4x4 Magazine - March 2021 by Assignment Media Ltd

4x4

NEWS • TECH • DEBATE • TRAVEL • MODIFIED VEHICLES • GREEN LANING DRIVEN First time at the helm of the new 90

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

TEAM TITAN’S GO!

Everybody’s hoping we’re going to get a proper winch challenge season this year. When it happens, this mighty spaceframe special is going to be one of the trucks they’ll all have to beat

A laning adventure from during Britain’s last great snowfall

£4.99

The original Jaguar Land Rover is this unique 109 hybrid…

MAR 2021

A fond farewell to the Jeep that made us laugh, cry and skint 4x4 Cover Mar 21.indd 1

02/02/2021 10:11

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

21/08/2020 10:39

The World’s best accessories for Land Rover Discovery

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21/08/2020 10:39

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21/08/2020 10:43

three generations of automotive passion

LICHFIELD

Land Rover Defender Accessories /masai4x4

Folios Classifieds 2020.indd 53

Always original quality

www.masai4x4.com

03/11/2020 18:18:03

DEFENDER RESTORATIONS

Sound Deadening & Insulation

Defender Accessories & Upgrades

Full Vehicle LED Light Kits

Driving & Work Lights

Headlinings for 90, 110 & Crew Cab

Aluminium Styling Upgrades

Full Body Resprays

LED LIGHT UPGRADES

LED Headlights

INTERIOR TRIMS

Replacement Seat Covers EXPEDITION ACCESSORIES

Lockable Sporting / Storage Box

Roof Racks for 90, 110 & Crew Cab

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WINDOWS

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03/11/2020 18:16:17

March 2021

CONTENTS

“The maps were made of paper and the landmarks What could possibly go wrong?”

4 | MARCH 2020

2-3 Contents Mar.indd 4

4x4 02/02/2021 14:55

62 12 MAGAZINES FOR THE PRICE OF 3! Subscribe to Britain’s only 4x4 magazine and save a massive 75% by getting it delivered to your door every month. What’s not to love? 4x4 Scene: News, Products and More… 8 8 9 10 12 13 14 15 16 24 26 27 28

Isuzu D-Max Five-star EuroNCAP rating for our Pick-Up of the Year Bentley Bentayga Hybrid powertrain returns to new-look luxury SUV Ford Ranger New MS-RT model has rally image and one-tonne payload Jeep Special-edition Wrangler and Renegade mark Jeep’s 80th anniversary Dacia Bigster concept previews bold move into medium SUV market Alfa Romeo Stelvio New Veloce Ti model is a GT among SUVs Ramsden Road Illegal off-roading threatens progress on iconic byway Bluecaster Side Voluntary restraint follows long-term lack of maintenance Dakar Rally Peterhansel ends wait for fourteenth title in Saudi desert Osram Major expansion sees LED driving and work light range double in size Goodridge Land Rover applications added to premium brake line range Thornton Breakers 10% off the price of all second-hand parts Gearmate Heavy-duty storage drawers for Land Rover Defender 110

Driven 36 38 42

Land Rover Defender 90 First time out in the short-wheelbase off-roader SsangYong Korando Top-speccer is easily the best in the range Jeep Renegade 4xe Trailhawk Plug-in power and Trail-Rated off-road spec

Every Month 6 13 22 62 80

Alan Kidd Rebuildable vehicles deserve the same tax breaks as electric cars Coming Soon Trucks and SUVs set to be launched in 2021 and beyond Calendar Get ready for a much better time this year Subscribe Stay at home and get 4x4 delivered – and save a huge 75%! Next Month Three stunning restiﬁed off-roaders from the good old days

Features 32 46 54 58

Jag Rover A 109” Series III with a classic Jaguar XJ6 pick-up body. Oh, yes The Titanic Hardcore buggy built for the most extreme winch challenges 110 meets Unimog How a low-mileage Landy became an wild agri one-off JE Defender Blue and green ovals meet in a Mustang-engined 110

Travel 64

Winter Laning How snow made an adventure out of a weekend in Wiltshire

Our 4x4s

were covered in snow.

Jeep Cherokee A fond farewell as our longest-running project departs

4x4 2-3 Contents Mar.indd 5

MARCH 2021 | 5

02/02/2021 14:55

4x4 Alan Kidd Editor

he first car I ever owned was a rank old 1977 Ford Cortina. I paid £275 for it and three years later a scrappy from Kirkcaldy gave me £15 and craned it off to die. This could be considered poor value. And, if I hadn’t tried to customise it with a DIY bodykit made using Plastic Padding and, when my supply of that ran out, cement, its life might have ended it less of a downward spiral. But you live and learn, and even back then when I was a tragic student less than £100 a year to own a car was hardly bad. Today, £275 would get me approximately five months’ road tax on the car I own now. It’s a 2006 Defender 90 and the government hates it. Not that I do pay any tax on it at present, as it’s on SORN. But you get the point. And if I keep it for as long as I kept my old Jeep Cherokee, whose final farewell appears in the Our 4x4s section of this issue, it’ll turn into a classic and the government won’t hate it any more. In fact they’ll love it so much they’ll let me tax it for free. Now, classic cars are a fine hobby and one which deserves to be seen as a special case when it comes to road tax. They’ve done their time as a way of getting about and, in the eyes of the carbon-based scale that determines these things, their impact has long since been overtaken by what they have become. They are, of course, also a hobby that’s popular and profitable for the nobility and other very rich people. Not that that’s got anything to do with their special status at all, of course. I mean, I’m sure the proportion of classic car owners in the House of Lords is no greater than that in the Halifax Working Men’s Club, is it? If you own a traditional Land Rover, Jeep, Landcruiser, G-Wagen or Patrol, depending on its year you’ll be in the same boat as me, getting hammered for tax on what is likely to be a car you own as a pastime. If you have just the one vehicle, which is environmentally sound, you’ll get clobbered because of what you need it to do when it’s not just being your daily drive. If you have a loved-by-the-government daily drive, you’ll get clobbered on your 4x4 because even if

6 | MARCH 2021

Edline Mar.indd 4

It's time for rebuildable cars to be given the credit they deserve all you do it drive it to a playday once every month, your annual road tax will be more than your grandad paid for his house. I’m hit particularly hard because of the year my 90 is from. But there are literally thousands of people paying an absurd level of road tax because they own vehicles that have long since repaid all the energy that went into building them. The reason my 90 is on SORN at present, for example, is that I’m currently restoring it. The guys at Britpart gave it a new rear crossmember last year and its chassis, body and interior are getting set for a full refresh. These are the things that will keep it alive for decades to come, and a good many Defender owners are doing the same. Whether you see it as an environmental thing or just another example of how a car becomes a hobby, the fact is that everyone who does this is doing the world a favour. And their trucks are certainly no different in nature to the classic cars that enjoy taxfree use of the roads. So, I have a proposal. Just as classic cars are considered worthy of special status, so too should rebuildable cars. Those which can easily be renewed should be recognised not as evil CO2 monsters because of their engines but as valuable contributors to the effort against climate change because of the longevity they have built in. Yes, of course, absolutely anything can be restored if you want to badly enough. But it's easy to deﬁne vehicles whose underlying design makes them long-lived the way something like an Astra or Mondeo (or indeed a Prius) plainly isn't. My 90 will be 15 this year, and once I'm ﬁnished it will have easily the same again ahead of it. And it will remain rebuildable for as long as anyone wants to rebuild it. That's environmental gold, yet during those next 15 years it will cost around ten grand in road tax. That is, quite obviously, not fair – it's time for rebuildable cars to be given the credit they deserve.

Tel: 01283 553243 Email: enquiries@assignment-media.co.uk 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 Mike Trott, George Dove, Dan Fenn, Paul Looe, Olly Sack, Gary Martin Gary Noskill, Mick Buck Photographers Harry Hamm, Steve Taylor, Richard Hair, Vic Peel, Jonathan Gold 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 742970. Prices for 12 issues: UK £42 (24 issues £76); Europe Airmail/ROW Surface £54; ROW Airmail £78 Distributed by Marketforce; www.marketforce.co.uk Every effort is made to ensure the contents of 4x4 are accurate, but Assignment Media accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions nor the consequences of actions made as a result of these. When responding to any advert in 4x4, you should make appropriate enquiries before sending money or entering into a contract. The publishers take reasonable care to ensure advertisers’ probity, but will not be liable for loss or damage incurred from responding to adverts Where a photo credit includes the note ‘CC BY 2.0’ or similar, the image is made available under that Creative Commons licence: details at www.creativecommons.org 4x4 is published by Assignment Media Ltd, Repton House 1.08, Bretby Business Park, Ashby Road, Bretby, Derbyshire DE15 0YZ

