- Wolverines.
M80 fireworks.
They're all small, mighty,
and outlawed in the United States
just like today's car.
This 4x4 packed a big
punch in a tiny package.
Today we're gonna look
at where it came from
and why one of the cutest
cars to ever come out of Japan
is actually perfect for devouring terrain.
(engine revving)
We're also gonna talk about
the fraudulent crash report inside job
that killed it in North America.
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on the Suzuki Samurai.
(thunder)
(8-bit music)
Thanks again to our friends at Omaze
for sponsoring this episode.
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(engine revving)
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And also you could win
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"Up to Speed".
Chapter one, a new hope.
Our story starts with
the Hope Motor company.
No, not the used car dealer in Arkansas.
Hope Auto is not the same as Hope Motor.
Today I'm talking about
the Japanese automaker that
got its start in the 50s
with three-wheeled K cars.
That's right, K cars.
Not to be confused with K-cars.
'Kay?
Now these K cars are an ultra mini class
that became popular in Japanese cities.
One, they're easy to park and maneuver,
and two, their owners would
be exempt from certain taxes
as long as their engine and body
met specific size requirements.
AKA, both of them got to be really small.
Now Hope Motor Company did okay with the K
and in the mid 60s Hope
barged into their workshop
with an idea.
Yo dudes, I have an idea,
but nevermind, it's stupid.
Oh, come on, tell us.
No ideas are stupid, tell us.
Nah.
Nah, you guys are just gonna laugh at me.
No, dude, come on.
Blue sky only, baby, no judgment.
Let's hear it.
I don't know, what if we,
what if we added a fourth wheel?
Dude, you are twisted, but I love it.
So they slapped on a fourth wheel
and released the HopeStar ON360.
Look at this little thing.
Looks like a Power Wheel
truck for grownups.
It also kind of drove like one,
considering it had a blistering top speed
of 43 miles per hour.
It used a two stroke
air-cooled Mitsubishi engine
which made 20 horsepower.
But what it lacked in power, baby,
it made up for with surprising
4x4 capability, baby.
For Hope this was really
more of a concept car.
They only made 15 of them.
But between that and their three-wheelers,
a lot of people were
hopeful about the company.
In 1968 Suzuki bought
the Hope Motor Company
because the light bodies and
engines fell right in line
with what Suzuki was all about,
being small but innovative.
They saw potential in the
HopeStar and rebodied it.
Even swapped out the Mitsubishi engine
for a Suzuki FB two cylinder
which up to hrsprs from 20
an absolutely massive 25.
And in 1970
Suzuki released their new
version of the HopeStar.
Now called the Jimny.
What?
What's a Jimny, like a cricket?
A Jimny is the same as a samurai.
Oh my God, you need to cut this part out.
I do not need any more
problems with samurai.
This was the first global hit for Suzuki.
When the Jimny launched
it was the only 4x4 K car
and instantly had a reputation
as the perfect froader.
It featured canvas
doors that zipped closed
like any proper froader should,
and by 1979 outside of Japan,
it came as a soft top, a hard top,
and down under you could find
my adopted kangaroo, Nolan 2,
behind the wheel of a Jimny Stockman.
Oh, you think I adopted a baby kangaroo?
No, everybody wants the babies.
Nolan 2 is a full grown
middle-aged kangaroo
that was down on his luck.
I actually did adopt a kangaroo.
I got receipts.
Now this Stockman featured a pickup tub
that had 42 free roaming Brumbies,
now four cylinder four stroke motor.
And when the second
generation launched in 1981,
man, it was more refreshing
than an ice cold Shasta.
The styling took a number of cues
from Jeep CJ models of the day.
Suzuki knew who their demographic was.
And just like in the 70s
there were K car and non K car models.
So you could find all
sorts of configurations.
You hate your windshield, fold it down.
Hate the roof, pull it off.
It could go anywhere and do anything.
Meanwhile we're over here in the States,
people were watching the rest of the world
having all this fun
going to restaurants and stuff
in their cute little 4x4s
and we were like, "Um, hello.
"We'd like to have fun too."
And in 1986, the Jimny came to a stop,
looked us right dead in the
eyes finally and was like--
- [Announcer] Suzuki Samurai 4x4.
- Chapter two, American samurai warrior.
The adorable off-roader
debuted in some adorable commercials.
The Jimny was rebadged as
the Samurai in the States
to emphasize its lightweight
agility and, well,
it's Japanese heritage.
It's all about surface level references
for us over here in the US.
You could get the American model
as a convertible or a hardtop,
complete with a 1.3 liter four banger
that made an astounding 63 horsepowers,
which was a pretty hefty increase
considering that the
first model only made 20.
