-litre turbo three-cylinder with the mildest of mild hybrid systems to produce 96kW at 4500rpm and 230Nm at 2250rpm.

A six-speed manual with the world’s shortest ratios – seriously, even third doesn’t stretch to 100km/h – is the only available gearbox and is partly the reason 0-100km/h is claimed to take 11 seconds.

Nevertheless, the Renault is a powerhouse compared to the Suzuki Jimny XL, which uses a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with 75kW at 6000rpm and 130Nm at 4000rpm, connected to either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic.

Small engines and relatively light weight (1422kg for the Renault Duster 4x4 Evolution, 1200kg for the Suzuki Jimny XL) are a good recipe for fuel efficiency, though neither are perhaps as frugal as you might expect.

The Renault Duster’s combined claim is 5.7L/100km, but the need to drive it hard to get anywhere means it’ll stretch to 8-9L/100km in stop-start use, though is quite efficient at cruising speeds.

With only a four-speed auto and lacking low-end torque, the Jimny also needs hefty doses of throttle to get moving, which can inflate the 6.9L/100km combined claim. Both cars have small 40-litre tanks and the Renault requires 95RON fuel.

Let’s be blunt, the Suzuki Jimny, even in five-door XL guise, isn’t designed to provide a cosseting on-road driving experience. And so it proves. It’s tolerable, as the auto makes stop-start traffic easy enough, its size is of benefit, vision is excellent and the ride isn’t as bad as it could be.

However, it’s also noisy, very slow, the steering is quite weighty and the turning circle is awful. I see a lot of these being used as urban runabouts and these people could be having a much more pleasant existence in a more suitable car.

It gets worse on the highway, with the Jimny constantly wandering at high speeds and if you add a crosswind into the equation, substantial steering inputs are required merely to keep it on course. On the plus side, you certainly aren’t going to get distracted behind the wheel, as simply driving the car requires all your attention.

The Renault is in a different league. Its steering is light and much more accurate, the ride is very good, it’s quieter and much more stable at high speed and while its cornering limits aren’t particularly high, it flows along a twisty road with fluency.

Where the Duster falls short is under the bonnet. It’s actually quicker than the Jimny, but doesn’t feel it as the ultra-short gearing means acceleration is punctuated by pauses every couple of seconds. Seriously, revving it out to 5000rpm in each gear (remembering peak power is at 4500rpm) results in the following speeds: 30km/h (1st), 52km/h (2nd), 79km/h (3rd), 120km/h (4th), 176km/h (5th), 200km/h (top speed in sixth).

Thankfully, the gearing is so short you can skip gears but only just, as that 230Nm of peak torque appears as a momentary burp before disappearing again. On a certain level it’s fun, but there are times when the constant rowing simply to make progress is tiresome. This would be a much more relaxing and fulfilling car to drive with the 1.3-litre turbo four from the 4x2 Duster.

Let’s be blunt, the Suzuki Jimny IS designed to shine in the rough stuff. And so it proves. Getting to the rough stuff is quite tricky, as the Jimny’s stability control is clumsy and when attempting to drive at any sort of pace on a gravel road it creates as many slides by upsetting the car as it solves.

Nevertheless, when the tracks get lumpy and bumpy the little Suzuki is in its element. As has always been the case with ‘Zooks, you have to be a bit more careful with your lines as it doesn’t have the footprint, ground clearance or locking diff to get you out of trouble, but even so it’s remarkable what it’ll scrabble over with little fuss.

Its traction control in low range is also very effective and would show up plenty of bigger and more more expensive SUVs and dual-cab utes. Equipped with a slight lift, bigger tyres and a rear locker – all readily available via a well-supported aftermarket – the Jimny would be a right weapon.

It’s a different story for the Duster. While its 212mm of ground clearance matches the Suzuki (actually 2mm more), its lack of low range hampers it in the rough stuff. While its gearing is very short by on-road standards, it’s nowhere near short enough for the sort of low-speed maneuvering that’s frequently encountered on off-road tracks.

