2026 Suzuki Jimny XL Rhino Edition review

Our verdict

The Jimny XL Rhino is for the buyer who wants the most extroverted version of an already characterful car and does not need a spreadsheet to justify it. It does the Jimny things brilliantly, which is to say it climbs anything and charms everyone, while asking a premium for paint and party favours. The catch is simple: underneath the Kinetic Yellow drama, this is a standard Jimny, with all the flaws that come with it.

What does the Jimny XL Rhino cost in Australia?

Suzuki has positioned the Rhino as the flagship of the Jimny range and the pricing makes that very clear. The manual starts at $44,990 before on-road costs, with the automatic at $47,490 before on-road costs. Both figures include the two-tone metallic paint and orders are open now ahead of first deliveries from 1 July 2026.

For context, a standard five-door Jimny XL auto sits at $37,490 before on-roads, so the Rhino commands a meaningful jump for what is, mechanically, the same car.

You are not buying performance or capability here. You are buying a look, a limited build run and a box of stuff. Whether that lands as value depends entirely on how you weigh exclusivity, because on paper the maths does not flatter it. There is also a regional quirk worth flagging: the Rhino can be ordered everywhere except Queensland and the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.

What does the Jimny XL Rhino look like?

This is the whole point, so let us start here. Kinetic Yellow with a Pearl Black roof has never been offered on the long-wheelbase XL before, and in the metal it is genuinely arresting. The colour did all its work in three-door form previously, and stretching it across the bigger body somehow makes it louder, not calmer.

The signature piece is the charging rhino side decal, twin stripes sweeping rearward and finishing in the Japanese script for rhino, which is a neat bit of cheek for a car that is anything but subtle. Suzuki then piles on a heritage-style grille, satin silver side skirts and front bumper trim, mudflaps, a Rhino tailgate badge and a set of 15-inch diamond-cut alloys in a Shuriken-inspired pattern.

Park it anywhere and people will look. Some will love it, some will smirk, and that reaction is exactly what you are signing up for.

What is the Jimny XL Rhino like inside?

Step inside and the cabin remains unmistakably Jimny, which is to say utilitarian, upright and dominated by hard surfaces. The Rhino sprinkles personality across it rather than rebuilding it. You get leather-wrapped door handles with Kinetic Yellow stitching, a laser-etched Rhino logo, satin silver air vent surrounds, Rhino badging, upgraded Pioneer speakers and diffused LED ground lighting with eight-colour footwell options. Manual cars get a retro gearshift knob, autos a satin silver shift panel surround.

It is a charming dress-up, but no amount of stitching changes the bones. There is still a 9.0-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, big physical climate dials, exposed bolt heads as a design motif and a refreshing lack of menus to dig through. Quality is honest rather than plush. Everything you touch feels built to be hosed out, which is appropriate for the brief and slightly harder to swallow at this price.

And then there is the Delivery Pack which is where the Rhino tips fully into novelty territory. Every car ships with a curated box of branded extras, and while none of it adds a cent of mechanical value, it is undeniably part of the fun. The haul includes:

• Metal key presentation case and key chain
• Embroidered bucket hat
• Portable lantern and Bluetooth speaker
• Drink bottle, thermos tumbler and cooler box
• Blanket
• A nine-piece box of Koko Black dark chocolate pistachio pralines

Whether a thermos and a bucket hat justify a price premium is a question only you can answer, but Suzuki clearly understands that buyers at this end of the Jimny range are paying for personality, not practicality.

How practical is the Jimny XL Rhino?

The XL body is the more sensible of the two Jimny shapes and the Rhino inherits that. The extra wheelbase opens up a proper second row, and two adults will sit back there in reasonable comfort, with enough head and leg room to make short family trips workable rather than a punishment.

Boot space is the familiar story. You get 211 litres with the rear seats up, expanding to 1113 litres folded, which is enough for a weekend if you pack with discipline. The side-hinged tailgate is easy to live with day to day, though it swings the wrong way if you are kerbside.

