Your questions answered: Will my dealer charge me more for my new Suzuki Jimny?

Questions about Nissan Navara towing, contract wrangles and why the ute market is changing this week in Your Questions Answered.

Got an automotive question but you don’t know where to find the information you need? Never fear, email us here at editor@carsales.com.au.

I was interested in your recent article on the Mitsubishi Triton, but I feel you missed out on a very important point. The new 4x4 system can tow in 4x4 mode which adds to the towing comfort and safety.

This is a highlight of the Mitsubishi 4x4 system that sets it apart and makes it a great towing vehicle.

It also has indicators on the right-hand side of the steering wheel, which another key safety feature left out of all reviews and car specs. – Alex

Answer: Hi Alex, great point. Mitsubishi’s Super Select II system – available only on the most expensive versions of the new Triton-based Nissan Navara – is one of the few 4WD High (4H) systems that will tolerate sealed-road conditions thanks to the opening of the centre diff. And yes, this applies to towing as well.

The Navara picks up almost all of the Triton’s good points, but as we discussed last week,  it does lose a couple of legacy items, including the sliding rear glass panel and the clever tie-down system in the previous-generation pick-up’s tray.

As for right-hand stalk indicators… I’ve had to adapt my driving style over 25 years of swapping in and out of thousands of vehicles, so I know where you’re coming from. I still muck it up too!

I don’t think it’s a safety issue, although if you’re talking about transmission levers moving to the right stalk, that’s worth a discussion. I’ve seen first-hand where an inadvertent flick of the gear stalk can engage neutral (though reverse is impossible to engage at speed).

I've just read your article regarding the return of the Suzuki Jimny early 2026. My question; I'm one of the many buyers on the backlog list. Will l be required to pay the extra $2000 when l signed the agreement back in August?

My dealer thought he could source me one in my preferred colour of Jungle Green but couldn't after l paid my deposit. They still have my deposit. – Debra-Rose

Answer: Hi Debra-Rose, it will depend on the wording of the contract between you and the dealer, in my opinion.

If you ordered a green three-door Suzuki Jimny and paid your deposit, the dealer should honour that contract – unless it’s worded in such a way that it gives them an out after a period of time, for example, or if the vehicle’s specifications changed.

In your case, the Model Year 2025 (MY25) three-door in Jungle Green wasn’t available, but the MY26 – which, as you point out, is more expensive – may well be available in that colour, but with additional features that weren’t offered on the MY25.

I hope that your dealer honours the original contract despite the factory price bump, if nothing else for goodwill’s sake. We might tell five or ten people how nice our dealings were with a retailer, but we’re more likely to tell 50 people how poorly we were treated.

They should also consider your future value as a customer; you’ll need to service your car, after all.

If they insist on charging you the increased price, though, the MY26 is ultimately a better-equipped and arguably safer car than the MY25.

Let us know how you get on; sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.

What is going on with new utes these days? First Toyota half-bakes its new Hilux and deletes half the line-up in the process, then Nissan rolls the arm over with that Triton. Looks like the Volkswagen Amaroks sell about as well as a Kia Tasman, too.  

I thought Aussie were crazy for utes? What’s changed? – Ross 

Answer: G’day Ross, great question. Australia has long been an outlier when it comes to the popularity of the style-side pick-up, or dual-cab ute as we know it. And that’s mainly down to one thing: the nice little tax break available to Australian Business Number (ABN) holders when they buy a ute that will ostensibly be used for work and play. 

But something has come along to disrupt that little party: the New Energy Vehicle Scheme (NEVS), which requires carmakers to supply vehicles with ever-decreasing CO2 emissions averaged across their entire fleet.

And diesel-powered utes do not help that cause one little bit. 

Carmakers tend to work in five-year planning cycles, while a simpler, ‘dumber’ (for want of a better word) ute product plan can last as long as 10 years. Toyota claims to have seen the writing on the wall for the popularity of the ute as a mainstream vehicle choice for Aussies, so it has wound back its commitment to the product line.

It’s a fair call; look at the popularity of things like the RAV4, for example, which has knocked the HiLux off the top sales perch on a couple of occasions this year. And there will always be a market for a HiLux-esque product, especially in the fleet sales division where white paint, stock wheels and cloth trim are more than welcome. 

The Mitsubishi Triton/Nissan Triton has been a long time coming and is a result of the awfully managed Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance mash-up that’s – amazingly, despite its almost complete lack of any meaningful product synergies – now more than 25 years old. 

It’s a sound idea in principle to blend the skill sets of different automakers to build the best products possible – and arguably the new Navara is better off in this case. 

You’re right about the sales of both the Amarok (a Ford Ranger clone that doesn’t offer enough of a unique selling point to be worth the extra money it asks) and the Kia Tasman (the less said there, the better). But the Isuzu D-MAX still fares quite well, as does the Triton. 

Of course, the new players in the game are strongest when it comes to wielding the red pen, and the incumbents have the battle ahead of them to stay relevant to value-seeking Aussie buyers. 

The views stated in this advice column are advisory only. Questions may be edited for clarity and length.

Got an automotive question but you don’t know where to find the information you need? Never fear, email us here at editor@carsales.com.au.

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