Now the initial plan was to import
roughly 14,000 Samurais in the first year.
That's sounds it's terrifying.
But when off-road enthusiasts
saw how much dirt these
little things could kick,
that 14,000 ended up becoming
47,000 by the end of the year.
Hello?
Yes, I need to upgrade my life insurance.
What made it such a good off-roader?
(scoffs) Where do I begin?
(electronic music)
For starters it was a true 4x4
which should really be a given
when you're talking
about cars for the trail.
But the samurai had great low end torque.
When you're trying to go over an obstacle,
it's nice not to have to rev to red line
just to make it through.
Gearing is also very important
when you're climbing over
all of them bouldies.
The Samurai had a transfer
case which multiplies torque
to make it even more powerful in low gear.
It also had killer angles.
When you're off-roading
there are three angles
you're concerned about.
Approach, break-over, and departure.
The Samurai nailed all three
because of its high ground
clearance and short overhangs.
The Samurai also used a solid axle
rather than independent suspension.
This meant better wheel articulation,
literally keeping the
wheels on the ground.
That articulation was also helped
by its ladder frame chassis.
Ladder frames are a very simple
kind of body on frame
chassis that's existed
for pretty much as long as
there have been cars there.
There's probably horse drawn
carriages with ladder frames.
Now they're antiquated but they
can handle a lot of torsion,
which also means more wheel contact,
and wheel contact means traction.
(engine revving)
Are there more capable off-roaders?
Yeah, sure.
But rarely is so much of that available
in such a small mass produced package.
In edition to being good for off-roading,
it's incredibly affordable.
Just like our buff horses sticker packs.
- What's up, guys.
We've got new Low Car pins in stock.
- Right now we've also got
new Hi Car pins back in stock.
These ones are different,
they're super limited.
They are finished in a
beautiful black nickel finish.
So if you want one don't sleep on it.
We're only making 800 of each.
Every single one is gonna
be individually numbered.
Make sure you buy it from us
'cause it'll be cheaper
than buying it from eBay
when they're sold out.
- Not only do we have new pins,
but we also have new key chains
for both Low Car and Hi Car.
There's "remove from flight" tag style,
so get your hands on those as well.
- These are really cool,
they're gonna sell out soon.
Just like Nolan did and--
(Nolan laughing)
(funky music)
"Up To Speed".
I mean a Suzuki Samurai at $6,500
only cost two thirds of
a 1987 Jeep Wrangler.
Yeah, it only weigh 2,100 pounds
and went zero to 60 in almost 17 seconds,
but none of that matters
for an off-roader.
In fact,
the Samurai outsold the
Wrangler two to one in 1987.
Then in 1988, Suzuki
introduced the 88.5 model
which had softer
suspension, better interior,
larger roll bar, and a lower fifth gear
to make it better for street driving.
Yeah, sure, they didn't
increase the power,
but its lack of speed wasn't what started
slicing up Samurai sales.
Chapter three,
Suzuki Motor Corp
versus the Consumer Union
of the United States.
In the criminal justice system
the people are represented
by two separate yet
equally important groups.
The actual criminal investigators
and James Pumphrey
who makes internet car videos
about them years later.
These are their stories.
(mechanic buzzing)
This is crazy, all right.
I'm just warning you guys.
All right, so in 1988 a young
driver sustained mild injuries
after rolling their Suzuki Samurai
to avoid an object in the road.
Now that wouldn't have
been a noteworthy wreck
except the driver happened to be
an employee of the United
States Consumer Union.
The same organization that
publishes "Consumer Reports",
a magazine that reviews
products for safety and quality.
Mostly old people read it.
Now this accident prompted
"Consumer Reports"
to take a closer look
at the tip up tendencies of the Samurai.
They subjected the car
to sudden swerve tests
at 40 miles per hour.
And according to their summary,
"Consumer Reports" found
that the car was easily rolled over.
This prompted "Consumer Reports"
to give their first
unacceptable rating in 10 years.
"This is a car that we
consider dangerous,"
said David Berliner,
the Consumer Union's assistant director.
"Berliner" means "donut" in German.
"The design is inherently flawed.
"It's not something where
they can make an adjustment
"or put on some hardware in
order to make a difference.
"The only solution is to
take it off the market."
And just like that, sales
of the Samurai tanked.
- [Cameraman] That's it.
That looked looked pretty good.
- The report was
published at the same time
that the Japanese yen
was rising against the American dollar,
which had already forced Suzuki
to raise Samurai prices by 30%.
And it didn't help that Americans
were primed to believe
the consumer reports.
