4 x 4 Magazine - December 2022 by Assignment Media Ltd

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BRITAIN’S BEST ALL-MARQUES 4X4 MAGAZINE FOR 40 YEARS! PLUS Skoda Kodiaq – latest version of a legend among SUVs

THE UK’S ONLY 4X4 AND PICK-UP MAGAZINE

NEW X-TRAIL DRIVEN

Europe’s favourite SUV returns as a technological tour de force – and still as much of an off-road performer as ever

Suzuki-based racer with Range Rover axles… and leaf springs!

£4.99

Another glorious Mid-Welsh green lane route

DEC 2022

Pan-European travel aboard a home-from-home Discovery 4x4 Cover Dec 22.indd 1

22/10/2022 12:57

Get in. Get out.

From £38,350* ssangyonggb.co.uk/rexton Fuel consumption figures in mpg: Combined 32.6-32.9. CO2 emissions in g/km: 225-227. Model featured is a Rexton Ultimate Plus priced at £45,495. *Rexton Ventura including delivery charge, Road Fund Licence & first registration charge. Prices are correct at the time of going to print but may be modified or changed at any time. Warranty covers 7 years or 150,000 miles.

17187 SsangYong 4x4 Ads - Rexton.indd 1

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19785 Allmakes Ltd 4x4 Magazine - 3 page advert - Discovery.indd 1

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21/08/2020 10:43

December 2022

CONTENTS

‘Prior to the restoration, the 90 had been written be counted as a write-off when you’re talking about

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38 BIG SAVINGS WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE! Get 13 issues of 4x4 for just £22 – that’s less than £1.70 each. And we’ll send you a FREE Ring RRL660 inspection lamp into the bargain! 4x4 Scene: News, Products and More… 6 7 7 8 9 10 10 12 16 16 18 19 20 21 21

Renault 4EVER concept is a new twist on Africa’s favourite rural runabout Hennessey The Bronco is coming to Europe – andHennessey is tuning it Everrati New partnership with Hobson to build electric Land Rovers SsangYong Latest high-spec Rexton is more than just Ultimate Land Rover New smart key could be the end of your EV charging fears Bowler Rally-built Defender for 2023 unveiled What Car? Reliability survey names the saints and sinners. And guess what…? Odyssey Challenge Red hot action from the depths of Deep Scar Sterling Automotive Classic alloy wheels for equally classic Defenders Powerﬂex An unlikely way of making BMW X5 ownership affordable Toylander Latest model is a replica 90 your kids can drive Milltek Sport Premium exhausts for petrol-powered Defenders Britpart Model Landy range is here in time for Christmas shopping fun LOF High-performance brake kit for the Ford Ranger Terraﬁrma Heavy-duty tool roll is designed for hardcore competition use

Driven 28 32

Nissan X-Trail Pioneering new SUV has the right stuff to be a game-changer Skoda Kodiaq Latest version of one of the best family 4x4s ever made

Every Month 4 38 62 80

Alan Kidd In praise of the old tech Subscribe Get your year’s 4x4s, plus a Ring LED inspection lamp, for just £22 Roadbook Legendary laning on Part 2 of our Mid-Welsh epic Next Month It’s that time again… Pick-Up of the Year 2023 is on the way!

Features 24 34 40 48

Jeep Rubicon Birdcage Odd name for a vehicle with no windows anywhere Dacia Manifesto Another 4x4 where the great outdoors comes indoors Leaf-Sprung Racer How the old tech lived on atop Range Rover axles Beemer 90 M57 engine is all the rage – but this 90 has more going on too

Travel 54

Euro Discovery Four weeks, 12 nations, 7000 miles, one Disco 2

62 Mid-Wales Roadbook

are sharp rock Caution – there as you climb the steps to negotiate hillside

Step

off – if Cat N can even a Land Rover’

Step 40: Turn left off the main embankment track, dropping then plunging down the straight into a water trough (right)

Step

8.75

track to the left Take the rocky track the main Cat A

Step

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More rock steps, water trough

Step

followed by a long

4212.6

Step

There’s a couple of huge water troughs after the junction

13.1 Step

11.7 Step

16 11.8 Step

17 12.8 Step

It’s a steep, sharp climb up and over a bigger track – you can’t see ahead over your bonnet to start with

Caution over a steps as you short set of rocky drop down the hill

15.0

Step

12.8

4x4

Step

38 13.1

10.9

88 | JANUARY 2020

12.3 41

Abbey Strata Florida

Step

Look out for you cross the the waymarker as ford

15.2

13.4 Step

Join the Cat A

track

You may find yourself driving a river bed along for a while…

13.65 Step

track Drop off the main the gate and immediately before trough water into yet another

14.7 Step

to clear these axleneed a bit of momentum right is much bigger to the Step 37: You might warned, the drop-off twisters – but be than it looks here

4x4

46 14.9 4x4 JANUARY

2020 | 89

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4x4 Tel: 01283 553243 Email: enquiries@assignment-media.co.uk

Alan Kidd Editor

e’ve made a big deal over the last 12 months or so of the fact that this has been an anniversary year for 4x4 magazine. It was launched, as Overlander 4x4, in 1982 – and Total Off Road, with which it merged when we took it over in 2018, first saw the light of day in 2002. In each case, when you go looking back at how it used to be in the off-road world, you find plenty of comforting references to the old tech. Though obviously, of course, back then it was just the tech, because it hadn’t become old yet. Or had it? When we launched Total Off Road, the SUV revolution was already in full swing. Things like the Patrol, Trooper and Frontera still existed, but the move away from ladder chassis, beam axles and low range had begun. Looking back, actually, what seems most remarkable is that it was still only eight years since the original Toyota RAV4 arrived on the scene and kicked off the trend towards soft-roaders. That’s not the old tech I’m on about, though. When we launched TOR, it was coming on for 20 years since Land Rover finally turned its back on leaf springs. But it was more than 30 since the company first introduced coils, and a nation of resourceful home engineers had long since learned how to make the most of them by butchering old Range Rovers into hybrids or competition buggies. The hybrid era was already in decline by the turn of the century, thanks to a combination of red tape and, mainly, 90s and 110s coming down in price to the point where it was better just to restore one of those instead. So if you were into Land Rovers, you’d likely use one of those. If you weren’t into Landies, on the other hand, Jeep Wranglers and pick-up trucks were still considered exotic. by far the most popular choice of vehicle at the time was the Suzuki Samurai. They were still plentiful back then; the Jimny was already around, but for most people it was too new to cut up, and while the Vitara provided cheap laughs off-road it was nowhere near as good as the Samurai at what it did. If you were into Jeeps, odds-on you’d do it in a first-gen Cherokee. Again, this was

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The old tech can still show the new ways a thing or two cheap enough to be affordable and in the main it was rugged as anything. What both the Samurai and the Cherokee had in common was leaf springs. And of course so did Land Rovers, up to the point when the 110 and then the 90 replaced the last of the Series IIIs. And this is the kind of old tech I mean. In this issue, we’re looking at a Suzukibodied racer which was built back in the mid-noughties using leaf springs on Range Rover axles. Someone must have really wanted leaf springs to go to those lengths, you’d think, but actually there was logic in their reasoning, as you’ll be able to read. But something else I remember very well was the number of products going around that helped get the best from leaf springs. Not for racing so much as for flex. The science has been gone over many times by many people, as you probably know. But the physics of how a leaf spring works in a typical automotive set-up means it’s inherently less able to deliver articulation than the equivalent coil. So various companies back then developed ways of making those set-ups atypical instead – things like three-link arrangements, folding mounts and rotating shackles that would liberate droop, prevent binding and generally allow leafers to flex the way we’d come to expect from the best coilers of the day, And it worked. It worked very, very well, and for a spell there was a renaissance of people using Series Landies to play and compete in. But it was never mainstream and however good these products were, if leafers were scarce then they’re almost extinct now. Which is a pity, because the most arresting image I’ve seen of an off-roader is still that of a rock-crawling buggy from the US, achieving almost 100% flex by using non-captive transverse leafs. It was stunningly clever… yet the basic layout was also Ford Model T territory. And don’t let’s forget where they used to go in the hands of adventurous owners. Now, that’s what you call old-tech…

Web: www.totaloffroad.co.uk www.4x4i.com Online Shop: www.toronline.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/totaloffroad www.facebook.com/4x4Mag Editor Alan Kidd Art Editor Samantha D’Souza Contributors Graham Scott, Olly Sack, Gary Noskill, Dan Fenn, Paul Looe, Tom Alderney, James Watts, Gemma Pask Photographers Harry Hamm, Steve Taylor, Richard Hair, Vic Peel, Tomasz Jarecki, Kayleigh Costin, Phil Uden Group Advertising Manager Ian Argent Tel: 01283 553242 Advertising Manager Colin Ashworth Tel: 01283 553244 Advertising Production Sarah Moss Tel: 01283 553242 Subscriptions Sarah Moss Tel: 01283 553242 Publisher and Head of Marketing Sarah Moss Email: sarah.moss@assignment-media.co.uk To subscribe to 4x4, or renew a subscription, call 01283 553242. Prices for 12 issues: UK £42 (24 issues £76); Europe Airmail/ROW Surface £54; ROW Airmail £78 Distributed by Marketforce; www.marketforce.co.uk Every effort is made to ensure the contents of 4x4 are accurate, but Assignment Media accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions nor the consequences of actions made as a result of these. When responding to any advert in 4x4, you should make appropriate enquiries before sending money or entering into a contract. The publishers take reasonable care to ensure advertisers’ probity, but will not be liable for loss or damage incurred from responding to adverts Where a photo credit includes the note ‘CC BY 2.0’ or similar, the image is made available under that Creative Commons licence: details at www.creativecommons.org 4x4 is published by Assignment Media Ltd, Repton House 1.08, Bretby Business Park, Ashby Road, Bretby, Derbyshire DE15 0YZ

4x4 22/10/2022 18:46

Elevate Your Ride Airbag Man Intelliride Airbag Kits Why Intelliride ECAS? This front and rear axle full air suspension kit incorporates on-board air control which is a fully automatic Electronically Controlled Air Suspension (ECAS) System. When fitted, the system provides comfort while maintaining a programmed ride height irrespective of the load. Multiple vehicle heights are available at the push of a button. The on-board system has automatic load levelling at each height which continuously monitors inputs and component performance as a means of increasing safety and durability. The on-board system recognises and responds accordingly to potholes, cross-articulation and extended turns. This intelligence prevents unnecessary activity and air consumption, it even recognises unachievable heights, assisting in the prevention of possible damage above or below the vehicle. Features > Automatic 4 corner ride heigh control catering for all loads > 3 pre-set heights - high, drive & low mode > Fully adjustable via easy to use hand held control > Front to back levelling > Raise for clearance > Lower for storage and access > Inputs available for safety reset to ride height > Manual mode > Horizon levelling feature option > OEM grade components for reliable performance > High volume air springs for optimal ride quality & carrying capacity

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NEWS

Return of Renault 4 turns Africa’s favourite rural runabout into an off-road inspired SUV

he original Renault 4 was launched back in 1961, over 60 years ago. They made more than eight million of the utilitarian vehicles but production stopped over 30 years ago. Yet here we are, with that name again. Can this one last as long? Renault say there are styling cues with the original, like that third side window but you’d have to be quite an anorak to see that or go with the claim that the front wings and light grille are a homage to the original. The original had a 22bhp engine so this new all-electric version doesn’t have much to beat. But that’s not the point. In fact there are several points. And the ﬁrst point is that of those eight million sales a lot went to rural France and also to Africa, particularly North Africa. We’re talking rural remote tracks,

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heat, dust, potholes and mud. But you’ve been to France. So this new 4EVER does indeed nod in the direction of the all-round use the 4L was put to over many countries, miles and varying terrains. This new variant doesn’t look quite so likely to have six people on board, plus chickens and sacking full of aluminium pots and pans. This one isn’t for French or Moroccan peasants who need transport, this is for the bourgeoisie who want an amusing runaround that signals suﬃcient virtue. It will be right at home in London or Paris or, more likely, Monaco. But, once you’ve got over the adventure rack on the roof with the rugged spare wheel, and the sand ladders and all, what’s underneath has been not only carefully designed, it’s also been carefully

costed. People want other people to pay for their virtue, they don’t want to pay too much themselves. So this is a funky electric mini crossover, and we need to make another point. You would think, we just know you would, that this new Renault 4 would sit below the new Renault 5. Mais non. It may be counter-intuitive to the little grey cells but the 4 is going to be a bigger number than the 5. Not only larger in size but with a larger price tag too. Which is interesting given that both will use the same electric platform. While the 5 will be the compact city car, the 4 will be for more out of town, if not crossing the Grand Erg in Morocco. While gazing at the big tyres, each tyre coming with its own air pressure pumping, and the chunky lower bodywork with minimal front and rear overhang, it

might be salutary to remember that all of this is based on the chassis of the decade-old electric Zoe. But, unlike the Zoe, we as yet have no information on that electric propulsion system. It will be all-electric, with one motor and so is unlikely to be anything other than two-wheel drive but the original Renault 4 managed perfectly well for decades like that. Will the new 4EV-er still be around after so long? With so few moving parts in the electric motor it’s possible, who knows, but we’ll have to wait for ever to ﬁnd out.

