4x4 Magazine - February 2023

4x4

NEWS • VIEWS • KIT • EXPEDITIONS • MODIFIED VEHICLES • GREEN LANING PLUS 40 years ago: the Land Rover that started a revolution

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

CAYENNING IT!

Hands up if you thought this hardcore off-road machine was a Suzuki Vitara…

An overland expedition with a difference – aboard the sort of vehicles you never thought you’d see in the wildest parts of the world The project behind one of the country’s best JKU Wranglers

£4.99

Explore the rights of way in northeast Suffolk

FEB 2023

Range Rover born again as an LS-engined ultra-wagon 4x4 Cover Jan 23.indd 1

15/01/2023 16:37

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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.

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

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February 2023

CONTENTS

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‘Jeep started cautiously but has now just gone full throttle towards a fun horizon’

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64 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…

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Fering Pioneer Radical off-road workhorse moves closer to reality Silverstone Auctions Royal provenance for classic Jeep and Land Rover 4x4 Engine Rebuilds Some horrendous lumps coming in to be saved Everrati Defender and Range Rover join line-up of high-end restified EVs Isuzu D-Max 350,000 miles and going strong on all original components Hofele Merc tuner gives G-Wagen more luxury… and suicide doors Nissan Ariya Electric SUV gets set for record-breaking pole-to-pole trek Shelby 775bhp F-150 Super Snake on the way to Britain Operation Freelander Leading UK specialist joins mission to help Ukraine Heritage 1948 UK-made bikini hoods for Series II and III Landies Britpart LED range offers quality at affordable prices Maer Chassis specialist also does a neat line in indestructible axles Machine Mart Latest tool storage options for where the magic happens Dirt Monkey Offroad Stealth winch bumper for Discovery 3 and 4

Every Month 4 64 66 80

Alan Kidd Turns out history is not bunk after all Subscribe Get your year’s 4x4s, plus a Ring LED inspection lamp, for just £22 Roadbook A variety of little-used lanes along the Suffolk coast Next Month Finally: the verdict that matters on the Ineos Grenadier

Driven 22

Kia Sportage Here’s why it won its class in 4x4 of the Year

Features 26 32 38 42 48

Jeep Magneto 2.0 A Wrangler to burn off Lambos on the way to the trails Legacy Overland Slick old Range Rover with the heart of a Corvette Not a Vitara Heavily modified Suzuki Samurai looks like what it’s not Revolutionary LR 40 years ago, the first 110 confounded the 4x4 world…

Mega Wrangler Is this the best equipped JK in the country?

Our 4x4s 52

Project D-Max Much-needed sill protection from Isuzu’s own rock sliders

Travel 56

chocks away, max

Porsches in the Andes An overland expedition from your wildest dreams

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

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13

Step

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Abbey Strata Florida

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

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of

More rock steps, water trough

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followed by a long

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

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16 11.8 Step

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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

4212.6

10.9

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

Step

Step

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Look out for you cross the the waymarker as ford

15.2

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Join the Cat A

track

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

13.65 Step

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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

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

Alan Kidd Editor

H

istory is bunk,’ someone said once. It was someone pretty famous, but they’re history now.

They’re history, and more to the point they are, or were, wrong.

History teaches us many lessons. For example when the current state of the world is written about in the history books, it will teach our descendants that we were rubbish at learning from history. Either that or the lesson will be writ large across the surface of the planet but there’ll be no-one left to learn from it, but don’t let’s dwell too long on that one…

Anyway, this month’s history lesson comes from 40 years ago this month, when the fledgling Overlander 4x4 magazine was part of the press corps on the launch of a whole new Land Rover. A luxury Land Rover or a utility Range Rover, our man Brian Hartley wondered, before coming to the conclusion that the One Ten, as it was called, might just be the dawning of a whole new legend.

Turns out he called that right. At the time, Land Rover wouldn’t even confirm whether this new and vastly improved vehicle that looked like a 109 but drove like a Rangey was going to replace the Series III or exist alongside it. Safe to say Brian called that one right, too.

What no-one could have foreseen was the way the One Ten (and subsequently the 90, and then the Defender) would develop into a fashion brand. We all know how it’s gone; from the bottom of the market, where you can get several grand just for an identity, to the ultra-blingy lifestyle wagons changing hands for quarter of a million pounds or more, Defenders are stupendously valuable things.

What does that teach us in its capacity as a history lesson? Well, look also at what Jeep Wranglers and Toyota Land Cruisers are worth on the used market. An HDJ80 with a quarter of a million miles under its belt is still worth strong money today; even though these are now a minimum of 25 years old, it’s still common to see good ones making five figures. As for the Wrangler, find an early JK Rubicon that hasn’t been trashed and it’ll be worth more than it was new.

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‘History is bunk,’ said somebody who made history An old RAV4 or Grand Cherokee, on the other hand, will be worth tuppence in comparison. As will a second-generation Range Rover or Discovery 2. And as for the vehicles that replaced those…

What does this history lesson tell us about the 4x4s we can currently buy new?

For one thing, the new Defender won’t hold its value the way the old one does. The original behaves more like a house than a car on the second-hand market, but longterm there’s nothing to suggest it’s going to do the same thing.

The Wrangler, on the other hand, is still basically the same vehicle as always.

Which means it’s going to keep on holiday its money the way they always have. Like the old Defender, these are vehicles for life whose design means you can keep on rebuilding them indefinitely. Of course, the aftermarket infrastructure differs widely between the two vehicles, however while the Defender has that on its side, the Wrangler certainly has scarcity, with supply always struggling to keep up with demand.

Both vehicles, of course, have a brand on their side, and the Land Cruiser scores massively here too. Which is where the various new models set to join the market come in. The Munro MK_1 and Fening Pioneer intend to be disruptors, and both manufacturers are saying exactly the right things – but ultimately, both will be unknown quantities.

The Ineos Grenadier is a different kettle of fish. It’s unknown too, but its financial backing is common knowledge and so is the enormous know-how this has allowed the company to bring in. So history already has a different narrative waiting for it.

And who was it that said ‘history is bunk?’

Henry Ford, that’s who. A titan of history, as it turned out. He later explained that his frustration was with the way history sees everything through the lens of politics and war… so actually perhaps he had a point.

Our man Hartley was right: he was seeing history in the making – and it was the kind that doesn’t belong in museums, but in the lives of real people like you and me.

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, Kaziyoshi Sasazaki Photographers Steve Taylor, Richard Hair, Harry Hamm, Vic Peel, David Lopez-Lazaro 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

© Assignment Media Ltd, 2023

4x4 14/01/2023 17:08

Put Your Range Rover Into Overdrive DA3338 NEW Garage Therapy Overdrive Kit 4-Speed (LT95) Range Rover Classic 1970-1983 The kit includes: > GT-LT95 overdrive > 2 piece LT95 coupling > Coupling spacer > Finned transfer case cover and gasket > Digital temperature gauge kit including 2 sensors > Overdrive selector kit > Installation manual

It has been specifically designed to fit the restricted space of the Range Rover Classic 1970 1983 that use the Rover LT95 gearbox. Comes with everything required to complete the installation.

Because the overdrive has been designed to fit onto the PTO flange area of the Land Rover LT95 gearbox, you can enjoy the 28% overdrive in any gear, including reverse, and in high or low range.

Garage Therapy have worked closely with Global Roamer Corporation of Canada to develop a robust overdrive that will allow you to enjoy

quieter, more fuel-efficient cruising on motorways and the ability to split every gear while towing heavy loads. It also allows you to overdrive all gears in low range, reducing engine noise and wear on those long sandy tracks and beaches.

The GT-LT95 overdrive takes advantage of Global Roamer’s legendary epicyclic gear train technology as used in their Roamerdrive overdrives. Also known as planetary gear sets, they are well known for their strength and silent operation. Global Roamer Corporation has a

worldwide population of many thousands of overdrives using this very same bullet-proof technology.

Many of the older style ‘layshaft’ overdrive units suffered badly from a lack of lubrication. The GTLT95 is designed to be open to the transfer case and utilises an innovative lubrication system which directs transfer case oil through the overdrive gearbox and back to the transfer case via a large deep groove ball bearing.

As with all gearboxes, lubrication failure due to excessive heat, lack of supply, or both, is to be avoided at all costs. To handle the extra heat generated by the overdrive gearbox, a finned transfer case cover is included which doubles the heat rejection compared to the standard cover. If even more cooling is required for high speed, high load in hot climates, the cover has ports for an optional oil cooler and manual temperature sensor.

To assist this, an accurate digital temperature gauge is supplied. This very clever gauge uses simple lug style sensors that can monitor both engine and gearbox temperature. Unlike traditional sensors, they operate independent of oil level. It even has an optional exhaust gas temperature thermocouple available; perfect for turbocharged applications. Not only does the gauge have simple to understand icons that change colour if safe limits are exceeded, it also has a series of audible alarms so you never miss that vital warning.

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12/01/2023 10:24

NEW 4X4S

First-phase testing complete for Fering as Pioneer moves towards production REMEMBER THE FERING PIONEER? We brought you news some time ago of this visionary off-road vehicle, which is designed to provide genuine long-range expedition abilities using electric power combined with a range-extender engine and, in particular, rewrites the rule book by using fabric instead of metal or plastic for its body panels.

Well, it hasn’t gone away – in fact, the first prototype has now completed testing and been stripped down for analysis, and the second and third are due to be completed early this year.

The Pioneer has a silhouette not dissimilar to that of a Hummer but proportions more in keeping with a family car. In particular, it has been designed with no excess weight.

The second-phase prototypes will be evaluated by the first customers to have shown an interest in the vehicle, whose intention is to deliver real off-road ability in a worthwhile package rather than a premium car with a sky-high price. Low-volume production is due to commence by early 2024, followed by larger-scale batch production in 2025.

Royal provenance for brace of classic 4x4s in Silverstone

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ilverstone Auctions’ Race Retro sale, at Stoneleigh Park on 25 February, will feature two classic 4x4s – one a Jeep, the other a Land Rover, both with royal provenance.

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The Land Rover, which was built in late 1953 and registered the following year, has been comprehensively restored – in a project understood to have been encouraged and funded by the Prince of

Wales (now King Charles III). It was originally delivered via Stratstone of London on 3 July 1953, carrying the Royal sequence number NXN 1, before Queen Elizabeth II asked for it to be assigned to Balmoral –

where it was used exclusively by the most senior members of the family before being sold into private hands in 1966.

Having subsequently been garaged for many years, the Series

4x4 14/01/2023 17:55

Missed oil changes and ham-fisted maintenance by non-experts lead to long line of catastrophic failures keeping 4x4 Engine Rebuilds busy THE TEAM AT 4X4 ENGINE REBUILDS has been kept busy during the last few months – not least by Land Rover owners neglecting to keep their vehicles’ oil services up to date.

Looking through the Essex company’s job list shows that an extraordinary number of Discoverys and Range Rover Sports have been through its workshop for repairs to their 3.0 SDV6 engines. But its expert team of engine specialists also work on petrol units – including the 5.0 V8 from a Range Rover SVR which came in having suffered catastrophic damage as the result of a missed oil change.

Also destroyed for the same reason was a 2.0-litre Ingenium diesel in a Discovery Sport, which arrived at 4x4 Engine Rebuilds not long before Christmas. This too suffered catastrophic failure – though whereas the SVR’s V8 had turned itself into a very expensive piece of scrap, the smaller unit was able to be fixed before going back to its owner in full working order.

It’s not just owners being lax that have left Land Rovers’ engines in need of specialist attention, though. Earlier in the autumn, yet another 3.0 SDV6 came in – this one with its timing out of kilter after being incorrectly rebuilt by another garage. Messy.

The company might get a lot of business out of people who neglect their vehicles, but it has a very simple reminder to every Land Rover owner: ‘Don’t leave engine servicing too late.’ The guys there can help you with that, too – they’re at 4x4EngineRebuilds.co.uk and always remember, a stitch in time…

Auctions’ forthcoming Race Retro sale I was in desperate need of attention prior to the restoration commencing. It went on to appear on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, as well as leading the parade of Land Rovers at last year’s Queen’s Jubilee Pageant – in front of a global TV audience measured in billions.

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The Jeep is more than a decade older than the Land Rover, as it’s a Ford GPW dating from 1942. On 14 November that year, it was used to transport King George VI and General Carl Spaatz, Commander of the Strategic Air Forces in Europe, on a visit to RAF Chelveston in

Northamptonshire. It too has been fully restored.

Guide prices for the two vehicles reflect the extent of their provenance. The Jeep is expected to

fetch £35,000-£40,000 – while the Land Rover is estimated at £100,000-£150,000. In each case, more details can be found at www. silverstoneauctions.com.

FEBRUARY 2023 | 7

14/01/2023 17:55

NEWS

Everrati adds Range Rover and Defender to portfolio of restified electric Land Rovers

E

verrati is already known for the super-premium electrified classic Land Rovers it builds. The company specialises in ‘the redefining and future-proofing of automotive icons through the integration of state-of-the-art electric vehicle powertrains,’ which has already seen ‘multiple’ examples of the leaf-sprung classic shorn of their petrol and diesel engines for the benefit of rich clients around the world. And now it’s starting on the Defender and Range Rover too.

‘Both vehicles remained at the apex of desirability throughout their production run,’ says Everrati, and at least in Britain it’s hard to argue with that. Now the company wants to keep it that

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way by removing the Rover V8s, Tdis and Td5s without which they would surely have been more desirable still and replacing them with a ‘proven, state-of-the-art OEM-grade electric powertrain.’

Like the Range Rover and Defender, this was developed and created in England. Oxford, to be precise. And also like the Range Rover and Defender, it’s intended to be a success story for the British export trade.

Everrati describes itself as a car custodian, promising to ‘stay true to the timeless quality of the vehicle’ while bringing it into the modern world with an electric powertrain whose performance exceeds that of the original. This way, it says, the Land Rovers will continue to provide

‘unparalleled enjoyment and fun’ for generations to come – the inference being that while its builds are expensive, they’re an investment.

Rather than trying to be a jack of all restoration trades, the company does the electric bit and engages ‘best-in-class marque-specialist build partners’ to do the restoration to what it describes as OEM standards. Each vehicle is built to order, ‘retaining (its) original character and DNA – both dynamically and aesthetically’ while being bespoke to its customer’s own specification.

‘Perfectly at home in London, Cornwall, Monterey or The Hamptons, these vehicles are right in the current zeitgeist,’ says Everrati boss Justin Lunny. ‘Rolling pieces of art that will give their owners, who are mavens of sustainability and responsibility, a clean and distinctive and luxurious way of travelling.

‘At the same time, these progressive machines will have a legacy, being preserved for generations who will be able to continue to use and enjoy them guilt-free, with zero emissions, as the automotive landscape changes around them.’

Talking of changes to the automotive landscape, Everrati’s Defenders and Range Rovers are priced at £185,000 and £230,000 respectively. In each case, that’s before VAT and doesn’t include the price of the donor vehicle, so realistically you’re looking at a quarter of a million for a 90 or 110 and fifty grand more for a Rangey.

If your reaction is ‘how much diesel could you buy for that,’ you’re not thinking along the right lines. If your reaction is ‘how many Land Rovers could I buy and restore for that,’ though…

4x4 14/01/2023 17:55

NEWS

2014 D-Max still going strong after 350,000 miles – most of them in front of a heavy trailer

ISUZU RECENTLY WENT LOOKING FOR THE D-MAX with the highest mileage in the UK – and turned up a 2014 example that’s still going strong as an ox on 351,364 miles.

The vehicle, a 2.5 TD Eiger with manual transmission, is owned and

operated by independent vehicle sales and service dealer Aston of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.

And what’s doubly impressive is that most of those miles have gone on while towing other vehicles around the country.

‘When the business was looking for a vehicle capable of towing 3.5 tonnes on a daily basis back in 2012, we wanted something that would not only do the job but would also prove to be the most cost-effective for the business,’ says Aston Melton Mowbray’s James Jeal. ‘The Isuzu D-Max became the obvious choice.

It’s extremely important for us to have vehicles we can rely on for our vehicle deliveries and the D-Max has been fantastic, so much so that when we needed to add another tow

vehicle to our fleet, we once again chose an Isuzu for the job.’

This second D-Max has itself covered more than 200,000 miles.

Both have proved reliable, needing just the usual servicing and consumables to keep them on the road.