There had been numerous findings of SUVs
being involved in a higher
number of rollover accidents.
It was a perfect storm of bad news.
But Suzuki, they called BS.
You see the Jimny had been around
for almost 20 years at this point,
just not in the US.
And there had been numerous
tests performed both internally
and by federal regulators that showed
it was safe to drive the Jimny.
Something wasn't adding up.
So they put their lawyers on the case,
and after the better part of a decade,
in 1996, Suzuki Motor Corporation
filed a $60 million libel suit
against the Consumer Union
for willingly fraudulent testing.
In the course of their investigation,
Suzuki found that "Consumer Reports"
had manipulated evidence and
changed their testing criteria
with the express purpose
of rolling the Samurai.
They uncovered documents
from the first time "Consumer
Reports" tested the Samurai
in which the researchers said the car
"responds well and corrects quickly,
"leans normally, snaps back in line.
"Confidence fairly high.
"No real problem."
He even ranked it as one
of the best vehicles tested
and gave it the highest safety rating.
And if that wasn't enough,
Suzuki got access to a video
from the second round of testing
in which testers is ran
the sudden swerve 47 times
before getting a single tip over.
In the video a Consumer Union executive
can be heard saying to the testers,
"If you don't find someone
to roll this car, I will."
And it was another executive
named R David Pittle, of course,
who finally got the same writing tip.
And when it tips
you can hear another tester
shout with excitement.
(tires screeching)
(man yelling)
Then they improvised a more difficult test
who employees who were there said
was set up with the express
purpose of filming an accident.
And even in that test it took 15 tries
to get the car to tip.
- [Man] -- we get no lift off the ground.
(chuckling) Oh god.
A witness said
"From what I heard and saw
"during the testing of the Samurai,
"the objective of the test
"was not to simulate
normal avoidance driving,
"but was to flip the Samurai."
Every samurai I've ever met
could flip first time easy.
- Those tests demonstrate
that the Suzuki Samurai
has unusually high propensity to roll over
of driver during routine driving.
- "Consumer Reports" settled out of court
'cause they got a ton of money
and that's what rich people do,
and they issued a public correction
but the damage to the
brand was already done.
Suzuki's automotive reputation
would never fully recover
and the perception that
they made unsafe cars
extended into the Suzuki Sidekick
and even the Geo Tracker.
It just goes to show you what can happen
when one magazine gets
too much power, baby.
(mechanical buzzing)
Chapter four, the last Samurai.
Suzuki did their best to hold
on to the American market.
But when the roll cage
mandate came in 1994
the end was near.
Rather than re-engineer
the design of the car,
Suzuki simply took out the back seats
to make room for the new roll cage.
And then in 1995,
they pulled the Samurai
out of the States entirely.
But that's not the end
of the story though.
Jimnies are still being produced
and they're crazy popular
anywhere there's a market
for K style trucks.
Suzuki introduced the third generation
in 1997 at the Tokyo Motor Show
with a much more modern design
and a 1.3 liter Suzuki M engine,
bringing horsepower up to a blistering 83.
The third gen was sold around the world
under different names.
Maruti sold a version in India
that was perfect for parts of the country
where less capable
vehicles were impractical
Mazda sold a version called the AZ-Offroad
with the AZ standing for Autozam,
Mazda's small car offshoot.
In New Zealand it was sold
as the Farm Worker 4x4,
though there it was
strictly intended for work
and isn't legal to drive on streets.
It's like a nice Gator.
And of course it did well as a K car
in its native land of Japan.
It currently holds the record
for the highest altitude driven
by a four wheeled vehicle.
On April 21st, 2007,
Gonzalo Bravo and Eduardo Canolas
drove a Jimny 21,942 feet
up Ojos de Saldado in the Andes mountains.
And on the way
they passed the sign left by
the previous record holder
that read "Jeep Parking Only,
"others can't make it up here anyway."
They brought the sign back down with them,
which is just a flex.
In 2018 Suzuki released
a fourth generation
called the Jimny Sierra.
Like all other Jimnies it's
still a killer off-road vehicle.
It's currently available
in Japan, Indonesia,
Thailand, and the Philippines.
But sadly we probably won't
see it here in the state.
So we'll have to make due with trucks
that are way less cute.
Thank you guys for watching this video
and everything else on Donut Media.
Hit that Subscribe button and that bell
so you don't miss anything.
We put out a video dang near every day.
You want to learn some
more about little trucks
that aren't meant to go off road
but are really, really fast
and have more than a
blistering 83 horsepower,
check out this episode of "Wheelhouse"
hosted by Nolan Sykes.
I love you.