4x4 22/10/2022 16:51

NEWS

Modern Bronco gets serious thanks to 493bhp conversion by performance legend Hennessey

HORSE MEETS DINOSAUR. Actually, that’s not meant to be derogatory. In this instance the horse is the Ford Bronco, but the dinosaur refers to what tuning company Hennessey has created – the VelociRaptor 500 Bronco. Yes, great start eh? Spend the time having to explain the title you chose. Honestly, you can’t get the talent these days. Anyway, as you may or may not know – I don’t know you all personally so forgive me for generalising – Ford is going to reintroduce the Bronco to European markets in 2023. The new model is proving a smash in the USA and there’s steady demand this side of the pond. There’s deﬁnite demand in the UK, but Ford is going to ignore us

for now and focus instead on the Europeans, since they all drive on the wrong side of the road. No, life is not fair. But back in the States things have of course already gone supersized, at least in the engine department. Tuners Hennessey had already had a go at the Bronco, making the VelociRaptor 400 which, as the name implies, made just under 400bhp at 395bhp. And now they’ve released the VelociRaptor 500 Bronco with, yes, 493bhp. That’s quite a lot isn’t it? That and the 550lb ft of torque. Hennessey haven’t even changed the engine, it’s still the 3.0-litre V6, but now the twin-turbocharged unit has a high-capacity intercooler, new engine

management and a new exhaust, which is probably going to sound rather good. Naturally you want to signal to the world what it is you are driving (assuming they don’t hear you ﬁrst), so there are some far from discreet graphics and badges, plus bespoke ten-spoke alloys and bumpers. Should the driver suffer amnesia while driving, there are helpful hints inside in the form of logos embroidered on the headrests and there’s a plaque too. Not only that, but you get a very sensible threeyear/36,000-mile warranty too. All that for just £29,000 or so. Well, plus a Ford Bronco that you’ll need to ﬁnd.

Everrati partners with Hobson Industries to push forward presence in electric Land Rover market PERHAPS IT’S AN INEVITABLE SYNERGY, but now there are two

serious companies that have got together to produce heritage Land

Rovers with electric motors. One is Hobson Industries, very much the choice for ‘through life’ support for heritage Land Rovers. The second is Everrati Advanced Technologies (EAT) who only appeared in the world in 2022. EAT are making a name for highend electric vehicles and have a base in Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire – something perhaps not that evident from their name. Amongst their early conversions was a Series IIA. Their electric Land Rover has a

60kWh battery pack delivering the equivalent of 150bhp, with 220lb ft of torque. Guessing the brakes and suspension have had a bit of work. Hobson Industries has a presence in making Land Rovers for various military applications, but until now they’ve had petrol or diesel engines – so quaint my dear. Watching what these two companies can do, particularly in regard to classic Land Rovers, will be a worthwhile exercise for those with suitable funds. Heresy or the future? Why choose?

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NEW 4X4S

And there you were thinking the Rexton Ultimate was the ultimate Rexton…

IT’S A TRICKY ONE ISN’T IT? You make a reputation based on low prices and value for money. But the money is where the extras live so you inevitably add an upmarket model to the line-up. Then you go higher still. Thus we had the Ssangyong Rexton, and then we had

8 | DECEMBER 2022

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the Ultimate. But where do you go from the Ultimate? The Ultimate Plus, obviously. Of course this instantly diminishes the cahet of the Ultimate because, quite obviously, it wasn’t after all, was it? So what is so Plus about this new Korean SUV?

It’s as big as ever, but now you can have all that bodywork covered in a limited choice of metallic paints, plus there’s a power sunroof up top and new 20in alloys down below. But as you’d expect, most of the upgrades are indoors. The ﬁrst thing you notice is the new leatherwork, all quilted Nappa leather and suede which does add a touch of distinction. Sticking with the seats (which you won’t do as now even the third row gets air-conditioning), the driver’s seat gains some memory but who knows what of, while the rear seats get door sunblinds although nobody is going to assume that a VIP is in the back. Add wireless phone

charging and a 3D all-round monitoring camera, and you have a package that totals £45,495 on the road. That seven-year, 150,000-mile warranty is pretty ultimate, it must be said, and now you can have it with just that bit more luxury. We can only await the next step up in the range – the Ultimately Ultimate Plus Ultra perhaps?

4x4 22/10/2022 16:52

Jaguar Land Rover goes charging into Europe

‘AH BUT A MAN’S REACH SHOULD EXCEED HIS GRASP, OR WHAT’S A HEAVEN FOR?’ Yes, we’re quoting the poet Robert Browning. But you knew that, right? How nice for him to sit back and contemplate the eternal, but he didn’t have to try and find somewhere to charge his electric Land Rover did he? Long journeys remain something of a stress for many electric/hybrid owners as various governments’ dreams of an electrified road system have fallen remarkably short in terms of the practical realities. However, Jaguar Land Rover is grasping the nettle. If you own, or are contemplating owning, a Land Rover hybrid or full electric vehicle then your sense of unease at contemplating a skiing trip this winter may be somewhat allayed. The key to this is an actual key – one which will unlock more than 300,000 charging points across the UK and Europe. Land Rover Charging is a pan-European programme that ties up with more than 700 providers including Osprey, Ionity and char.gy, although this number is set to grow. Land Rover will send owners who sign up, whether as a new or existing owner, a pack which including the charging key. You simply tap that at any of the network charging points and off you go. You can also gain access through the Land Rover Charging app. Unsurprisingly, this is not a free service, but you get the obligatory choice of three options: pay as you go, gold or platinum. The latter two cost £4.26 and £8.50 a month respectively, but gold brings fixed prices while platinum offers the service at a reduced rate, which is going to be notably lower than if you simply pay as you go. With more of the range going down the electric avenue, there’s clearly a major need for programmes that can help keep you moving this winter, particularly with moody teens grumbling in the back with their snowboards. Of course, whether the UK or Europe is going to have enough electricity to power your house this winter let alone your vehicle is another question entirely.

SPECIALIST 4X4 VEHICLE DISMANTERS JEEP - LAND ROVER SPECIALIST 4X4 VEHICLE DISMANTERS AND MOST MAKES AND MODELS JEEP LAND ROVER QUALITY GUARANTEED USED PARTS AND MOST MAKES AND MODELS QUALITY GUARANTEED PARTS SOME OF THE VEHICLESUSED WE HAVE RECENTLY DISMANTLED: SOME OF THE VEHICLES WE HAVE RECENTLY DISMANTLED:

20012015 JEEPJEEP WRANGLER JK 2001 Jeep Grand CHEROKEE XJ 2.8CRD 2015 JEEP Cherokee WJ JK WRANGLER 2.8CRD

2007 DODGE 2018 JEEP NITRO 2.8CRD 2010 Isuzu RENEGADE 2007 DODGE Rodeo NITRO 2.8CRD

2014 RANGE 2016 2006 JEEP 2011 ISUZU ISUZU ROVER SPORT 4.4 D-MAX 2.5 DIESEL WRANGLER TJ RODEO 2010 2015 Mitsubishi V8 Jeep DIESEL 2014 RANGE 2016 ISUZU Cherokee KK Outlander ROVER SPORT 4.4 D-MAX 2.5 DIESEL V8 DIESEL

JEEP 2007 LAND 20152010 RANGE 2012ROVER CHEROKEE MK4 DISCOVERY 3 2.7 ROVER EVOQUE MITSUBISHI ASX 2015 Range Jeep KK 2.8JEEP CRD 20072016 TDV6 2010 LAND ROVER Rover Evoque Renegade CHEROKEE MK4 DISCOVERY 3 2.7 KK 2.8 CRD

TDV6

2016 RANGE 2008 NISSAN ROVER EVOQUE 2012 Range PATHFINDER 2.0 TD4 2016 RANGE Rover Sport ROVER EVOQUE 2.0 TD4

2014 2010 JEEP CHEROKEE MK5 MITSUBISHI L200 2020 Ford KL 2.0 MULTIJET 2014 JEEP Ranger CHEROKEE MK5 KL 2.0 MULTIJET

2008 HONDA 2013 TOYOTA CRV 2.2 CDTI HILUXGrand 2006 Jeep 2008 HONDA Cherokee CRV 2.2 CDTIWK

2006 NISSAN 2006 JEEP 2006 JEEP GRAND 2015 LAND 2004 JEEP CHEROKEE WK PATHFINDER 2.5 GRAND GRAND 5.7 V8 HEMI ROVER DCI 2020 Jeep Land2006 Rover NISSAN2015 Nissan 2006 JEEP2018 GRAND DISCOVERY CHEROKEE WK CHEROKEE WJ 2.5 X-Trail WK PATHFINDER WranglerCHEROKEE JL Discovery Sport Charlton Recycled Auto Parts SPORT DCI 5.7 V8 HEMI Vehicle Recycling Centre, Gravel Pit Hill, Thriplow, Cambridge, SG8 7HZParts Charlton Recycled Auto Tel 01223 832656 Vehicle Recycling Centre, Gravel Pit Hill, Thriplow, Email parts@charltonautoparts.co.uk Cambridge, SG8 7HZ PLEASE VISIT WWW.CHARLTONAUTOPARTS.CO.UK Tel 01223 832656 Email parts@charltonautoparts.co.uk PLEASE VISIT WWW.CHARLTONAUTOPARTS.CO.UK

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NEWS

Bowler unveils new Defender rally car at launch of 2023 championship

owler Motors has unveiled the latest version of its Land Rover Defender rally car, which will compete in a single-make series across seven events during 2023 Based on a Defender 90 P300 SE, the 296bhp competition car is comprehensively prepared for action with monocoque bracing, underbody protection, uprated suspension and many other features – which also include unique-to-Bowler gearshift paddles on the steering column. For the ﬁrst time, it will be available in both right and left-hand drive – a response to the level of demand from would-be customers from the other side of the Channel. The 2023 car follows hard on the heels of the 2022 model (as it would), when the ﬁrst running of the Tata Elxsi Bowler Defender Challenge saw the new-shape 90 make its global competitive debut. Designed as a feeder discipline for international rally-raid competition, the series is for novices and veter-

ans alike, with 12 places available in a season comprising nine events. Nine? Indeed, apparently. We’ll quote Bowler: ‘The Defender Rally Series by Bowler consists of… nine events, including seven competitive rounds. After the ﬁrst private round, fully supported teams participate in six rounds of public events.’ See? Which of the 12 Defenders is the one to go for? It doesn’t matter, because they’re all identical. Apart from which side the steering wheel is on, of course. What matters anyway is that if you want to learn the driving and organisational skills necessary to take part in competitive motorsport at a high level, this is a great way to go through the process with your hand held by a company that knows exactly what it’s doing. ‘The UK Championship provides an inclusive team atmosphere with full technical support on hand at every event,’ says Bowler. ‘The professional presence of the team, with comprehensive on-event spares support and team hospitality area

creates a true paddock within the paddock and underlines Bowler’s unique proposition and commitment to the sport.’ A piece of the action is £108,334 plus VAT, which is a fair whack but you do get to keep the Defender. The price also includes event management and works support, professional guidance and a full servicing and spares package – though you can choose to upgrade to a full Arrive and Drive option, where your car is entirely managed by Bowler for

the duration of the Championship and all you have to do is show up for the fun bit. Bespoke rally training and licence development packages are also on offer if you’re serious about getting good at it. With a combination of gravel rallies and comp safaris, the series is a lot more than just a case of trailing around forests trying to keep up with the Subarus. Applications for prospective teams are open now – for more details, pay a visit to bowlermotors.com.

Another month, another reliability survey gets the knives out for Land Rover IT SEEMS TO BE THAT TIME OF YEAR. Birds leaving for the winter, everything that was once green dying and falling apart and of course lots of surveys. This reliability survey is brought to you by What Car?, who not only produced the survey they answer their own eponymous question. What are the main trends? Perhaps one surprise is that hybrids have fared very well indeed in the survey, proving more reliable than either full-on petrol, diesel or indeed electric vehicles. The Hyundai Tuscon, for example, gets a clean 100% pass rate. In the ‘family SUV’ sector, Mitsubishi’s Eclipse Cross gets a similar clean sweep, better even than the Porsche Macan, which cleans up the Luxury SUV category but still drops a couple of percent. In the Top 10 Brands we find Toyota, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Suzuki, Kia and a surprise to some, Dacia. But, really, you don’t want the good news, do you? You want the failures, the disasters, the bottom feeders. Welcome then, to the denizens of the ‘Bottom 10 Least Reliable Models’. Who shall we find here? Oh, what a lot of SUVs we find. Range Rover Evoque. Audi Q5. Nissan X-Trail. And, of course, right at the very bottom of the bottom-most pit of unhappiness, we find another Land Rover, the Discovery 5. Oddly, there are no Jeeps in the hall of shame. Why oddly? Because Jeep beats even Land Rover to the title of the least reliable brand in Britain. One of these days, perhaps, in a world that’s full of fluffy pink clouds and unicorns, we will find such a survey in which Land Rover tops the bill of happiness rather than woe. We’d like that world.

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MOTORSPORT

Vikings in the Amazon as Odyssey Challenge dives into a superheated Deep Scar Words: James Watts Pictures: Tomasz Jarecki

he off-road calendar for this year is very full with a lot of different clubs and organisations vying for the limited number of competitors who can compete at this level. This round came just after an all-weekend event in Devon and happened to fall on the same weekend as another. It meant that many teams hadn’t ﬁxed their vehicles in time. Numbers were slightly lower than usual on the 10 July event, but teams were keen to take on the challenge. This fourth round of the sixround Winch Challenge series was held at the familiar stomping ground for the Viking 4x4 Club of Geddington Deep Scar. It is one hell of a site, rarely used and always overgrown and hard on vehicles, winches and crews alike. This round was sponsored by RA Land Rovers, an independent Land Rover parts supplier and workshop based in East Northamptonshire.

They donated discount vouchers for selected companies as well as gloves, straps, compressors and some other goodies. Their generosity to donate prizes and support the sport is much appreciated. The weather can play a big part in changing conditions at 4x4 competitions and can alter the whole complexion of an event. In the lead up to this event the UK had seen some very hot weather so it was a bit of a concern for the welfare of the competitors as, on event day, it was 30°C! For those who don’t know Deep Scar, it is a very long, narrow wooded site. It’s basically a valley with very steep sides and bogs in the bottom. The site is normally quite wet in the bottom due to water run-off from the hills but this year it was the driest it’s ever been, with very few watery spots. The dense, overgrown trees and foliage are bad at the best of times but, with the added com-

plication of extreme heat, it really made it diﬃcult for the teams. Signing on and scrutineering went without a hitch, although for Luke Margereson and Mathew Fear it nearly didn’t happen. They arrived on site to discover they had managed to misplace one of their helmets when loading up that morning.