Engines, gearboxes and other major components are all original.

To put these mileages into perspective, 351,364 is like driving 14 times around the world, while between them the two trucks have done enough to get you to the Moon and back. Both remain in everyday use, so it’s next stop Mars.

• The current D-Max posted a yearon-year sales increase of 17.95% in 2022. Aided by 59.5% growth in fleet sales, this figure comes against a 30.4% drop in the pick-up market as a whole. The vehicle finished the year by winning the overall title in our annual Pick-Up of the Year awards.

Merc specialist Hofele moves into new premises and celebrates by putting suicide doors on £175,000 G-Wagen IF A MERCEDES-AMG G63 ISN’T ENOUGH of an off-road status symbol for you, here’s the good news. Hofele Design has opened a new HQ just along the road from the Mercedes factory – and to celebrate, the first vehicle out of the door was a bespoke example of its HG Ultimate.

This is a G-Wagen with suicide doors (‘rear-hinged coach doors,’ they’d very much rather you say), full-length electric side steps, individual rear VIP seating and the company’s own exterior styling package, the latter featuring exclusive 24” forged alloy wheels. The vehicle in the pictures, which was commissioned by ‘a VIP customer’, is finished in high-gloss black with chrome detailing, Hofele’s own signature wheelarches, bumpers and grille and on the inside, a full retrim in Arancia Mira Mandarin. Or ‘orange,’ as you might know it.

This particular VIP also specced Hofele’s starlight ceiling interior lighting and luxury trimmed luggage compartment, as well as lambswool mats for the interior, a roof-mounted light bar and front bumper LEDs. Hofele, which is an official Mercedes tuning partner, currently has seven other of these G-Wagens in build and expects them all to be delivered by the summer. Plenty of time to place your order in time for Christmas, then.

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14/01/2023 17:55

NEWS

Nissan gets ready for groundbreaking Pole-to-Pole overland expedition – in all-electric Ariya

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issan is getting ready to unveil a modified Ariya e-4ORCE, with lifted suspension and outsize tyres, with which it will bid to take on one of the world’s last unconquered car journeys – the 17,000 miles around the world from the magnetic North Pole to the South Pole.

Piloted by British adventurers Chris and Julie Ramsey, the Ariya will be the first vehicle of any type to attempt the journey. The husband and wife team will also claim the accolade of undertaking the first ever fully electric global driving challenge in the Pole to Pole expedition, aboard the fully electric SUV. In preparation for the expedition, the Ariya is being ruggedised to protect it against the conditions it will encounter. Its large tyres will be covered by dramatically flared wheelarches, part of a suite of body mods designed to let it operate in the icy wilderness of the Antarctic.

In other ways, though, it will remain standard, relying on what Nissan call’s its ‘most advanced all-wheel

control technology’ to maintain progress in the harshest terrain.

‘Daring to do what others don’t, Nissan and the team of extreme pioneers at Pole to Pole are pushing the limits of electric mobility, accelerating towards a cleaner, safer, more inclusive world,’ says Nissan’s

Clíodhna Lyons. ‘In undertaking and completing this ambitious expedition, we hope to reach and inspire action in others all around the world, demonstrating the prowess of electric vehicles and speeding up adoption as part of the solution to reducing global emissions.’

Nissan sees the expedition as part of its Ambition 2030 vision, a long-term plan to ‘empower mobility and beyond with electrification as a central focus.’ You’ll be able to read more about it, and about the extreme Ariya itself, in future issues of this magazine.

Shelby American importer Clive Sutton celebrates American legend’s 100th birthday by securing allocation of 775bhp Super Snake pick-ups LEGENDARY US RACING DRIVER and performance car builder Carroll Shelby would have been 100 on 11 January. To celebrate the anniversary, Shelby American’s official UK importer Clive Sutton has announced that it has secured an allocation of the company’s Super Snake, whose supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine gives it an output of 775bhp.

Based on the new Ford F-150, the Super Snake comes with a long list of performance enhancements. It has Ford’s latest 10-speed automatic gearbox as well as Fox shockers and 22” Shelby wheels, as well as its own unique bumpers and induction vents, carbon trim and custom two-tone seats. You can also specify an off-road package featuring a BDS suspension lift and 35” BFGoodrich All-Terrains.

Prices start at £139,950 plus VAT in Single-Cab form, with the Double-Cab bumping that to £159,950. That’s for the on-road version; if you want the big one, the good news is that Clive Sutton is quoting just the £157,950 for that. A total of six vehicles will be available during 2023.

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4x4 14/01/2023 17:55

Organisers and Supporters of Operation Freelander, delivering Land Rover Freelanders to the military in Ukraine

Got a problem with your Freelander?

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NEED A SERVICE, REPAIR OR DIAGNOSTICS? NO PROBLEM! We can help you keep your Freelander in tip-top condition, so you can focus on enjoying the ride!

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12/01/2023 10:38

NEWS

FreelanderSpecialist.com joins effort to provide medical support for Ukrainian defence force

T

he war in Ukraine has brought forth many stories of heroism over the last year, and of incredible acts of compassion shown towards the nation by people in Britain and all around the world. In the 4x4 world, the extraordinary efforts of Gordon Jackson-Hopps, a building surveyor from Norfolk, have seen him delivery humanitarian supplies, ferry refugees across the country, deliver children to relatives and help evacuate vulnerable civilian to neighbouring Romania.

Most recently, Gordon launched Operation Freelander – a project whose goal is to deliver a dozen vehicles to the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Force, which will use them to move casualties and aid. Each of the dozen Land Rover Freelanders needs to be sourced, prepared and

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equipped for use before being driven across Europe – with the first two being delivered just before Christmas by Gordon himself and Sue Maddock of FreelanderSpecialist.com.

Based in Methwold, Norfolk, Freelander Specialist is a family company which has become known for its expertise in everything to do with Land Rover’s original baby SUV – parts, service, repairs, mods, you name it. The company’s own expedition-prepped Freelander 1 is a self-propelled example of the potential within these vehicles, too.

As well as being part of the driving team, Freelander Specialist’s involvement in the project has seen it donate two 2004 Freelander Estates along with the time and knowledge required to check them over prior to being delivered to Ukraine.

However it is just one of several businesses to help make Operation Freelander happen. Bell Engineering donated new VCUs for the vehicles, Euro Car Parts helped out with spares and Camskill supplied the vehicles’ tyres – which were then fitted by Graham Gillis Autos in King’s Lynn.

Speaking from the road across Europe, Sue also praised Nobert, Ngwenya and Mihai, ‘who have worked tirelessly to make sure these Freelanders can not only make the journey to Ukraine but can then perform their duties to save precious lives’, and Gordon’s wife Vicki – ‘who, even as we are driving, has been raising money to cover our fuel and costs.’

The driving itself started on 17 December, with an early ferry crossing followed by a marathon 16-hour journey to Krakow in Poland. ‘The sudden

4x4 14/01/2023 17:55

NEWS rush to get these Freelanders to Ukraine was because of a desperate plea from the medivac team of the 23rd Battalion of Special Assignment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,’ explains Sue. ‘Out of 80 medics in the Battalion, 50 have been killed or injured and most of the vehicles destroyed by shelling.’

To prepare it for its new life, one of the Freelanders had been fitted with a brand new heater matrix, thermostat, water pump and so on. Despite this, it lost all heating on the way to the ferry.

With the vehicles being so desperately needed, however, turning back was not an option – leaving Gordon with the particularly grim task of driving across Europe in a temperature of about 12°C. The following morning, having stopped to buy auxiliary heaters, Sue and Gordon continued towards the Ukrainian border with the latter driving in full cold-weather gear and wearing a balaclava.

The temperature had dropped still further, meaning the heaters were no use – and worse yet, at one point one of them fell to the floor next to Gordon’s feet, distracting him enough for the Land Rover to end up in a field next to the road. ’In my rear view mirror,’ says Sue, ‘I saw the Freelander swerving over the icy road, then the worst thing in the world happened and it went over the edge’ It was a steep drop into the field, deep in snow; there was no way the car was going down without rolling.

‘I pulled over and ran back, and to my absolute delight the Freelander was on all four wheels with Gordon moving through the thick snow. I never thought it was going to come out so easily.’ A little reminder of why the Ukrainians needed vehicles with real off-road ability – this was one little mis-

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hap along the way, but these vehicles are destined to work for their living on soggy battlefield where traction is essential every step of the way.

Even so, says Sue, the all-terrain tyres they had fitted were barely enough just for the road conditions. ‘We had been advised to cross into Ukraine at a more remote, less busy border post.

As we left the beautiful main roads, we began to realise this was not the best advice we had received. These road conditions needed proper winter tyres!’ That was the prelude to Gordon’s wild ride, and after that Sue says the roads went from bad to worse. ‘Mountain passes with hairpin bends and steep falls, completely covered in ice and snow. What a slow journey that was!’

With the border now just two minutes away, the two vehicles were pulled over by the police for running a stop sign neither Sue nor Gordon had actually seen. What do you need most in your life when you’ve taken unpaid leave from work and sold personal possessions to fund a mercy run?

To be fined, of course. Charmingly, the Polish cops made Sue and Gordon stand outside while they sat in their warm car doing the paperwork.

Not a good precursor for dealing with a border crossing, but happily the officials here were as good as the police had been bad. ‘After we finished with immigration and were moving on to customs,’ says Sue, ‘the immigration officer gave us both an orange. We were starving, having not eaten or even had a coffee break since morning – I never thought I’d get a gift from an immigration officer!’

Crossing into Ukraine also meant dealing with the endless bureaucracy that goes with arriving in a vehicle you’re going to leave behind. And

the customs officer wanted to know what all the equipment in the back of the Freelanders was for, too. ‘That’s for stopping the blood flow when somebody has been shot or had a limb blown off’ is one of those things you kind of hope you’ll go through life without having to say.

By the time the two vehicles cleared customs, it was dark and they still had a three-hour drive ahead of them to Lviv. The weather wasn’t any better, either – but they made it. Late and, presumably, exhausted, but you can only imagine the satisfaction of knowing that Operation Freelander’s first two vehicles were at last in their new home and ready to be handed over the following day.

With these two down, however, that still leaves another ten to go. And though this first chapter in the story has been completed, there’s still so much to be done – which means Operation Freelander is still in desperate need of funds.

Which is where you come in, dear reader. There are various ways of helping this incredibly selfless mission – you may be able to help in person or, if you can spare a few quid, make a donation towards the cost of getting 12 Freelanders into the hands of people to whom they will make the difference between life and death. You can contact the organisation on operationfreelander@ gmail.com, or donate at www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/operationfreelander. It’s on both Facebook and YouTube, too.

‘When people ask what I’m doing driving all this way into a war zone,’ reflects Sue, ‘my answer is that I am saving lives for Christmas.’ War creates heroes – and as Operation Freelander shows, it’s not just on the front line.

14/01/2023 17:55

RIGHTS OF WAY

Green lane users’ volunteer labour keeps Essex right of way open for everyone apart from green laners

T

he public at large, especially those who obediently lap up the anti-vehicle media narrative peddled by hate groups, would never believe that 4x4 drivers provide voluntary labour to help local authorities by maintaining rights of way. If they did, they would find it even harder to comprehend that sometimes, the rights of way we maintain are ones we’re not even allowed to drive on.

This was the case in Essex recently, when GLASS volunteers responded to requests from the local authority to help with maintenance on a number of lanes – mainly byways, but also one bridleway.

‘We had planned to carry on with our byway repair work during the summer, with the permission of Highways,’ says Essex rep Rob Tongue. ‘But it soon became clear they were growing back almost as fast as we had cut them.

‘We started again at the beginning of September. Highways requested we cut back a section of the byway Debden 37 so they could get in to

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repair it at the beginning of October.

It had more or less grown in, due to it being closed awaiting repair. This took us three weekends of cutting back to clear.’

The following month, they were called into action again to cut back another byway, High Roding 57 / Dunmow 43. This too had grown in. And here’s a little illustration of the way in which local authorities can come to rely on green laners’ voluntary efforts, saving taxpayers’ money in the process. ‘We still had

a short section to finish,’ says Rob. ‘But the weather was against us – and a more important request for help was received from Highways.’

By now, the local authority had completed its repairs on the section of Debden 37 GLASS has cut back in September. So it was time to start work on another part of the same lane – as well as part of the adjoining bridleway. And here’s where the volunteers’ action becomes even more selfless. Highways asked us to cut back another section of the

byway, and part of a bridleway that joins it, so they could take the full closure to all users off over winter – except for axled vehicles.’

So, just to be clear, that’s 4x4 drivers freely giving up their time and effort for the benefit of everyone apart from 4x4 drivers.

The local authority’s plan is that the lane will be fully closed to all users once again come spring, when final repairs will be carried out on the last section. After these are complete, the full length of the lane will at last be reopened to all users.

‘So most of November’s work was taken up on both the byway and bridleway,’ reflects Rob. ‘The latter has been unusable for many years and we have been inundated with thanks from many of the horse riders in the area.’ Next time you see a report on TV or the papers about 4x4 drivers wrecking the countryside, ask yourself why they chose not to tell you this story instead.

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RIGHTS OF WAY

GLASS helps overturn improper lane closures after last-minute tip-off A PAIR OF UNSURFACED ROADS IN CARMARTHENSHIRE have been saved from permanent closure thanks to the work of the Green Lane Association and the Trail Riders Fellowship. The lanes, one north of St Clears and the other east of Llandeilo, were due to be placed under TROs in October last year – but thanks to the eagle-eyed attention of GLASS member Dave Gravelle, the two organisations were alerted to their impending fate just in time to intervene.

‘This was the first time that myself or any other local GLASS members had been made aware of these TROs,’ explains GLASS’ Carmarthenshire rep Andrew Hadley. ‘It turns out they were advertised in the Carmarthen Journal back in July 2022 but unfortunately we had missed it. It’s certainly something I will be checking every week from now on as it could have saved a lot of effort if we had picked it up at the time of the applications.’

At this point in time, the TRO applications were due to come into force within a matter of days. Thus the teams from GLASS and the TRF only had until the start of November to challenge them and save the lanes from being lost forever.

‘Thanks to a number of contacts including Sean Brown, Kelvin Varney and my brother Mark Hadley (Chairman of the Local Access Forum for Carmarthenshire), we were able to check out the lanes in question and could see no reason for a TRO on them due to condition or safety,’ continues Andrew. ‘Due to the short timescale, and the fact I was actually away on holiday at the beginning of October, Pete Jones and Chris Mitchell took the lead and I would like to thank them for all their hard work dealing with this.’

Further investigation showed the reason why GLASS had been unaware of the TRO-making process until the eleventh hour. ’The council had only consulted with certain users and not with all users that could be affected by these closures,’ says Andrew. ‘They were fully aware that the Local Access Forum were interested in all TRO applications within the county but had not consulted with them on these applications.

‘They had also failed to provide a statement of reasons for the need for a motor vehicle restriction, and there was no evidence of a road safety issue on these routes.’

GLASS and the TRF both sent pre-action letters to Carmarthenshire County Council, stating that they were willing to challenge these TROs and would take it to court if need be. ‘Fortunately,’ says Andrew, ‘they have seen sense on this occasion and are currently in the process of overturning both TROs.’ Andrew describes the organisations’ joint effort as ‘a great example of everyone working together to get the outcome we need.’ However absurd it seems that the situation existed in the first place, another lesson learned about the way in which a right of way can be closed by a process that’s wrong at every turn – and further evidence, as if it were needed, that green lane users might remain vigilant at all times for back-door assaults on our rights of way.

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PRODUCTS

Premium bikini hood for Series II/IIA and III Land Rovers from Heritage 1948 Price: £188-£203 Available from: www.heritage1948.co.uk SUMMER IS COMING, as they didn’t used to say in Game of Thrones. Hard as it is to believe as we write this, with the rain battering on our windows outside in the dark and Chelsea still only on their second manager of the season, but the days are drawing out and soon we’ll be enjoying glorious evenings of dappled sunlight as we sip Pimms and lemonade on the veranda. Or something like that.

If you have the good fortune to own a classic Land Rover, the something like that in question is apt to involve the wind in your hair, the flies in your teeth and the faint smell of diff oil in your nostrils. But mainly, enjoying the fact that you drive the coolest thing in the world.