4x4 02/02/2021 10:49

Underside Protection DA5507

DA5508

DA7530

DA7535

DA7536 / DA7532

DA5625

VPLEP0436LR

Great Protection from Hidden Dangers! DA5507LHD

Sump Guards These guards from Britpart are manufactured from high-quality, hard-wearing and corrosion resistant materials to counteract any unforeseen obstacles your Land Rover may encounter whilst off-roading. All fixings are supplied and the guards fit into the vehicle’s pre-existing holes. Each guard has holes at the front to allow for water drainage and also to help with ventilation for the cooling system. DA5507 Defender - 1985 -2006 & 2007 onwards Aluminium RHD Main plate - 8mm thick; brackets - 8mm thick DA5507LHD Defender - 1985 -2006 & 2007 onwards Aluminium LHD Main plate - 8mm thick; brackets - 8mm thick VPLEP0436LR New Defender 90 & 110 Aluminium Robust, 5mm anodised aluminium. Protects lower bumper area and radiator when driving off-road. The undershield is also reinforced by the mounting assembly which enhances the protection. Allows easy access to the recovery loop which facilitates recovery of the vehicle if grounded. Spare fitting kit for DA5507 & DA5507LHD. Nuts, bolts & washers. DA5507KIT Discovery 1/Range Rover Classic Aluminium RHD & LHD DA5508 Main plate - 8mm thick; brackets - 8mm thick Discovery 2 Powered coated steel RHD & LHD DA2249 Main plate - 5mm thick; brackets - 5mm thick. Note - For use with Discovery 2 winch bumper DA5645 An essential purchase for any off road use as they prevent damage to the underside of the engine and the intercooler at the front of the vehicle. Manufactured from 8mm 5083 aluminium with a smart silver or black finish and supplied completely machined and drilled ready to bolt directly to the 4 pre-drilled holes in the chassis with supplied galvanised fixings. The guard requires no additional drilling just unscrewing and unclipping of the plastic OEM parts. Fitting should take 5 minutes. Discovery 3 Silver finish DA7530 DA7530B Discovery 3 Black finish DA7535 Discovery 4 Silver finish DA7535B Discovery 4 Black finish Sump Plate DA7536 Discovery 3 This sump plate protects the underside of the engine and allows the car to slide over objects, forward and backwards due to the rear lip. With a natural finish the plate is made from 6mm 5083 grade aluminium and has been water jet cut to a precise finish. Plate bolts directly into existing holes and bulkheads already in the chassis, using the standard Land Rover fixings. Transmission Guards Defender - Td5 DA5625 Reduce damage to your Defender 90. Made from galvanised steel, this transmission guard protects your 90’s gear box and cross members from snagging and reduces damage to your vehicle. Bolts on and is easy to fit and importantly it is also easy to remove when your vehicle needs servicing. Note - Only fits with centre exhaust removed and pipe fitted. DA7532 Discovery 3 This transmission plate protects the underside of the transmission and allows the car to slide over objects. With a natural finish the plate is made from 6mm 5083 grade aluminium and water jet cut to a precise finish. Plate bolts directly into existing holes and bulkheads already in the chassis, using the standard Land Rover fixings and two additional fixings. Note - Can only be fitted when sump plate (DA7536) is also fitted. Fuel Tank Guards Protect your Defender’s fuel tank. Manufactured from 6mm aluminium. DA6538 Defender 90 - Td5 & 2007 onwards DA6539 Defender 110 - Td5 & 2007 onwards

DA2249

DA7530B

DA6538

DA6539

www.britpart.com Find your nearest stockist - www.britpart.com/stockist

NEW 4X4S

EURONCAP RETURNS FIVE-STAR SAFETY SCORE FOR NEW D-MAX

First UK double-cab to score full marks under latest, more stringent test conditions

head of its introduction in the UK, the new Isuzu D-Max has been given a ﬁve-star safety rating by EuroNCAP. Due in the showrooms in March, our reigning Pick-Up of the Year is less likely to get into trouble than before – and better at coping with the consequences if it does.

In terms of the basics, the new D-Max has a stronger chassis, bigger brakes and revised suspension. Its traditional ladder frame is up to 34% wider and 14% higher in places and has been strengthened by an extra crossmember, giving it greater strength in side impacts. The D-Max also comes with a wide range of high-tech safety

driver assistance systems. All models are equipped with forward-facing stereo cameras feeding in to Forward Collision Warning and Autonomous Emergency Braking features as well as Traﬃc Sign Recognition, Intelligent Speed Limiter and Lane Departure Warning and Prevention. In addition, Double-Cabs also feature Blind

Spot Monitor, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Emergency Lane Keeping – a first in the one-tonne sector. The D-Max also gains more airbags than before, including one between the front seats, as well as a new E-Call system which automatically dials the emergency services if the airbags are deployed. As a result of all this, the D-Max scored maximum points for rescue and extraction, as well as for the child occupant protection in front and lateral collisions. The EuroNCAP test is constantly evolving, and the latest version is the most stringent yet – meaning the D-Max is the first pick-up truck to be awarded five stars under this level of scrutinty. The vehicle, which is available in Single, Extended and Double-Cab formats, also makes similar improvements over the old model in terms of its refinement and road comfort, and the availability of a locking rear diff for the first time in Isuzu’s history means it’s also set to be the most capable D-Max yet off-road. As before, it comes with a 60-month, 125,000mile warranty; full prices are yet to be announced, but the top-spec DL40 and V-Cross models will retail at £28,929 and £30,429 respectively before VAT, meaning the new model is only slightly more expensive than its predecessor.

Second-generation Bentayga range expands as Bentley brings

BENTLEY’S NEW BENTAYGA, which won the the Best Luxury SUV title in the 2021 4x4 of the Year awards sponsored by BFGoodrich, is now available as a plug-in hybrid. Powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol

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NEEDS ADS Scene Mar.indd 8

engine mated to a 94kW electric motor, the vehicle has a total output of 443bhp and 516lbf.ft, giving it exceptional performance as well as a quoted range of 536 miles (31 on battery power alone). With near-silent running in EV mode, and a cabin which Bentley says is ‘acoustically isolated’ from exterior noise, the new Bentayga promises to be even more reﬁned than the conventionally engined V8 model which we tested in last month’s issue. Like that model, the new Hybrid boasts a wide range of improvements inside and out including all-new rear seats, a signiﬁcantly improved infotainment system and, of course, Bentley’s latest styling language – which makes the vehicle look far more comfortable in its own skin than the Bentayga of old. The Bentayga Hybrid is part of Bentley’s Beyond100 strategy, which calls for its product range to be composed entirely of plug-in hybrids and battery

4x4 02/02/2021 15:00

NEW 4X4S

New MS-RT model brings rallying image to Ford Ranger line-up AS IFTHE FORD RANGER LINE-UP didn’t already have enough eye-catching options to make your head spin, it has just gained a new model whose motorsport-inspired styling is backed up by a premium, hard-finished interior. Called the MS-RT, it’s named after the commercial vehicle customising specialist that created it. The MS-RT is based on a standard Wildtrak model, so it’s already packed with kit before the modding starts. It’s fitted with the 213bhp version of Ford’s 2.0-litre EcoBlue diesel engine, mated to a 10-speed automatic gearbox and the usual part-time, two-speed transfer case. The Wildtrak’s 3500kg towing limit is retained, and a 1098kg payload means it comes with all the usual benefits of being a commercial vehicle. Inside, unlike your typical commercial vehicle the cabin features premium leather uphostery, heated seats and ambient mood lighting, as well as an 8” screen running Ford’s latest infotainment system with connectivity,

sat-nav and a rear-view camera. The floor mats and kick plates are embellished with MS-RT logos, too, just to remind you of where your money went. It’s on the outside that the vehicle really stands out, however. There’s a handbuilt front end with a faux-carbon grille and swopily integrated fog lights, and 20” Oz Racing alloys combine with flared arches and sclupted side skirts to create a profile you’re definitely not likely to confuse with anything else. The same carbon look is used for the door mirror housings, too, and there’s an aero loadspace bar finishing off the back of the cab. ‘Ranger MS-RT is designed for customers who value Ranger’s hard-working capability but want the racing pedigree and hand-finished exclusivity of our MS-RT series,’ said Ford’s Commercial Vehicles boss Brendan Lyne. ‘This eye-catching vehicle blends Ford’s decades of success in pick-up trucks with striking motorsport-inspired design to offer a road-focused truck combining immense kerb appeal with the hard-working ability that our customers love.’ Based in Wales, MS-RT is one of Ford’s Qualified Vehicle Modifiers. The company works with Ford motorsport partner, rallying legend Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport, to create ‘strikingly modified versions’ of commercial vehicles bearing the blue oval. Ford says the MS-RT will sit alongside the Raptor at the top of the Ranger line-up. That’s all the indication we’ve got of how much it’s likely to cost, however Ford does say that it will arrive in the dealerships this summer.

back Hybrid model electric vehicles by 2026. The company says it has conducted research into customers’ usage patterns which shows that the majority of journeys taken in the previous-generation Bentayga Hybrid were made in EV mode. According to Bentley, ‘over 90% of customers use their first-generation Bentayga Hybrid on a daily basis or several times a week and nearly 100% of customers use EV mode, with half of them consistently undertaking journeys of less than 30 miles. In real world terms, this means that the majority of the journeys, whether office commuting or school runs, can be achieved predominantly whilst producing zero emissions.’ To help drivers pilot the vehicle as efficiently as possible, the accelerator has a pressure point to denote the boundary between pure electric and hybrid power. The brakes, meanwhile, have been designed so as to allow maximum energy regeneration without compromising pedal feel.

4x4 NEEDS ADS Scene Mar.indd 9

Pricing for the new Bentayga Hybrid is yet to be announced, but it’s likely to start at just under £140,000. First deliveries are set for this summer.

MARCH 2021 | 9

02/02/2021 15:00

NEW 4X4S

SPECIAL EDITION MODELS MARK JEEP’S 80TH ANNIVERSARY

US-only L model • New platform • High-spec cabin • Standard model due in UK next year

his year, Jeep will turn 80 years old. And the company is going to celebrate the way only a motor manufacturer knows how – with a pair of new 80th Anniversary special editions. Set to arrive in the UK this spring, these are based on the best-selling versions of the Renegade and Wrangler. Each gets special alloy wheels as well as 80th Anniversary badging and low-gloss Granite Crystal accents, black leather seats with tungsten stitching and 80th Anniversary logos, high-gloss black

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interior accents and logo tags on the seats and mats. In addition, the vehicles feature a full LED pack and 8.4” touchscreens with a new ‘Since 1941’ home screen, running DAB, sat-nav, smartphone integration and Uconnect services. The Renegade 80th Anniversary is based on the Limited trim and is available with a choice of turbocharged petrol engines – a 1.0-litre three-pot with 120bhp and 140lbf. ft and a six-speed manual transmission and a 1.3-litre four-banger whose 150bhp and 199lbf.ft goes out through a dual-clutch auto.