Health and safety is paramount and no crash helmet means no entry. Fortunately a fellow team lent them a spare so they could compete, showing the team spirit of the event. After that, Clerk of the course Tomaz did his drivers’ brieﬁng and sent the teams off for their six hours of competition at 10am.

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MOTORSPORT The Viking Club are always trying to come up with innovative ideas to make teams think about methods and strategies for the special section, which is timed to the second. For this event they certainly did that to keep competitors on their toes. As always this is a mandatory section and had to be completed by 11am. For this event the truck didn’t have to move at all. There were no punches and for a change the driver had to do some work. Each truck was parked against a log with a tree 10m in front of it. The driver had to get out, touch the

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tree and return to the vehicle without touching the ﬂoor. If they did, it was a 30-second penalty for every time they put their foot down. Competitors adopted two distinct methods. Method One was just for the co-driver to grab the driver and piggyback them there and back. This seemed to be the quickest and most effective method for the stronger co-drivers. But in some teams the drivers were slightly larger, shall we say, than the co-drivers. That and the extreme heat meant Method Two. Some teams decided to use the winch. They made a tightrope which

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MOTORSPORT

the driver walked along while the co-driver steadied them. It was certainly different, and very entertaining to watch. Everyone was going really well for the first part of the day. No breakages and lots of action for the spectators to see. That’s if they could see the rigs in the deep undergrowth. Scott Haines and co-driver James Watts were again going strong after their recent run of wins. They again showed their excellent teamwork and smooth methods, clearing punches in good time. They managed to complete all the punches and special section by lunchtime to get on to their second card. It was a steady and flawless day, with no issues for them. It has been a good year for the Viking Club with lots of new members coming forward as the club is always keen to welcome new faces. This event saw a new competitor and truck in the form of Dee Fox and Henry Harris. It’s great to see new teams entering the fray and the next generation of young off-roaders up and coming. A winch challenge can look very daunting, with the seemingly crazy locations of the punches, so most people at a first event are very nervous. The new pair showed

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none of this. They were just keen and excited to get on. Their vehicle had very limited modiﬁcations, with completely standard 10-spline Land Rover axles, 35” tyres – and some winches, of course. They ran in Class 2 and took it very steady to start. Learning the ropes together, the pair was very conscious not to do anything silly and not to break the vehicle. They thought about their approach to every punch to minimise the stress on components to ensure that they kept running all day. This they did and they had a good result because of it. We hope to see them again soon. For Luke Margereson and Mathew Fear it just wasn’t their day. After borrowing a helmet and getting going they completed 14 punches before their rear diff let go. With no spare they were out. Paul Curling and Andrew Rossiter set off, in their words, at their normal tortoise pace with over 100 years between them. It was a wise plan as the heat was pretty severe. They got into the special section second and, after completing this, headed for the very far end of the site. Again, a wise plan, demonstrating their experience as this method works very well. Why? Because there is less traﬃc at the far end of the site and

therefore less chance of having to queue up to get to the punches – and because you are heading back towards the pits. Deep Scar is a very long site and if you break down at the far end it is a very long walk back and very time consuming. So doing this means you are always getting closer. They slowly picked off punches they were happy doing. They came across a broken truck so gave the crew a hand to get them back to the pits. After this they tried to drive to a punch and their truck cut out after a few good bounces. They thought that was it for them but half an hour later it miraculously came back to life. They carried on until they got to the big rock half way down the site. The truck got beached on top

and some strange noises started coming from under the bonnet. They managed to drag it off but in doing so broke the gearbox mounts, and the auxiliary belt had shredded itself, so they took a slow drive back to the pits. After all this they still managed to take ﬁrst place in Class 2. Proof, if proof were needed, never ever give up. Rob Curling and Paul Hitchman started the day strong, smashing a few punches out and then the special section. Paul is a shire horse of a man and so this special section was perfect for them. Before timekeeper Pip Evans could say ‘ready set go’, Rob was out the vehicle, over Paul’s shoulder and running. Rob was very lucky to have the machine in the shape of Paul and they put down the fastest time. A few punches later they snapped both ropes, so a quick stop and regroup to re-splice them and they were back underway. They worked their way to the furthest point of the site where the rig decided its fuel pump would stop working. After a bushman’s ﬁx of bypassing the pump and sucking fuel into the swirl pot, Rob got a bit light headed so they limped back to camp and he lay down to wait for the effects of fuel vapor inhalation to wear off. Richard and Lianne Evans had had a pretty smooth time at the previous two events and had good

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MOTORSPORT results. However, this time things didn’t go quite to plan. Two punches in and the special section completed, they broke a CV joint and had to be recovered to the pits. It turned out that the CV had also wrecked the halfshaft. With no spares they asked other teams, who came up trumps with the shaft they needed. A few hours later and it was ﬁxed and back out to tackle some more. Even with the massive time lost they had done enough in the afternoon to come third. Usually teams would stay out till the bitter end to gain as many points as possible, but by the end of the afternoon many teams were returning earlier than expected as the Scar and the extreme heat had beaten them. It was a tough day, demonstrated by the fact that all the teams lay in the shade pouring water over each other. It was amazingly glorious weather, but maybe not so great for running up steep hills in deep woodland. In Class 1, third place went to Richard and Lianne Evans with a score of 1052 points, while second went to Kieran Robinett and Jake

Joanides with 2304. Georgie Smith and Will Baker took the win in Class 1 win with 4196 points. It was a brilliant haul considering the tough punches, made even harder by the fact that Class One trucks only have one winch. In Class 2, third place went to Dee Fox and Henry Harris on 2568 points. Second were Rob Curling and Paul Hitchman with 4304 points. But even with their issues, Paul Curling and Andrew Rossiter had a steady run and kept going all day to take the Class 2 win with 5401 points. Only a few punches off ﬁlling a full card. Most of the entries for this event were in Class 3, so there was a big ﬁeld and scoring was close. Third place went to Kevin Bates and Joby Hooley, with 3366 points, while second went to Chris Taylor and Sean Baines with 5152. But the winners of the event, and Class 3, were Scott Haines and James Watts, who managed to almost complete two full cards on their way to an impressive 10,175 points. Deep Scar is a brutal site. Add to that the intense heat, and it

felt like you were in the Amazon rainforest rather than a little wood in Northamptonshire. So anyone who

T C E F R E P E TH E H T R O F G COATIN H S I N I F T C E PERF

competed, let alone got a podium position, deserved to be there and was worthy of the accolades.

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PRODUCTS

Classic alloy wheel from Sterling Automotive promises to combine strength with style for Defenders from 1990 on Price: £245 per wheel Available from: www.sterling-automotive.co.uk

terling Automotive’s Classic Defender Alloy Wheel combines strength with no-nonsense rugged styling and can be had in a choice of polished black, gloss black and satin black ﬁnishes. Any colour you want, then, so long as it’s… Suitable for Defenders made between 1990 and 2016, the wheel is an 8x17” alloy with a deeply concave design. It has a 113mm centre bore, a 5 x 165 PCD and an offset of ET10, and each unit has a maximum load of 1250kg. The wheels are available direct from Sterling Automotive priced at £225 plus VAT per piece. You’ll ﬁnd them at sterling-automotive.co.uk.

New guide bush kit from Powerflex could save X5 and X6 owners from death by invoice Price: £25.24 per bush Available from: www.powerflex.co.uk IF YOU’VE GOT A BMW X5 OR X6 and there’s a knocking noise coming from the front dampers, you probably think you’re in line for a big bill. And indeed you might be; it’s a BMW X5 or X6, innit? But you might be lucky. It might simply be that the dampers’ guide bushes are breaking up. This is lucky because the guide bushes are not the shocks themselves, not indeed the top mounts in which they’re housed. In each of those cases, it’s going to be expensive – but the good news is that Powerflex has just introduced its new PFF5-1430 Front Strut Top Mount Guide Bush kit, meaning you can replace these oft-overlooked items for what by X5/X6 standards counts as small change. The Powerflex bushes are made from 70A durometer polyurethane material, promising greater performance and durability than the original. They’re covered by a no-quibble lifetime warranty, too. As well as turning to them as a distress purchase, the company suggests using them as a fit-and-forget addition to any front suspension overhaul on one of these vehicles.

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PRODUCTS

Latest new model from Toylander puts your kids behind the wheel of a 90 Price: £5375 (fully built) From: www.toylander.com WITH CHRISTMAS ON THE HORIZON, Toylander has introduced an all-new model to its range. The electric-powered Toylander 90 ‘salutes the classic styling of the 1984 model’ and comes with the correct wheelarches and wing mirrors as well as a tow bar. It’s not plated for 3500kg, however. But Toylander’s replica kids’ 90 has forward and reverse gears, speed control, a foot brake and handbrake, lights, a folding windscreen, an opening tailgate, pneumatic tyres and a horn. Based on a monocoque body of some 1.6m long x 78cm wide x 70cm high, the 90 can seat 2-3 children depending on their size, or one adult (again depending on size, you’d think). It has a safe top speed of 5mph and is ‘the ultimate toy for intrepid little explorers.’ As usual with Toylander, customers have the choice of buying a fully built car or, to make a project of it, a comprehensive build manual. The latter contains all the information you’ll need to build a vehicle from scratch, including full cutting details and dimensions for body panels. The company can then sell you all the parts you’ll need to ﬁnish the job.

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PRODUCTS

Performance exhaust for petrol-powered Defenders Price: £1700 (RRP) Available from: Milltek Sport dealers IF YOU’VE GOT A NEW-SHAPE DEFENDER with a petrol engine, you must be loaded. Or at least, you must have been. Until you got a new-shape Defender with a petrol engine, etc. Assuming you do still have some remaining moolah in your life, you can let the world know by ﬁtting your Landy with a new stainless cat-back system from performance exhaust specialist Milltek Sport. This is available for 90s and 110s with the P300, P400, P400e and V8 powertrains – and they’re currently developing one for the 130, too. Choices, choices. You can have these exhausts in resonated and non-resonated form and with a choice of tips, allowing you to individualise both your Defender’s sound and the appearance of its tailpipes. In every case, the company says they’re designed to ‘offer improvements over the standard system in terms of acoustics, performance, aesthetics and driving dynamics.’ All that from just an exhaust. But they’re made from T304L ‘aircraft grade’ stainless steel, so maybe that explains it. This also ‘ensures that the systems will comfortably withstand the harshest conditions that any Land Rover Defender will encounter on or off-road.’ As they should, at this price. The systems come with a lifetime guarantee, again as they should, though it doesn’t roll over for future owners which is less so. The weight savings do, though, as does the nice noise, and if you can afford a new Defender you don’t care anyway. Or you didn’t once.

We currently stock O.E. propshafts for many 4x4 models, but we are proud to have also spent time developing our own “Extreme” range. For the majority of 4x4 vehicles we can offer an upgraded propshaft option, whether you need greater angle, longer splines or larger torque capacity (which may give increased potential life-expectancy). Why choose “Extreme?” Wide Angle Operation - Double Cardan Joints - Heavy Duty Universal Joints Upgraded sliding assembly - Higher Torque Capacity - Heavy Duty Tubing

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PRODUCTS

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MODEL LAND ROVERS HERE IN TIME TO SAVE YOU THIS CHRISTMAS Price: £9.00 (approx) From: Britpart dealers WITH JUST A COUPLE MORE PRIME MINISTERS TO GO BEFORE CHRISTMAS, it’s that time of year again when you start thinking about what to buy for the off-roader in your life who already has everything. Or if you are that off-roader, it’s the time of year when your family ask you what you’d like and your answer isn’t allowed to include the words ‘roof’ or ‘tent’. Or if you’re a Land Rover fan, ‘galvanised’ or ‘chassis.’ You could of course ask for a whole new Land Rover. But with interest rates the way they are, perhaps one of these die-cat models from Britpart would be less likely to result in you getting socks instead. The eight-strong range is detailed and collectable, and it covers a number of Land Rovers you’re probably only ever going to be able to afford in 1:76 scale. The full list is: Discovery 4 (Firenze Red) Range Rover Sport SVR (Indus Silver) Range Rover Sport SVR (Fuji White) Range Rover Velar SE (Fuji White) Discovery 5 (Namib Orange) Defender 90 (Pangea Green) Defender 110 X (Gondwana Stone) Defender 110 (Indus Silver) We’ve just looked on Google Earth and there’s nothing very silver about the Indus at all, in fact it’s a rather worrying shade of brown. Not too sure about Firenze being red, either, unless they’re talking about an old Vauxhall coupé in that colour. And Fuji is very dark grey, even if the top bit tends to have snow on it. Perhaps it would be more in keeping with the mood of the season if they called it Nuclear Winter. Ho ho ho!

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PRODUCTS

Extreme braking for current Ford Ranger Price: From £1699 plus VAT Available from: lofclutches.com LOF CLUTCHES HAS DEVELOPED a new EXTREMEspec brake kit for the Ford Ranger. Designed in particular for vehicles with the higher-powered engines in the range, and those which spend a lot of time running heavily laden, towing trailers or going off-road, this is a 6-pot upgrade for the front discs featuring. choice of 345mm or 356mm rotors. The brake kits feature drilled and grooved discs with directional vents, plus pads made from an organic/ceramic friction material that’s designed to work at all operating temperatures and with minimal noise. They come with all the necessary fasteners, pins and anti-rattle shims, plus the correct grease. Your Ranger will need at least a 17” wheel to ﬁt the brakes. And you’ll need a degree of patience, as they’re made to order and the lead time is currently four weeks. There’s an advantage to this, however, which is that you get to choose the colour in which they’re anodised.