Here’s a fact. Whether you drive an angry street racer, a menacing German power machine, an Italian supercar or any kind of luxury status symbol, one of the great truths of life is that you think all those people are looking at you in admiration.

One of the other great truths of life is that they’re thinking how much of a tosser you look.

Happily, there’s a third great truth in life too. Which is that when you’ve driving an old Land Rover with a bikini hood, those same people look at you and smile. Even the sort of lunatic who thinks a farmer’s work wagon is the same as a suit’s SUV struggles to find something to hate an a classic with it all laid bare.

So, with summer coming and all that, it’s the perfect time to think about the Bude. This is a new bikini soft-top from Heritage 1948, with versions for the 88” and 109” Series II/IIA and III.

Made from 610oz Moorland canvas, the Bude uses heavy-duty saddlers cotton webbing and 100% real brass buckles, tips and eyelets throughout, all of which sounds like the right sort of stuff.

The company says proudly that it’s designed, developed and hand-made in Somerset, and that no expense has been spared in making it the best on the market.

‘The Bikini hood can be removed and put on in under a minute,’ says Heritage 1948. ‘A fuss-free alternative so you can enjoy almost open-top driving while still having

the reassurance of protection from showers and sun.’

Whether the full top-off-andscreen-down look can be improved upon is for you to decide. Whether said look has any form of practical use to it is less of a debating point. Either way, get one of these in your life and however cool you feel, the people looking at

you will think you’re even cooler. It’s worth buying a Series Land Rover just so you can have one.

ALSO FOR SERIES LANDIES, the latest new kit from Lucas Classic includes a replacement 45D distributor cap for petrol-engined Series IIA and IIIs (far right). If yours is older still, the range also now includes a 6J junction box cover for the 1948-1958 Series I (left) and a floor-mounted dip switch (right), again for the Series I but this time from 1955 onwards. It’s all to be found at lucasclassic4x4.com.

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PRODUCTS

Britpart LED products promise to shed light on a complicated market Price: £65-£225 plus VAT Available from: www.britpart.com

ONE OF THE RULES ABOUT MODIFIED 4X4S NOWADAYS is that if it doesn’t have at least one light bar, it might as well have square wheels. Back in the day, you used to start by considering the tyre size you wanted, work out the suspension lift you needed to accommodate it and take your project from there, but these days you start with the size of the biggest LED bar you can afford, figure out what kind of vehicle will look best underneath it and just muddle through from there.

There’s not exactly a shortage of options in the market, along with a deafening noise of opinion, counter-opinion, speculation and sheer guff as to what’s best. Expensive and high-end? No better than cheerful and low-priced, if you believe some of the importers of said cheerful and low-priced options.

Expensive brands don’t come with a free side order of prawn crackers, either. Cheerful and low priced?

Like lighting a candle and apt to contain a Russian spy, if you believe some of the importers of the afore-

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mentioned expensive and high-end options. You can see where this is going.

To cut through the confusion, Britpart has introduced a range of LED bars. These have various sizes and formats – wouldn’t be much of a range otherwise – and use a mixture of Cree and Osram LEDs. So there are differences. There are similarities too, though. All five of the lights in the range have a die-cast alloy housing and polycarbonate lens, come with stainless fixings and promise a lifetime of more than 30,000 hours. That’s about three and a half years, if you were somehow to need non-stop illumination and live in a place where it’s eternally night-time.

The range starts with a 222mm single-row Cree unit with a 40W output and 2400 raw lumens. And it continues with what is basically the same unit again, only with a second

one piggybacked on top of it. So all the numbers are the same, except for the raw lumen output which jumps to 4800.

Both these options have highbeam patterns as standard. But move up to next lamp in the range and you get a combination pattern allowing you to dim them on the road. This is a 36W dual-row Osram lamp with a length of 213mm, whose power output of 120W translates itself into a dazzling 9600 raw lumens.

Getting bigger now, the next option in the range is a 570mm (22.5”) dual-row Osram LED bar putting out 120W and 9600 raw lumens.

And finally, the biggest of them all is a five-foot whopper with 240W and 16,800 raw lumens. If you want to illuminate your whole street, or indeed town, this is the one to buy.

It’s also the one to buy if you propose to immerse your vehicle for

long periods in water deep enough for the pressure to register. That’s because it’s waterproof to IP68, whereas the others are a merer IP67 and can therefore only cope with being dunked to a depth of 15cm-1m. Obviously, if you do propose to do this with your vehicle we’d be grateful if you’d let us know so we can come and watch. Equally obviously, if you’re going to be spending long periods of time with your truck completely submerged, an LED bar that continues to function is going to be right at the top of your list of priorities.

Colour temperatures are in the range of 6000-6500K throughout the five options, which offer a world of opportunities whether you’re a big-time modified vehicle builder or just a bloke who wants to be able to see where he’s going when laning at night. Or a submarine driver. Prices will vary wildly from unit to unit and dealer to dealer – as always with the Britpart network, the key is to shop around and, once you’ve got a specialist you trust, turn yourself into one of their favourite clients.

4x4 15/01/2023 14:52

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OFFICIAL STOCKIST

MAER IS WELL KNOWN for its galvanised chassis, but the Polish company also makes heavy-duty axle casings for a variety of Land Rovers.

These were developed in response to the needs of the mining industry, which is a good indication of what they’re going to be like. Hint: if you like breaking things, don’t get one. ‘They also do their job perfectly in heavily loaded trucks or race cars,’ says Maer.

The axles are made with 8.8mm wall tube and have heavy-duty spring seats and swivel mounting plates as well as a 6mm front diff pan. No need to 10:51 have a bolt-on diff protector slowly gathering a toxic mixture of mud and water behind it with one of these bad boys.

Maer’s front axles fit all Defenders, Discovery Is and Range Rover Classics.

Rears are available in two forms: long-nose, to fit all 90s, Discovery Is and Range Rover Classics, and short-nose for non-Salisbury 110s and 130s with TDCi and late Td5 engines.

New tool stoage options from Machine Mart Prices: £167.98-£359.98 Available from: www.machinemart.co.uk

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MACHINE MART HAS ADDED a variety of new items to its Clarke range of tool storage options. These include two chests and a cabinet, the latter with a choice of optional side lockers, so you’re unlikely to be left wondering what’s in it for you.

First up is the CBB205C HD Plus 5 Drawer Tool Chest. This has four drawers measuring 575×261×49mm and a fifth at 575×261×64mm, all of them with a capacity of 35kg, as well as a lift-out tote tray.

Then there’s the CBB312C 12 Drawer Tool Chest, which also comes with a tote tray. This time you get nine smaller drawers measuring 170×361×49mm, two at 575×361×49mm and one at 575×361×64mm.

Again, the drawers’ weight capacity is 35kg in each case.

All drawers run on ball bearings and have full-width aluminium pull handles as well as protective anti-slip liners. Both chests have full-width

11/01/2023 17:23

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PRODUCTS

Dirt Monkey launches Stealth Winch Bumper for Disco 3 and 4 Price: TBC Available from: www.dirtmonkeyoffroadltd.co.uk

DIRT MONKEY OFFROAD spent a large part of 2022 working on its biggest new product of the year – this Stealth Winch Bumper for the Land Rover Discovery 3 and 4.

Developed from cardboard concept to CAD and finally brought to life as a finished product, the bumper promises to be like nothing else currently on the market. ‘Our winch bumper is designed to offer a rugged but “OEM+” appearance and integrates the factory wheelarches for a subtle look while remaining EXTREMELY strong,’ says Dirt Monkey. It incorporates an independent hidden winch tray of the company’s own design and is fixed using no less than 12 4x4 Magazine_2023_Feb_MAER ATS Ltd_QP.indd mounting points.

The bumper comes without a fairlead (these are available as an extra to suit your choice of rope or cable) and can be supplied painted to match the colour of your vehicle. Dirt Monkey is currently taking pre-orders for the unit, with prices to be confirmed.

piano hinges which are welded and riveted on to the top lid. The drawers on both units lock simultaneously when the lid is closed; this is then secured by a single tumbler style lock.

Another feature of both chests is that they can be paired up with Machine Mart’s new Clarke CBB213C HD Plus 3 Drawer Tool Cabinet. This has two drawers measuring 584×380×73mm and another measuring 584×380×152mm and comes on castors to let you wheel it around the workshop.

As if all this is still not enough, the cabinet can be augmented with wither the SL41C 8 Drawer Side Locker or the SL26C Cabinet and 2 Drawer Side Locker. The former has one drawer at 260x380x75mm, six drawers at 260x380x57mm and two at 260x380x133mm, each with a 20kg capacity, while the latter has a large cabinet and two drawers of 230x380x60mm, again with a capacity of 20kg each. Again, you get ball-bearing action, full-width aluminium handles and protective liners.

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1

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DRIVEN

KIA SPORTAGE GT-LINE S 4X4 Following its triumphant class victory in last month’s 4x4 of the Year awards, Kia’s newcomer in the small SUV category demonstrates the all-round qualities that make it an all-round winner

IN LAST MONTH’S ISSUE, our 4x4 of the Year awards crowned the all-new Sportage as winner of the Small SUV category. That saw it beat competition from some incredibly strong rivals, including previous class winners in the Volkswagen T-Roc, Jeep Renegade and Dacia Duster.

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Not all versions of the Sportage have all-wheel drive, but on those that do Kia makes the most of it by equipping them with various drive modes aimed at enhancing its ability away from tarmac. To emphasis the point, the company recently launched a trio of special editions called Mud Mode, Sand Mode and Snow Mode; we’ve got the former on test as we write this and will be challenging it to prove itself worthy of its name in a future issue, but for now here’s the range-topping GT-Line S model in 4x4 Hybrid form.

There are four main trim levels in the range, along with petrol, diesel mild hybrid, petrol hybrid and petrol plug-in hybrid powertrains. Hybrids have the option of all-wheel drive, and on plug-ins it’s standard.

To cut to the chase, the one we drove lists at £41,550. That puts it on the second rung from top on the price ladder, because going plug-in bumps the money to £45,100. It’s the most powerful model in the range, with 261bhp, but we found that 226bhp was enough to give the Sorento plenty of urge.

As usual with turbocharged petrol engines, all the torque’s available deep in the depths of the rev range. And of course the electric motor in the system gives you all it’s got the moment it starts turning. The result is 259lbf.ft from a useful 1500rpm.

So it pulls eagerly, whisking you away from the lights and staying with you all the way to the top. It’s not made to be a fast car, and a 0-60 time of 8.0

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Above left: The Sportage’s driving position is excellent, with a spacious and comfortable seat giving you an excellent view of the road or trail ahead. The cabin is dominated by a large media screen which flows horizontally into a digital dashboard, creating a full-width virtual display that’s very reminiscent of the best premium SUVs of the last few years, and build quality is up with the best of them. Materials in the cabin are only one step below the sort of 4x4s that cost twice as much, too, and real-world practicality is excellent Above right: Talking of practicality, the rear seats fold as good as flat and lock into place to create a long cargo bay that’s accessed through a big, wide tailgate aperture. It punches well above its weight for shifting big loads seconds is not exactly top fuel dragster stuff, but it’s keen and strong and even if you chuck your family and all their stuff in it, the extra weight won’t put it off.

It handles with decent poise, too. Body control is perhaps a little bouncy at times, with a tendency to go light and float over crests, but there’s enough feel in the steering to let you attack corners with all the confidence you need that it’s going to start by turning in the way you want it to and carry on by gripping the way you need it to.

Most impressive of all, though, is the Sportage’s refinement. The hybrid’s drivetrain is almost completely free of vibration, and so too is its ride. Any car that’s not physically defective should be smooth and quiet on properly surfaced roads, but the Sportage goes way beyond that – it absolutely glides, in a way that’s reminiscent of hundred-grand luxury SUVs. It’s pretty good at soaking up the impacts on the other kind of road, too.

We doubt we’re not alone in having noticed the shocking size and sheer quantity of this winter’s crop of pot holes; no vehicle is ever going to make them disappear altogether, but the Sportage draws the sting a lot more successfully than most. It has a natural agility at low speeds which makes it nice and manoeuvrable around town, too, so negotiating the obstacle course of Britain’s urban roads is as stress-free as you could ever hope for.

So is the accommodation inside the cabin, where there’s plenty of space and adjustability up front and, so long as the driver doesn’t gobble it all up, in the back too.

We found that sitting one six-footer behind another is a bit of a squeeze but that so long as neither of them thinks the world owes them a living they’ll both be fine. Headroom is outstanding all-round, too, and the driving position is excellent, with a fine view ahead and to both sides.

It’s good in general up front, indeed. The cabin looks great, with a large media screen that flows horizontally into a digital dash in an arrangement that puts us in mind of the current Volkswagen Touareg. Which is a pretty good thing to be put in mind of. Those screens are good, too, with crisp displays and fast responses from an interface that makes good sense as you learn your way into it.

The rest of the cabin ergonomics are excellent, too, with good switchgear and a catchy design that’s carried off using nice materials.

The steering wheel feels really pleasing in your hands and build quality is generally solid,

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with very little creaking or movement from the fixtures and fittings. It doesn’t come on as an attempt to be ultra-premium but it absolutely does convince you that Kia is no longer a budget brand and deserves to be thought of in the same vein as the heavy-hitters from Europe and Japan.

We were particularly impressed with the Sportage as a luggage-lugger.

Its back seats fold almost completely flat and lock into position to leave a big, long cargo bay that’s accessed by a pleasingly wide aperture. Simple things, but they make a big difference to a vehicle’s practicality. It’s good at swallowing your odds and ends, too, with the usual combination of a big cubby, glovebox and door pockets augmented by a huge compound stowage area in the floor console.

In general, there’s very little to criticise. We felt that the adjustable lumbar cushion in the driver’s seat didn’t have quite as much adjustment as we’d like, but the seat itself looks and feels good and it certainly holds you in place it you decide to cut loose in corners – or, indeed, use that all-wheel drive ability to negotiate some side slopes or axle-twisters.

That we can still say such things about the Sportage is cause for some celebration. And so too is the leap forward Kia has made with more or less everything about the vehicle. This is the fifth generation of the Sportage.

Each of them has been good – but what we have now is, by some way, the best yet.

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05/10/2022 15:26 20:40 16/01/2023

MAGNETO PERSONALITY Jeep’s original Magneto concept was a Wrangler EV designed to perform like a petrol one.

W

hat is that sound? It seems like only yesterday if you wanted a Wrangler then you almost certainly wanted it with a 3.6L V6. It didn’t rumble quite like a V8 but it was still a growl to thrill the ears. But then Jeep launched the Magneto concept in 2021. And the sound was – silence.

An all-electric Wrangler certainly silenced some of the diehards, who were reduced to shuffling their feet and scratching their heads under their baseball caps. And last year Jeep did it again, launching the Magneto 2.0 at Moab Jeep Safari in Utah earlier in 2022. Only this time the silence was a little deeper, caused in part by mouths opening and staying open.

The clue is in the name. The 2.0 bit. Obvious really, as this is the revised, second version of the all-electric Wrangler. But there’s another angle to this. Guess how quickly this rig can accelerate from standstill to 60mph?

Yes indeedy. Two seconds. T-w-o.

That’s actually quicker than a Bugatti Chiron, a supercar with a price tag starting well north of £250,000. And that performance is in a 4x4 that can go crawling sedately and quietly up some of the toughest terrain that Utah has to offer, and that’s plenty tough. This second Magneto iteration doesn’t look that different to the first concept, so how, exactly how, have they achieved such a thing?

It’s like Jeep started cautiously but has now just gone full chocks away, max throttle towards a fun horizon. The first concept was pretty good in that it managed to mimic the performance of a normal V6 Wrangler. The 70kWh powerplant equalled 285bhp and 273lb ft of torque, so it could canter to 60mph from standstill in a very creditable 6.8sec. You get the sense that this is what they wanted, to replicate the existing Jeep as much as possible, so that people weren’t too spooked by the electric powerplant. A year later Jeep clearly don’t care about spooking people and their careful walk now has a distinct swagger.