Both these models are frontwheel drive only, but if you think that sounds like a bit of a funny way of celebrating Jeep’s 80th Anniversary as the definitive 4x4 brand there’s always the Wrangler. This, of course, is a proper offroader, even if it’s not Rubicon based, and like all Wranglers now it has a 2.0-litre petrol engine sending 272bhp and 295lbf.ft through an eight-speed auto box. The 80th Anniversary model will have the distinction of being the first Wrangler with Jeep’s Uconnect Services. Along with a My Uconnect mobile app, this feature offers SOS call functionality, vehicle finder, at-home digital assistant and driver alerts, along with live vehicle information, theft alarm monitoring and a wi-fi hotspot.

Whether or not you decided these are the Jeeps for you, the company is also marking its 80th year with what it calls ‘a year of exclusive events and services for all members of the Jeep family.’ The ﬁrst of these is called Jeep Wave, a programme which will see all new vehicles come with their ﬁrst three scheduled services, three years’ roadside assistance, access to a dedicated premium customer service call centre and priority entry to brand events and partnerships. For buyers, Jeep says this will ‘enhance their sense of belonging to the community at the heart of the Jeep experience around the world.’ Prices for the 80th Anniversary models are yet to be announced. However Jeep says the order book in the UK will open in the spring.

4x4 02/02/2021 15:00

www.osram.co.uk/ledriving-lights

Light is Adventure OSRAM LEDriving® Working and Driving Lights The new range of intense LED lights are built to step up to the challenge when the going gets tough. Leave the tarmac behind and see clearly what lies ahead of you off the beat track. The new range of robust and stylish spotlights, reversing lights and lightbars can improve near- and far-field vision whilst enhancing driving performance, even under the most extreme conditions. Don’t let the darkness spoil your next adventure. For more information visit: www.osram.co.uk/ledriving-lights or email: automotive@osram.co.uk

Light is OSRAM

NEW 4X4S

BIGSTER CONCEPT UNVEILED AS DACIA GETS SET TO LAUNCH SKODA KODIAQ RIVAL

acia is getting ready to launch a second 4x4. Buoyed by the success of the Duster, the company has unveiled an aggressive looking concept vehicle called the Bigster – which will compete at the budget end of the medium SUV market, undercutting vehicles like the Nissan X-Trail and Skoda Kodiaq. The Bigster, which we somehow can’t see retaining its name in real life, will continue to fly the flag for the high-value, no-frills approach Dacia has come to embody. The company says it will be based on the principles of ‘simplicity, honesty, and authenticity,’ with ‘no more or no less than the essential.’ At present, the company is only describing the vehicle as ‘the possible future figurehead of the

Dacia range.’ However its unveiling, at the same time as parent company Renault’s roll-out of its major plans for the renewal of its various brands,

HYUNDAI HAS NAMED its price for the new Tucson. Powered by a choice of conventional, mild hybrid and fullhybrid engines (a plug-in will be along this spring, too), the compact SUV will cost from £28,495.

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leaves little doubt that it is well on the way to production. Dacia also says that ‘both alternative energy and hybrid engines are

possible’ – another clear hint that this is more than just a concept. The production model is unlikely to look as bold as this in real life, sadly – though Dacia does promise that it will be ‘roomy, robust and meant for open air and dusty roads while exploring new horizons.’ Like the Duster, the larger vehicle will be focused on no-frills motoring – though given the popularity of premium brands and high-spec models in this part of the SUV market, it’s unlikely to be sparsely equipped either. Two and four-wheel drive powertrains are likely, though Dacia’s strategy of using existing technology already available elsewhere in the Renault group means the vehicle is unlikely to have low range. At 4.6 metres long, the Bigster is almost exactly the same size as the current Nissan X-Trail – which is due for replacement towards the end of this year. Prices are likely to start in the mid to high teens, with 4x4 versions adding close to ten grand on top of that.

All models get cruise, alloys, dual-zone air-con, rear park assist and lots of safety kit, as well as a 10.25” infotainment screen. Mid-range Premuim models add LED headlamps, heated seats, adaptive cruise, front parking sensors and bigger alloys, as well as an uprated stereo and more safety kit, while the range-topping Ultimate throws in heated rear seats, three-zone climate, panoramic sunroof, electric tailgate and yet more safety gear.

4x4 02/02/2021 15:00

NEW 4X4S

COMING SOON Forthcoming 4x4s due on sale in the near and medium-term future

Quadrifoglio style for Alfa’s new Stelvio Veloce Ti ALFA ROMEO HAS ADDED a new Veloce Ti model to the top echelons of the Stelvio range. Powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine with 280bhp, this has four-wheel drive as standard and is styled to evoke the image of the legendary Quadrifglio super-SUV. The vehicle features a unique rear bumper with its own diffuser, as well as a colour-coded body kit and the option of new 21” five-hole dark alloy – seen for the first time on this model before they become available on other trim levels. Elsewhere, the interior echoes the Quadrifoglio with aluminium paddles for changing gear, sports seats clad in leather and Alcantara, dark window surrounds, black headlining and real carbon fibre accents. ‘The acronym “Ti”, for “Turismo Internazionale”, has always been applied to models with typically Italian elegance,’ says Alfa Romeo. The Veloce badge, meanwhile, ‘expresses the speed of the best-performing versions.’ Prices for the whole of the Stelvio range, which has just been revised to meet the latest emissions regulations, are due to have been announced by the time this magazine goes on sale.

The ﬁrst shipment of Xpeng G3 SUVs has arrived in Europe. An electric vehicle with a quoted range of 280 miles, this has gone to the Norwegian market – but the Chinese company says it has plans in development for other markets, and that the vehicle already has an English-language user interface. The starting price for Norwegian models is equivalent to just over £30,000.

All the engines are available with all three spec levels, so there won’t be any shortage of choice. That’s unless you want one with four-wheel drive, however – only the 48-volt Mild Hybrid model with 180bhp and automatic transmission has this feature, and it comes exclusively in Ultimate form. This model costs £37,380, making it the most expensive Tucson you can buy at launch. The vehicle is on sale now.

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Alfa Romeo Tonale Alpina XB7 Audi Q3 TFSIe Audi Q4 e-tron BMW iX BMW iX3 Bentley Bentayga Hybrid Bollinger B1 Bollinger B2 Dacia Ford Mustang Mach-E Ford Ranger MR-ST Ford Ranger Hyundai Tucson PHEV INEOS Grenadier Isuzu D-Max Jaguar F-Pace PHEV Jeep Jeep Cherokee Desert Hawk Jeep Grand Cherokee Jeep Compass 4xe Jeep Wrangler 4xe Hyundai Kona N Kia Sorento PHEV Kia Sportage Land Rover Defender EV Maserati Mercedes-Benz EQA Nissan Ariya Nissan Qashqai Nissan Qashqai e-Power Nissan X-Trail Pininfarina Pininfarina Range Rover Range Rover Sport Renault Arkana Rivian R1T Rivian R1s Seat Tarraco PHEV Skoda Enyaq iV SsangYong Korando EV Suzuki Jimny Van Tesla Cybertruck Tesla Model X Tri-Motor Tesla Model Y Torsus Overlander Toyota RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid Toyota Yaris Cross Vauxhall Mokka Volkswagen Amarok Volkswagen Golf Alltrack Volkswagen ID.4 Volkswagen Touareg R Volvo XC40 P8 EV

Small SUV Performance SUV Hybrid SUV Electric SUV Electric SUV Electric SUV Luxury SUV Electric off-roader Electric pick-up Medium SUV Electric SUV Pick-up Pick-up Hybrid SUV Off-roader Pick-up Hybrid SUV Small SUV Performance Off-Roader Luxury SUV Hybrid SUV Hybrid SUV Performance SUV Hybrid SUV Medium SUV Electric off-roader Medium SUV Electric SUV Electric SUV Crossover Electric Crossover Medium SUV Electric sports SUV Electric luxury SUV Luxury SUV Performance SUV Coupe-SUV Electric pick-up Electric large SUV Hybrid SUV Electric SUV Electric SUV Off-Roader Electric Pick-Up Electric SUV Medium SUV Off-road motorhome Medium SUV Small SUV Small SUV Pick-up Crossover Electric SUV Performance SUV Electric SUV

Late 2021 2021 April 2021 2021 Autumn June 2021 Summer 2022 2023 2022 Early 2021 Summer 2022 Spring 2021 Late 2021 March Spring 2021 2021 2021 Summer 2022 Autumn 2021 Early 2022 Mid-2021 Early 2021 Early 2022 2023 2021 Mid-2021 Autumn 2021 Summer 2021 2022 Late 2021 2022 2023 Late 2021 Spring 2022 July 2021 Spring 2022 Summer 2022 Summer Spring 2021 2021 Spring Late 2022 Early 2021 2021 2022 April 2021 Early 2021 April 2021 2022 Early 2021 Late 2020 Spring Early 2021

MARCH 2021 | 13

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RIGHTS OF WAY

Pioneering work on precious West Yorkshire right of way under threat as illegal off-roading returns

well known right and extremely popular right of way in West Yorkshire, which over the last year or so has become a beacon of best practice in building relationships between 4x4 drivers, other users and the local community, has recently suffered as a result

of behaviour from the other end of the human spectrum. Ramsden Road, a long, at times steep and magniﬁcently scenic trail in the Holme Valley, has seen much work done by the Green Lane Association and, in a ﬁne example of all parties pulling together for the greater good, Friends of Ramsden

Road. However towards the end of last year, it attracted the attention of rogue off-roaders who used it as a way of accessing off-piste areas in the woods alongside the lane – an age old problem which, as well as doing serious damage to the ground itself, inevitably leads to responsible 4x4 drivers being tarred

with the same brush as the criminal minority in the eye of onlookers unable to see a difference. ‘This is an area which has had problems in the past,’ explains Alex Davidson, the Association’s West Yorkshire Rep. ‘GLASS has put in much work over the years combatting this type of activity, holding