The real sting is the payload. With a kerb weight of 1,210kg against a 1,545kg GVM, you have roughly 335kg to play with and that disappears fast once you load people. Four adults aboard and you are basically out of allowance before you have packed the cooler box Suzuki gave you.

What is the Jimny XL Rhino like to drive?

Here is where the Jimny splits cleanly in two, and the Rhino changes none of it.

On the road, particularly at highway speed, it is hard work. The 1.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder produces just 75kW and 130Nm, and getting up to a hundred takes patience and a fair bit of noise. The steering wanders and needs constant little corrections to hold a lane, the tall body leans in corners, and a gust of crosswind turns a freeway run into a conversation. The four-speed auto kicks down enthusiastically the moment you ask for a hill. If your commute is motorway, this car will wear you down.

And yet. Slow it down, point it at a side street or a fire trail, and the whole thing flips. The Jimny is daft fun precisely because it asks you to drive it loosely. Off the bitumen it transforms into a proper little mountain goat, with light steering, a brilliant turning circle and suspension travel that keeps it scrabbling forward when bigger four-wheel drives are spinning. The narrow body slips through gaps that stop dual-cab utes dead, and the 210mm of ground clearance plus genuinely steep approach and departure angles mean it climbs with confidence. Engage low range, take a breath, and the low power output becomes an asset for measured, deliberate crawling. The Rhino's road-biased tyres are the limiting factor in the wet, but that is a fixable problem with a set of all-terrains.

How efficient is the Jimny XL Rhino?

Suzuki claims 6.9L/100km for the automatic and you will see something closer to the mid-to-high eights if your week involves any real off-road crawling. The 40-litre tank keeps range modest but acceptable. Servicing is the genuine good-news story: intervals fall every 12 months or 15,000km, with five years of capped pricing and a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty behind it.

That totals $2,365 over five years, or roughly $473 a year, which is reasonable for a four-wheel drive and helps soften the ownership case a little.

Is the Jimny XL Rhino safe?

This is the weak spot. The Jimny's three-star ANCAP rating from 2018 expired at the end of 2024, so the current car is unrated. The kit list is respectable for the segment with six airbags, autonomous emergency braking, front and rear parking sensors, hill descent control, a reversing camera and adaptive cruise control on the XL. Worth noting the XL spec drops lane departure prevention, traffic sign recognition and front parking sensors compared with the shorter Jimny, while adding adaptive cruise. None of it is cutting edge, and the reversing camera in particular is best described as adequate. Buy with eyes open.

What are the main competitors to the Jimny XL Rhino?

The honest answer is that nothing directly rivals it, because nothing else looks or behaves like this. But a few cars will pull buyers in the same direction.

The Renault Duster is the closest thing to a genuine alternative offering more space, far better on-road manners and real off-road intent, topping out around $37,990 before on-roads. It is the rational choice, which is rather the opposite of the Rhino.

The Subaru Crosstrek brings comfort, refinement and all-weather grip with the flagship sitting near $43,990 before on-roads. It will never climb what a Jimny climbs, but it is far easier to live with daily.

The standard Suzuki Jimny Lite is the value play if you only care about the formula. It is realistically all the Jimny most buyers need, and the money saved over the Rhino buys a serious set of off-road modifications.

Should I buy the Jimny XL Rhino?

Let me be straight with you. Are you paying extra for stickers, badges and a box of trinkets that includes a bucket hat and some chocolates that may or may not survive the journey to delivery? Yes. Does that represent meaningful value over a standard XL? No. If your head rules your wallet, buy the regular Jimny and pocket the difference.

But the Rhino was never built for that buyer. It exists to be the loudest, most joyful version of a car that already trades on charm over logic, and on that brief it absolutely delivers. There is real hype around this limited run, it turns heads everywhere, and sometimes that is the entire point.

If the colour makes you grin and the exclusivity scratches an itch, do it. Just go in knowing exactly what you are paying for, and take it for a proper test drive on the freeway first so the novelty does not wear off at 100km/h.

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