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Magneto 2.0 is designed to out-drag a Bugatti… then tame the rocks like, well, a Wrangler Words: Graham Scott Pictures: Jeep

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Jeep’s original Magneto concept had similar outputs to the current V6-engined Wrangler, the assumed idea being to show people that electric ain’t so different to the real thing. Obviously, a certain kind of person will say that if electric ain’t so different to the real thing, why wouldn’t you buy the real thing? Perhaps Jeep could see that one coming, which is why the Magneto 2.0 has a custom axial flux motor putting out an, er, almost entirely silent 625bhp and 850lbf.ft. Oh, and it has nitrous… well, the electrical equivalent thereof, which is a 10-second peak amperage hold you can engage to achieve a barely believable 0-60 time of 2.0 seconds. Not a misprint. If you had built something like this, you would give it a transparent bonnet too Version Two is a foot longer than the original.

That’s because the powerplant has had some definite work and now takes more room. There are the same 800-volt battery packs as before, but now it’s a ‘custom axial flux electric motor’. You sense that Scotty would quite like to take a closer look – actually he can as the carbon bonnet has a clear section so you can look and drool or scratch your head under your baseball cap as you see fit.

The combined effect of all the changes is a simply monstrous increase in power. Where there was 285bhp there is now 625bhp. Where there was 273lb ft of torque there is now 850lbf.ft.

Yes, they’re quite big numbers aren’t they?

And even then Jeep couldn’t help tweaking some more. It’s all-electric but you can have the effect of a nitrous oxide boost if you want. The sparky equivalent is a hold on peak amperage, which it

can hold for ten seconds, more than enough to blitz that supercar looking cocky at the lights.

Again, Jeep hasn’t stopped there. You might expect this vehicle, which sounds like one of those little electric cars you used to buy children, to simply have just ‘go’ and ‘stop’ pedals. But actually and surprisingly and rather marvellously there’s a six-speed manual box. They really are trying to make this seem as ‘normal’ as possible.

A motor capable of throwing a Jeep at the horizon with this much vigour is also going to be capable of ripping the guts out of its transmission. But no: Magneto 2.0 has a six speed manual box (again, not a misprint) which feeds through a Rubicon Rock-Trac transfer case to Dynatrac 60 front and 80 rear Pro-Rock axles. Between this and the shock loads a set of 40x13.50R20 Maxxis muds are capable of generating, it’s a huge ask on the drivetrain – but since when was that ever something to worry about when you’ve got Jeep Performance Parts on your side and a budget the size of, well, this vehicle’s tyres?

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Those big Maxxis meats ride on six-spoke beadlockers with the Wrangler’s bodywork somewhere up above in the eastern Utah airspace.

The vehicle rides on a 3” lift, which doesn’t sound like much when you walk up to it and the top of the dash is somewhere near your eyeline.

Bumpers are largely absent, or at least they’re as small as possible – it may be able to send Lamborghini owners scurrying off to a clinic to have their manhood checked for signs of blunt trauma, but the Magneto 2.0 is first and foremost a no-compromise rock rig Now, you may be thinking that’s all rather fine, but surely it’s going to massacre the transmission with that much clout on hand. But there’s that manual gearbox, and that feeds through a Rubicon Rock-Trac transfer case, so you have just as much control when you’re doing serious rock-climbing as you would in an old Wrangler.

And that power then goes through an extremely robust pair of axles, a Dynatrac 60 Pro-Rock on the front and a Pro-Rock 80 at the rear. They’ve both got lockers too.

Further downstream from there, we find a pair of 20” wheels shot with monstrous 40” tyres. It’s all suspended on a 3” lift kit, which is standard.

The effect of all this is to make the 2.0 a big rig with a presence as you walk up to it. The cabin is

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at chest height it seems and all that carbon bodywork flows and gleams in an impressive manner.

Once you’re actually rolling, it really is quite remarkable that all you can hear is a steady whining, and this time it’s not from the kids in the back. Within the context of Moab, this makes a very neat fit. You’re out in God’s Air and you’re not polluting it. I have vivid memories of old Jeeps spewing their entire steaming gearbox oil all over the rocks here, while others sat there belching smoke while leaking gently. Now it’s all clean and sanitised. Sure, somewhere a coal-fired power station is working extra hard to make the electricity to recharge it, but that seems a long way from where you are.

The whole experience can seem a touch remote at times. Perhaps it’s the lift kit or those socking great tyres, but you can roll along without feeling totally connected to the land beneath your wheels. However, sort the transfer case out, lock the diffs if you feel the need and then tackle something scary and you realise an all-electric

Wrangler can still walk the walk as well as talk the talk. All this and yet it can burn off supercars at the lights as well.

It’s hard to say exactly what a productionised version of this concept vehicle will be like or what it will cost in the UK. Doubtless some of that carbon will disappear, and we don’t know yet how long the battery packs will last, particularly if you are rock-crawling in low ratio with maximum effort and then heading back to town to hunt down Lambos.

However, there’s no question that this not an outlier for Jeep. They’re committed to producing a range of electric vehicles, and this is far from the first or the last. But what we can see from the Wrangler Magneto 2.0 is that Jeep has clearly decided there’s going to be no apology about this, no trying to slide it in under the radar. This is a statement of intent, and apart from anything else it’s clear that the intention is to have fun.

An all-electric Jeep that’s fun. Now that’s not a bad thought.

14/01/2023 17:08

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09/11/2021 19:15:17 17/01/2023 09:17

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BJORN AGAIN ‘Manufactured by the Rover Co Ltd Solihull England’ it still says on this Range Rover’s VIN plate. But what you see before you is the product of a life in Sweden… followed by a new life wrought by a three-year restoration by one of the world’s top 4x4 builders Words: Graham Scott Pictures: Legacy Overland

I

t’s easy to get all anthropomorphic about stuff. Does your dog really know what you’re thinking, for example?

Of course, that has its downsides. Imagine being able to actually hear what your cat thinks of you. But we take this over into inanimate objects as well, like politicians or indeed this Range Rover.

Back in 1975, it rolled off the Solihull production line in England. Then at some point it went to live in Sweden – presumably that was its first destination since it’s always been a left-hooker. Then it crossed the Atlantic to live in the USA. Why did it do that? Was it on the run after not being liberal enough for Sweden? Did it refuse to play Abba on its radio?

Who knows. Of course the Americans view it differently. According to them this old Classic was ‘rescued from the northern expanses of Sweden’.

Obviously nobody would want to live there; the world would much rather live in the USA, whether people, objects, pets or garden ornaments.

‘The Americans’ in this case are the hard-working folk at Legacy Overland who, in their own words, make ‘new vintage motors’. They’re based in Connecticut, and so not that far from New York, which is actually the sort of location you’d see this gleaming 4x4, amid all the street camps of people living rough, as it burbles through the misery, more than capable of dealing with any homeless debris or obstruction. So much nicer than the frozen lakes and snowy mountains of northern Sweden.

But here it is, not far off half a century old, looking way, way better than when it rolled off that production line, even though now it is called The Exeter. After the Duke in various Shakespeare plays who was once played by Brian Blessed, no

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doubt, the man who went on to find fame as the voice of Peppa Pig’s grandfather, or possibly the city in Devon that became known as England’s worst clone town.

Or not. They could have called it The Swindon or The Hull or something. Anyway, foreign travel has obviously suited this old Classic. And naturally, it has picked up some foreign parts after travelling in foreign parts.

Actually, before we get into it, it’s simply impossible to not stop and stare at that paint job.

Even as you get near, your eye is drawn to that lustrous glossy black. The original body sprayers at Solihull would have choked on their Woodbines if they’d seen something like this.

Beluga Black is a Land Rover colour, but we’ve never seen it applied in quite such a glossy way. Obviously various things are Beluga Black, including caviar, a whale and, umm, some lentils, but photographing this three-door must have been tough for the man with the lens as everything is mirrored back to you from the paintwork. Sorry if you think we’re going overboard about it but it really is extraordinary.

Of course, one reason it seems so amazing is that it is so evenly reflected. And that requires flat panels, not the usual ones that aspire to flatness.

Which is just one reminder that this wasn’t a quick respray and a bit of titivation. This was a total rebuild involving every nut and bolt, everything

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Above: The Range Rover had a V8 when it was new, and it has a V8 now. So, nothing to see here, then.

Except of course the old 3.5-litre Rover engine was mainly just a thing that made it move, a bit. You could tune them, for sure, but since the one in this Rangey was approaching its 50th birthday a far better and altogether more American solution was to replace it with a crate engine – and what better candidate for the job than 6.2 litres’ worth of LS3 goodness?

Right: The Range Rover had disc brakes when it was new, and it has disc brakes now. Do you see a pattern forming? Same goes for its springs and shocks, too – the suspension set-up is the same but the former are comfort ride jobs and the latter are from Monroe, so its owner won’t still be rebounding his or her merry way up the road half a mile after making a gentle lane change

taken back to the frame, which was then treated and restored after all those dismal years in the glittering wilderness of northern Sweden.

Whoever the original owner was, it probably wasn’t Bjorn Borg or Bjorn Ulvaeus (air guitar and real guitar respectively), although of course there was a Land Rover in Mamma Mia! Anyway, whoever it was, they didn’t sit in the kind of luxury that you find inside the Legacy Overland version.

Slide in behind the wheel and perhaps there are echoes of the 1970s. The words ‘velour’ and ‘shag’ have their place here although it’s better if you imagine the Carry On team saying them. Titter

ye not. So what we have is a cabin in handcrafted saffron-coloured velour, and the floor is covered in a dark brown shag carpet with beige floor mats.

All that’s missing is the avocado-coloured bidet and we’d be away.

But it is, as a later comedian would attest, ‘all in the best possible taste’. It really is, with Palomino leather trim also lavishly applied to doors, seats and even the cubby box. The detailing is exquisite, like that Lokar vintage-style gearlever finished in Midnight Black, matched by the transfer case shift lever. Notice how the main dials may have been meticulously rebuilt, but there are new,

smaller gauges for everything from the oil pressure gauge to the clock.

Naturally, unlike in a Rolls-Royce, you won’t be hearing the clock tick for several reasons, including the new Alpine UTE sound system. The head unit fits in where the original radio would go and is partnered with a massive amplifier and speakers in the doors and rear roof. Never will Dancing Queen have sounded so good.

But there’s another reason you won’t be hearing the clock tick, and that’s because of one of those aforementioned foreign parts. It’s what happens when things go Stateside. They just get bigger.

Legacy Overland has a team of professional restorers who know exactly how to turn a piece of rolling scrap into a work of remanufactured automotive art, but it still took them three years to turn the Range Rover around. When you see the plight of what first arrived with them, the sheer size of the task does become apparent – it’s hard to believe that someone could let a vehicle get into such a horrendous state in the first place

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13/01/2023 10:59

PUBLISHED 18 Nov 2022

Whatever your taste in Land Rovers, there’s one annual publication you can’t afford to miss. The Land Rover Yearbook is an eclectic blend of classics, modified motors, new Landies, product reviews, travelogues and more.

This year’s Yearbook includes a range of 90s and 110s that have been brought back to life with a twist. And a 107” Station Wagon, too, restored and modified into a Series I like no other. If you prefer your classics to be more, well, classic, you’ll find an 88” Series IIA rebuilt with a devotion to originality that borders on the fanatical. And how about one of the very earliest Freelanders? Not everyone’s idea of a classic, but everything about Land Rover’s history since then says it’s one of the most significant vehicles the company has ever made.

The Discovery, for example, was a truck in the pre-Freelander era. Now it’s a premium SUV. We’ve tested the current model in entry-level D250 form in a bid to find out whether you really need to stretch all the way to a top-spec engine.

And we’ve driven the basic Defender 90, too – steel wheels and all. Not just on any test drive, either, but a mighty green lane trip on some of the best trails in the country.

That’s one kind of travel story.

Getting up close to Africa’s wildlife is definitely another, and so too is the Dakar Classic. Loads of historhistor ic Range Rovers and Series trucks were involved in this marathon desert rally – yet not one of them had a British driver. So be warned spend a day or two poring over the 2023 Land Rover Yearbook and you might come away on a mission to put that right!

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22/11/2022 15:39:41 16/01/2023 15:31

It takes a certain amount of taste and discernment to spend the better part of $300,000 on a 50-year-old 4x4 The original V8 is gone. Too small, too weedy, too European. Instead there is another V8 fro General Motor only this one, straight out of its crate, displaces 6.2 litres.

Legacy Overland don’t go into performance figures so much, but the LS3 engine should be good for about 430bhp. That is just a smidge above the original V8 which might have made 124bhp on a good day, and not all days were good. Not forgetting the new figure of 425lbf.ft of torque.

While that’s all jolly marvellous and exciting, the more thoughtful among you must be wondering what that torrent of power would do to the rest of the vehicle, apart from the grinning driver.

There’s a six-speed automatic fitted but that still feeds through the LT230 transfer case, which has been rebuilt. We bet it has. The entire drivetrain has been meticulously rebuilt to cope with it all and there’s an aluminium radiator, power steering with its own cooling system and a custom

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exhaust. To paraphrase a disgusting breakfast cereal, it rumbles, crackles and pops.

Stopping such a beast would necessarily require an upgrade, and sure enough there are high-performance disc brakes all round with braided hoses to keep things tight. The handling appears to be aimed more at the US than the UK market with ‘comfort ride’ springs and Monroe shock absorbers. With such a set-up you’d probably hardly notice those tented encampments under the BFGoodrich All Terrains, which run on restored Rostyle steels sporting custom wheel caps.

Legacy Overland really do the details. Which is one reason why this restoration took them three years. It must be said that when they got it, in a sort of tired Camel Trophy drab yellow, it looked like it had been hit by a moose while being driven by a bear. Now it looks as good and to a higher standard than many modern supercars.

Only it’s not a supercar, it’s an absolute classic, one of those shapes that pretty much anyone would recognise and smile at. It manages to look

period but on-point, extravagant but almost modest. That’s what real money can buy you.

Any BlackRock senior exec could buy the US-only Range Rover Carmel Edition at north of $300,000, but it takes a certain amount of taste and discernment to spend the better part of that on a 50-year-old 4x4. We reckon this elder English vehicle would smile quietly to itself at its restoration to high status. See, it reallly is easy to be anthropomorphic.

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A HARD HABIT TO

How many times have you heard the story about a guy who got into off-roading and bought himself a nice, cheap 4x4 to play about in without any intention of letting it turn into a project? Well, you’re about to hear it again… only this time, you’ve probably taken one look and don’t even know what make of truck it is Words: Gary Noskill Pictures: Steve Taylor

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BREAK M

ost of us have bad habits. Whether it’s riding the clutch, picking our noses in public, shouting abuse at the television when Donald Trump’s face appears… well, maybe that one isn’t a bad habit as such, but you know what I mean.

It can be hard to imagine why a habit would form, particularly if you’re not the person who has it. Riding the clutch? Well duh, just don’t ride the clutch. Same with picking your nose, says a person who doesn’t do that, though I typed this with one hand while biting the nails on the other one.

Talking of things you do with one hand, you’ll remember the old wives’ tale about a certain habit making you go blind. You may recall discovering that it didn’t, and continued not to, and here we are all grown-up and fingers crossed (well, the fingers on one hand, anyway) it still hasn’t.

It’s risky, though. Our editor likes to say of vehicles that the first dent is the deepest. He demonstrated this perfectly with his old Nissan Patrol, which started off looking like new and was never meant to become an off-road disaster area.

But then one day on the Triangle Vert he slid it round a tight corner and put a dent in the door.

Then his girlfriend had an accident with a Chinese takeaway and the carpet on her side turned orange. Then the air-conditioning in his Cherokee packed in just when he was about to set out a roadbook on one of the hottest days of the year, so he used the Patrol instead and it turned out to be a roadbook full of tightly packed trees. And before long, his pristine wagon was a beaten up wreck with a cabin that looked like a skip.

And that’s how it goes. Bit by little bit. You start off by jumping in with your mate for a bit of offroad fun. You discover that it is fun, right enough.

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Above: James first modified the suspension by adding simple extended shackles to give a two-inch lift. These have since been replaced with Z-shackles, which open and rotate to allow much greater articulation Top right: Wheel travel is aided by the choice of shocks – Pro-Comp ES3000s went on all round for their combination of good travel with decent reliability and a sensible price Above right: Spring over axle conversion adds a couple of inches to the vehicle’s overall height. Ultimate under-axle ground clearance remains the same, of course, but approach and departure are improved still further Right: The front wings were removed to leave room for unhindered articulation. In their place is a home-brewed tubular affair carrying a set of deformable wheelarches So you buy a truck of your own, but you’re not going to modify it. But you see how much better they can be with just a little work. So you do a little work, and it’s a lot better, so you figure that if you do a little more it’ll be a lot better still and soon enough you’re up to the neck building a fullhouse proto.