Ramsden Road is an enjoyable and extremely scenic right of way whose management has shown what can be achieved when all users work together. This in spite of historical problems with illegal use – which reared their ugly head once more over the winter

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RIGHTS OF WAY awareness days in conjunction with the police and other organisations, erecting signage and building relationships with other users, local residents and landowners . ‘We have also been working as part of Friends of Ramsden Road (FORR) – a group set up to plan, coordinate and facilitate repairs and ongoing maintenance of this iconic lane to ensure it is suitable, safe and useable by all users. ‘Working with us in this group are ramblers, horse riders, mountain bikers and motorcyclists, and it is a pleasure to have full cooperation and support from other user groups who would, in some areas, totally oppose 4x4 use. This is what makes it so sad that we are seeing a new rise in illegal activity which has the potential to jeopardise the work of both GLASS and FORR.’ The initial phase of repairs to Ramsden Road were completed last year, with the construction of a new drainage ditch along with resurfacing works and the construction of new and reinstated culverts. ‘It now seems that a mindless minority think it’s okay to drive in the drainage ditches,’ says Alex, ‘with the potential to damage both the ditch and the culverts which are there to hopefully keep the lane free from surface damage by water erosion. They are also driving off the main track, seemingly in search of mud – when the lane itself is reasonably challenging with a section of rocky steps!’ To make matters even worse, these incidents happened during lockdown – though of course people who have no respect for one set of rules are hardy likely to care about any others either. ‘As soon as the current lockdown is over,’ says Alex, ‘I shall be spending some time in the area along with Steve Hayes (Assistant Rep) and some of our partners in FORR. ‘We are working with the police and local groups to do what we can to eradicate this behaviour,’ says Alex. ‘But until activities are reported to the police and logged, it will not be seen as a high priority for them. ‘If you are in the area and witness any illegal activity, please notify the police by phoning 101 with full details of the date and time and the location and make, registrations etc of the vehicles involved.’

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HEAVY RAIN THIS WINTER resulted in serious surface damage to Busk Lane, near Hawes in North Yorkshire. ‘It’s interesting to see what the power of water can do to a road,’ says local GLASS Rep Barrie Mounty. ‘Often due to neglected drainage, but not always. The run-off here certainly swept away an enormous amount of the surface of the road. ‘These photos shows where the surface of the road has literally been washed away – and where it all ended up! It’s going to take a fair amount of work to ﬁx that.’ The lane is currently subject to Voluntary Restraint while awaiting repair by the local authority. It’s impassible anyway, but shouldn’t be attempted by four-wheeled vehicles.

Call for Voluntary Restraint on Bluecaster Side as lack of long-term maintenance starts to bite

THE GREEN LANE ASSOCIATION has called for Voluntary Restraint on Bluecaster Side, an ancient Roman Road which runs alongside a section of the A683 between Sedbergh and Kirkby Stephen. The lane, which once ran all the way between the two towns, has suffered quite badly over the last few years as a result of extreme weather, inappropriate use and a lack of maintenance. GLASS’ Cumbria Rep Peter Apps takes up the story. ‘There has been no oﬃcial drainage clearance known other than that at the southern end, where an archeological dig in 2010 excavated the ﬁrst 610 metres after Bluecaster Side (the southern end of the lane) and replaced drainage when they completed the survey. Occasional small working groups have done

minor clearing of run-offs, but now much more extensive work is required – which both the Yorkshire Dales Park Authority and Cumbria County Council Highways are aware of.’ Peter says that during this past winter, one particular period of extremely wet weather caused part of the A683 running alongside the lane, which is well known locally for the amount of water that ﬂows across it, collapse into the river Rawthey. Unsurprisingly, on this occasion the Highways department wasted no time in clearing the drains on the fell side. ‘We hope to be involved in repair work and will work closely with all parties,’ Peter continues. ‘I have erected Voluntary Restraint signs at either end. Please respect this request and avoid using over the winter months to prevent further deterioration.’

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MOTORSPORT

Eric Vargiolu / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool

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MOTORSPORT

Tightly fought battle in Saudi desert sees Peterhansel triumph again for fourteenth overall Dakar title

fter a three-year hiatus, Stéphane Peterhansel is back on the top step of the Dakar Rally podium. The French desert rallying legend, who turned 55 last year, has now won eight titles, in addition to the six he achieved on motorbikes before switching to four wheels, since his ﬁrst outing in 1988. Driving for the X-Raid Mini team, Peterhansel regained the crown he had previously last won in 2017 in a Peugeot. He now has the distinction of winning the event on all three continents in which it has been based – Africa, South America and now Asia, in the new home of Saudi Arabia to which it was ﬁrst relocated last year. He’s done it for three different manufacturers, too, having taken three titles for Mitsubishi between 2004 and 2007. Peterhansel’s victory came by a narrow margin of 13 minutes and 51 seconds over his long-time rival, Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah, who has also previously won the Dakar for three different manufacturers – Volkswagen, Mini and, most recent-

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Flavien Duhamel / Red Bull Content Pool ly, Toyota. Second place was also enough for Al-Attiyah to win the 4x4 category in his Hilux, which finished more than three quarters of an hour ahead of third-placed Carlos Sainz in another Mini. This year’s Dakar saw 64 cars, 61 lightweight vehicles (including 44 side-by-sides), 101 motorbikes, 16 quads and 44 trucks lined up at the start line in Jeddah. This was in addition to 23 vehicles taking part in the inaugural Dakar Classic, an event for cars and trucks from the 1980s and 1990s. The main event comprised a loop of around 5000 miles through the deserts of the Saudi interior. Starting with a prologue stage which saw Al-Attiyah sneak into an early lead, it followed an anticlockwise path around much of the kingdom, heading south then east towards Riyadh before striking north towards the Iraqi border and finally returning, down the Red Sea coast, to finish back at Jeddah. The following day, Stage 1 started with a lengthy series of stony tracks which took their toll on several com-

petitors – notably nine-time World Rally Campion Sebastien Loeb, who suffered three separate punctures and ended up almost 24 minutes behind another former WRC champ, stage winner Sainz. In the Light Vehicle class, this stage was also the first to be won by a female driver since Jutta Kleinschmidt’s last event in 2005. Cristina Gutiérrez led the field home in her OT3 prototype, in the process overtaking another former WRC ace, prologue winner Kris Meeke. Next up was the first day in the desert dunes, which saw Al-Attiyah put his local knowledge to good use. It was the unfailingly consistent Peterhansel who took over at the top of the leader board, however, while in the trucks category the Kamaz of Dmitri Sotnikov was already in a 17-minute lead over second-placed Serhei Viazovich. With the Dakar being run under Covid-secure conditions, any celebrations were by nature muted in comparison to other years’. However there was an immensely popular result in the light vehicles

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MOTORSPORT class when Saleh Al Shahif became only the second Saudi stage winner in the event’s history as he piloted his Can-Am to victory ahead of a tightly chasing pack. With strong winds blowing across the sandy plateaux around Wadi Al-Dawasir, each competitor’s tyre tracks were gone by the time the next vehicle arrived – meaning

teams further down the running order had no advantage over those who went ﬁrst. This may have aided the navigational troubles that led to Carlos Sainz losing half an hour on Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah on Stage 3, leaving the top two almost completely out on their own. Even this early in the event, it was already looking like a two-horse race.

Left: Cristina Guttierez won Stage 1 in her OT3 proto, making her the ﬁrst woman to claim a Dakar stage win since former champion Jutta Kleinschmidt in 2005 Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool Main picture: Eric Vargiolu / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool

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MOTORSPORT There were contrasting fortunes for two different Toyota Hilux crews on this stage. Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke lost any chance of a podium ﬁnish after rolling his Hilux – however reigning South African cross-country champion Henk Lategan, also in a Hilux, achieved a stunning second place in what was his ﬁrst attempt at the Dakar.

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As the event progressed towards Saudi capital Riyadh, the leaderboard remained unchanged. Al-Attiyah once again took a few seconds out of Peterhansel, but without dislodging the Frenchman from his position at the head of the pack. Sotnikov continued to dominate in the trucks class, while Can-Am’s Francisco Lopez had established

himself as the leader in the light vehicles category. Stage 6 saw both Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah lose time due to navigational errors. So too did Sainz, though he still moved up a place on the overall leaderboard after Lategan was forced to withdraw. Another South African driver did much better aboard his own Toyota

Hilux, however – Giniel de Villiers, who won the 2009 Dakar crown, had an event to forget in general but came through the dunes and rocks between Riyadh and Al-Qaisumah with a notable stage win. The following day, 18 year old Californian Seth Quintero wrote himself into the record books as the Dakar’s youngest ever stage winner. His

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MOTORSPORT

Left: This has got ‘lost’ written all over it, though when you’re talking about two of the greatest rally drivers of all time it pays not to be ﬂippant. Still, we don’t think Carlos Sainz and Sebastien Loeb have stopped for a cup of tea here… Eric Vargiolu / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool

Above: Loeb as he’s more commonly seen – ﬁring his BRX Hunter buggy off the top of a dune in search of a winning stage time Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool performance, coupled with some troublesome mechanical issues for Lopez, allowed Poland’s Aron Domzala to take over at the front in the lightweight vehicles class. Elsewhere, Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah continued to lead the rest by a long way in their Mini and Hilux – though the stage win went to Sainz. Things went from bad to worse for Loeb, however, who saw hours tick by while waiting for repairs to a broken suspension arm. Stage 8 saw the leading competitors nursing their vehicles ahead of the next day’s marathon section. This allowed local man Yazeed Al-Rajhi to take the win aboard his Toyota – another popular triumph for a Saudi driver, whose previous stage success had come in his maiden Dakar back in 2015.

