You’ll no doubt have jumped with joy at the news last month that a new Suzuki Jimny is on its way. With a cool, utilitarian, box-like exterior, it looks like a baby G-Wagen ready to take the fight to the luxury off-roaders of the world.

But apart from the new images, Suzuki wasn’t letting anything out about the new Jimny. Now, though, we’ve got some concrete facts to share about the little, loveable SUV.

The big news is that, at launch, only one engine will be available. It’s a 1.5-litre four-pot developing 100 bhp and 96 lb-ft of torque. That’s not much, but Suzuki says that the new Jimny weighs just over 1,000 kg, meaning you might actually be able to drive it on the motorway without holding everyone up.

You’ve got two choices of gearbox – a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic. There’s no word on whether both will be available in the Middle East, but the Suzuki Jimny is the one car that we wouldn’t be surprised to see as desirable with a manual in this region.

Four-wheel drive comes courtesy of a separate gear lever with high and low range – you know, like off-roaders used to have? The approach angle is 37 degrees, and the ramp breakover angle is 28 degrees, with a 49-degree departure angle. Minimum ground clearance is 210 mm.

Confused by all of that? Basically, the new Suzuki Jimny is designed to be good off-road, but without the help of electronic trickery. Just by virtue of its very small overhangs and decent ground clearance, it’ll be more capable off-road than the vast majority of soft-roaders on the market today. That it’s got proper four-wheel drive when you want it is the icing on the cake.

Still, the new Suzuki Jimny isn’t exactly a luddite – the Japanese brand has endowed the baby off-roader with a few sensible electronics for safety. There’s automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning and traffic sign detection. It also has a proper infotainment system and a couple of creature comforts on the inside.

Regardless, this is about as basic as off-roading gets. But of course, the Suzuki Jimny doesn’t have this little niche of the market to itself anymore – the Renault Duster is also mighty impressive when it comes to both price and off-road ability. We wonder how the two cars will stack up to each other.

No word on costs yet, but expect the new Suzuki Jimny to remain very attractively priced.

What do you reckon, MotorGeeks?