That’s how the off-road bug bites. And while the creation you’re looking at here is not quite a proto, it certainly is modified. So much that you might be struggling to figure out what it is.

The answer is not a Range Rover, but that’s where the story began for its builder, James Firth.

Way back when, he jumped in with his mate to see what this off-roading lark is all about, and a few ride-outs later his mate’s old-shaper had convinced him that he needed a truck in his life.

Range Rovers are good at doing that, but once you get to know them they can also be good at convincing you that whatever kind of 4x4 you buy, it should be anything but a Range Rover. James went to the opposite end of the scale, at any rate,

deciding that what he needed in his life was a ‘cheap little Suzuki’. What he got was an SJ, and they didn’t come any cheaper and littler than that.

And so it began. With the SJ on his driveway, James decided that a set of mud-terrains would be a good idea. And while he was at it, he reasoned he may as well hike the suspension up a couple of inches as well.

This didn’t kill him, or make him go blind. Remember what we were saying about how habits form. Two or three years later, he was admitting to us that ‘I suppose I’ve found it hard to know where to stop. There’s always something that will enhance the SJ’s abilities in the rough.’

Compared to the current specification, James’ first round of modifications to the SJ appears relatively restrained. He replaced the standard road tyres with a set of 31” remoulds, having made room beneath the arches by raising the leaf springs by two inches.

He did this by keeping the original springs but extending their shackles. And guess what? The

Suzuki now handle like a plate of jelly glued to the top of a pogo stick.

The result was that James decided to keep his SJ mainly as an off-road vehicle. And the result of THAT was that no longer fettered by the need to keep it drivable every day, he was able to start going more extreme with it. A Loc-Rite diff soon appeared in the rear axle. Then an SJ410 transfer case replaced the SJ413 unit, and now it was capable of crawling over just about anything. The transformation was such that the next item on the shopping list was four-point harnesses. ‘Even at slow speeds, things can go wrong,’ says James, and how right he is. ‘I’d sooner be strapped into a racing harness if I’m hanging upside down than relying on a normal seatbelt to save me.’

As this demonstrates, more often than not one mod leads to another. But while this certainly is true, by now James was hooked on off-roading – and the habit was proving hard to kick.

So it’s something of a surprise to learn that the SJ stayed in this state for a fair time before he at-

Left: The original 1.3-litre Samurai engine has given way to an 8-valve Vitara 1.6. This does an adequate job in conjunction with an SJ410 transfer case Right: Inboard fuel tank is located in the rear bed, just below the high-lift jack mountings on the roll cage’s rear stays

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tacked it with a carving knife to create the animal you see here. ‘I got talking to someone who had their own workshop,’ he says. ‘We decided to have a play with the pipe bender and welder. The result was this thing!’

In fact, James’ original intention had been to convert the SJ into a pick-up. Once the process of removing the rear bodywork had commenced, however, he realised that it had more holes in it than one of those planets in The Clangers. (Trust 4x4 to bring you all the most up-to-date cultural references.) So either an entirely new body would need to be found for the chassis (which itself was in reasonably good order), or something more dramatic would have to ensue.

The latter option rapidly became the favoured one, because the idea of building something completely different was now sounding kind of fun. So while the angle grinder was being waved about, the guys lopped off the SJ’s front wings. Well, if you’re going to trayback it at the rear and end up with enough wheel travel to be seen from space, you want to balance it up at the front as well.

So it was that James’ Suzuki came to look like something from the set of Mad Max. Something from the set of Mad Max that had been created using the front end from a Vitara, most people tend to assume.

In fact, the lights and grille were taken from a Mitsubishi Space Wagon and modified to sit neat-

ly atop a steel bumper James bought from a local fabricator. This provided a home for a 9500lb Champion winch, which is more than enough to get an SJ out of trouble and let him rescue more other off-roaders he might find stranded too.

So it’s not a Vitara, but it is in the engine department. In place of the original 1.3, James dropped in a 1.6-litre 8-valve unit from Suzuki’s erstwhile hairdresser’s favourite – which, combined with the factory gearbox and that 410 transfer case, got it moving very nicely indeed throughout the range of speeds he was ever likely to drive it at.

At this point, let me refer you back to what James was saying about four-point harnesses and being upside down. Having made the SJ more capable than ever of tackling the sort of terrain which means that when you mess up, you mess up big, he broke out the aforementioned bender and made up a full eight-point exo cage.

Not that he was planning to turn the vehicle over, of course, and he spaced out the wheels by 30mm to give it that bit more stability as the ride height and centre of gravity went up. Which it did, and in a rather more sophisticated fashion than when he first chucked a set of extended shackles under it. In our photos, it’s running a SPOA conversion, giving it an extra couple of inches, as well as James’ own custom-made Z-links instead of those old shackles. These are designed both to swivel and open, like a pair of scissors being held

in someone’s hand, to create multi-directional travel at each corner. Given that the four wheels are literally positioned at the extremities of the vehicle, this makes for mightily impressive ability to follow the contours of the ground.

The springs and shackles are backed up by Pro-Comp ES3000 shocks, which have always been popular with off-roaders for the amount of articulation they allow. The same company’s steering damper is in place, too, as are a set of jackable rock sliders, an inboard petrol tank and a 90-amp Range Rover alternator. Aha! So that first ride in his friend’s old Classic DID rub off on him after all!

As you can see from all this, the days when this was ‘a cheap little Suzuki’ are well in the past. It’s definitely not an example of a conventional build, but it certainly a classic case of how modifying your 4x4 can be very habit-forming. At least it’s also proof that not every habit is a bad one.

Headlamps keep it in the family by coming from a Suzuki Vitara, right? Wrong: in fact they, in conjunction with the grille, are from a Mitsubishi Space Wagon

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82 19 CE SIN

ARCHIVE STORIES FROM THE FIRST YEAR OF OVERLANDER 4X4

Child of the Revolution

Forty years ago this month, Land Rover brought the assembled motoring press together for the launch of an all-new vehicle. It looked similar to a Series IIII but drove more like a Range Rover… so, in the last of a series of articles adapted from 4x4 magazine’s first year in existence, what did our fearless roving reporter Brian Hartley make of Solihull’s revolutionary new vehicle?

A cold, bright February afternoon in the Warwickshire countryside around Stratford-upon-Avon. All was well with the world as I swung my Range Rover into the long drive that wound its way through spacious grounds to the Welcombe Hotel. We had been invited to the press launch of the Land Rover One Ten, a beanfeast I had been looking forward to for weeks and one which would surely vindicate my earlier ideas as to the shape of things to come from Solihull.

The hotel is a huge, imposing place, fitting my expansive mood

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of carefree affluence to a tee. I had just decided that this has to be THE way to enjoy yourself when I saw it.

Just peeking its plastic nose round the corner of a shadowed archway was a Land Rover shaped object.

The flared wheelarch wasn’t familiar, though and neither was that plastic grin across its amiable snout.

Feeling like a schoolboy playing truant, I nonchalantly strolled under the arch. The grille badge boldly proclaimed, as it came into focus, LAND ROVER 110. To use an eloquent if somewhat earthy expression, I was totally gobstruck.

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Mechanical components of the V8 model exposed

It looked like an ordinary 12-seater Safari! I could see the one-piece screen, fancy flares and new grille, but surely that could never be construed as a new model?

In something of a daze, I retired to the hotel to claim my room, feeling sicker than a whole flock of parrots.

Life can change awful sudden, can’t it? How could I have been so wrong?

Finally locating my room deep in the mansion’s bowels, I dropped my bag and slumped into a chair to read the glossy bulk of the press pack. Thirty minutes later, I was still engrossed as I came to terms with Land Rover’s NEW Land Rover.

Therein lies the One Ten’s biggest weakness. It looks like any other Land Rover when in reality, the outcome of this cross-breeding exercise is a completely different animal.

I am convinced that most people were, like me, expecting something totally new, so it follows that most will be surprised, if not dismayed, to see the same familiar outline as before. If Land Rover dealers do not bridge the credibility gap by offering test drives to anybody who looks remotely interested in a One Ten, they will be doing themselves and the vehicle a criminal disservice.

The One Ten can only really be appreciated from the driving seat. It is there that all regular and seasoned Land Rover and, for that matter, Range Rover drivers had better prepare for a severe case of culture shock!

If Land Rover dealers do not offer test drives to anybody who looks remotely interested, they will be doing the vehicle a criminal disservice Suitably Strong Though based on the Range Rover chassis, the One Ten has a unique frame, suitably strengthened and modified to take the extra engine options in the range, to cope with the three-ton gross weight and to

provide the potential to tow a maximum four tons. With a possible all up ’train weight’ of seven tons, you are entering the truckers’ league!

The suspension is coil springs with hydraulic shockers all round, the front axle being located by radius arms and a panhard rod and the rear by trailing arms and a central A-frame. The Boge Hydromat self levelling unit is fitted as standard to the County 12-seater and is optional on all other models.

The front axle is Range Rover, suitably re-bracketed, while the rear is a wider version of the old faithful Salisbury 8 HA, which has gained an excellent reputation for itself in the Series 3 LWB as a virtually indestructible unit. The Salisbury differential is geared to give a 3.54:1 ratio, identical to the Range Rover and Series 3 V8.

To stop the whole thing in its tracks there are the 11” servo-assisted drums of the Series 3 LWB

at the rear and fractionally larger than standard Range Rover discs on the front (11.81” as opposed to the Range Rover’s 11.75”). As you might expect, the handbrake is the traditional Rover transmission drum set up, but 10” in diameter.

For the first time ever in a Land Rover, factory fitted power steering is optional. Both the manual and power steering boxes are from the Range Rover, with an all new but very spindly looking shaft from the chassis-mounted box to the bottom of the steering column. The Range Rover steering equipment has brought the ’field and a half’ turning circle of the old 109” Series 3 LWB down from 49 feet to a fairly reasonable 42 feet.

All the One Ten models have steering dampers fitted as standard and are equipped with pressed steel rims carrying 7.50x16 radial tyres.

It was interesting to note that all the road test vehicles were shod

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Above left: The well respected V8 power unit, in this case producing a mere 114bhp at 4000rpm Above right: Lost in space. A 2.25-litre petrol engine with new twin-choke Weber carb and revised air cleaner position. Note the relocated heater intake on the left wing, galvanised wheel valances with cover plates for shock absorber turrets and spindly steering linkage on right.

The large radiator to engine gap has meant extremely long hoses and an air tunnel on the 2.25 versions Bottom right: ‘County’ equipped interior. Note revised dash layout, new steering wheel, plastic moulding covered air vents, narrower top dash rail and 5-speed gear shift with Avon Rangemasters, while the off-road test machines were shod with the chunkier patterned Michelin XS rubber.

Export Experts To digress from the technicalities for a while, I had the chance to talk to Alex Mackie, Director of Engineering at the company, about

Land Rover in general and the One Ten in particular. I could not help but express my disappointment at the bodywork of the One Ten. The view from the opposite side of the fence, however, is somewhat different.

Land Rover’s direct exports are currently running at some £220 million per year. Over 70% of worldwide sales are LWB models, which is

probably in direct contrast to what you would expect from the number of SWB Land Rovers seen on British roads, and it is for this reason that the One Ten is a LWB vehicle.

Although no-one would say so, it became apparent that demand for the One Ten is expected to be such that the Series 3 LWB, in all its versions, will be phased out eventually.

What about a SWB? A ’no comment’ stonewalled any real discussion on the subject, but obviously the idea must have been thought of

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More than 50% of Land Rover sales are to fleet customers, including of course the military, and this again is another strong reason for using the tried and trusted aluminium Land Rover bodywork with its many different cab and body options. All the familiar silhouettes are there from the chassis/bulkhead for bodybuilders through to softtops, pick-ups, hard-tops, 12-seaters and of course, the HCPU. Another plus point for fleet users is the interchangeability of most body panels, though this is much reduced with the advent of the bigger screen and other minor modifications, and the retention, at least for a while, of the old range of engines.

Perhaps the overriding reason for keeping the traditional bodywork is that Land Rover are tilting firmly at the utility market with the One Ten, albeit with a very upmarket model from now on. The range as they see it spans the two extremes, from the workhorse ruggedness of the Series 3 through the equally rugged but far more refined One Ten to the luxury of the four-door Range Rover.

What about the SWB? Again, a ’no comment’ stonewalled any real discussion on the subject, but obviously the idea must have been thought of. Leaf spring suspension is simple and robust, a popular point with operators in third world areas, but then to me coils are even simpler, lighter and equally robust – and a broken coil doesn’t mean the loss of axle location as it can with a leaf spring. Probably a far bigger problem with the SWB would be getting the ride right; coils and short

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Above left: The beefy High Capacity Pick-Up launched in 1982 as a 109” is even more practical in the One Ten guise Above right: Top of the range. The County One Ten Station Wagon complete with plastic grille. Note also the flared wheelarches, angled sliding front windows and useful plastic ‘flip-back’ door mirrors wheelbases can be a particularly unhappy combination.

Old Motors, New Cogs The three engines offered in the One Ten are old favourites. The 2.25-litre diesel is unchanged in its five bearing crank form, except for the inclusion, at last, of an electrically operated engine stop control, activated by key. The 2.25-litre petrol engine has undergone a power increase with the use of a revised camshaft, twin choke 32/34 DMTL Weber carburettor and revised inlet and exhaust manifolds.

The increase? Would you believejust 4bhp? No, I didn’t either and no-one could tell me the reason for it. Considering the amount of work involved, the increase is as laughable as it is insignificant. It does, however, continue to allow the use of 2-star petrol in this 74bhp unit.

Of far more importance to the performance of the One Ten is the new optional 5-speed gearbox fitted behind either of the 2.25 litre engines. This gearbox, as used in the Jaguar and Rover SDI range, has been offered before by various outside agencies, but it is the first time that Land Rover have seen fit to grace their products with

anything other than a 4-speeder.

This, the LT77 gearbox, is mated to an LT230R transfer box, as fitted to the automatic Range Rover and also containing, of course, the lockable differential of a full-time four-wheel drive system.

Transfer gears are selected by a single stick control that also operates the diff lock control by pushing it sideways. A neat and practical set up. For the V8 engined applications, the honour falls to the standard Range Rover gearbox set up of the latest, high ratio, integral transfer case design.

The old Series 3 gearbox is now relegated, in One Ten terms at any rate, to an optional extra for customers who don’t want the full-time four-

wheel drive offered as standard.

Freewheeling hubs are included as standard with this option package.

Four-cylinder engines use a 9.5” diaphragm clutch and the V8 a 10.5”.

Down to the Jungle Any vehicle can look impressive on a specification sheet, but only driving and working the beast will give you a true idea of what it is all about and whether it lives up to the maker’s promises. The driving was to take place in two stages: a lengthy ramble through leafy lanes and metalled motorways to Solihull and then a jaunt or two round the factory’s famous Jungle Track.

All the road test models were equipped with the extremely com-

fortable County seats, along with pressed felt head and cab linings, sound deadening plastic mats and newly designed one piece plastic door mouldings. As the latter now have the release handles mounted further forward, it soon became obvious who the regular Land Rover drivers were…

Can this really be a Land Rover, you ask yourself? The door shuts with a clunk; comfortable seats for the nether regions; an updated, easily viewed dash layout; wipers, horn, washers, indicators and lights all stalk controlled and column mounted, with heater controls to either side.

The revised dash layout gives more cab space due to a narrower

One Ten interior with vinyl de-luxe seats. Clearly shown is the new one-piece door trim with map pocket and repositioned door handle.

An excellent passenger grab handle is moulded into the dash

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The untidy rear end of the One Ten. The offset mud flaps look out of place but the raised spare wheel mounting for Safaris is long overdue. Note new galvanised cappings and revised rear crossmember complete with holes for the pillar jack. Only the HCPU uses under-axle jacking – personally, I’d retain it on all models

top rail but by far and away the biggest improvement was the extra light and visibility provided by the new screen. It gave the whole cab a spacious, airy feeling and meant not having to peer under the top edge of the screen.

