2009 Jimny and Tiny Rough Roader

by Jurie Prinsloo
(Pretoria, South Africa)

My wife and I traveled from Pretoria to Cape Town which is roughly 1 500Km one way for a 2 week holiday during February 2016. The Jimny is my wife's runaround with after market shocks and 40mm lift only. This modification was done to improve gravel road drivability.
The trip was meant to be an acid test to see if towing a caravan over some distance is possible and do-able 😄. Well, it's definately possible and do-able but not recommended except if the Jimny is the only option.
Some background on the road conditions: Tar and well maintained. From highveld, through karoo landscape (arrid/semi desert) and into the mountains of the Cape (wine lands and beautiful). Everything went well until we hit the karoo where strong headwinds made travel slow (80km/h) and fuel consumption very high (less than 4km/l which is on par with a Cruiser).
Consumption figures are available. Travel speed without strong head wind was 102km/h and consumption about 8km/l. Consumtion driving around without the caravan was just over 14km/l which is very good. Wind was again a factor on our way back home to Pretoria.