Moving into the jagged terrain of Saudi’s rocky northern region, yet another stage win for Al-Attiyah saw him cut Peterhansel’s lead to less than ﬁve minutes. The terrain claimed Sebastien Loeb’s last available tyre, putting him out of the running, while mechanical problems cost Domzala more than half an hour and allowed the Can-Am of Austin Jones to take over at the top of the light vehicles class. A huge contrast to the previous day’s terrain was an out-and-back special stage on the Red Sea coast around the town of Neom. And it was here that Peterhansel made his move, putting himself within sight of victory with a stage win that came after both Al-Attiyah and Sainz lost time to punctures. Suddenly, the gap was up to almost 17 minutes – a

formidable challenge at the best of times, but doubly so when the man you’re trying to catch happens to be the most successful driver in the event’s history. The die was cast in the lightweight class, too, when Lopez roared to the front of the overall standings with a commanding stage win. But it was business as usual amid the trucks as Sotnikov continued to lead the ﬁeld as he had from the very start. The following day was a visual feast for onlookers, but a nightmare for navigators, as the route wound its way through the other-worldly rock landscapes of Al’Ula. With the end of the event almost in sight, Peterhansel, Lopez and Sotnikov all conserved their leading positions – none posted stage wins, but all did

enough to keep the chasing pack at arms’ length, as did Manuel Andujar in the quads class. As if to demonstrate that nothing can be taken for granted, however, Nacho Cornejo went in to this stage with a seemingly unassailable lead in the bikes category. Everything changed, however, when the Chilean rider lost control and crashed; jumping straight back on board and carrying on, he seemed still to be in charge, but it quickly became clear that all was not well as he crawled along at a pace which allowed one rival after another to catch him up. When he reached the end of the stage and was examined by doctors, the cause of his slow pace became evident – he was suffering from concussion and needed to be airlifted to hospital, and out of the event.

Above left: Francisco Lopez of Chile held his nerve to win the light vehicles category in his Can-Am, having fought back to regain a lead he lost midway through the event Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool

Above right: Seth Quintero became the youngest person ever to win a stage on the Dakar – the Californian was unable to take part last year as he was too young to take his driving test Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool

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MOTORSPORT Right: Nasser Al-Attiyah pushed every step of the way in his Hilux. But when you’re pushing in the hope that Stephane Peterhansel will make a mistake, the odds aren’t with you Eric Vargiolu / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool

Below: Peterhansel won his ﬁrst Dakar in 1991, and Carlos Sainz won his last WRC the following year. It’s unlikely that they took selﬁes on those occasions… Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool

Incidents like that are inevitable on the Dakar, but what you probably don’t expect in Saudi Arabia is for a section to be abandoned because of rain. That’s what happened on the way to Yanbu, however, as the field set out on the last full stage of the event – only for around 35 miles of the timed section to be washed out. Even so, what was left of the stage still gave Al-Attiyah one last chance to attack Peterhansel’s lead in a massive stretch of dunes approaching Yanbu itself. The Qatari driver went for it, and duly took the win – but only by a couple of minutes, meaning Peterhansel would go into the final stage of the event with a load of more than a quarter of an hour. Andujar’s lead in the quads class was even greater, and Sotnikov remained in complete control among the trucks. Lopez was the leader under the greatest pressure going into the stage, but in the eventuality it was second-placed Jones who let it get to him – meaning the Chilean went in to the final stage with his lead not cut but extended. As is traditional, none of the standings changed on the last stage as the Dakar caravan rolled back in to Jeddah for the closing ceremony. Peterhansel led the way with Al-Attiyah around 14 minutes behind him and Sainz just over an hour back, while Lopez held off Jones

by some 17 minutes and Sotnikov left second-placed Anton Shibalov trailing in his wake by almost 40 minutes. Manuel Andujar’s victory in the quads class was never in doubt, either, after Nicolas Cavigliasso was put out by engine failure in Neom.

The inaugural Dakar Classic, meanwhile, was won by the Sunhill buggy of Marc Douton. Their vehicle ﬁrst competed in 1979 – coincidentally, the same year as the ﬁrst ever Paris-Dakar Rally. It was almost ten years old already, indeed, when

Stephane Peterhansel took part in his ﬁrst Dakar – sure enough, this is an event in which experience counts for everything. When ten more years have passed, you wouldn’t bet against Monsieur Dakar still to be going as strong as ever.

Eric Vargiolu / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool

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02/02/2021 15:01

CALENDAR KEY

P Off-Road Playday

G Green Lane Convoy Tour

A Overseas Adventure Travel

S 4x4 Show

IMPORTANT: In the wake of the Covid crisis, most green laning and adventure travel companies have redrawn their calendars from scratch. As a result, some of the information on these pages will inevitably be out of date. In addition, some dates are for rearranged tours which had to be cancelled this year and which may already be full. Most operators are still prioritising existing clients over new business; some are yet to start accepting new bookings. While we do go to great lengths to ensure that our 4x4 Calendar is accurate and up to date, it is essential to check with the site, operator and/or organiser that events are still going ahead. Even without a pandemic to deal with, events are always prone to being rearranged, sometimes at very short notice, so this advice will always apply – we accept no liability for the consequences of any inaccuracies in this information.

G Protrax Wiltshire

Off Road Centre P Kirton Kirton Lindsey, North Lincs Safari P Slindon Slindon, West Sussex

13-24 February

6 March

A Ardventures Galicia

Landrover Events G UKYorkshire Dales

14 February

6-25 March

Essex, Rochford and District 4x4 P Rayleigh, Essex Frickley 4x4 P Frickley, South Yorkshire P Protrax Tixover, Northamptonshire Slindon Safari P Slindon, West Sussex

A Protrax Morocco

13-14 February

20-21 February

G Protrax Wales 21 February Pit P Devil’s Barton-le-Clay, Bedfordshire Off Road P Explore Silverdale, Stoke-on-Trent P Hill’n’Ditch Mouldsworth, Cheshire Muddy Bottom P Minstead, Hampshire Landrover Events G UKDurham Dales

7 March Bottom P Muddy Minstead, Hampshire 4x4 P Parkwood Tong, Bradford Wood P Picadilly Bolney, West Sussex P Protrax Tixover, Northamptonshire Events G UKEdenLandrover District

8-12 March

G Ardventures Coast to Coast 13-14 March Overland G Atlas Wessex G Protrax Wiltshire

26 February

14 March

Events G UKDalesLandrover and Eden

Rochford and District 4x4 P Essex, Rayleigh, Essex 4x4 P Frickley Frickley, South Yorkshire Safari P Slindon Slindon, West Sussex

27 February Adventure Tours G 4x4 Wales Off Road Centre P Kirton Kirton Lindsey, North Lincs

28 February Leisure P Cowm Whitworth, Lancashire 4x4 P Frickley Frickley, South Yorkshire

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19 March Events G UKLakeLandrover District

19-21 March

G Ardventures Mid and North Wales

20 March

4 April

Landrover Events G UKTynedale

Landrover Events G UKNorthumberland

21 March

4-17 April

Off Road P Explore Silverdale, Stoke-on-Trent Bottom P Muddy Minstead, Hampshire P Protrax Tixover, Northamptonshire

Overland A Atlas Morocco

5 April

22-23 March

6 April

Landrover Events G UKCumbria and Yorkshire

Events G UKPeakLandrover District

26 March – 11 April

10 April

A Ardventures Morocco

Events G UKDalesLandrover and Eden

27 March

17-18 April

Adventure Tours G 4x4 Wales Off Road Centre P Kirton Kirton Lindsey, North Lincs

G Protrax Wiltshire

27-28 March

Events G UKTyneLandrover and Wear

18 April British Land Rover Show S Great Newark, Nottinghamshire

G Protrax Wales

19 April – 3 May

27 March – 11 April

A Trailmasters Morocco Marrakesh

World Overland A Lost Morocco

22 April – 6 May

28 March

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

Pit P Devil’s Barton-le-Clay, Bedfordshire 4x4 P Frickley Frickley, South Yorkshire Off Road Centre P Kirton Kirton Lindsey, North Lincs Safari P Slindon Slindon, West Sussex Events G UKNorthLandrover York Moors