To be fair, Renault doesn’t market the Duster at all as a proper off-roading vehicle, though all on the test were surprised by just how capable it was. There are multiple drive modes and the ability to ‘lock’ (electronically, not mechanically) the centre diff for greater traction and the Duster would certainly go further than most owners will ever want or need.

And unlike the Suzuki, it’s absolutely in its element on faster gravel roads. Renault has a rich rallying heritage and it’s not difficult to feel some of that DNA in the way the Duster carves through corners with accuracy and agility. It’s not a fast car but it is tremendous fun.

Neither the Renault Duster 4x4 Evolution nor the Suzuki Jimny XL should be on your shortlist to tow a caravan around Australia, but a jet ski or a box trailer are well within their remit.

The Renault is actually the better bet, with a maximum payload of 503kg and a maximum braked towing capacity of 1500kg, whereas the Jimny’s ceilings are 345kg and 1300kg respectively.

On the inside, the Renault Duster 4x4 Evolution and Suzuki Jimny XL are quite similar in concept but not in execution. The Jimny’s driving position isn’t too bad given the steering wheel has only height adjustment and not reach, but the rest of the interior is badly out of date.

Granted, it’s a relatively cheap car, but all the plastics are very hard, the gear selector could’ve come from the early 1990s, as could the difficult-to-operate transfer case lever and there’s not much storage. Rear seat accommodation is pretty good, though the Jimny only seats four, but this is partially due to there being only a small 211-litre boot, even with the extra wheelbase.

Fold the rear seat backs and it’s still not a particularly useable space due to the folded seats taking up so much room. The leather-wrapped steering wheel is a high point, though.

Material quality is similar in the Renault Duster – a leather wheel but hard plastics galore otherwise – but there are also some clever touches. The row of physical HVAC switches not only feel great to operate but they also have little bumps on them to make them grippier, as do the steering column stalks.

Sadly, these bumps also surround the top of the gearshift and can grate your palms given how frequently you need to swap cogs. The seats are basic but comfortable, there’s a little storage cubby in the dash, though the centre console is small but very deep making it questionably useful.

In the back there is room for adults or kids in seats with no dramas and the 358-litre boot is massively more useful than the Jimny’s. The boot floor is quite high, but that’s due to there being an almost full-size (a 16-inch steel) spare wheel under it. A full-size alloy would of course be better, but even this solution was much better than the alternative when a rock punctured a rear tyre during testing.

We get the appeal of the 2026 Suzuki Jimny. With its cutesy looks but rugged capability, it’s like a teddy bear in an army uniform. There’s also a refreshing simplicity to it in a similar manner to the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series.

However, like the 70 Series, it’s badly outdated by modern standards and makes little sense in five-door guise. If we were shopping for a Jimny, we’d get it in the cheapest three-door trim, add some chunky tyres and chase Nissans and Toyotas up and down mountains every weekend. It makes the most sense by far as an occasional car used primarily in its narrow window of excellence.

The Renault Duster is like a classic car with modern manners. In many ways it’s the antithesis of most modern cars, in that it dispenses with novelties or faux-luxury and concentrates on offering exactly what you need and little more. It’s AC/DC or the perfect chicken parmigiana; not fancy, not complex, but very appealing.

If you’re a hardcore rock-hopper the Jimny is definitely the better bet, but in all other aspects the Duster, well, dusts it up.

We wish it had more grunt, but it’s an excellent little car that deserves a larger audience.

2026 Renault Duster 4x4 Evolution at a glance:
Price: $36,490 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol mild-hybrid
Outputs: 96kW/230Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 5.7L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 129g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)

2026 Suzuki Jimny XL at a glance:
Price: $37,490 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol
Outputs: 75kW/130Nm
Transmission: Four-speed automatic
Fuel: 6.9L/100km
CO2: 160g/km
Safety Rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)

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