I started out with a V8 engined High Capacity Pick Up. The ride and handling are superb! Gone is the sickly ’Range Rover’ body roll, the suspension being stiffened just enough to iron out the huge ’leans’ but still giving a jolt-free ride. At first I thought it may be due to the HCPU’s heavy duty rear springing, but all the other models displayed the same excellent manners.

The absence of body roll meant that spirited cornering could be

undertaken in some comfort and confidence, the Avon Rangemaster tyres being well behaved and very quiet on the road. The Range Rover type steering wheel and power steering, one of the few powerassisted systems I’ve ever really liked, were quiet, easy and responsive. The handbrake, never one of Solihull’s strong points, felt as if it could hold a tank.

The Range Rover four-speed gearbox, on the other hand, even in its latest form, must surely rank high among the very worst gearboxes ever built. All the familiar features that Range Rover owners have learned to live with were there: the clunks, whines, argumentative syncros and general backlash. The

ever-present noise was muted by the One Ten’s soundproofing, but it was still apparent.

The high/ low range lever is mounted on the gearbox tunnel and the centre diff-lock button sprouts from the seatbox. The double sliding windows give better part ventilation by opening just the front section and the rear part opens wider than the Series 3 ever did, giving more room to poke your head through (a necessary improvement for some of us!). The plastic window lock affair was a different idea altogether, taking three grown men to operate it at one point.

Brakes are again in the top league. Some of the more fairy footed among as might find the pedal pressures a little high but there was always plenty of reserve. This is important as the One Ten has a high loading capacity and, at its maximum weight of 3.1 tons gross and a maximum velocity of 85 mph for the V8, good anchors are essential.

The One Ten cruised quite happily at 80mph, the new door seals and aluminium door tops reducing wind noise to acceptable levels. The main source of noise on the HCPU is the flapping of the rear canvas, which

incidentally now comes right down the back of the cab and has a transparent panel for rear vision.

Man Made Obstacles Once in the Solihull back yard, we parked our road vehicles and were allowed to choose our off-road mounts. This time, we settled for a 2.25 petrol Station Wagon.

The famous Solihull Jungle Track is a cleverly designed off-road course. Clever in that it appears far more daunting than it actually is, thereby giving tarmac-lubbers a great sensation of adventure without actually doing anything too daring. Nevertheless, one enterprising journalist had managed to roll a One Ten the day before.

To prove my point, the Station Wagon was taken round the whole of the course in high range at a nice sedate pace. The suspension kept the ride smooth, upright and drama free and its full-time four-wheel drive enabled a greasy hill start to be undertaken, still using high range, with no fuss.

It did appear from the ease with which the 2.25 unit motivated the One Ten in this manoeuvre that

Personally, I see it as an ideal combination of two unique vehicles. Could it be, I wonder, that we are witnessing the birth of a new legend?

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Above left: A workmanlike High Capacity Pick Up (HCPU) tackling one of the man-made hazards of the Solihull track. In this case, a 50% grade complete with armco barriers to deflect the more enthusiastic journalist!

Above right: If the concrete ramp in the adjacent photo didn’t need the diff lock, this certainly did – and we made it, too!

the engine mods have made an improvement on its low-speed torque. Many impressive man-made obstacles were tackled, including an uphill concrete step section which would have needed far more gusto in a leaf sprung Land Rover.

True to form, the gremlins struck when the gear lever of the nice new 5-speed jammed in neutral while attempting a side slope. We were whisked away by Land Rover personnel to have another go in a V8 Safari while the offending One Ten was seen to.

The suitably chastened vehicle was back within 20 minutes, proving that nothing too drastic was amiss, but I did wonder about the selector mechanism particularly as it seemed too easy to flop straight into 5th when aiming for 3rd.

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The V8 was subjected to a much more rapid circuit of the Jungle Track and again displayed its inbuilt tenacity. Despite a belly flop into deep water, not a drop entered the interior – although the engine developed a cough for a moment or two.

This was despite the new galvanised steel inner wings, which are shaped to fit over the wheels completely, leaving no gaps over the top of the chassis. Besides reducing the amount of mud and gunge entering the engine bay, these wings have the advantage of reducing road noise.

Luxury Landy or Utility Rangey?

The One Ten’s on and off-road driving manners came as something of a revelation to one who was weaned

on the old type of Land Rovers. Indeed, it has aged the original vehicle at a stroke.

Taken as a whole, the experience was more impressive than either the Range Rover or the Mercedes G-Wagen. The latter in particular is going to have a hard time against the One Ten in every aspect except the cabin.

In this one area, the improvements offered by the One Ten over the standard Land Rover cannot fully compensate for the lack of leg and elbow room. This is particularly true in the case of the rear passengers in the Safari versions, who still require short legs and necks for a comfortable journey.

It would require significantly harsher conditions than those we encountered to really test the mettle

of the One Ten. But I for one would happily put money on its coil sprung rump to match any of the competition, from whatever continent, in an all out off-road test – including its own stablemates.

Just how other people will view the One Ten remains to be seen.

Land Rover’s top brass are in no doubt that it is firmly in the utility sector. However, the vehicle’s design team of Mike Broadhead, Bob Lees and Brian Anderson have produced such a good hybrid with their cross-breeding of the Land Rover and Range Rover that they may just have made a vehicle with a built in identity crisis.

Personally, I see it as an ideal combination of two unique vehicles.

Could it be, I wonder, that we are witnessing the birth of a new legend?

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THE ART OF THE David Lopez-Lazaro says his dad’s Wrangler is ‘possibly the best equipped JK in the UK.’ Sounds like the sort of thing a dishonest car salesman might say – but as you look around it, you might just start coming round to his point of view…

Words: Tom Alderney Pictures: David Lopez-Lazaro

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ossibly the best equipped JK in the UK.’ Now, there’s a bold claim. But David Lopez-Lazaro makes it of his dad’s Wrangler, which he bought new in 2016 and proceeded to turn into a modified adventure wagon with a six-figure price on its head.

There’s no shortage of bigged-up Wranglers out there, of course, some of them very cool indeed.

But not a lot of them can live with this 3.6-litre V6 Rubicon, whose 40” tyres merely hint at just how comprehensively it’s been upgraded.

David says his dad bought the Jeep ‘brand new from the USA via Nene Overland,’ which is a phrase everyone who knows the off-road market will immediately identify as having a great deal of meaning. The company used to import AEV equipment to the UK, and sure enough that’s where the JK’s lift and snorkel come from. The former, a 4.5” DualSport set-up, makes room for the aforementioned Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ P3s, 40x13.5R17 in size, which sit on Fuel OffRoad rims.

Big lift and big tyres, though? It’s always at the heart of a good look but if that’s all your truck’s got there’s going to be some fairly painful ho hum action coming your way.

That won’t be the case here, though. The Wrangler’s spec list reads like the sort of Jeeps they build in the States.

First up, what would you do within the first week of having your new Wrangler delivered? Try it out at a playday site, maybe? (Our editor did that when his Defender 90 was two days old, and he nearly rolled it then buried it up to its axles in mud.) Or a laning trip, perhaps? (Our editor was

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POSSIBLE

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Left: Heavy metal comes from Smittybilt, whose XRC front and Atlas rear bumpers will shrug off more or less anything. The front one is home to a premium winch in the shape of Warn’s Zeon 10S, which is wound with Spydura rope, while the rear supports a swing-away spare wheel carrier – no small feat, considering the wheel in question is shod with a 40” tyre Above: Axles are 1-ton Teraflex units – a Tera60 up front and a CRD60 at the back. Both run 4.88:1 diff gears and ARB Air-Lockers Right: Another sure sign of a vehicle that’s been built not just to get there but to get home again afterwards. We couldn’t very much show you a picture of the Atlas 4-speed transfer case, so instead here are the two levers used to control it, one for forward and the other for reverse

straight off to Sarn Helen the day his Patrol arrived and it took some expert waffle work to keep him from fetching off the back bumper on one of the rock steps, etc…)

No, anyway. David didn’t do any of that in his new Jeep. Instead, he had it undersealed. The best time to protect your investment is before you’ve even made it, right enough.

Being a Rubicon, the Wrangler came out of the factory on Dana 44 axles with electrically locking diffs. These are good things, but David’s dad had his mind on bigger – such as a set of 1-tonne Teraflex HD units to accommodate the larger wheel and tyre combo. Thus the front axle is now a Tera

60 with locking hubs, a 4.88:1 ring and pinion and an ARB Super 60 Air-Locker, while that at the back is a CRD60 with fully floating 8x6.5” hubs and the same internals. David says that buying and shipping these from the USA, then having them fitted over here, owes his dad more than £20,000 on its own.

The axles run 13.5” brake discs, which is nicely in proportion to the size of the tyres, and in keeping with the whole make-everything-bigger approach they’re turned by solid CV Adams props.

These in turn are bolted up to the output flanges on that most businesslike of off-road accessories, an Atlas 4-speed transfer case.

Any fool can spend money on the sort of stuff everyone looks at and goes ‘wow’: it’s when you know how to spend it on the sort of kit nobody will ever notice but anybody in the know will respect, that’s the sign of a properly planned build. And since you’re only going to notice those axles and props, and certainly that transfer case, if someone’s had it over or mown you down (both unlikely) or you’re crawling underneath it in mouth-open-and-drooling admiration (very likely, indeed bordering on the inevitable), this is a proper build indeed.

The bumpers are easier to admire without getting your knees dirty, but these two are as proper

Open up the rear half-door and you’ll come face to face with an ARB single drawer unit. As well as providing a massive stowage space for all those things you normally put in drawers, up top is the same company’s fridge slide. Even when this has a fridge on it, there’s still plenty of space for piling stuff up next to it so the dog guard will work for its living first time you use the brakes in anger. Note also the saddle bags on the rear door, which offer a handy space for the sort of stuff you need to be able to get your hands in a hurry while overlanding

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as proper can be. They’re both made by Smittybilt: up front is the company’s XRC unit, complete with an AEV winch mount and Warn Zeon 10S, while at the back is more of Basil’s best in the shape of an Atlas unit with a swing-away spare wheel carrier.

That’s some proper metal there, and there’s more up top. As we mentioned, this is an adventure truck first and foremost, so to carry the stuff you need it’s wearing a roof rack from Front Runner. This is equipped with sand ladder brackets and the obligatory LED bar; we can definitely picture it with a second spare, a tool box and a bank of jerries strapped on board, or indeed a fullhouse tent and awning, but it actually looks pretty cool just as it is. Not that we do these things for show, obviously…

Inside, the larger side from the 60:40 rear seats has been removed and put in storage to make way for a luggage platform. It’s all about vehicle dependency back here, where an ARB fridge slide is mounted on one of the same company’s drawer units. There’s a second battery in there too, as you’d expect with all those extra drains in the circuit.

There’s obviously a good bit of additional stowage available from that little lot, and the top of the drawer unit is ready to be loaded to the roof too.

One side’s full of fridge when the vehicle’s all set up for expeditions, of course, but even then a fullheight dog guard makes it possible to just chuck

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stuff in there without worrying about it jumping up in a drop-anchor situation and trying to bite you.

The rear half-door is fitted with webbing, too, as well as utility bags for the sort of kit you need to be able to get your hands on instantly while you’re away overlanding.

And talking of overlanding, the Jeep has an impressive array of stamps on its passport. Having done the build in 2016, David’s dad has explored the Baltics and Italy as well as returning to Spain time after time. Well, it’s a big place and more to the point, the trails there are as glorious as they are plentiful.

You could describe this Wrangler that way, too.

There sure is a whole lot of it – and it’s certainly glorious. Magnificent, in fact. And also cool in a way only a Jeep can be. But most of all, it’s the world on four wheels. It may have cost more than a hundred grand to put together, but look at it that was and it was cheap at twice the price.

David’s dad’s Wrangler is currently for sale. It’s a 2016 JKU Rubicon with the 3.6 Pentastar engine, it had 18,338 miles under its sizeable wheels at the last MOT and it’s been built with some of the best kit on the market. He’s looking for £52,995, which is 15% less than you’d do on a new one and just look at all the extras you get. Tempting? We would.

To get there in time to stop us from selling a kidney, contact David on davelopez659@gmail.com.

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OUR 4X4S Vehicle: Isuzu D-Max GO2 Year: 2018 Run by: Alan Kidd Last update: June 2021 On the fleet since: January 2020

Let it slide…

A FEW YEARS AGO, we were doing a photoshoot with a Ford Ranger that had just been built into a topend off-road adventure machine by one of the best known specialists in the country. The site we used was a pretty gnarly one but the truck was more than capable of getting about.

The ground was rough, though, and eventually the inevitable happened. While easing his way through, the truck’s owner dropped one of its wheels into a rut and as it fell in, its sill caught the lip with a glancing blow. Not the sort of impact that would stop it in its tracks – but enough to plant a fist sized dent right in the middle of it.

Not nice, and not a happy owner.

But when you’ve got a vehicle with a long wheelbase, its sills are going

to be more vulnerable than ever – to the extent that not fitting a set of rock sliders is an omission you struggle to comprehend.

We didn’t want that happening to our Isuzu D-Max GO2. So a set of sliders was definitely on the must-have list – which was fine by Isuzu UK when we were planning the build with them, because they had exactly that on their list of official accessories.

The sliders are a tubular design, with no box to be seen anywhere.

They’re designed with three mounts each, which clamp to the chassis rails via heavy-duty plates made from steel channel, then up top they’re skinned off with chequer plate to provide a step that’s reasonably non-slip.

Insurance for your 4X4

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Thinking of taking your 4x4 off road? We recommend getting your vehicle insured by Adrian Flux, a specialist insurance broker for modified 4x4s. Given that they’re a specialist insurance broker, we’ve insured several of our project trucks with them for the simple reason that they understand the needs of modified 4x4 owners – plus off-roaders and green laners – better than other insurance companies. Give them a call on 0800 085 5000 for a quote.

The sliders are fitted with no welding required, which says a lot for the strength their mounts need to have. In particular, as they go on it’s impossible not to notice the difference in the size and purpose of said mounts – which need to be able to take the whole weight of the

vehicle as it comes down sharply on a rock or tree stump.

Not that we were intending to do anything like that to it, of course.

But then, neither was matey that time with his Ranger…

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Above left: When you open the box and the first thing you see is these bits of thin ally, your first instinct might be to cringe. Not to worry, they’re only tread plates to go on top of the good stuff Above centre: Unbolting the standard side steps is one of those jobs that sound easy but, if your vehicle is of a certain age, tend to be infuriating. This is one of the joys of starting with a nearly new one Above right: Freed off and away she comes. Looking at the mounting arms will probably tell you a lot about why the standard steps aren’t any use when you sit them on rocks Below left: Just imagine that sill with a nice big dent in it. For added effect, take out one of the doors too. Then add the sound of an owner crying. That’ll be why we’re doing this Below centre: Original steps and heavy-duty replacements. It’s not just that the latter are made from thick steel tube – look at the contact area they’re going to have with the chassis when they’re bolted up and you can see why they’re not going to move in a hurry Below right: It’s not all plain sailing as you instal the hardware for mounting the rock sliders. Next time you hear someone moaning about not having enough space to work in, show them this picture

Left: The slider is offered up and slowly manoeuvred into place, then the mounts can be loosely bolted up. There’s still more to be done at this point Below, left to right: These shots give you an idea of the bracketry behind Isuzu’s rock sliders. This is some serious hardware designed to take the whole vehicle’s weight, even if it comes down hard on to a rock or tree stump

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OUR 4X4S

Above: The sliders are shipped with bungs in the ends of the main rails. These are removed for the inswept sections to be pushed into place to act as nerf bars Below: Here’s another good illustration of what it takes to make the rock sliders stay where you want them. This is the mount approximately halfway along the length of the unit, which takes a less than subtle but brutally strong approach to staying tight. Note also the auxiliary bracket to prevent the mounts for the fuel lines, rear light cables and so on from suffering a conflict of space

Below: Now finally the bits of thin ally plate can go in place. With the D-Max running a 3” lift and 33” tyres, we’ve found that most passengers need to use the rock sliders as steps, so these grips are actually pretty much essential

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CONTACT US T: 01789 595 200 E: SALES@GEARMATE.CO.UK

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HOW THE OTHER HALF OVERLAND Kalmar Beyond Adventure restifies middle-aged Porsche 911s and Cayennes into rally clients can enjoy them. The latest was an 11,000-kilometre epic on the best trails and Words: Olly Sack Pictures: Kalmar Beyond Adventure

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raid style overlanders – and organises trip-of-a-lifetime expedition events so its terrain of South America, from Lima in the north to the End of the World in Ushuaia

T

here’s adventure. And the there’s Beyond Adventure. There’s Porsches. And then there’s beyond Porsches. And even if you’re a strictly 110-Tdi-with-aroof-tent kind of guy when it comes to overlanding, the image of a 911 from a quarter of a century ago crossing deserts and mountains on steel wheels and tall tyres with no tarmac to be seen anywhere is definitely beyond what you might see in the expedition world.