Heavy-duty tool roll for hardcore off-road repairs Price: £41.95 From: terraﬁrma4x4.com NEW FROM TERRAFIRMA FACTORY RACING, this heavy-duty 20oz canvas tool roll is designed to be stashed in your comp vehicle ready for when you’re out on a stage and need to make running repairs. It has no less than 23 pockets and pouches, variously secured by zips and velcro ﬂaps, and unrolls to give easy access to all its contents. All you need to do now is supply the tools.

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4x4

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4X4 TYRE EXPERTS & OFF ROAD SPECIALISTS Alloy and steel wheels for van, car, SUV & 4X4

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Call 01926 490002 Silverline 4x4 Units 3 & 4, Nelson Lane, Warwick CV34 5JB www.silverlinewheels-tyres.com | www.facebook.com/Silverline4x4 Silverline_4x4Mag_A4.indd 1 Silverline advertorial Nov 22.indd 20

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Reasons to visit Silverline 4x4: 1-2-3!

x4 lovers have got three more reasons to visit Silverline 4x4 – one of the most respected specialists and conversion centres in the UK. A hattrick of unique promotions* have been created to bring more motorists to the forecourt, including:

Free brake pads provided for life •when you buy a set of discs and pads from Silverline 4x4

Buy two or four premium •Bridgestone tyres and receive an Amazon voucher code of up to £40 in value

From October, Bridgestone ‘winter •safety kit’ for customers purchasing two or more Bridgestone A005 Weather Control tyres The Warwick-based centre boasts the best brands under one roof, and one call to centre manager Simon Mepstead and the team is all you need to ﬁnd out what solutions suit your 4x4. Its wheel and tyre packages are amongst the most impressive to be found in the UK, both on price and genuine quality. Rather than sell on price, Silverline 4x4 advises on the right solution for each vehicle they see.

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Centre manager Simon Mepstead said: “Our services aren’t like conventional automotive centres in so far as our products aren’t viewed as distress purchases, so price isn’t the overriding factor as the speciﬁc solution is the main requirement.” Silverline 4x4 is the only garage anywhere in the UK to stock the crit-

ically-acclaimed Unigrip tyre range, starring the Unigrip Lateral Force and Road Force tyres, available in 15” up to 20”. Meanwhile, the Bridgestone Dueler M/T 674 tyre is a rugged new product which is mud-focussed, but drives really nicely too. It’s a great all-round performer, so if the split

between all-terrain and mud outings is around 50/50, this could be a perfect tyre. * Terms and conditions apply. For more about Silverline 4x4’s services. call Simon and the team on 01926 490002 or visit them online at https://bit.ly/4x4Silverline

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CAGED OR UNCAGED? Jeep’s Rubicon Birdcage concept is rather oddly named – because surely the way to cage

s It A Bird? No, it’s a Birdcage. Those of you with weird and random brains might recall there was a previous vehicle called the Birdcage, but that was a Maserati back around 1960. This though, this is a Jeep concept that is meant to evoke feelings of wanting to be IN the cage, not released from it. So the name is a bit weird, and it becomes even weirder when you realise there’s a deliberate shift to remove any barriers between the outside and the inside. In Jeep’s own words it’s a ‘wideopen-air extreme 4x4 machine’. So as a birdcage it’s frankly a failure. There isn’t even anywhere convenient to put a small tub of bird seed and nowhere to tether a bit of cuttlefish. Tsk. At another level it doesn’t look promising either. This isn’t a brand new vehicle and it doesn’t incorporate particularly radical thinking. At one level, it’s simply a collection of parts. That’s not that surprising since this concept was put together by Mopar and JPP (Jeep Performance Parts). Of course, sometimes it’s not what you add, it’s what you take away that matters. Just ask any stripper. In this case, Jeep’s concept-car skunk works has removed the windscreen. Thoughtfully, they also removed the wipers too. We hope they took out the wash-wipe function as well, for those absent-minded moments that wouldn’t go well. So now there’s not so much separating you from the great outdoors, which can easily become the great indoors depending on rain, dust, snow and high winds. That might not work so well in your new Range Rover but the Jeep has had some modifications to toughen things up. We just hope the crew onboard have gone through a similar process of daily cold showers to get them into the mood. The instrument cowl has been customised to offer more protection to the dials from dirt and dust and there’s Armorlite vinyl floor covering everywhere. Well, on the floor, anyway. With drain holes installed, this is obviously meant to be a really rugged interior capable of being washed out. Which is slightly strange as the seats have had some pretty fancy work in the form of leather with distinctive inserts. Finished in Tobacco Leaf and Cocoa Brown, they contrast with the Surf Blue stitching, a combination which is carried through a great deal of the interior. Until Lorry Tyre Black, Brake Dust Metallic and Oily Puddle Grey are tastefully added. But of course, that isn’t the sort of environment this Birdcage Jeep is going to be living in. It’s not a coincidence that the unveiling of this concept was at the Easter Safari, against the background of Moab, Utah – rock-crawling mecca for four-wheelers everywhere. There, the concerns are axle-twisting, near-vertical climbs and finding traction on massive boulders worn smooth by the millennia and by scrabbling tyres. Against that background, the Birdcage makes considerable sense. One of the

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a bird is not to present it with as much access as you possibly can to the open air around it Words: Graham Scott Pictures: Jeep

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Tobacco Leaf and Cocoa Brown leather with contrasting Surf Blue stitching is definitely not what you want to be exposing to the elements on a wet Sunday at Kirton. Ideal in a truck with no windows or windscreen, then. But here we are in Moab, where the climate is drier than Jack Dee’s sense of humour and you can ‘wheel til you puke without getting a mark on your lovely interior. So long as you don’t actually puke, obviously first things you need to do when rock climbing is to be able to see where your wheels are, and so the ability to poke your head through where the windscreen would be is a plus. So too is the improved approach angle. Structural support bars which form part of the grille connect a custom rock-slider skid plate. That plate protects a recessed Warn winch, which is well placed for when the driver’s ambition exceeds his ability. Further aiding approach and departure angles, and everything else, is what Jeep call an ‘industry first’, a standard 2” lift kit using specially tuned Fox shocks. Those better control the 37” BFGoodrich KM3 tyres running on five-spoke 17” beadlock wheels. All of that might make an issue for clearance under the ‘fenders’ but here is where things get pretty creative. We know the USA is a big place. It’s a continent for heaven’s sake. But it still comes as a bit of a shock when Jeep tells you that its mudguard… sorry, fender… set-up ‘is the first 50-state legal fender flare with OEM, and meets 50-state tyre

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coverage requirements’. It’s like Land Rover having to get agreement from all the counties, with Surrey holding out for more testing. What Jeep’s engineers have done is use flat fender flares and wheel liners which have been designed specifically to provide extra clearance. They even have integral daytime running lights, which the owner can remove to gain yet further clearance. It’s a reminder that ‘rock crawling’ can be quite a challenge, although you’ll be doing it in style with the underbody rock lights that illuminate each corner. Keeping everything damage-free are enhanced rock rails each side, with extra slider tubes to try to keep the Birdcage free of dents. But of course, doing all that will raise a thirst and an appetite, so there’s a lid panel, called the Add-A-Trunk (really, Marketing, that’s the best you got?), that sits behind the back seats and covers the area when the rear tailgate is up. When the tailgate is down, it holds a flip-down table so everyone can chow down. If the four-door Jeep doesn’t have enough space for the necessary

beers, Dr Peppers and disgusting sweet sickly foodstuffs alongside half a cow, then there’s a 600lb Rhino-Rack (note to Marketing – better) up on the top of the roll bar. So that’s it, that’s the Jeep Birdcage Concept. Have we missed anything? Oh yes, the sort of thing for which you have to search press releases these days. What makes it go? It’s the 4xe plug-in hybrid so you can scrabble around the rocks with a relatively free conscience, since you can’t see the coal-powered power station upstate that’s pumping out CO2 by the ton so you can go ‘wheeling and breathe in all that fresh air through the open space where lesser people have to put up with a windscreen. A collection of parts, did we say? Yes, maybe, but a collection of very cool ones. It’s very Moab-friendly and it’s probably not the Jeep you’d want for a week on the North Coast 500 – though if the weather, and the midges, were in a docile mood, it’s hard to see how anything else could be more perfect. What’s that you say, a Maserati Birdcage? Don’t be facetious.

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FIRST DRIVE

NISSAN X-TRAIL Fourth generation of one of the highest-selling SUVs of all time arrives with a unique electriﬁed power train giving it a new kind of all-wheel drive. It’s no longer a truck – but is it still an X-Trail?

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hen Nissan launched the first-generation X-Trail back in 2001, people called it a ‘soft-roader.’ Turns out they were wrong. The X-Trail back then was a rugged thing. It wasn’t a big beast like the Patrol, and it didn’t have low range of a solid back axle like the Terrano, but it had the same approach as those fine old things and it was commendably truck-like in the way things like the Toyota RAV4 and Land Rover Freelander weren’t. In the words of one of Nissan’s own people, hunters could use it to bring home the wild boar they’d bagged. Also in Nissan’s own words, the all-new X-Trail had diamond-quilted premium nappa leather seats, sewn for perfect accuracy using a laser-guided stitching technique borrowed from the company’s premium Infiniti brand. So does this mean that if you’re a hunter with a recently deceased wild boar to bring home, Nissan has abandoned you? We asked them, and with the skill of a politician they said something nice that wasn’t really an answer. But they did go on to point out that the new X-Trail can tow up to 1800kg, which is the answer to an altogether more important question and one we might have thought to ask ourselves if we’d had out wits about us. And then they sat back and left it to the vehicle itself to shut us up with our snarky comments about wild boar. Which it did. To wind things back to the start, the new X-Trail is the fourth generation of vehicles to bear the name. The first two, which covered 2001-2014, looked more or less identical; the third was rather meekly anonymous by comparison, a bit like a stretched Qashqai, and as well as looking less truck-like that’s how it was to drive, too. This new one is the most radical yet. Or is it? Nissan says that in response to customer feedback, it has taken the best bits of the first three and put them in a blender to create this one, which has the design of the first, the versatility of the second and the seven seats of the third. So actually you could say it’s playing a straight bat to give the people what they want. But wait a moment, what was that? The same design as the first-generation X-Trail, really? Is that a joke? Apparently not. Look at it from the side, and the ratio of glass to sheet

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metal is exactly the same. That’s less of a detail than it sounds, even if the squared-off chunkiness of the original front end has been replaced by a design that’s sleeker, sharper and bang up-to-date. Put them side by side and the difference looks radical, but when you consider that Nissan’s styling journey since 2001 has included the Murano, Pathfinder, Qashqai, Juke and Navara, the progression becomes clear. And since we’re talking progression, let’s get the elephant out of the room. The new X-Trail is electric. In fact, Nissan describes it as a ‘game changer’ in the company’s electrification strategy. It’s not electric in any sense you’re likely to be familiar with, though. It’s not a hybrid, but it does have a petrol engine. Wot? This is a 1.5-litre triple, but it doesn’t drive the wheels. Instead, it’s mated to a generator which is constantly feeding in to the batteries – which in turn allow twin electric motors to turn the wheels. There are 2wd options also available on the X-Trail, but this is the only way of getting one with four-wheel drive. And it has its advantages, too, like the ability to shuffle torque away from spinning wheels in 1/10,000th of a second. Nissan told us its system works to counter pitching under hard acceleration or braking, too – and, intriguingly, that not needing to plug in and recharge the vehicle is an active selling point for some buyers. How times change, then change back. So, what you get is a 201bhp, 243lbf.ft motor up front and a 134bhp / 144lbf.ft one at the back. These do all the hard work, though the engine note does rise and fall with the effort the system is being asked to make. This isn’t necessary, but Nissan set it up as customer feedback showed that it adds to the feeling of engagement it gives people. Interestingly, in Japan, where people are much more used to CVTs, the engine has been set to rev its brains out under hard use. Something else it does, and this might twist your melon somewhat, is kick in on long descents to provide engine braking. You hear it, and you certainly feel it. We wondered whether this was another artificial effect, with the brakes doing the braking while the engine makes the right noise, but Nissan told us no. In this situation, when the car is in effect coasting, the wheels will try to recharge the batteries through regenerative braking. If

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FIRST DRIVE

Seen here in range-topping Tekna+ form, the X-Trail’s interior has a convincingly premium feel which goes well with the excellent general refinement of its drivetrain. Its seats are a definite highlight – the bright tan leather seen here will be available as an option in the UK, but even with the black colourway that will be standard here you’ll still get laser-guided precision stitching for the classy looking diamond quilts. The seating position is excellent and the seats themselves are extrement comfortable, with a huge range of adjustment including a lumbar cushion that keeps going until it feels like your stomach is about to start nestling under the steering wheel. Rear seat accommodation is impressive, too, with enough adjustment for one six-footer to lounge comfortably behind another – though in this configuration, legroom in the third row drops to approximately four inches. Nissan says it’s suitable back here for passengers up to 160cm in height, but also that the third row is only really intended for occasional use the batteries are full, however, that surplus energy has to go somewhere – so it will be sent back, via the generator, to be burned off by turning the engine, thus slowing the vehicle. So the engine doesn’t directly push the vehicle forward, but it can hold it back.

All well and good, but what’s it like to drive? Smooth, mainly. Smoothness and quietness are the initial impressions you take away, but thereafter it’s a lot like tooling around in a medium-sized SUV. It pulls very well, of course, from any legal speed and a few of the other

kind too, and it’s not until you get up to a fast cruise that wind noise starts to present itself. Even then, it’s incredibly refined on the motorway, even with the caveat that these were the superb-quality surfaces of Slovenia rather than the shattered remnants of what was once Britain.