3-20 April 2021

24-25 April

G Protrax Wales 25 April Landrover Events G UKLincoln and Belvoir

30 April Events G UKEdenLandrover District

Safari A Peru Kuelap / Cloud Warrior Tour

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CALENDAR 1-14 May

21-27 June

16-25 August

11-16 October

Overland A Atlas Portugal

A Landtreks French Pyrenees

4x4 Adventures A Active Pyrenees

A Landtreks Pyrenees

3-12 May

21 June – 1 July

24 August – 4 September

15-31 October

4x4 Adventures A Active Portugal

Overland A Atlas Corsica

A Trailmasters Morocco

A Ardventures Morocco

15-29 May

26-27 June

31 August – 12 September

16-30 October

A Landtreks Pyrenees

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

11-12 September

17 October – 4 November

Overland A Atlas Portugal

Off-Road Show S Billing Billing, Northamptonshire

20 May – 2 June

9-23 July

A Trailmasters Morocco Extreme

Adventure Tours A 4x4 Pyrenees

22-23 May

9-24 July

11-19 September

18 October – 1 November

A Ardventures Balkans

Landrover Events A UKPyrenees

4x4 Adventures A Active Sahara

24-28 May

10-24 July

13-22 September

25 October – 8 November

4x4 Adventures A Active Provence

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

4x4 Adventures A Active Southern France

A Trailmasters Morocco Atlantic Sahara

25 May – 5 June

12-18 July

13-27 September

29 October – 14 November

A Landtreks Portugal

A Landtreks Pyrenees

Overland A Atlas Morocco

A Ardventures Morocco

27 May – 1 June

19-28 July

15-29 September

13-27 November

4x4 Adventures A Active Alps

A Protrax Pyrenees

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

28 May – 11 June

27 July – 8 August

16-29 September

21 November

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

A Landtreks Pyrenees Coast-to-Coast

A Trailmasters Morocco Marrakesh

1-4 June

31 July – 14 August

18 September – 2 October

3-17 December

Overland A Atlas Italian Alps

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

6-20 June

31 July – 15 August

21 September – 2 October

16 April – 3 May 2022

Adventure Tours A 4x4 Albania

World Overland A Lost Sardinia

A Landtreks Corsica

Safari A Peru Kuelap / Cloud Warrior Tour

7-16 June

2-6 August

30 September – 13 October

7-21 May 2022

4x4 Adventures A Active Pyrenees

4x4 Adventures A Active Provence

Overland A Atlas Morocco

A Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

9-23 June

7-27 August

2-10 October

28 May – 11 June 2022

A Protrax Pyrenees

A Ardventures Galicia

Landrover Events A UKPyrenees

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

12-27 June

10-24 August

3-16 October

18 June – 2 July 2022

A Ardventures Pyrenees

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

A Trailmasters Morocco Draa Valley

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

19 June – 4 July

16-22 August

3-21 October

9-23 July 2022

Safari A Peru Jaguar Tracks Tour

A Landtreks Pyrenees

A Protrax Morocco

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

Land Rover Gathering S Classic Wansford, Peterborough

National S ALRC Bilsington Priory, Kent

National Follow-On Rally S ALRC Bilsington Priory, Kent

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Show S LRO Peterborough

A Protrax Morocco

British Land Rover Show S Great Stoneleigh, Warwickshire

Peru Safari

MARCH 2021 | 23

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PRODUCTS

Osram expands range of LED drving lights and work lamps for 4x4 applications

sram has announced a major expansion of its LEDriving portfolio – to promise ‘an even greater range of robust and stylish spotlights, reversing lights and light bars for the 4x4 market.’ Including driving lights and work lamps, the LEDriving range has been more than doubled in size by these new arrivals. They include a total of 18 new types of light; Osram says the range now offers customers ‘approximately thirty products for lighting the front and rear of their vehicles, not including product combinations.’ Designed speciﬁcally for off-road use but 100% road-legal, Osram’s range includes four different series: Multifunctional, Functional, Slim and Value. The ﬁrst of these now contains no less than six different options, all of which can be used either as work lamps or driving lights. Also new is a variety of light bars for the front of your vehicle. These

24 | MARCH 2021

NEEDS ADS Scene Mar.indd 24

include the FX1000-CB SM, a metre-wide ﬁtment from the Functional series whose 8000-lumen output reaches to a range of up to 635 metres. The SX300-CB, meanwhile, which joins Osram’s Slim series, has an array of 12 high-performance, long-life LEDs to give it a range of up to 210 metres. On top of this, the company has also added a number of products designed for rear lighting applications – including new auxiliary high-beam LEDs with a position light function. Going back to the Multifunctional range, this also now includes the new LEDriving Cube MX85-SP – a work light whose four high-performance LEDs give it a range of up to 110 metres. Osram has also introduced a range of accessories to help you ﬁt and operate all its various lights. These include new wireless harnesses to allow the installation of up to two light sources with one light

function, which includes an on/off switch that can be mounted in the vehicle, and a number plate bracket for easier mounting of certain driving lights on the front of a vehicle. ‘The products in the range vary in shape, size, light proﬁle, light output and near and far ﬁeld illumination,’ says Osram. ‘But they have one thing in common: they have all been tested under extreme conditions in the Osram test laboratory and as a result can withstand water, dust, hot and cold temperatures, as well as vibration and shock. ‘Thanks to their aluminium housing and unbreakable polycarbonate

lens, they are particularly light – but at the same time robust and resistant to whatever the road ahead has in store.’ There’s no shortage of options in the LED market, and inevitably some of them are cheap rubbish and fakes from the people’s republic of cheap rubbish and fakes. So it’s good to know you’re investing in pukka kit – and between Osram’s time-served lighting heritage and the fact that its LEDriving range was recognised in the 2020 German Innovation Awards, this is a brand you can trust. And with that, you can ﬁnd it at www.osram.co.uk.

4x4 02/02/2021 15:02

LOCKDOWN OFFER! In these difficult times we are offering a 10% discount on all used parts

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29/01/2021 13:58:27

PRODUCTS

Goodridge adds new brake line kits for Land Rovers

our Freeland SPAIR! our Freeland away and here to he .oodridge Performance has updated its range of Premium Performance braided brake line kits, which now includes the Land Rover Defender, Discovery, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport among its list of applications. These join an extensive range of existing stainless steel braided brake line kits for Land Rover models dating as far back as 1970. The kits are intended for use as a direct replacement for the OEM brake lines, meaning they’re designed for vehicles on standard-height suspension. However Goodridge also has a range available for lifted vehicles – which, of course, are often the ones most in need of uprated brakes. Either way, Goodridge says its performance brake lines offer improved eﬃciency from their PTFE-lined stainless steel braided hoses and increased corrosion resistance properties thanks to their

stainless-steel ﬁttings. The result is greater reliability and what the company calls ‘improved braking characteristics at a very reasonable price point.’ Goodridge says you can expect ‘a conﬁdence-inspiring solidity to the brake pedal, coupled with improved and predictable braking feel.’ Most importantly, of course, the hoses are available in 13 different colours. So if you’re adding them as part of a look-at-me rebuild or modup job, you won’t be confounded by any ugly clashes. You might think we’re joking there. But no, because the full list of

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4x4 02/02/2021 15:02

PRODUCTS

A LITTLE LOCKDOWN HELP AS THORNTON BREAKERS OFFERS 10% DISCOUNT ON ALL USED PARTS vehicles included in this latest addition to the Goodridge range is: • Defender 90 (pre-1999) • Defender 110/130 (pre-1999) • Defender 90/110/130 (1999-2004) • Defender 90/110/130 with ABS (1999-2004) • Defender 90/110/130 with ABS (2004-2016) • Defender 90/110/130 no ABS (2004-2016) • Discovery 3/4 • Range Rover L322 • Range Rover Sport L320 These models join a range of more than 160,000 Premium Performance Brake Line Kits. So even if you don’t own a Land Rover, paying a visit to www.goodridge.com will almost certainly turn up some brake kit worth stopping for.

4x4 NEEDS ADS Scene Mar.indd 27

THORNTON BREAKERS, the Halifax-based 4x4 dismantling specialist, is currently offering a general discount of 10%. Intended to help out its customers during lockdown, the discount applies across all the used parts the company sells. After almost 35 years in business, Thornton Breakers is on the threshold of achieving certification from the Vehicle Recyclers’ Association, an audited scheme confirming the legality and quality of the operators carrying its badge. As well as selling parts, it offers an on-site fitting service – with a minimum of three months’ warranty. The company also runs a stock management system allowing it to promise full parts traceability, and everything it takes off the vehicles it purchases is checked for manufacturer safety recalls. It exports a huge amount of parts and also operates a UK-wide delivery service. Given that Thornton Breakers regularly sells items like entire engines, that 10% discount could be worth a pretty penny. You’ll find them at www. thorntonbreakers. co.uk.

MARCH 2021 | 27

02/02/2021 15:02

PRODUCTS

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GEARMATE ADDS TO NORMAL PICK-UP PORTFOLIO WITH HEAVY-DUTY LAND ROVER STORAGE SYSTEM GEARMATE IS PERHAPS BEST KNOWN for the storage systems it makes for one-tonne pick-ups. But the Warwickshire company also offers modular systems for first-generation Land Rover Defenders of all ages – allowing you to organise the kit you carry without losing the convenience of a usable floor in the back of your vehicle. The floor in question has a rubber anti-slip surface, making it more usable than ever. And beneath it is a drawer system with a strong, robustly built carcase and adjustable dividers. The main drawer is lockable and pulls out with full extension, making it easy to get at what’s inside it, and next to it is an addition locking pod for further secure storage. The drawer unit can be combined with further storage solutions such as a slide, racking or dog box to make it handier than ever. And, no small matter, it’s easy to instal. ‘Gearmate are unique on the market as we are the only manufacturers who offer a no drilling solution, allowing the system to be easily transferred between vehicles if required,’ says the company. ‘Our unique bracket systems have been designed using 3D scan data of the different manufacturers’ beds to locate the tie-down points. This means the system requires a straightforward, hassle-free installation with no risk of endangering the vehicle’s warranty.’ Not a problem in the case of a Defender, you’d think. But talking of warranties, the Gearmate unit comes with a 12-month no-quibble guarantee covering its structure as well as all its rails, bearings, handles and locks. We’ve got one of the company’s systems on one of our vehicles, so we can say from experience that it’s very good kit indeed.

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28 | MARCH 2021

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4x4 02/02/2021 15:03

PRODUCTS

At £849 plus VAT, one of these units is definitely not as cheap as buying an old ammo box at a sortout and bolting it through your Defender’s floor. But it’s not as pricey as some of the solutions you see on the market, either – and, as we say, it’s pukka stuff. Gearmate calls it ‘the perfect system to fit in your Land Rover,’ which they would, but given the opportunity we’re inclined to think you might agree. The company is to be found at www.gearmate.co.uk.

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09/12/2020 19:12

XJ 109

A Jaguar XJ6 on a Land Rover chassis is not the sort of car that tends to be accused of hiding its light under a bushel. Flip its bonnet foward, however, and you’ll discover that it’s a lot more than just a pretty face Words: Mick Buck Pictures: Jonathan Gold

any, many years ago, a couple of chaps from down near London built a thing called the Land-Jag. It was a long-wheelbase Series wagon with a Jaguar V12 engine, it was used mainly as a tow truck and its bodywork was, to put it mildly, interesting. You’re probably trying to picture a glorious smooth motorway cruiser with endless reserves of effortless power, and perhaps it was, but mainly it looked like a boat. So, that was the Land-Jag. Now, the thick end of a quarter of a century later, here’s the Jag-Rover. It doesn’t look like a boat. You may have your own views on what it does look like but, whatever it is, it’s not a boat. It’s instantly recognisable

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as a Jaguar, indeed – just not in a form you’re likely to have seen before. The donor car was a Jaguar XJ6 dating from 1986, and it accounts for most of what’s visible ahead of the pick-up bed. This means the cabin is all Jag-based, too, including the interior – giving it all the style and luxury of a vintage gentleman’s cruiser. Move further back, though, and you’ll see the distinctive rolled waistline, turret-style rear lights and crash-down tailgate of a Land Rover. Which is, strictly speaking (strictly, but also incredibly loosely), what the vehicle is. Jonathan Gold, whose company Brondesbury Cars is currently offering the Jag-Rover for sale, says it started life as a 1972 Series III Utility.