Kalmar Beyond Adventure is a travel company with a difference. It runs a fleet made up of early Cayennes and 993 and 964-era 911s, which have been prepared by sister company Kalmar Automotive for on and off-road adventures; paying customers hire them to take part in its events, which include driving tours in every continent.

Of course, it’s not vehicle-dependent travel in the traditional sense.

A convoy of expensively prepped modern classic sports cars on a fully supported and presumably similarly expensive six-week holiday is a million miles from a couple of blokes spannering their way around the world in an oily old wagon while labouring on farms to pay for their diesel. But however you get your kicks, adventure stirs the soul in the same way.

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The initial route took them into the Nazca Desert – well off the beaten track at best, and breaking out the towing straps to help each other across virgin dunes of deep sand at worst

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The Trans-Andes Beyond Adventure rally was a 39-day, 11,000-mile epic starting in Lima, capital of Peru and ending in Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina. In the planning for three years, it brought together teams from Singapore, Germany, the USA, Macau, Hong Kong, Britain, Mexico and the Netherlands for a journey which Kalmar says was ‘nothing we offer to the public but to a group of what we call now friends.’

The teams gathered in Lima in mid-October, where the Porsches

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were waiting for them after a breathless prep process which saw Kalmar’s tech team working through the night to have them ready for action less than 48 hours after clearing customs. Then, within a couple of days of setting off, they were straight into it as the initial route took them into the Nazca Desert – well off the beaten track at best, and breaking out the towing straps to help each other across virgin dunes of deep sand at worst. ‘Worst’ in this case also meaning best, of course.

It might have been an adventure holiday, and the aforementioned lads in the oily 110 might sneer at is as being rich folk playing at expeditions. But a long day is still a long day, however well supported it is, and the teams were already getting used to spending marathon-level hours on board. ‘Gruelling’ is perhaps not the word, but ‘relaxing’ hardly applies here either.

As the route progressed south towards the border with Bolivia, the convoy took a paused for thought in

the city of Arequipa to give a little something back to a good cause – Paz Holandesa, a hospital run

by Dutch woman Marjan van Mourik, whose work allows access to healthcare for children whose families would otherwise be unable to afford it. The ugliness of the gap between rich and poor is hard to escape in a situation like this, but the meeting was at least one small opportunity for some of the world’s wealthy to do something for those less fortunate than themselves.

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How wealthy is wealthy in this case? Kalmar Beyond Adventure doesn’t quote prices for its events.

But 39 fully supported, all-inclusive days in a valuable classic car that’s been shipped around the world for you to jump in and drive is never going to come cheap. And as a rough guide to the sort of lifestyle the company’s customers enjoy, a couple of nights later they were staying at Titilaka, a hotel on the western shore of Lake Titicaca – whose rooms cost upstairs of $1000 a night. There are people who go travelling with less than that in their bank account.

From here, the route crossed into Bolivia. Which can only mean one thing – the Salar de Uyuni. At half the size of Wales, this is the world’s biggest salt flat, and it’s an absolutely A1 destination for overland travellers of every kind. People ship their vehicles to South America just to come here – and if ever there was a place to build an expedition around, this would be it.

There are many unique sights around Uyuni. There’s the cactus-covered islands rising from an endless horizon of salt. There’s the

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forest of national flags planted by visitors from all around the world.

There’s even the ghostly Cementerio de los Trenes, a giant scrapyard in which abandoned trains from as far back as the 19th Century have been parked up and left to rust.

Among all these, however, one of the most iconic images in the whole of the 4x4 world is that of an old 60 or 80-Series Land Cruiser on the Salar. Overlanders flock here, of course, but so do backpackers – for whom there’s a thriving local business in off-road day tours on to the salt. Seeing the brightly coloured Porsches of the Kalmar convoy making fast passes across the smooth, flat ground is definitely not something the locals would be used to – but against such a beguilingly stark background, the cars looked better than ever.

From the silent salt flats of Uyuni, a deceptively short hop takes you into the parched high desert of the Atacama. Here, it’s all rocks and red sand amid a towering landscape of extinct volcanoes. When we say it’s a short hop, of course, it was still a long day, especially with the constant noise and movement as the

Porsches’ suspension worked hard over the rough ground (not to mention crossing the border into Chile).

Arriving in San Pedro de Atacama, a desert settlement that feels like a cross between the Wild West and one of those frontier towns in Star Wars, drivers and navigators alike definitely felt like they had worked for their living.

Two weeks had now passed since the convoy was flagged off from Lima, but a look at the map will show you that it had only covered less than a fifth of the distance to Ushuaia. Not to worry, though, they were packing Porsches…

From here, the route included a lot more in the way of tarmac. Not the kind that dulls your mind and breaks your spirit, though. As you travel south through Patagonia, the mountains are transected by wide, sweeping highways full of corners to savour and views to marvel at. Even with their raised suspension and all-purpose tyres, the 911s were still in their element here – though to be fair, even that old 110 would be a blast on roads like these.

Not that it was all plain sailing.

As they crossed into Argentina,

the border guards told them that the road ahead was flooded and they wouldn’t get through. Instead, they would need to take a detour of several hundred miles to another frontier post.

If this was Britain, of course, the road would be closed and the authorities would tell everyone to stay out of the water because people doing things is automatically bad.

But here, society doesn’t have small man syndrome; the guys on the border post dished out their advice, the Kalmar convoy chose not to take it and bish bosh, on we go. ‘We just went right in,’ says the company, ‘and made the impossible possible!’

More gravel roads followed, as well as sand and mud – and, of course, further stretches of joyous tarmac – as the rally progressed south towards its destination.

Ushuaia is known as The End of the World, which is a little alarming, but perhaps The Pinnacle of Achievement would be better, because to drive there really does take some doing. Even when you’re being looked after the way Kalmar looks after its clients, an 11,000-kilometre expedition on road, trail and virgin

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When the guards manning the Argentinian border post warned them that the road ahead was badly flooded and it would be impossible to get through, you’d think that a convoy of Porsche sports cars might decide that discretion was the better part of valour. But the people at Kalmar Beyond Adventure are made of sterner stuff than that, and they ploughed straight in, and out the other side – in their own words, ‘making the impossible possible’

ground is never going to be a walk in the park.

If that’s the case for those on board, too, it’s doubly so for the vehicles. The 911 wasn’t made to do this kind of thing, so for Kalmar Automotive this rally and others like it prove that its conversions really do work.

The company says its focus is on ‘crafting bespoke, reimagined sports cars and special-purpose adventure vehicles… that are optimised for use both on and off-road.’ Its 911-based RS model gains lifted suspension, rally wheels, underbody protection and a roof rack and roll cage, while

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the Cayenne-based CS is equipped with a winch and snorkel, 18” mud tyres, frontal and underbody protection and a full roof rack. Both models undergo a weight-reduction programme as part of their build, too, and the spec also includes auxiliary LED lighting and a fridge.

You can buy your own Kalmarbuilt Porsche (hint: don’t expect it to be like your everyday foray into the used car market), or if it’s the adventure that appeals you can try booking yourself on to one of its future trips and getting aboard one of the actual vehicles in these

pictures. A few days after arriving in Ushuaia, they were being loaded on a transporter en route to Africa, where later this year they’ll be used for another breathtaking expedition, and Kalmar also has events coming up in the Swiss and French Alps and, even more appealingly, the mystical Himalayan mountain kingdom of Bhutan.

Sounds alright, doesn’t it? Being able to afford it would be alright, too, but that’s hardly the point. However exclusive these adventure experiences might be, what really matters is the adventure itself. It’s about

the landscapes, the travel and the camaraderie – and whether you’re doing it in grand-a-night hotels or an old truck with a bag of tools on the passenger’s seat, the things that make it magical will always be the same. Beyond adventure? Always.

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ROADBOOK

NORTH-EAST SUFFOLK

Sandy and leafy rights of way bordering the coastline of East Anglia 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.

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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

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ROADBOOK All too often, Britain’s seaside towns have turned into the Costa del Skag. Somehow, though, the coastline of East Anglia in North-East Suffolk has survived; here, elegant towns and villages sit comfortably amid a landscape that’s at times agricultural, at times leafy and wooded. The rights of way here are welcoming, too. Even if some are overgrown by summer, the local authority has done an excellent job of creating new byways – and signposting them , too. With sandy ground prevailing, it makes for a laning experience unlike anything else

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ROUTE GUIDE

is it suitable?

START FINISH HOW LONG? TERRAIN HAZARDS

TYRES

OS MAPS

Holton (TM 402 774) Barnby (TM 477 899) 42.9 miles / 5-6 hours Gently rolling farmland and parkland Occasional scratching, at times severe; Very dangerous road junctions; Other users, especially walkers with dogs or kids; Odd bits of rough or rutted ground Landranger 156 (Saxmundham)

Step

1

0.0 Step

2

TM 402 774

Start outside the Lord Nelson Inn in Holton. It’s no longer a pub, but it is a B&B so it would be the perfect place to stay the night before. Zero your trip with the building to your right and set off heading north, then almost immediately turn right at the T-junction with the B1124

TM 402 776

0.05 Step

3

0.1 Step

4

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WEATHER LOW BOX SOFT-ROADERS SCRATCHING DRIVING DAMAGE

Step

5

This is just a few car lengths after Step 2. Take it at a crawl – it’s narrow, and you’re passing between people’s homes. Look out for dogs and their pet humans all the way along here, too

Caution as you emerge – visibility to the right is terrible

ZERO TRIP

1.05 Step

6

0.7 TM 402 776

Low profile slicks may struggle, but broadly suitable for all SUV tyres Full of walkers when sunny Will help in very slow sections Should be suitable, with caution Inevitable in places Some sections need to be taken at an absolute crawl Some very narrow sections, but no need to be banging your truck

Wenhaston

3

4

Step

7

2.3 Step

8

2.4

Yoxford Saxmundham

412 812

TM 433 744

Leading to Public Paths

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Step

Step

2.7

6.1

Step

Step

2.8

8.1

Step

Step

9

15

10

16

11

17

3.1 Step

12 5.2 Step

13

Ipswich

A12

This is shortly after the turning on the right for the A144

LYMBALLS LANE

TM 417 710

ZERO TRIP

Step

18 1.8

Leiston Aldeburgh B1122

Step

19 2.4

Step

14

Step

5.8

3.1

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There’s a fuel station on the right just after the junction

8.2

5.5

4x4

Keep the White Horse Inn to your left

CHURCH ROAD

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Step

21

TM 452 662

3.5 Step

22 23 4.2

24 4.6

Watch out for walkers all the way along this lane

Step

25

TM 449 693

5.4

3.8 Step

Step

There have been problems with illegal off-roading next to this lane.

As always, if you see anyone at it you should react the same way you would if you were watching a burglary in progress

Step

26 5.9

Step 27: It’s a tight turning on to the lane, and you won’t see as you approach. The road opposite is there to be a landmark Step 31: The fact that there’s a green lane through Walberswick Nature Reserve is something to be celebrated. Keep it that way by watching out for walkers, dogs and kids and keeping right on top of your speed

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Step

27

TM 450 715

Caution – the turning is very tight, and it’s hard to spot as you approach. Start slowing down and indicating as soon as you see the road opposite it on the righth

6.8 Step

28

Step

30 7.4

Ignore the wide green track to the left and continue ahead between the trees

Step

31

7.0

8.1

Step

Step

7.3

8.4

29

4x4 12pp Roadbook Feb 23.indd 71

32

TM 450 726

Take it easy through the Walberswick Nature Reserve car park, and look out for walkers, dogs and children the whole way along the lane

Stick to the main track

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Step 44: Another tight turning, and again you won’t see it as you approach. It’s a lovely drive after this – tricky to follow and likely to be overgrown, but you’re almost on virgin ground. We copped some earache here from a couple of old trouts who accused us of endangering livestock then flounced away tutting when we pointed the fields were all full of arable crops, so if you’re lucky you’ll get some cabaret too

Step

Step

8.9

1.8

33 Step

34

36 Watch out for a huge hole in the track just before the junction. it should have been filled in by now, butwhen did ‘should’ ever count for anything on a green lane…

ZERO TRIP

9.45 Step

35 1.0

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Get into the filter lane as you approach the junction

Southwold 4 Reydon 3 A1095

Step

37 3.1

Caution as you join the main A12

Step

38

Wangford

TM 472 775

3.3

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Step

39

Caution along the lane, which is also an access track to a landfill site

Step

47

3.6

6.4

Step

Step

3.8

6.5

Step

Step

40

48

41 4.4

49 Southwold 3 Reydon 2 B1126

5.3

Frostenden 2

5.5

45 6.0 Step

46

6.9

51

43

Step

6.8

Step

Step

5.7

A better used track goes right, but you need to continue ahead between the trees

50

42

44

Through the gate and into the trees ahead

Step

Step

Step

At first, the track looks as if it’s going to peter out, but in fact it swings sharply round to the left

Reydon Grove

TM 485 787

The turning is very tight indeed, sharply back over your shoulder and basically invisible until you’re right on it. Look out for the sign – it’s your best hope of spotting the junction as you approach Leading to Public Paths

7.2 Step

52 7.7

The track runs along the field edge then into the trees lining it.

There’s a wooden byway sign, or at least there was – we had an encounter with some imbecilic bilefilled haters here, who hilariously accused us of endangering livestock in a field of arable crops, so it wouldn’t surprise us if the signs were (illegally) pulled up

When the main track turns right along another field edge, continue ahead on a lesser track keeping the tree line to your right

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Step

Step

53 8.7 Step

54 9.2 Step

55 0.0

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56 South Cove Southwold

1 2

312

57

Southwold B1127

3

This is immediately after Step 54

Cove Bottom

Turn immediately before the big brick house on the left. Take care as you do so – the first few yards of the lane are also part of its driveway

0.8 Step

ZERO TRIP

TM 496 797

1.1

After running along the right-hand field edges, the lane seems to join a gravel farm track which comes in from over your right shoulder. But this is in fact private; stay off it and run on the verge to its left. Keep the two solitary trees to your right, then you’ll see a clearer track ahead between the two rows of trees

Step

58 1.2

4x4 14/01/2023 17:04

Step

62 2.4 Step

Step 59: This turning is horrible – it’s narrow, almost completely invisible and on the inside of a fast corner. A recipe for a stack if even one person isn’t driving defensively. You may well be best to overshoot, clock where it is and turn round for a proper try Step

59 1.5

Caution – this is on the inside of a fast corner and the turning is pretty much impossible to spot until you’re on it. Keep slow and look for a gap in the hedge, where you’ll see the byway sign. If necessary, go past and find a place to turn back – there’s a zero point at the next road junction, so don’t worry about the reading on your trip

63 2.6 Step

64 Step

1.7

0.6

Step

Step

2.3

0.7

61

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ZERO TRIP

2.8

Step

60

TM 511 813

65 66

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Step 76: The pill box provides rather an unusual landmark at the junction… as well as, for our photographer, just too much temptation to resist

Step

Step

1.3

6.6

Step

Step

2.2

7.4

Step

Step

73

67

74

68

75

69 4.1 Step

70 5.0

Clay Common Brampton

76 Primrose Lane

Step

5.7

1.3

Step

72

Step

5.8

1.4

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134 314

Turn right where you see the pill box ahead of you, then immediately left on the single track road

0.1

Step

71

Ellough Beccles B1127

9.6 Step

TM 465 813

ZERO TRIP

77

TM 465 885

78 4x4 14/01/2023 17:04

Step

79

TM 471 887

Very soon after Step 78, turn left at the house with the white gates

80 2.0 4x4 12pp Roadbook Feb 23.indd 77

81 2.4

1.4 Step

Step

Turn left at the end of the track then immediately right on the main A146, taking great care as you emerge on to what is a fast road

Step

82

It’s just after a left-hander on a fast, busy A-road – start slowing and indicating as you approach the black and white chevrons

Swan Lane

Arrive at the Swan Inn for the end of the route

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inc.VAT £119.94 £139.14 £251.98 £322.80 £418.80 £418.80 £946.80

HOT WASHERS Ideal for effective cleaning with a hot jet of up to 80°C HARRY 2

579

£ FROM ONLY .00

DOUBLEEXC.VAT DOUBLE £694.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

INC. CONTAINER FOR DETERGENT

AMAZING LOW PRICE!