It handles very smartly, too. First impressions are that we’d appreciate a little more life in the steering, but body control is amazing. Nissan puts this down to the torque vectoring that’s standard as part of its e-4ORCE drivetrain; certainly, its stability even in hard corners is

The second and third rows of seats drop easily into the floor to create a load bay that’s long, tall, reasonably wide and sufficiently flat-bottomed to let you slide heavy objects over a suitably low rear lip. There’s a bit of a slope to it, particularly when you get to the second row, but it’s still a good, practical proposition. Even with all the seats up, it’ll take a decent load

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22/10/2022 21:26

The entry-level drivetrain in the X-Trail range is a mild hybrid, but the big story are the e-Power and e-4ORCE options. These employ a 1.5-litre petrol engine to power a generator for the battery pack, which powers an electric motor (two in the case of the e-4ORCE, one at each end to give all-wheel drive). Thus you ﬁll it up rather than plugging it in, even though drive is fully electric with no mechanical link between the engine and the wheels

remarkable, and from what we’ve seen so far it would take something approaching malice aforethought to upset its composure. The potential is deﬁnitely there for an agile and engaging drive. Which brings us back to the offroad part of the deal. We said earlier on that the X-Trail put a sock in our snarky comments about it no longer being a vehicle for the real world of knockabout SUV use, though in truth that’s more about whether you’d want to nose it through bushes or jump aboard wearing muddy clothes. We expected it to have some skills, and indeed it does. In particular, once again that refusal to get upset is there, with the motors’ torque characteristics and general controllability meaning traction is rarely going to be an issue. There’s another caveat here, which is that our off-roading was mainly done on a purpose-built test track with a loose but bone dry surface, but on terrain that lifted one or more wheels clean off the ground it took just the minimum of throttle

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to bring the traction management into action. Ironically, this time engine braking is pretty much absent. There’s an effective Hill Descent Control function, which does the job, though we found that the vehicle ran away slightly on the kind of hill where you don’t expect to be engaging it. As always with a vehicle of this nature, off-roading is about choosing your battles. Or rather your terrain. It doesn’t have to be tame but it does need to be appropriate, and anything that’s just going to be a test of your tyres is, well, just going to be a test of your tyres. So for the sort of mud that needs you to ﬁt an all-terrain or more, you need to ask yourself what you actually want of a vehicle. Which brings us back to that interior, which is deﬁnitely not a place made for mud. The vehicles on the launch were German-registered and had a bright tan leather treatment; this will be available as an option in the UK, but in keeping with what the overwhelming major-

ity of punters want here the focus will be on black colourways. Taste is personal, but we reckon more people should dare to be different and go with the Euro look. Anyway, the dash design is quite upright, focused on a large media screen with a bank of easily accessed heating switches below it, then there’s a large ﬂoating console with a huge stowage area beneath the surface housing the gear and drive mode selectors. The seats are very comfortable, with an absolutely enormous range of lumbar adjustment, and you can slide the front two rows forward and back to let you accommodate four tall adults without any grief. You won’t be able to do so while also carrying passengers in the third row, however, because legroom here is about four inches when the seats ahead are all the way back, but if everyone gives a bit (quite a bit in some cases) you could at least treat it as a 5+2. Nissan says you can accommodate people up to 160cm tall in the back, but also that the third row is only ever really intended to be used as an occasional seat and not for long journeys, and we wouldn’t be included to try and prove them wrong. With UK deliveries already starting as we go to press, prices for the new X-Trail kick off at £32,030 for a base-spec Visia with two-wheel

drive. There are five trim levels in the range; Visia is the only one on which the e-4ORCE drivetrain isn’t available, so you’re looking at a 4x4 line-up starting at £38,340 for the Acenta Premium and climbing to £47,155 for the full-house Tekna+. Residual values are up to 57.6%, which is a 13% improvement over the previous model. Even so, there was a time when this would have sounded like absolutely bonkers money for an X-Trail. But that time was two decades ago, and inflation apart Nissan’s so-called soft-roader was a very different kind of prospect then to what it is now. There’s a genuinely premium feel to it which makes the most of the refinement that’s inherent in its drivetrain – so much that in today’s car market, those prices actually sound like strong value for money. Times change, and so has the X-Trail. In the most obvious ways, at least, though deep down Nissan’s monster-selling SUV is still what it once was. The truck-like approach has gone – but on this first impression, it’s still as good as ever at everything it does.

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DRIVEN

SKODA KODIAQ 2.0 TSI 190 4X4 The best vehicle never to win our 4x4 of the Year title emerges from the inevitable facelift with its soul intact – a little more modern, perhaps, but mainly still the SUV that took the world by storm

WHEN A VEHICLE IS AS ALL-ROUND BRILLIANT AS THE SKODA KODIAQ, giving it a mid-life facelift can’t be the easiest of jobs. It would be a bit sycophantic to fetch out the ‘how do you improve on perfection’ line, but having had a 2.0 TDI Scout on long-term test through most of 2018 and

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early 2019 and absolutely loved it, we did find ourselves wondering what the company was going to do to keep its flagship SUV fresh. The first answer is that the range has been slimmed down since the Kodiaq was first launched, and the Scout model, with its gentle off-road bias, doesn’t exist any more. A step backwards, if you ask us, but it wouldn’t have happened if people had been buying them so what do we know? Well, what we know is that we’re aboard a 2.0 TSI Sportline here. It has four-wheel drive, with 190bhp and 236lbf.ft going to each corner via a DSG auto gearbox. It looks funky on its 20” alloy wheels and at the time of writing, you’re going to do £42,665 on it. Ours had a few options on it including an uprated stereo, ‘Virtual Cockpit’ digital dash display, Skoda’s Family Pack (made up of door edge protection, roller blinds on the rear windows and bins in the door cards) and a tailgate that opens when you waggle your foot under the back bumper. That’s a grand or so on top, and to be honest the Kodiaq needs precisely none of it to be an excellent vehicle. This one’s a seven seater. As before, the third row is best left to the little ‘uns, especially if you’re planning to cover any sort of distance, but the second is extremely spacious and when it’s in cargo-hauling mode you can get the entire contents of a small flat in it. In fact, you can probably get the small

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Above left: This, children, is what a petrol engine looks like. We’ve driven countless Kodiaqs, from grocery-getters and kid-shifters to off-roaders and tarmac terrors, but they’ve always burned oil for breakfast. Until now. This here is a Kodiaq for the government by gaslight era in which the diesel cars they encouraged us to buy for 25 years are now being fast-tracked to an early grave. Ludicrous, you may well feel, but at least now there are some brilliant petrol engines in the world instead – and few are better than Skoda’s smooth, refined and smartly powerful 2.0 TSI 190 Above right: Whether it’s a five or sever-seater, the Kodiaq has always been a world-class load lugger. This one’s a seven, for the record; the third row is hardly the place to put an adult, but when both rows go down the space they leave is sensational flat in it. Practicality was always one of the Kodiaq’s strong suits, and they’ve done nothing to mess with that. The driving position is as good as ever, too. Ergonomic seats with heating, cooling and a massage function are available on the options list, and jolly nice they sound too (if not exactly cheap), but our suede-clad sports seats were just fine, thank you, whether we were cruising our way across the country on the motorway, leaning on it in corners or sloshing around in muddy puddles on the sort of green lanes that suit an SUV like the Kodiaq. To be honest, while the Kodiaq’s styling has been gently updated it looks a lot like the old one, both inside and out, and that’s also how it is to drive. Which is all good, because if ever a car didn’t need messing with it’s this one. It steers and handles with a spectacular blend of sharpness and smoothness, poise and response, and it’s never less than soothingly calm on board. Ride quality is excellent, even on such big rims – there was a time when the prospect of road-testing a Skoda on 235/40R20s would have had us arranging an appointment with the chiropractor for afterwards, but the Kodiaq has put that time firmly in the past. In these ways, it’s all reassuringly familiar. They didn’t need to change much and by and large, they’ve left well alone. There has been one big change in the world since the Kodiaq first came out, though. Back then, diesel was the big answer to saving the world. Now, it turns out diesel was like one of those plausible Bond villains who finally reveal themselves to be genocidal madmen after all and petrol is the big answer to saving the world. Until there’s enough charging points around, at least, and then batteries will be the big answer to saving the world. Until they figure out how to create a network of hydrogen filling stations, at least, and then fuel cells will be the big answer to saving the world. Anyway, building as many new cars as possible is definitely the big answer to saving the world, at least that much never changes. All of which is our way of saying that after years of loving the Kodiaq with various TDI lumps ahead of us, suddenly we’re dealing with a petrol job. And here’s an irony. Once, the car industry was fighting to make diesel engines drive like petrol ones. Now, Skoda is doing a very good job of making petrol engines drive like diesels.

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This is a good thing, we hasten to add. Those power and torque figures are definitely not your typical petrol profile, but the 2.0 TSI 190 digs it out from way down in the rev range to keep you moving without ever needing to scream like a banshee. It snarls nicely when you kick it down but it never sounds frantic and most of the time you don’t hear it at all. We’ve already praised the vehicle itself for its smoothness, poise and response, and all those words apply to the engine too. Fuel consumption is quoted at 33.834.5mpg, and we have no quarrel with that. With a 0-62 time of 7.8 seconds, this is the quickest Kodiaq after the full-house vRS model (which we’ll be testing later in the autumn, and safe to say we’re quite looking forward to it). It feels more purposeful than fast, to be honest, but though it doesn’t deliver a sense of occasion in this way it certainly does feel capable of more or less anything you’d ask an SUV to do. And that’s the Kodiaq to a tee. If you want to see ordinary competence in a car being elevated to an art form, step this way. It was always thus, and it still is. We have to admit that we do feel a pang of loss when we look at the range and there’s no Scout left. But mainly, we’re glad that Skoda left well alone most of the time when it facelifted the Kodiaq. Half a decade has passed since it first arrived – and it’s still one of the very best SUVs money can buy.

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DACIA SETS OUT ITS MANIFESTO Concept off-road adventure vehicle puts its occupants at one with nature by breaking Words: Graham Scott Pictures: Dacia

his isn’t a new model. But it might just contain some elements you’ll ﬁnd on future production vehicles. Of course, that means it might also contain some of the elements that don’t exist on the Manifesto. Dacia’s concept takes some of the mainstream themes about the whole ‘being at one with Nature’ just that bit further. It’s described as environmentally friendly partly because of what it

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FOR EXPLORING THE WORLD down the barriers between them and the great outdoors

doesn’t have. It doesn’t have doors, nor windows nor windscreen. Dacia’s view is that this removes barriers between the passengers and the great outdoors. Perhaps the next concept vehicle will simply remove the vehicle entirely, thereby taking away any remaining barriers. Those with off-road experience will instantly recognise the consequences for the interior when the exterior can come in any time it wants. Nature

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is marvellous of course, but perhaps less so when it’s raining, snowing, spraying mud or dust or sending freezing hail into your face. Dacia has considered this. There is a notable absence of chrome, as evinced in the latest production models anyway. There is cork covering the dashboard and the seat covers are easily washable and can double as sleeping bags. You can actually hose out the in-

terior, they claim – as have other manufacturers, but in this case it actually looks believable. Partly because there just isn’t much in there. It’s pretty low tech in that you’ll need your smartphone to integrate with the on-board systems, like for ﬁnding out where you’ve ended up, or looking up why David Attenborough still hates you. The exterior continues the chunky minimalism, with the few body panels mainly composed of

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Winch it to freedom, lash stuff to its panels, drive it all around the world then home in time for tea and a vigorous hose-out. The Manifesto lacks certain things, like doors and a windscreen, but in their place it promises to get you up close and personal with nature recycled plastic. The idea is that the light weight takes fewer resources to make it and to run it. On top is a conﬁgurable roof racking system for all your ‘lifestyle’ accessories – although whether it could cope very much depends on your lifestyle. Tyres – it has some. Four you note, not ﬁve. And they are solid, so no air was damaged in

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their creation or running. Again, the idea is to be environmentally sound so you can’t get a puncture and can make the tyres last for years. We’ll discuss the ride quality another time apparently. Headlights – it’s got just the one. And you can take it off to illuminate your snug bivouac, or to check out that worrying rustling and growling from the undergrowth. Similarly, the battery can be removed and can be accessed from a household outlet to turn it into the energy source you need when your ﬁrelighting skills don’t quite match those of Bear Grylls.

However, it does have some stuff that we might recognise. Like four-wheel drive, decent ride height, big wheels and a body that should be able to take some damage and wear. However, we’ve been right through the press release and have failed to ﬁnd any mention of what powers the Manifesto. Perhaps we’ve reached that stage with Nature where it doesn’t have an engine, just a couple of removable plates in the ﬂoor where you put your legs down and start paddling. Upside – no costs or emissions. Downsides – you’ll catch all the polar bears by surprise. And at that point the lack of barriers between occupants and the outdoors might not seem quite so nature-friendly, or at least nature itself might not seem as friendly towards you as you are towards it.

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OUR DEALERS ARE RECRUITING. Working at a John Deere dealership is bigger than just a job. It’s a passion. It’s constant growth and development. And it’s pride - pride in your community, from the first customer you serve. It’s knowing that what you do helps to feed, clothe, and shelter the world. It all starts with you. Become a technician and be connected for life. This industry continues to evolve to embrace the latest technology and we develop machines and solutions to deliver more. Like making things work and fixing things that don’t? Skilled technicians are vital to maintain the technologically advanced equipment that modern agriculture and sports turf businesses depend on. As a technician you’ll work with the very latest in agricultural or turf technology and have many exciting career opportunities.