We’re assuming it was a 109” rather than an 88”. though the chassis has been modiﬁed since then so who knows? As well as a lot of strengthening, the metalwork has gained the bracketry required to convert the suspension to coils – it now runs Bearmach units mated to heavy-duty Pro-Comp shock absorbers. For reasons that will soon become clear, these in turn are twinned at the front. They’re mounted in tubular towers here, with 6-degree castor-correction radius arms compensating for the +2” suspension lift which, along with massively exaggerated wheelarches, creates the room required for a set of 315/75x16 Yokahoma Geolandar MTs. That’s about 34.5” x 12.5”, to save you doing the maths.

4x4 02/02/2021 10:46

A ﬂip-down front is only ever going to be a cool thing. You don’t want to ﬁnd some weedy little lawnmower engine under it though, which is a real concern when the chassis started life in a Series III Land Rover. Happy days, then, when it reveals a crate-fresh 6.5-litre General Motors V8. You know, the one from the Suzuki Jimny, right…?

So, why the twinned front shocks? Because unlike many a bitsa, the Jag-Rover is not powered by whatever engine its builder happened to have lying around. No, he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a brand new 6.5-litre GMC V8 diesel. Feel that torque. A digression here. While doing our research for this article, we stumbled over some photos in an online blog of the vehicle parked in a lock-up during an earlier stage of its build. The blogger in question (‘blogger of the year 2015,’ apparently), went on at embarrassing length (which, in this case, is any length at all), about how the vehicle is powered by ‘the V8 diesel engine from a Suzuki Jimny.’ Oh dear. Didn’t know there was a thing called the GMC Jimmy, did you youth?

4x4 3pp Jag-Rover.indd 33

Fair do’s, though, it’s an easy mistake to make, what with the V8 diesel having been such a popular option in the Suzuki Jimny. Anyway. The big old American lump was bolted to a Range Rover V8 auto box and this in turn fed the transfer case from a Defender 90. We don’t know which specific boxes the vehicle’s builder used, but he was an aeronautical engineer and those guys aren’t known for cutting corners, so our money would be on the strong stuff. GM’s V8 diesels have a habit of turning everything else inside out, after all, which is a look unbecoming of a gentleman’s cruiser. What we do know is that the 90 transfer case means the vehicle has full-time four-wheel drive. Its propshafts turn a pair of Ashcroft limited-slip diffs living in 24-spline axles with disc brakes all round. If you know your Land Rovers, you’ll recognise a non-stop stream of signals here to a truck that’s been built right. Rose-jointed rear trailing arms and all-round Polybushes offer further clues here, as does a heavy-duty military-spec radiator that came fresh out of the box and was fitted with twin electric fans. The exhaust, not very surprisingly, is completely custom – made entirely from stainless steel, it runs 2.5 pipes into twin 3” stacks – proper show truck territory, but definitely not what you’d want on a tight green lane. Not that this is a hybrid you’d take off-roading. Or would you? Ground clearance is enormous, and its approach and departure angles are excellent. And, as we said, in terms of its overall build it’s packing exactly the sort of kit people use when they’re building a playday weapon or junior challenge truck. There’s no shortage of room under those front arches for wheel travel, too.

This does point to the much lower clearance beneath the rear arches, however – which could be considered ironic, since they’re the bit from an actual off-roader. And there’s a noticeable step down in the waistline, too, as it runs back past the cab and into the pick-up bed. So… Jaguar Land Rover trayback, anyone? It might sound sacrilegious but if you ask anyone who’s into classic Jags, or classic Landies, that’s what they’d say the vehicle already is. Mainly, it might be seen as a bit of an affront to the guy who built it, but then you might say that if he was worried enough about what a future owner might do to his creation, he wouldn’t have sold it. And we can certainly see it. Fetch off the rear body, run a roll hoop and back stays up from the chassis and use it for mounting a ﬂat bed at the same height as the front arches, and what a vehicle you’d have. The front bumper could do with giving way to some heavy steel with a winch mount in it, but really the main question you’d have to ask yourself is whether you’d want to be the person responsible for scratching and denting that graceful bodywork and ﬁlling the cabin up with mud.

MARCH 2021 | 33

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The cabin might look dated, but it’s from 1986 so it’s allowed to. Anyway, when did you last see a Series III Land Rover like this? Or one with cruise control, air-con, leather seats and a CD player, for that matter… Choose your battles, though, and the potential is here for a whole lot of fun. Even if you just want a hilarious street machine, we reckon a bit more of the off-road image would do it no harm, but so long as you like stickers there’s no reason why you’d need to change a thing. It’s got plenty of cool tricks to pull out of the locker, too. You’ll have noticed the air trumpets on the roof, which pipe up at the pull of a chain in the classic Peterbilt style, and if you need to be seen as well as heard there are cruise lights and ﬂashing amber beacons at the front and rear. There’s a red tinted sunroof up top and the back of the cabin features a double-glazed bubble window. Wherever you’re standing, it’s a 4x4 with something for you to look at. Best of all, you might be looking at it and thinking you’d need a stepladder to work on the engine. Don’t fret, though, it’s about to get cooler than ever. The vehicle’s builder seam-welded the Jag’s bonnet to its front wings then hinged it at the front and installed a latching mechanism at the bulkhead to create a full ﬂip-down front. You may well be looking at the only car in the world that gets even cooler when it breaks down. That GMC engine certainly is a sight to behold, and the whole vehicle is the kind of 4x4 that looks striking when it’s clean and polished but wouldn’t look out of place with a coating of mud either. It’s loaded with potential, or you could just

64 | MAY 2020

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enjoy it the way it is – and with an asking price of £14,950, while it’s deﬁnitely not being given away, it’s a lot of car, and a whole lot of cool, for your money. Plenty of people have plonked car’s bodies on to 4x4 chassis before now – but few if any of them have done it with this level of style and skill. You might not have ﬁnished it the same way if it had been you, and if you were to buy it you might do so with a checklist of things to change – whether it’s stickers, shiny bits or fullon bodywork.

One thing’s for sure, though. All those years ago, when we stumbled on the Land-Jag, it wasn’t what our idea of a V12-engined Landy ought to look like. The Jag-Rover, on the other hand… it’s outrageous, but it’s there to put a smile on people’s faces. And if there’s anything stirring in your soul, it’ll make you do exactly that. The Jag-Rover is currently for sale with Brondesbury Cars at an asking price of £14,950. To ﬁnd out more about it, give Jonathan Gold a call on 07909 707509

4x4 02/02/2021 10:46

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FIRST DRIVE

LAND ROVER DEFENDER 90 It’s only on the road so far, but our ﬁrst experience of the short-wheelbase Defender reveals a vehicle that’s close in character to the 110 but some way behind it in terms of practicality

THE NEW DEFENDER 110 has been around for a few months now. But for many of us, the 90 is the one we were really waiting for. The short-wheelbase Defender has always been the sexy one, after all. Traditionally, the 110 has been pretty much the only choice if you’ve got a family to consider or you ever need to carry loads worthy of the name – but for whatever combination you care about of cool looks, on-road agility and the ultimate in off-road skills, not to mention the capacity to emerge from a car park without having put years on your life, it’s got to the 90. The difference between the two models is marginally more slight this time. The 90 has grown from 92.7” to 102”, while the 110 has

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been stretched from 110” to 119”. So it used to be 17.3” but now it’s just 17”, as if that could have any bearing on anything in real life. How much of it is down to the wheelbase is entirely open to question, but this time the 90 feels a lot closer to the 110 to drive. Hard as it is to believe, it’s actually longer than a ﬁrst-generation Range Rover – it’s a very different beast to that, of course, but it’s even more of a different beast to the Defenders of the same era. As with the 110, the 90 has a big, upright stance and an interior that manages to be simple and high-tech at the same time. We drove a P300 SE model, whose 2.0-litre petrol engine puts 300bhp and 295lbf.ft through the standard eight-speed

automatic gearbox, and the smoothness of its drivetrain is remarkable. It handles similarly to the 110, too, with perhaps just a touch more directness in its cornering if you really push it. It resists body roll effectively and goes where you point the steering wheel without pulling any surprises on you. It doesn’t feel rapier-like in corners, but it’s responsive and predictable. If the shorter wheelbase makes it less ﬂuid in corners, any difference that exists is absolutely marginal. We found the 90’s ride to be quite jittery on poor roads, however. Fair play to Land Rover for setting out a route on its driving event which asked some searching questions of the vehicles’ suspension – we’re talking about the sort of B and

C-roads that even managed to upset a Range Rover in places, so the 90’s copybook is hardly blotted by any of this, however we did ﬁnd it noticeable that instead of the thumps and crashes you’d expect of a traditional truck, it responded with jolts that were much more controlled but still quite evident. This was in a model with 20” alloys as standard, and on the particular vehicle we drove these had been upgraded to 22”. You can’t image this helping, though once again its ride wasn’t harsh, just rather fussy and unsettled. Our instinct would be to go for the smallest rims and the tallest sidewalls on offer, but with all things being equal our feeling is that this is an area in which the 110 has the edge.