Model BAR Press. VOLT exc.VAT inc.VAT Harry 2 145 2103psi 230 £579.00 £694.80 KING 200 150 2175psi 230 £1159.00 £1390.80

BODY REPAIR KITS FAST ACTION PUMP EXTRA LONG 1m LEADS Starting Model Boost 910 400 JS1100C 500 4000 1100 JS12/24 1000

Peak Amps exc.VAT £96.99 900 1100 £94.99 2200 £164.99 2000 £179.98

169

£ FROM ONLY .98

DOUBLEEXC.VAT DOUBLE £203.98 FOOTER inc.VAT

10

CS10BRK

TONNES

PROPANE GAS FIRED

exc.VAT £94.99 £116.99 £159.98 £189.98 £269.00 £479.00

inc.VAT £113.99 TIGER £140.39 16/550 £191.98 £227.98 Model £322.80 Tiger 8/260 £574.80 Tiger 11/550 Tiger 16/550 Tiger 16/1050

ELECTRIC HEATERS DEVIL 6003

DOUBLE 69 EXC.VAT FOOTER £83.98 inc.VAT

£ DOUBLE .98

Heat Model Voltage Output Devil 6003 230V 1.5-3kW Devil 7003 230V 3kW Devil 7005 400V 5kW Devil 6009 400V 4.5-9kW Devil 7009 400V 9kW Devil 6015 400V 5-10-15kW Devil 7015 400V 15kW

exc.VAT £69.98 £76.99 £98.99 £124.99 £152.99 £189.98 £229.98

Motor 2HP 2.5HP 3HP 3HP

CFM 7 9.3 14.5 14.5

Tank exc.VAT 24ltr £129.98 50ltr £209.98 50ltr £279.00 100ltr £349.98

PARTS WASHERS FROM ONLY

62

£ DOUBLE .99

DOUBLE EXC.VAT FOOTER £75.59 inc.VAT

inc.VAT £83.98 CW2D £92.39 £118.79 £149.99 £183.59 £227.98 £275.98 Model Tank Cap. 10Ltrs DIESEL/PARAFFIN CW2D CW1D 45Ltrs HEATERS CWM20 22.5Ltrs Ideal for fast efficient heating CW40 75Ltrs Extra-long run fuel tanks – up to 53 litres Variable heat output with thermostat control

Type Bench Floor Floor Floor

CW1D exc.VAT inc.VAT £62.99 £75.59 £159.98 £191.98 £209.98 £251.98 £239.98 £287.98

1 TONNE CRANES CFC100

FROM ONLY

DOUBLE.00 229 EXC.VAT DOUBLE £274.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

£

MODEL MAX OUTPUT kW XR60 14.7 XR80 20.5 XR110 29.3 XR160 46.9 XR210 61.5

EXC.VAT £229.00 £279.00 £329.00 £419.00 £479.00

inc.VAT £155.98 £251.98 £334.80 £419.98

INC.VAT £274.80 £334.80 £394.80 £502.80 £574.80

CWGC100

GARAGES/WORKSHOPS HEADER FROM ONLY

289EXC.VAT

£

.00

IDEAL FOR RAIN & SUN PROTECTION

599

£ FROM ONLY .00

DOUBLEEXC.VAT DOUBLE £718.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

239

DOUBLEEXC.VAT DOUBLE £287.98 FOOTER inc.VAT

PAY Monthly

OPEN MON-FRI 8.30-6.00, SAT 8.30-5.30, SUN 10.00-4.00

5 EASY WAYS TO BUY...

DOUBLE 79 EXC.VAT DOUBLE

119

DOUBLEEXC.VAT DOUBLE £143.98 FOOTER inc.VAT

inc.

VAT £53.99 Dual action combines £143.98 £183.59 rotary & orbital motions to produce an excellent £195.59 polished finish

LENGTH UP TO 40'

EXETER 16 Trusham Rd. EX2 8QG 01392 256 744 GATESHEAD 50 Lobley Hill Rd. NE8 4YJ 0191 493 2520 GLASGOW 280 Gt Western Rd. G4 9EJ 0141 332 9231 GLOUCESTER 221A Barton St. GL1 4HY 01452 417 948 GRIMSBY ELLIS WAY, DN32 9BD 01472 354435 HULL 8-10 Holderness Rd. HU9 1EG 01482 223161 ILFORD 746-748 Eastern Ave. IG2 7HU 0208 518 4286 IPSWICH Unit 1 Ipswich Trade Centre, Commercial Road 01473 221253 LEEDS 227-229 Kirkstall Rd. LS4 2AS 0113 231 0400 LEICESTER 69 Melton Rd. LE4 6PN 0116 261 0688 LINCOLN Unit 5. The Pelham Centre. LN5 8HG 01522 543 036 LIVERPOOL 80-88 London Rd. L3 5NF 0151 709 4484 LONDON CATFORD 289/291 Southend Lane SE6 3RS 0208 695 5684 LONDON 6 Kendal Parade, Edmonton N18 020 8803 0861 LONDON 503-507 Lea Bridge Rd. Leyton, E10 020 8558 8284 LUTON Unit 1, 326 Dunstable Rd, Luton LU4 8JS 01582 728 063 MAIDSTONE 57 Upper Stone St. ME15 6HE 01622 769 572 MANCHESTER ALTRINCHAM 71 Manchester Rd. Altrincham 0161 9412 666 MANCHESTER CENTRAL 209 Bury New Road M8 8DU 0161 241 1851 MANCHESTER OPENSHAW Unit 5, Tower Mill, Ashton Old Rd 0161 223 8376 MANSFIELD 169 Chesterfield Rd. South 01623 622160 MIDDLESBROUGH Mandale Triangle, Thornaby 01642 677881

Portable & adjustable Maximum lift of 1000kg Solid steel Folding and fixed frames available Robust, rugged construction Overload safety valve

Ideal for use as a garage/ workshop Extra tough triple layer cover Heavy duty powder coated steel tubing Ratchet tight tensioning

£FROM ONLY .98

£ FROM ONLY .98

BRIGHT WHITE INTERIOR

FOOTER ZIP CLOSE DOOR inc.VAT CP185 £95.98 Inc. hook & loop ‡ WAS £1390.80 inc.VAT # WAS £3900.00 inc.VAT backing pad and Model size (LxWxH) exc.VAT inc.VAT wool polishing bonnet CIG81212 3.6 x 3.6 x 2.5m £289.00 £346.80 CIG81015 4.5 x 3 x 2.4m £309.00 £370.80 CIG81216 4.9 x 3.7 x 2.5m £359.00 £430.80 CIG81020 6.1 x 3 x 2.4m £389.00 £466.80 CP150 CIG81220 6.1 x 3.7 x 2.5m £429.00 £514.80 CIG81224 7.3 x 3.7 x 2.5m £539.00 £646.80 £FROM ONLY .98 DOUBLE 69 EXC.VAT CIG1432‡ DOUBLE 9.7x4.3x3.65m £1099.00 £1318.80 FOOTER £83.98 inc.VAT CIG1640# 12x4.9x4.3m £2998.00 £3597.60

VISIT YOUR LOCAL SUPERSTORE

33161

Max. Output kW 10.3 15 24.9 36.6 49.8 131

£ FROM ONLY .98

PRO SANDER/ POLISHERS

Saddle exc.

Model Type Tonne Height VAT CTJ2L Long 2 378mm £44.99 CTJ3000QLB Quick Lift 3 465mm £119.98 CTJ3000C Pro Garage 3 465mm £152.99 CTJ2QLP Low Quick 2 510mm £162.99 Lift

BARNSLEY Pontefract Rd, Barnsley, S71 1EZ 01226 732297 B’HAM GREAT BARR 4 Birmingham Rd. 0121 358 7977 B’HAM HAY MILLS 1152 Coventry Rd, Hay Mills 0121 7713433 BOLTON 1 Thynne St. BL3 6BD 01204 365799 BRADFORD 105-107 Manningham Lane. BD1 3BN 01274 390962 BRIGHTON 123 Lewes Rd, BN2 3QB 01273 915999 BRISTOL 1-3 Church Rd, Lawrence Hill. BS5 9JJ 0117 935 1060 BURTON UPON TRENT 12a Lichfield St. DE14 3QZ 01283 564 708 CAMBRIDGE 181-183 Histon Road, Cambridge. CB4 3HL 01223 322675 CARDIFF 44-46 City Rd. CF24 3DN 029 2046 5424 CARLISLE 85 London Rd. CA1 2LG 01228 591666 CHELTENHAM 84 Fairview Road. GL52 2EH 01242 514 402 CHESTER 43-45 St. James Street. CH1 3EY 01244 311258 COLCHESTER 4 North Station Rd. CO1 1RE 01206 762831 COVENTRY Bishop St. CV1 1HT 024 7622 4227 CROYDON 423-427 Brighton Rd, Sth Croydon 020 8763 0640 DARLINGTON 214 Northgate. DL1 1RB 01325 380 841 DEAL (KENT) 182-186 High St. CT14 6BQ 01304 373 434 DERBY Derwent St. DE1 2ED 01332 290 931 DONCASTER Wheatley Hall Road 01302 245 999 DUNDEE 24-26 Trades Lane. DD1 3ET 01382 225 140 EDINBURGH 163-171 Piersfield Terrace 0131 659 5919

94

DEVIL 7003

Fast snap connector attachments for quick & easy assembly Hydraulic pump, ram & hose with various tubes, pieces & connectors Includes metal case

*CTJ3000QLB has a 3 tonne capacity, ideal for quick lifting CTJ3000QLB of vehicles.

HEADER FROM ONLY

£346.80 inc.VAT

inc.VAT £116.39 £113.99 £197.99 £215.98

2 & 3 TONNE TROLLEY JACKS

JACKS ALSO IN STOCK UP TO 5 TONNE

FROM ONLY £ DOUBLE .99 DOUBLE EXC.VAT FOOTER £113.99 inc.VAT

FROM ONLY

2610 psi

inc.VAT £262.80 £298.80 £334.80 £478.80 £514.80

DRILL PRESSES

Motor (W) Speeds 350 / 5 350 / 5 450 / 12 450 / 16 550 / 16 550 / 16 1100 / 12

Model JS1850 JS1950 JET7500 JET8500 JET9500B

110 VOLT

SELLER

£ DOUBLE .98

Superb range ideal for hobby & semi-professional use

.98 129EXC.VAT £155.98 inc.VAT

BEST

DOUBLE 96 EXC.VAT FOOTER £116.39 inc.VAT

23

HEADER FROM ONLY

TURBO AIR COMPRESSORS

£

IN STOCK FROM £226.80

CAN DRAW OWN WATER

20SPS12

FROM ONLY

ONLY £ DOUBLE .99 DOUBLE EXC.VAT FOOTER £28.79 inc.VAT

PLS265B

Makes easy work for washing vehicles, patios, stonework, etc.

JET7500, JET8500 & JET9500B include hose reel 180 Bar DOUBLE 69 EXC.VAT FOOTER £83.98 inc.VAT

DUAL VOLTAGE

.00 inc.VAT £279EXC.VAT Model £173.99 £334.80 inc.VAT Little Devil II £214.80 Pressure Engine Devil 700 £286.80 BAR/Psi HP exc.VAT inc.VAT Devil 900 £334.80 Model £279.00 £334.80 Devil 1600 3 £598.80 Tiger1800B 110/1595 £399.00 £478.80 Devil 2100 Tiger2600B 180/2610 4 Tiger3000B 200/2900 6.5 £419.00 £502.80 Devil 4000 PLS195B 180/2640 5.5 £529.00 £634.80 £699.00 £838.80 PLS220 230/3335 9 PLS265B 225/3263 13 £799.00 £958.80 PLS360 248/3600 13 £998.00 £1197.60

£ DOUBLE .99

CAR TRANSPORTER LASHING

model CDP5EB CDP102B CDP152B CDP202B CDP352F CDP452B CDP502F V

ELECTRIC PRESSURE WASHERS

TURBO FAN GAS HEATERS

Offering low cost, efficient heating

230&

Provides essential home, garage and roadside assistance Integral work light 910 /JS1100C include air compressor Long life battery

.00 219EXC.VAT £262.80 inc.VAT

model IG950D IG1700F IG1200D IG2000D IG2200A

exc.VAT £144.99 £179.00 £239.00 £279.00 £499.00

HEAVY DUTY PETROL POWER WASHERS

Honda & Diesel engine models in stock

JUMP STARTS

INVERTER GENERATORS £

*no gas only

SELLER

Model Min/Max Amps MIG102NG* 35/90 MIG106 40/100 MIG145 35/135 MIG196 40/180 MIG240 50/240

£ DOUBLE .98

KVA 2.2 3 3 5.5

BEST

DOUBLE £173.99 FOOTER inc.VAT

FROM ONLY

INVERTER GENERATORS FROM £238.80

Model PG2500A PG3800A PG3800ADV PG6500ADVES

FROM ONLY DOUBLE.99

144EXC.VAT

£

POWER CUTS! £

NO GAS/GAS MIG WELDERS

Professional type torch with on/off control Thermal overload protection Turbo fan cooled Easy conversion to gas with optional accessories MIG102NG

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IN-STORE PHONE 0844 880 1265 ONLINE www.machinemart.co.uk

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NORWICH 282a Heigham St. NR2 4LZ 01603 766402 NORTHAMPTON Beckett Retail Park, St James’ Mill Rd 01604 267840 NOTTINGHAM 211 Lower Parliament St. 0115 956 1811 PETERBOROUGH 417 Lincoln Rd. Millfield 01733 311770 PLYMOUTH 58-64 Embankment Rd. PL4 9HY 01752 254050 POOLE 137-139 Bournemouth Rd. Parkstone 01202 717913 PORTSMOUTH 277-283 Copnor Rd. Copnor 023 9265 4777 PRESTON 53 Blackpool Rd. PR2 6BU 01772 703263 SHEFFIELD 453 London Rd. Heeley. S2 4HJ 0114 258 0831 SIDCUP 13 Blackfen Parade, Blackfen Rd 0208 3042069 SOUTHAMPTON 516-518 Portswood Rd. 023 8055 7788 SOUTHEND 1139-1141 London Rd. Leigh on Sea 01702 483 742 STOKE-ON-TRENT 382-396 Waterloo Rd. Hanley 01782 287321 SUNDERLAND 13-15 Ryhope Rd. Grangetown 0191 510 8773 SWANSEA 7 Samlet Rd. Llansamlet. SA7 9AG 01792 792969 SWINDON 21 Victoria Rd. SN1 3AW 01793 491717 TWICKENHAM 83-85 Heath Rd.TW1 4AW 020 8892 9117 WARRINGTON Unit 3, Hawley’s Trade Pk. 01925 630 937 WIGAN 2 Harrison Street, WN5 9AU 01942 323 785 WOLVERHAMPTON Parkfield Rd. Bilston 01902 494186 WORCESTER 48a Upper Tything. WR1 1JZ 01905 723451

Spread the cost over 12,24,36,48 OR 60 months Any mix of products over £300 5 MIN 14.9% APR, APPLICATION! 10% Deposit* SUPERSTORES NATIONWIDE

ONLINE www.machinemart.co.uk TELESALES 0115 956 5555

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Calls to the catalogue request number above (0844 880 1265) cost 7p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge. For security reasons, calls may be monitored. All prices correct at time of going to press. We reserve the right to change products and prices at any time. All offers subject to availability, E&OE. Terms & conditions apply see machinemart.co.uk/finance for more details

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*

12/01/2023 14:02 12/01/2023 15:11

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The waiting is over! At long last, we get behind the wheel of the Ineos Grenadier and do some real driving

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Name Address

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Newsagent This magazine is available to your wholesaler through Comag Magazine Marketing, Tavistock Rd, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QE. Tel: 01895 444055 Fax: 01895 433602

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15/12/2022 12/01/2023 12:19 18:26