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DECEMBER 2021 | 9

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TURNING OVER A NEW

There was a time when leaf springs still played a role in the off-road engineering people were still using the old technology to win punch hunts, however, putting Rover axled comp safari special was deﬁnitely not conventional wisdom. But Jamie Lister’s Suzuki Samurai lookalike had just as much method about it as it Words: Gary Noskill Pictures: Steve Taylor

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LEAF

of the day. While them on a Range as it turned out, did madness

housands of years ago, I did an article about a bloke with a hybrid Land Rover that rolled on 35” tyres. These days, you wouldn’t look twice at it, but back then it was absolutely ground-breaking. Transfer case breaking, too, if I recall rightly, but that’s another story. After we’d ﬁnished doing our photos, we repaired to the pub (the Bustard Inn, in fact, mention of which may well having you coming over all nostalgic) and got to chatting about what matey was going to do next. I mean, how do you follow a Defender on bigger tyres than anyone’s ever seen before? The answer surprised me. ‘I think we can learn a lot from the vehicles they build in America,’ he said. ‘Over there, they’re achieving remarkable things with the simple leaf spring.’ Now, the next time I saw him he was driving a Range Rover. And it wasn’t leaf-sprung. But to a great extent, he was right. Twenty years or so back, there was a dedicated group of off-road businesses making a healthy living by helping people get the best from their leafers. In fact, for a spell back then there was a time when the most effective challenge truck in the UK was a Lightweight running portals – on a set of simple cart springs. Comp safari, though. No leafers here, surely? That would be nuts. Or maybe it would be THE nuts, if you could pull it off. There were always a few leafers getting stuck in during the great days of the Hillrally, and the best of them were capable of mixing it with all but the fastest buggies and hybrids. But who would choose to campaign a leaf-sprung special in the cut and thrust of the Northern Off Road Club’s comp safari championship? The answer to that question is Jamie Lister. Back then, he built a mid-engined Suzuki hybrid using Range Rover axles and remote-reservoir Fox shocks. Range Rover axles, let me repeat. And nary a coil spring in sight. ‘In comp safari,’ Jamie told us, ‘the single most important thing is your suspension.’ That’s him telling us, not us pointing it out gently to him.

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Leaf springs and remote-reservoir Fox shocks are not a combination you see every day. But any suspension builder will tell you how crucial damping is, and to a certain extent spring rates are just spring rates. Obviously, with all else being equal you’ll get more suppleness from coils, but the Suzuki’s ability to cover ground demonstrates just how much you can achieve using the old tech There’s method in the madness. Actually, there’s no madness at all really, just method. What Jamie created was a vehicle that’s plenty fast enough to be fun, not to mention being quicker than a good number of coil-sprung V8s. But he also created a motor that gave him the

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opportunity to compete meaningfully for class honours – something that’s denied to the many vehicle builders who, by following conventional wisdom, end up going head-to-head with the sort of racers whose budget means you might as well be trying to win the Dakar.

Make no mistake, you’re looking at a proper grass-roots off-road racer here. It may have loadsamoney shocks, but elsewhere it’s the result of a ‘beg, borrow and steal’ approach (not actual stealing, obviously) which, coupled with a large helping of ingenuity on the part of Jamie and

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Mounted in the back, a 1.6-litre Ford crossflow engine running twin Weber 40s has been fettled up to produce an estimated 130bhp. It drives an Escort Mk2 gearbox which, as luck would have it, fits perfectly on to a Suzuki transfer case. It’s cooled by the rad from a Cavalier diesel – at least, it is when the exhaust manifold isn’t blowing flames directly through it co-driver Peter Oakden, has resulted in a car that should serve as an example to everyone starting out in comp safari racing of what can be achieved

if you’re not scared to be written off as a bit of a nutter. The vehicle grew out of an involvement with Suzukis that began in 2002, when Jamie and Peter competed in an SJ which they had built for comping but which wasn’t without its drawbacks. ‘We really enjoyed it,’ said Jamie. ‘But we found some fundamental ﬂaws like they like to fall over, and we were braking halfshafts and CV joints in the front axle. ‘So we decided we wanted to stay in the leafsprung class, but we wanted something a bit special, and something that wouldn’t go through halfshafts every ten minutes. And hopefully won’t roll as easily.’ The choice of a Suzuki as the basis for such a project is, if not completely unique, then certainly unusual. But the pair already had a lot of Suzuki parts, and by this stage Jamie was already being won over by the marque’s virtues: ‘I fancied building a rear-engined Suzuki, and keeping a lot of Suzuki gear rather than Land Rover, because it’s a lot lighter.’ As it turned out, the vehicle’s looks would suggest that it contains more in the way of Suzuki bits than it actually does. But at least it IS based on an SJ chassis… or, to be more accurate, two SJ chassis. The reason for this is that in order to get the stability they wanted for high-speed handling over rough terrain, Jamie and Peter decided a 100-inch wheelbase would be in order and that the chassis should be widened by 100mm. This was achieved by stripping the ﬁrst chassis down to its main rails and front and rear crossmembers, then cutting sections of an appropriate length out of the same areas of the second and sleeving them into place. Not the lightest of solutions, but massively strong – and at least it means the vehicle’s weight is mainly low down, as the rollcage, which was bent up by a local engineering shop to Jamie’s own drawings, is made from nice, light CDS, as opposed to the gas pipe used on the old SJ.

Thus the vehicle’s design was inherently more stable than that of the old SJ, and Jamie planned to enhance this with his choice of running gear. ‘We wanted more robust axles,’ he said, ‘and we wanted them to be wider – like I say, the two main problems with the SJ were it tips over easy, and the halfshafts and CVs burst. To cure that, I wanted longer axles, stronger axles, and that’s the two main ﬂaws got shot of instantly.’ At this stage, the team’s plan was to use Toyota Hilux axles, for the very good reason that Dave Hoar, he of Parkwood Off-Road fame (say ‘Tong’ and the level of fame instantly doubles), had a couple lying around. But because these have centrally mounted diffs, they would have required the rear propshaft to run right through the engine. A problem, some would say. So it was time for Plan B. Normally, this is code for a complete return to the drawing board, but in this case there actually was a Plan B, in the shape of a friend who was scrapping a Range Rover. Range Rover axles have offset diffs, which is jolly good, but they don’t normally have much to do with leaf springs. So, out came the gas axe and off came all the bracketry for the radius arms, trailing links and A-frame. In their place went a set of plates for the springs to sit on. In a ﬁne example of thinking ahead, these were welded to the underside of the axles – the reason being that with the engine being mounted in the rear, and with comp safari being a thing that’s traditionally done by going forward, they were set to be turned over. At the same time, Jamie decided to reverse the position of the springs’ shackles, moving them from the front to the rear mounting point. ‘It’s a more natural way to go,’ he told us. ‘The axles swing backwards and upwards now. If the shackles are at the front, the axle tries to come forward

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if you hit a bump at speed. What we were ﬁnding was that the leaf springs were bending at the rear of the axle, and this makes it a more natural direction for the axle to travel in.’ The shackles themselves are slightly longer than standard; combined with more curvature in the heavy-duty springs themselves, which were made to order by local company SMJ, this meant far better ground clearance than you’d get on a standard vehicle. In addition, the mounts are packed out by an inch on box-section steel, lifting the vehicle still further out of harm’s way. Turning axles upside-down is a not uncommon solution on mid-engined vehicles, but with this one there was an extra twist in the shape of a hybrid steering setup. ‘On a Suzuki,’ explained Jamie, ‘the drag arm and the track arm is one unit at the front. On a Land Rover, the track arm is at the rear of the axle, and the drag arm goes to one side – usually on the passenger’s side there’s an arm out of the front and one out of the back, and on the driver’s side there’s just one at the back. But we needed two arms sticking out of the front. ‘Now, a friend of mine told me that on the TD5s, they have an extra arm on the front. We had to wait six months until we ﬁnally got the right-hand swivel housing off a TD5 – and then because the axle’s upside down, we had to re-drill and re-tap it.’ Having put the steering together, it came apart again so Jamie could convert the vehicle to PAS. He used the system from either an Isuzu Trooper or a Vauxhall Frontera. ‘We’re not quite

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sure which,’ he told us. ‘It’s another thing we were given. Unfortunately it’s leaking, but hopefully it won’t be too bad.’ The Isuzu (or is it Vauxhall) PAS box is mated to the Suzuki steering column at one side; to the other, it operates rose-jointed track and drag arms to the Land Rover swivels. ‘I originally thought we’d manage perfectly okay without power steering,’ recalls Jamie. ‘But because we’ve got so much castor angle, when you turn the steering it actually lifts the front of the car up and down. So by the time you’re halfway round, you’re already breathing heavily…’ The steering uses a remote electric pump which looks not unlike something off a washing machine. It shares the front of the vehicle with the tank and fuel pump, as well as the washer bottles and horns, so just as well there’s no engine there. Jamie’s rationale for taking the mid-engined route is an interesting one, too. ‘Leaf springs are never going to be as good as a coiler. But what we thought was that if we put the engine in the back, it spreads the weight. Hence no more problems with damaged front axles. It’s more balanced. But it’s more complicated, too.’ This is something he started discovering soon after arriving home with a 1.6-litre Ford crossﬂow engine which, he believes, started life in a Fiesta XR2. ‘I think it was only the early XR2s and XR3s that had the transverse crossﬂow. At the time I didn’t know that, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it. There’s no spigot bearing at the end of the

crankshaft for an in-line gearbox, so we’ve had to have a brass bush machined into that.’ The crank was reground at the same time, part of a fairly extensive fettling and tweaking programme which also saw it gain a mild-to-hot-road camshaft and ported and polished big-valve head. Ford’s XR range of cars had engines which were already mildly tweaked, making them popular with tuners even today – it’s the little things like lightened flywheels that make a huge difference when every last ounce of power counts. The pièce de résistance, however, is clearly the twin 40 Webers which deliver the heady mixture that lets the engine run so well. ‘They probably cost more than the engine,’ said Jamie, half ruefully and half proudly. Without having had the vehicle on a rolling road, he said he reckoned he’d be happy with 130bhp – judging by our experience of the way the vehicle took off, even with the faulty distributor that ailed it on our test day, he ought to be a happy man. Once you’re done with lusting after Jamie’s carbs, you’ll spot what looks like a rather gruesome conflict between a hot exhaust manifold, the shock reservoirs and the cooling system. Mid-engined racers often have an air scoop on the roof and a rad immediately behind the cabin, but in this case the unit is actually mounted behind the engine. Not the ideal place to be getting your ram air from, you’d have thought, but Jamie reckons it does the business. ‘We’ve not had any problems, in fact with the fans running it gets too cold. It’s a Vauxhall Cavalier diesel radiator, and it’s quite large compared to the Escort one. We’ve got air ducts on it from the roof and the side, and we haven’t had any problems at all with it getting hot – except when we cracked the exhaust open at the last event, and then it was blowing red-hot gases straight through the radiator…’ When it comes to the shock reservoirs, on the other hand, when we met Jamie he admitted that action was required. ‘It isn’t sleeved at the moment, but it does need it. But it’s just finances, it’s another £35. For the last event, I’ve just had to buy a new silencer and flexi pipes, and you’ve done £75 there, and then we’ve just put the power steering on it. We’re not one of those teams that can afford to do everything at once.’ If you’re not nodding along with that, lucky you. Moving downstream from the engine, an Escort MkII gearbox fits perfectly ‘by sheer fluke’ on to a standard Suzuki transfer box. ‘We wanted to stop with Suzuki, first because we had one and second because quite a lot of the standard Suzuki parts are quite strong for what they do, and a Suzuki transfer box would be a lot lighter than a Land Rover one.’ A drive flange from an early SJ transfer box was required to mate to the propshafts, but these too presented another of those happy accidents you pray for at every stage of a vehicle build. ‘Suzuki and Land Rover propshafts use exactly the same diameter tube. So all you do is cut the UJ off a Land Rover propshaft. We’ve used Suzuki splines where it’s mated up to the centre bearing, and where it’s mated up to the Range Rover axle we’ve slid UJs into the Suzuki propshafts and welded them round.’

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Range Rover axles have been ﬂipped to suit the vehicle’s mid-engined layout, stripped of their original brackets and plated to take a set of leaf springs. Steering is by a hybrid Suzuki / Land Rover set-up using a front-right swivel from a TD5 Defender – necessary as it has a bracket at the front for a track rod, whereas the older variety only had one at the rear. Actually, the system became a hybrid of Suzuki, Land Rover and either Vauxhall or Isuzu, because one of the latter (there was no obvious way of telling which) donated a PAS box which turned comp safari into a form of motorsport rather than an expensive way of getting a workout Would that be a home-made pair of propshafts, then? You can almost hear the tutting. ‘We’ve not had any problems with it. People say you’ve got to spend a fortune and take it to a proper place, but we’ve not noticed any vibrations at all. I mean, on leaf springs it’s that rough you don’t hear any knocking anyway!’ Don’t believe him? At the event before we met Jamie, he had managed to shear off a transfer box mount… without even noticing until he got the vehicle home. It’s this mixture of a happy-go-lucky approach and proper design and engineering skills that make both the team and their vehicle so unusual. The whole project was conceived and completed in Jamie’s garage, which is ‘probably the smallest in the world,’ and folding aluminium sheets to make the bodywork proved a nightmare. ‘We’ve had to be really economical, we’ve used axle

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stands and little trolleys to shuﬄe it from side to side, that sort of thing.’ Economy has indeed been the theme throughout the racer’s build, from an original budget of £800 (long since blown out of the water, obviously) to the use of a standard Suzuki pedal box, master cylinder and servo as a way of saving a little weight. There’s almost no such thing as a build that doesn’t take longer than planned, and the Suzuki spent around a year longer in the workshop than Jamie originally expected, but between one thing and another (little things like a broken hand, you know how it is) it’s something of a miracle that it wasn’t a lot longer still. ‘Quite a few things went pear-shaped,’ he admitted to us. ‘You do get ﬂat spots, when it’s robbing all your time and all your money and all it looks like is a lump of scrap metal.’ But then you also get friends and family who help out, provid-

ing advice and encouragement and mucking in with the jobs they can take off you. And then comes the day when it all turns out to have been worth it. Some people are only satisfied with winning, but for most vehicle builders it’s all about hearing the engine running for the first time, firing the timing lights at the end of your first ever lap and pulling in to the pits at the end of your maiden safari with the vehicle you built still going strong. ‘To an extent,’ Jamie mused, ‘a serious leafsprung motor is a joke. But we have been putting some good times in. When we raced the SJ, everybody was overtaking us. Now, in the first couple of events we’ve done in it, we’ve been overtaking quite a few people – especially V8 Land Rovers and things. ‘I’m not saying it’s the fastest thing out there. But it’s been quite an eye-opener.’

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heart and soul

More and more Land Rover Defenders now are getting converted using the BMW M57 3.0-litre diesel engine. That’s what you’ll ﬁnd aboard this tidily presented 90 – though in addition to its new heart, it also has the soul of something altogether closer to home… Words: Tom Alderney Pictures: Richard Hair

f there’s one big trend in the world of Land Rover Defenders right now, it’s BMW M57 diesel engine conversions. Blinging them up has been going on for so long it doesn’t even count as a trend any more, but the Bavarian sixpot is relatively new on the scene. It, too, though, is here to stay. We’ve covered M57 Defenders in these pages on occasion before, but this one is a bit unusual in

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that the engine (and the gearbox, which invariably comes too) are not the only things about it that count as being out of the ordinary. Because down below, this here Land Rover is a 90 that doesn’t think it’s a 90 anymore. What does it think it is? Apart from a BMW 525d, obviously? The answer lies closer to home and becomes apparent when you clamber below the 90’s rear end (a thing we’ve all got used to

doing over the years). Here’s you’ll ﬁnd a nice big beam axle – but it’s held to the vehicle by a nice big Watts linkage. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this 90 has had the heart of a German saloon car and the soul of a Discovery 2. The work was done by a couple of lads who’re well known in Land Rover circles down Wiltshire way, not least because they work for one of the south-west’s best established independent

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specialists. They’re the sort of people who can do more or less anything that’s worth doing when it comes to Defenders. This incluides rescuing them from death, it would appear. Because prior to the restoration happening, the 90 had been written off (if Cat N can count as a write-off when you’re talking about a Land Rover) by the rather inconvenient matter of an engine ﬁre.

This made it ripe for the job, because it was still sound as a pound but was wanting for an engine that didn’t have scorch marks all over it. Who wouldn’t leap at the chance to buy it back from the insurer and get down to work? The engine that went in spent the ﬁrst part of its life in a BMW 535d. It was on 130,000 miles, and for a properly main-

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tainted one that’s nothing. This one was properly maintained and on top of than that, while being prepped for its new life it was properly fettled too. In standard form, the M57 engine produced 161-282bhp and 258-428lbf.ft depending on its state of tune. This one is running a bigger intercooler, an alloy rad and a stainless exhaust – among other things, we’d guess, as it now puts out 360bhp, turning the 90 into a bit of a sleeper. Top speed won’t be enormously higher, but the rate at which it gets there has been transformed. In particular, you feel it when blasting out of roundabouts – we’re all familiar with the rising swell of torque you get in a Tdi or Td5, but in comparison this is like racing ashore on the crest of a towering breaker. Not that this is just a street machine. It certainly is one, not to mention being a sleeper to reckon with, but it’s an off-roader too. It’s not like its builders swapped it to independent suspension from a butchered Jag and dumped its ride height

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into the weeds, after all – a Disco 2 might not be a ﬂexible as an old-school Landy with an A-frame rear end, but it’s still the real thing even with those more modern axles slung beneath it. Besides, its new suspension delivers a 40mm lift, and it’s sitting on Cooper Discoverer STT Pros, so this isn’t one of those, er, dubious Defenders you sometimes see. The Coopers in question are 275/65R18 in size and mounted on Range Rover alloys, which is a bit low-proﬁle for a proper Landy, but that comes out at 32” tall which is more than a 265/75R16, so what do we know? Actually, in answer to that question we know that there are M57 conversions out there that do away with the Defender’s transfer case – and we’re happy to say that this isn’t one of those. It uses a Syncro Gearboxes conversion to mate the BMW six-speed auto box to Land Rover’s LT230 tranny, meaning four-wheel drive and low range are both retained. There’s an Ashcroft ATB diff in the front axle, too.

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The BMW M57 engine has become the go-to diesel for repowering Defenders. This one has been breathed on to produce 360bhp, which deﬁnitely livens things up. The 90’s transfer case was retained in the conversion, meaning its Cooper Discoverer STT Pro mud-terrains are there for more than just show

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You expect to see axles when you look under a 90, and at ﬁrst glance all is reassuringly normal. But then you start to notice the tell-tale signs – the clearest being that the rear unit is located by a Watts linkage rather than an A-frame – that underneath this is a Defender with the running gear from a Discovery 2 Now, we said that the 90 is a bit of a sleeper but it is still a 90. All the power in the world won’t change that, and not will the suspension from a Disco 2. The engine is reﬁned enough but there’s no shortage of noise in the cabin, much of it from the road but to be honest anything that can do it does. There are companies that specialise in

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trying to prevent this, and all too often what you get is a Defender that’s not a Defender any more but costs twice as much as it should. That’s not the case here. Despite all the changes made to it, the 90 is absolutely still a Defender (well, a pre-Defender, if you want to split hairs). It doesn’t even feel is if it’s been modiﬁed, whether you’re riding in it or poking around beneath the axles or under the bonnet – if it weren’t for the badge on the engine cover, you’d be hard pushed to see that this isn’t a factory instal. A reasonably recent respray helps here, of course, as does a new rear crossmember (it was done at the start of the year but, given that this is a 1988 vehicle, we’d be surprised if that was

the ﬁrst time the job’s been done). Inside, a 50th Anniversary centre console from Ashcroft helps make it feel more modern, as do Corbeau leather recliners, but once again it doesn’t come across as a blinger. Nice and tidy, yes, someone’s pride and joy even, but still every inch a real, truthful 90. But it’s only when you get under the bonnet that you learn the real truth. Which is that the 90 has come a long way since its engine ﬁre. This Land Rover was already 10 years old by the time the BMW M57 engine went into production, so for it to be getting a new lease of life courtesy of an old one shows just how much longevity Defenders have. Engine and vehicle alike are here to stay… and you can expect to see more and more like this one as time goes on and the logic of putting them together becomes ever-more inescapable. Thanks to Richard Edmonds Auctions for their help in compiling this article. The company is based in Wiltshire and can be found by paying a visit to richardedmondsauctions.com

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THE DISCOVERY DOZEN One month, 12 countries, 7200 miles. It might not have been a fully fledged overland Phil Uden and Kayleigh Costin set out to explore Europe aboard their Discovery 2, they newly found passion for vehicle-dependent travel – and the certain knowledge that their been right first time Words: Gemma Pask Pictures: Kayleigh Costin and Phil Uden

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expedition, but when came home with a choice of vehicle had

here did you go for your holidays this summer? If you went anywhere at all, chances are it was a country, singular, or maybe if you were feeling adventurous you went for a mini-expedition taking you across a couple more borders than that. This is the story of a summer holiday in Austria. And Romania. And Switzerland. And Hungary. And Bulgaria. And Greece. And Italy. And France. And so on. During the course of a month, Kayleigh Costin and Phil Uden covered some 7200 miles and visited a dozen different nations – all of them in Europe, so there are people who might call it overlanding-lite, but however you see it this was more of an expedition than a holiday. You won’t be surprised to learn that none of this happened during lockdown. But you might raise an eyebrow when you hear they chose to do it in a Land Rover after watching their previous Land Rover go up in ﬂames. This happened on the way home from the London to Brighton Land Rover Run in 2014. It was one of those fry-ups that happed so fast you don’t get time to do anything

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more than just leg it, which the couple did before turning to watch in horror. ‘The ﬂames ate her alive in front of our eyes,’ they recall, adding just a touch of anthropomorphic drama to the story. Off-roaders, overlanders and Land Rover fans don’t always see eye to

eye about every subject under the sun, but one thing you rely on is that everyone in the 4x4 world will help out a fellow traveller in distress. ‘Our friends at South East 4x4 Response helped us recover the shell of what we had left,’ Phil and Kayleigh explain ‘With their support,

it wasn’t long before we were ready to ﬁnd its replacement.’ Said replacement was a 2001 Discovery TD5. ‘We had always dreamt about an overlanding trip together,’ they continue. ‘Joining this with our passion for Land Rovers and the comfort and ability of the

Discovery meant this was the only ever option for us.’ Leaving it standard and just heading out on to the road with fingers crossed, on the other hand, was very much not an option. Phil’s a mechanic by trade and he got stuck in to prepping and modifying the vehicle. Additions included a cooker, a National Luna fridge-freezer, shelving and boxes, an expedition roof rack with a Maggiolina roof tent and space for extra diesel and water containers, a second battery with a split-charge system, a snorkel, General Grabber A/T tyres, a high-lift jack and more. ‘The Discovery was heavily modified for the trip,’ says Phil. Indeed. But a modified shed is still a shed, and an old Disco is still an old Disco. So you may or may not be surprised

Being a professional spanner man meant Phil was able to prep the Disco without spending a fortune on getting other people to do it for him. Not that this build was done on the cheap – with a National Luna fridge, Maggiolina roof tent and General Grabber tyres, it was premium kit all the way. As the experts always say, spend it once, spend it right

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by what happened – or, more to the point, what didn’t. ‘It performed exceptionally well while we were away,’ says Phil. ‘We experienced only one minor issue of the rubber doughnut starting to break up on the rear propshaft. This caused a slight vibration at motorway speeds. ‘We carried a wide range of spare parts with us, including two of the rubber doughnuts for the propshaft. With me being a mechanic, this enabled us to cover most problems that could arise. We learnt quickly from talking with other overlanders that you make use of what you’ve got to help you get out of any situation.’ Considering the Disco was already knocking on for 15 years old by now, you can’t help but be impressed by the way it faced the twists and turns of the Austrian Alps and the Hahntennjoch Pass, a trek up the Carpathian Mountains in Romania and miles and miles (and miles, and more miles) of soul-destroying European motorways without so much as breaking a bead of sweat. Or breaking full stop, actually. If ever you look up the definition of ‘reliability’ in the dictionary, safe to say the Discovery 2 won’t be the first thing you see. But this one definitely bucked that trend. Whisper it, but perhaps a good mechanic helps? If ever you look up the definition of ‘all-rounder’ in the dictionary, on the other hand… As well as Austria and Romania, Kayleigh and Phil planned a route through the Italian Alps via the legendary Stelvio Pass. There’s no such thing as a list of Europe’s greatest roads that doesn’t have the Stelvio on it, normally at the very top. Only the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, the Targa Florio and the Magic

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Roundabout in Swindon can get close to matching it. Why? You remember the closing scene in the original Italian Job? That was filmed on the St Bernard Pass, which has about 20 hairpins. The Stelvio has 48. Having had such a splendid adventure, when asked to consider their highlights you would imagine they would have quite a job. But no. To quote the song, everything is awesome. ‘Each country we visited had its own highlights, from the incredible twisting roads of the Alps through to the rocky tracks of Romania and everything in between,’ Kayleigh recalls. ‘But if we were to narrow it down to one highlight, it would have to be our first night of wild camping in the Austrian Alps. Nothing will ever come close to waking up to that spectacular view as we opened our tent that morning.’ Were there lowlights? Not as such, but one or two little moments. ‘We had neglected to spot the need to catch a ferry from Romania to Bulgaria,’ continues Kayleigh. ‘Having realised this, we headed straight to the port, where en route Phil decided to investigate an abandoned power station with its massive dockside cranes. After a few photos of the Discovery beside them, he reluctantly drove on towards the ferry terminal… only to find that we had missed it by two minutes! ‘In 38°C heat, we had no option but to race to the next port (which was an hour away), where the border police took great interest in our vehicle and reason for being there.’ These detours are all part of the fun when it comes to overlanding, though. ‘Don’t underestimate how important planning your trip is,’ say Kayleigh and Phil.

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APB_FP.indd 1 60 Ford Siberia.indd

06/04/2022 07/04/2022 17:22 14:17

Left: There’s no such thing as a list of the best roads in Europe that doesn’t have the Stelvio Pass in it. Running more or less alongside the Swiss border north-east of Bormio, it’s one of the highest roads in the continent and, with a staggering 48 hairpins, easily one of the most spectacular. People visit from far and wide to tackle it in classics, sportscars, hot hatches, superbikes and so on… and, clearly, in Discovery 2s with a tent on the roof Inset below: What do you do when you’re running late for the ferry from Romania to Bulgaria? You take a detour to explore the massive quayside cranes left rotting in the grounds of an abandoned power station, obviously. That’s what expedition travel is all about – not chasing schedules but making memories. And missing ferries

‘But also bear in the mind that the greatest moments often appear when you deviate from your plans.’ Other moments when everything turned out not to be all that awesome after all included ‘the monotonous motorway heading to Romania’ and ‘losing the use of our sat-nav once.’ There are expeditions where people have talked about being held up at gunpoint, bogging their truck in salt-pans a hundred miles from anywhere or snapping their last halfshaft in the depths of a spider-infested jungle with no hope of rescue, so we’ll take it that the couple came home with very little to complain about.

4x4 6pp Costin Uden Disco.indd 61

Hardly surprisingly, then, they also came home full of ideas for where to go next. There’s always the annoying business of having to earn a living, which has interfered with many an overlander’s grand plans, but Morocco and Iceland were ﬁrmly established at the top of the list. It would take quite an expedition to kill both those birds with one stone, but they commented that ‘we already feel more prepared than when we ﬁrst left the UK.’ So that would make this a shakedown trip, then. Not bad going for a ‘holiday’ which also saw Phil and Kayleigh exploring some of Europe’s most breathtaking landscapes. In

short, they brought their dream to life – and it was all down to a little courage and a really trusty truck. ‘The entire trip was based around the abilities of our Discovery,’ both of them agree. ‘We ate, slept, cooked, washed and travelled in complete comfort for the entire duration of the trip.’ What was it that we were saying about an all-rounder? The classic image of an overland vehicle may indeed be Defender-shaped (or Land Cruiser shaped, if you prefer, or even Jeep-shaped) – but if you’re good with the spanners, you’re not up for spending mortgage-sized

money and you want to go travelling in a truck that’ll do anything, Phil and Kayleigh know exactly what they’d recommend. ‘Our vehicle really did become our home away from home for that month. If we could turn back the clock, we would still choose the Discovery.’

DECEMBER 2022 | 61

22/10/2022 21:24

ROADBOOK

MID-WALES

Part 2: A wide variety of lanes in a landscape that seems to go on forever USING OUR ROADBOOKS Our roadbooks guide you through the countryside on a mixture of surfaced and unsurfaced roads. The tracks we use are public rights of way, either Byways Open to All Traﬃc or Unclassiﬁed County Roads, all commonly referred to as green lanes.

NAVIGATION

We’ve deliberately made it as easy as possible to follow the route, using a mixture of instructions, tulip diagrams and grid references. We normally only include junctions at which you have to make a turning or don’t have right of way, so stay on the main road or continue straight ahead unless we tell you otherwise. You’ll ﬁnd a guide to using grid references on the legend of any OS map. Our aim is for you to be able to do the route without maps, whether paper or online, but you should certainly take a set with you.

SAFETY

The notes on thee pages advise you of how suitable the route is for your vehicle. These are just guidelines, however. We’ll warn you of any hazards or diﬃcult sections, but the nature of any green lane can change quickly. Wet weather can make a huge difference to the conditions underfoot, and what’s wide open in winter can be tightly enclosed and scratchy in summer. The responsibility is yours! Our roadbooks are designed to be safe to drive in a solo vehicle. We do recommend travelling in tandem wherever possible, however. The risk of getting stuck can be greater than it appears – and even the most capable of vehicles can break down miles from anywhere.

RESPONSIBILITY

Irresponsible driving is a big issue on green lanes. In particular, you must always stay on the right of way. Never drive off it to ‘play’ on the verges or surrounding land, even if you can see that someone else has; doing so is illegal and can be tremendously damaging. This kind of illegal off-roading is a key reason why green lanes get closed. If you see others doing this, they are NOT your friends. They’re criminals, and you are their victim. If it’s safe to do so, ﬁlm them in the act and pass it to the police.

Elsewhere, let common sense and courtesy prevail. Keep your speed down, be ready to pull over for others and show the world that we are decent people just like them.

ANTIS

Anti-4x4 bigotry does exist, but it’s less common than you’d think. By and large, it’s limited to organisations who just want to get the countryside all to themselves. These organisations are beyond being reasoned with, but it’s rare to encounter real hostility even from their rank-and-ﬁle members. If you’re friendly towards the people with whom you share the countryside, the vast majority will respond in kind. There are always bad apples, but no more so than anywhere else. Likewise, most local residents will accept your presence if you’re driving sensibly. What suspicion you do encounter is likely to be from farmers worried that you’re there to steal from them, so be ready to offer a word of reassurance. Once satisﬁed that you’re not after their quad bikes, their mood will lighten.

DO…

• Keep your speed right down • Pull over to let walkers, bikers and horse riders pass

• Leave gates as you found them • Scrupulously obey all closure and voluntary restraint notices

• Ensure you have a right to be

there. We research the routes on our roadbooks very carefully, but the status of any route can change without notice Be prepared to turn back if the route is blocked, even illegally If you ﬁnd an illegal obstruction, notify the local authority Stick absolutely scrupulously to the right of way Always remember that you are an ambassador for all 4x4 drivers

• • • •

DON’T…

• Go in large convoys: instead, split into smaller groups

• Drop litter. Why not carry a bin bag pick up other people’s instead?

• Go back to drive the fun bits, such as mud or fords, again

• Cause a noise nuisance, particularly after dark

• Get riled up if someone challenges you. Be ﬁrm but polite, stay calm and don’t let them turn it into a ﬁght

Insurance for your 4X4 64 | NOVEMBER 2022 Call 0800 085 5000 or visit adrianflux.co.uk 64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 62

4x4

Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

22/10/2022 21:19

ROADBOOK This is the second of two roadbooks in the region surrounding Llandrindod Wells, which can be run on their own or joined together to make a weekend of it. Last month’s explored a series of isolated forest and mountain trails: now it’s time to carry on east of here, in a landscape that’s a little gentler but still absolutely majestic. Once again, the route is typiﬁed by long lanes, with some lengthy sessions away from the tarmac – though there are a few shorter, sharper trails in there too, to spice things up with some tricky, technical terrain

Pictured is our latest project truck, the Isuzu D-Max GO2. Although we struggled to find an insurance company that would cover our Isuzu – especially when we were using it for green laning and off-roading – we finally found Adrian Flux, a specialist insurance broker that not only covers green laning and off-roading, but also covers unusual vehicles like modified and classic 4x4s. And they do all this at an affordable price – get a quote from them by calling 0800 085 5000

4x4 64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 63

DECEMBER 2022 | 63

22/10/2022 21:19

ROUTE GUIDE

is it suitable?

START FINISH HOW LONG? TERRAIN HAZARDS

TYRES

OS MAPS

Rhayader (SN 975 682) Llandrindod Wells (SO 060 615) 64.65 miles / 7-8 hours Hilly woods and farmland Ruts and surface water; axle-twisters; side slopes and drop-offs; isolation; other users; fast moving road traﬃc Landranger 147 (Elan Valley & Builth Wells) Landranger 148 (Presteigne & Hay-on-Wye)

Step

0.0 Step

0.3

SN 975 682

Start in Rhayader, at the Texaco on the south side of the main A44 east of the town centre (there’s another on the north side). Zero your trip and set off heading west, into town, where you’ll be able to pause at a local shop to stock up with supplies if you haven’t already

The turning is round the back of the war memorial, on to North Street

WEATHER LOW BOX SOFT-ROADERS SCRATCHING DRIVING DAMAGE

Tall proﬁle necessary, at least an all-terrain tread strongly advised Avoid when foggy or icy. Extra care required when wet Very strongly recommended Even the best will struggle Some moderate risk General off-roading skills and driving discipine required Possible ground clearance issues

Step

0.4

Sant Harmon

Step

4.3 Step

SN 990 738

4.55 Step

Head through the gate then join the track ahead

4.75 64 | DECEMBER 2022

64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 64

4x4 22/10/2022 21:19

Step

4.85

2.4

Step

6.75

2.5

Step

13 ZERO TRIP

6.85 Step

10 0.5 Step

11 1.4

4x4 64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 65

It’s not obvious who has right of way here

Step

14 3.25

SO 029 745

Glyndwr’s Way

Immediately after the gate, follow the main track up the hill

Abbey-cwm-hir

Step

15 5.75 Step

16 10.6

ZERO TRIP

Llandrindod Wells A483

NOVEMBER 2022 | 65

22/10/2022 21:19

Step

17 1.2 Step

Leominster Hereford A44

There’s a fuel station on the left – as well as a good cafe!

7.4 Step

1.35

7.5

Step

3.05 Step

20 6.0

66 | DECEMBER 2022

64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 66

Knighton 14

SO 160 673

Your turning isn’t signed, but it’s immediately after a sign to the left for Llanbister Road railway station. As you make the turn, you’ll see Burgins 4x4’s vehicle lot in front of you

The main track goes left up the hill

It’s a big sloppy underfoot here. You’ll see a barn ahead of you – follow the red waymarker round to the left of it

8.25 Step

24 8.45

4x4 22/10/2022 21:19

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32854 (69) 4x4 (full).indd 1

14/10/2022 10:43

Step

There’s an erosion gully in the track for 100 yards or so which creates some challenging axle twisters and side angles

8.4 Step

32 8.65 Step

This one’s quite enclosed and scratchy

Step

8.95

8.9

Step

9.45

9.4

Step

10.05

10.1

34 35

27 Step

ZERO TRIP

The turning isn’t signed for anywhere, but it’s shortly after a road on the left for the Primary School

30 8.2 68 | DECEMBER 2022

64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 68

Proof positive here that you can treat the countryside with total and utter disdain if you happen to own it…

Step

37 10.35

7.6 Step

Turn right into the farm on the way round the corner, then follow the track straight ahead between the barns. It looks wrong to start with, but it’ll start to make sense when you see the gate ahead of you leading out of the buildings

10.25

11.7 Step

Step

SO 216 573

SO 220 596

Get straight into low range – the lane starts with a long and sometimes steep descent

Step

Immediately after Step 38, follow the ﬁrst track hard right rather than the one through the gate

10.35 4x4 22/10/2022 21:19

Step

Follow left through the gate then into a long, steep descent – time to get into low box before you start down here

10.45 Step

Step

45 12.55

Follow the main track

Step

10.55

13.35

Step

10.55

13.5

41 Step

Caution past the house – you pass very close to it indeed. Watch out for children and animals and keep the noise to an absolute minimum

10.75 Step

SO 230 551

Caution as the descent starts getting steeper and much more uneven. The water runoff channel which winds it way across the track creates side sloped and a big axle twister; after this, the surface gets rocky. There’s nothing too extreme, but it could get very slippery when it’s wet

Step

48 13.55

It’s almost certainly your right of way here, but in the absence of any road markings don’t just assume traﬃc on the other road will give way

11.45 Step

44 12.35 4x4 64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 69

Exactly the same deal as Step 11 all over again!

Step 46: When the tarmac comes to an end, there are various options going in all directions. Except none of them are options, apart from a hidden trail diving into the undergrowth ahead

DECEMBER 2022 | 69

22/10/2022 21:19

Step

The next mile or so will look very familiar!

ZERO TRIP

50 0.65

70 | DECEMBER 2022

64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 70

51 1.25

13.95 Step

Step

SO 215 574

Turn left in front of the wooden barn with the Rhos House sign on it

Step

There are lots of nice looking tracks to the left and right, but just stick to the main one ahead and follow it as it heads up the hill into the distance

1.85

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4x4 64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 71

DECEMBER 2022 | 71

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Step

2.05

3.1

53 Step

There are two gates in quick succession. The second is in fact two gates next to each other – you take the one to the right

2.2 Step

The track starts getting bumpy

Step

57 3.1

SO 188 576

The track on the right is just a faint one through a gate. The one you’re taking is very obvious – you’ll see it way in advance

2.6

Step

58 3.7

Step 55: The track going up the hill to your left is very easy to spot well in advance

4x4 64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 73

DECEMBER 2022 | 73

22/10/2022 21:20

Step

3.8

6.0

59 Step

Stay on the main track – look out for a red waymarker

Step

3.85

1.7

Step

5.2

1.75

ZERO TRIP

You’ll pass a grass track and a farm road on the right in the previous mile before this, but don’t go too early – what you’re looking for is a proper road, with a bus stop and an old phone box at the junction

SO 157 533

Step 63: The turning you’re looking for is on a road next to a bus stop and old-fashioned red phone box

74 | DECEMBER 2022

64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 74

4x4 22/10/2022 21:20

Step

1.95

4.9

Step

3.25

5.8

Step

3.8

7.1

Step

4.65

7.3

65 66 67 68 4x4 64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 75

69 Franksbridge Bettws

1 212

70 Bettws

71 Pen-y-Bont

72 DECEMBER 2022 | 75

22/10/2022 21:20

76 | NOVEMBER 2022

64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 76

4x4 22/10/2022 21:20

Step

SO 110 596

There are two gates. Yours is the ﬁrst – it’s very clearly marked with red waymarkers

8.65 Step

Step

78 2.55

Be prepared as you start descending –it gets quite steep

Step

10.6

2.55

Step

10.8

4.15

75 Step

This may well be the most unexpected one-way road of all time

80 ZERO TRIP

This is very soon after Step 46. Caution –it’s a major road

Approximate distance. Arrive in the centre of Llandrindod Wells for the end of the route

Step 74: This descent is long and deceptively steep – get into low box early to help avoid any build up of speed

11.4 Step

After the farm on the right, the surface deteriorates – it’s not quite a track, but barely good enough to count as a road

1.1 4x4 64-77 13pp Roadbook Dec 22.indd 77

DECEMBER 2022 | 77

22/10/2022 21:21

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Step 40: Tur n left off the main track, embankment dropping dow then plungi n the ng straight into a water trough (right) are sharp rock Step Caution – there you climb the

71 34

Step Step

13.1

iate as

steps to negot hillside

Step

.3 ROADBOOK: Salisbury Plain – on the lanes that8.75don’t show up12on the map a Abbey Strata Florid

track to the left Take the rocky track the main Cat A

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Ste p Step

4328

15 16

15.2

Join the Cat A

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You may find yourself drivi a river bed ng along for a while…

13.65 Step

Fill in your name and address andStep give this form to your newsagent 14.7 ●

Step

12.8

It’s a steep, sharp climb up over a bigg er track – you and can’t see ahead over your bonnet to start with

15.0 Step

13.4

11.7

There’s a coup le of huge wate troughs afte r r the junction

Step

followed by a long

1312 .1 .6

10.9

11.8

More rock steps, water trough

track Drop off the main the gate and immediately before trough water into yet another

h bigger t need a bit of to the right is muc Step 37: You migh p Please order 4x4 Magazine and18 reserve/deliver me a copySteevery month ed, the drop-off ers – but be warn

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