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The Defender’s cabin is a study in purpoose, and its dashboard looks and feels like the operating panel for some sort of sophisticated item of machinery. Which, in a manner of speaking, is just what it is. That’s the same whether you’re in a 90 or a 110; it’s in the back seats that the two vehicles diverge. Whereas the 110 is spacious, in the 90 it’s a squeeze for one tall adult to sit behind another. Headroom is less than generous with a folding roof above you, too. Another issue is that when you’re asking electric motors to move the front seat for access to those behind it, you’ll spend fully half a minute standing there while it whirrs back and forth. On a rainy day, you might as well spend that time jumping in a river It’s certainly better inside, at least if you’re talking about the rear seats. These are less spacious than in the 110, understandably enough, with limited legroom for adults. One six-footer can sit behind another, but neither will feel any great sense of freedom – and if, as was the case with ours, you also have a folding roof to contend with, headroom will only just be enough too. Our 90 had electric seats, which we always think is a bit of an over-rated accessory at the best of times. Here, it’s a positive menace. If you want to get someone in to the back seats, you have to push a button next to the headrest and it’ll glide forward automatically – we timed this at 11 seconds, and try standing out in the rain for that long if you want to see how it felt to us. You then have to fold the seat-back forward yourself, whereupon the person getting in the back can ﬁnally climb aboard. Once they’re in, you have to hold down the button again while the seat whirrs back into place. More than half a minute has now elapsed. For carrying cargo, too, the 90 falls short of the very high standard set by the 110. Its rear seat-backs drop down to sit at rather an unhelpful angle, while also leaving an even more unhelpful step in the loading area, so it’s not well suited to carrying large or bulky items that need to be slid into place. Of course, it will always be less spacious than the 110, but this is compounded by the larger vehicle’s far more elegant approach to accommodating people and cargo alike.

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For these reasons, on the basis of this ﬁrst experience of the 90 our instinct is to say that if carrying rear-seat passengers is something you can get away with never having to do, it’s best suited to be seen as a van. Of course, Land Rover has made it available in exactly this from from the word go – there are very sound tax reasons for choosing the Hard-Top commercial model, as well all know, but over and above that our ﬁrst reaction to the vehicle is that this is simply its natural state. The Hard-Top comes with a nice, fuss-free spec level, too, plus a price to match (£42,920, as opposed to £62,025 for the vehicle we drove).

Its seats have the minimum of electric gadgetry, its steel wheels are 18” across and it’s as cheap as a Defender can be. We’d say that if you don’t need the second row, this is the one to have – and that if you do, you should buy a 110. Our ﬁrst drive of the 90 didn’t include any off-roading, so that’s a story for another day. We’re looking forward to seeing how it copes on coil springs rather than adjustable air bags, though, not to mention what it’s like with the most basic possible form of electronic assistance. It is, after all, a 90. And the 90 is the sexy one, right? To us, it’s less cut and dried than it

used to be with the old Defender, but there’s still something about the proportions of the short-wheelbase version that says it means business. Notwithstanding the qualms we’ve express about it above, we think that if you choose the right model, it’ll be absolutely spot-on. Once again, buying a Defender is all about whatever combination you want of cool looks, on-road agility and the ultimate in off-road skills. It’s just that this time, there are two models that offer all this – and so long as you choose the right one, you don’t need to lose out on the virtues that have always made the 90 great.

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DRIVEN

SSANGYONG KORANDO ULTIMATE Top-spec version of the Korean 4x4 specialist’s crossover SUV isn’t actually a 4x4 – but proves to be almost as convincing a proposition as its award-winning Rexton stablemate

WHEN WE FIRST EXPERIENCED the new SsangYong Korando last year, it didn’t hit us with the same wow factor as its big brother, the Rexton, had a couple of years before that. However it was the range-topping Ultimate version of SsangYong’s ﬂagship SUV that won us over – and now, this is our ﬁrst experience of the Korando in its similarly elevated form. The Ultimate sits at the top of a four-strong model line-up. It’s a bit unconventional in that only one of these has four-wheel drive – and the Ultimate is not it. Basically, if you want a diesel-engined Korando you have to get the Pioneer model. This comes with an auto box as standard and all-wheel drive as an option. That leaves a 1.5-litre petrol engine, available in manual form in ELX, Ventura and Ultimate trim. The latter alone can also be had in auto form, which is what we’ve got here. But none of these petrol-powered vehicles can be had with four driven wheels.

Got that? Good. The engine has 163bhp and 207lbf.ft; it gives the Korando a 0-60 time of 12 seconds and returns 35.8mpg combined in auto form. We found the latter ﬁgure entirely believable, but the vehicle felt an awful lot zestier than that rather pedestrian sounding sprint time suggests. Most of all, however, the engine and gearbox are impressively smooth and reﬁned, with little noise to disturb you at any speed or throttle opening. The steering and suspension are similarly pleasing – the Korando is far removed from the bouncy, lumpy SsangYongs of old and, like the Rexton, is wholly worthy of comparison with similar vehicles from the mainstream car makers. In truth, it only feels like a matter of time before SsangYong follows in the footsteps of its fellow Koreans Kia and Hyundai and becomes one of those mainstream brands. It’s unfortunate that the company’s name sounds so clunky to English ears, because that (and Brits’ ingrained badge snobbery) are probably the biggest things holding it back right now.

If you’re expecting the Korando to be a relic from the days when budget manufacturers loaded a bunch of impressive sounding but third-rate kit into a ticky-tacky interior, think again. It’s very well screwed together and, in Ultimate form, stylish and classy to look at – and the kit you get, from a slick media system to luxuries like heated and chilled seats, is totally convincing

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Even though the rear seats don’t fold entirely flat, the Korando is impressively practical. A two-piece false floor allows you to configure a stepless load area with the seats down or a deep, tall boot when they’re up. It also creates a hidden stowage compartment that’s big and deep enough to be genuinely useful

Certainly, to sit in the Ultimate’s cabin you don’t get anything but a feeling of wellbeing. It’s very well equipped, with nice leather trim, mood lighting, a 10.25” infotainment screen and multi-adjustable electric seats which are both heated and cooled, plus a great deal more besides. That screen, whose design and graphics would easily grace a premium vehicle, carries sat-nav and a reversing camera as well as a media set-up with DAB, Bluetooth and smartphone mirroring. Of course, budget manufacturers have long been pulling the pile-it-high trick, and SsangYong has long been among them. The Korando is different, though. Like the Rexton, it doesn’t feel like a basic car laden with cheap kit for the sake of being able to boast about what it’s got. The quality of the equipment is evident, and it feels completely at home in a cabin that’s

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stylishly designed, trimmed in good looking materials and, no small matter, very well put together with barely a creak or a groan from the dash, door trims or floor console when you manhandle them. The seating position is good, too, with plenty of room in all the directions that matter and loads of adjustability in a number of directions you probably didn’t even know existed. In the back, knee room is a little on the tight side behind a tall driver, though neither of you needs to give much away for everyone to be happy. For carrying cargo, the rear seats drop close enough to flat and are fairly amenable to being squashed down still further when you slide a heavy load on to them. There’s a two-part lift-out false floor behind them; with it in place, you’ve got a stepless cargo bay, or when the seats are up you can remove it to create a big, tall conventional boot. Either way, the hidden compartment underneath it is big enough to hold bulky valuables like thick laptop bags, so it’s as flexible as it is elegant. The result is an SUV whose practicality shines. You don’t need to go all the way up to Ultimate level to get this – but with the other qualities this model brings to the Korando, so long as you don’t need four-wheel drive it’s easily the most convincing option. We never thought we’d hear ourselves saying such a thing, but the fact is that most people who buy an SUV like this have no interest at all in the benefits of driving a true 4x4. But they do have a lot of interest in driving a vehicle that feels classy and luxurious – and at £26,345 in manual form, or £28,345 for the auto, the Korando Ultimate gives you an astonishing amount of that for the money. That’s before you add SsangYong’s range-wide 7-year, 150,000-mile warranty, too. Again, though, don’t let the eye-popping value for money fool you into thinking that’s all there is. As with the Rexton and Musso, the Korando is more than just a cheap vehicle. It’s a good vehicle that’s also cheap – and with the Ultimate spec level, it’s very good indeed.

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Call now on:

01452 309 983 HEATING & AIR - CON SPECIALISTS • SERVICE • REPAIR • INSTALL

Unit 2 Llanthony Business Park, Gloucester. GL2 5QT

www.ac-automotive.co.uk

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• Huge interior and luggage space • ‘Blaze Cockpit’ with l0.25” screen and choice of colour mood lighting • 7 year warranty

KORANDO FROM £20,395 † Fuel consumption figures in mpg: Combined 39.8-46.2. CO2 emissions in g/km 178-157. *0% APR available for all Korando models, at participating dealers until 31st March 2021. Hire Purchase minimum deposit 20% required. Finance by SsangYong Financial Services a trading name of Northridge Finance, BT1 5LR. Finance subject to status, availability and terms and conditions. Applicants must be 18 or over. Offer only applies in the UK (excludes Channel Islands & I.O.M). Offer may be amended or withdrawn at any time. SsangYong Motors UK Ltd is a credit broker not lender. Commission may be received. †Korando ELX including VAT, delivery charge, road fund licence & first registration charge. Model shown is Korando Ultimate priced at £27,395 inc. optional metallic paint at £650. Prices are correct at time of being published and are subject to change without notice. Warranty covers 7 years or 150,000 miles. Offer may be amended or withdrawn at any time.

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DRIVEN

JEEP RENEGADE 4xe

Jeep’s ﬁrst ever electriﬁed vehicle is a plug-in hybrid version of its highest-selling model – and its green technology gives it greater off-road ability too ON TEST Jeep Renegade 4xe Trailhawk

f you read last month’s issue of 4x4, you’ll know that the Jeep Renegade won the Best Compact SUV title in our annual 4x4 of the Year awards. It’s not the first time the vehicle has done this (indeed, it’s a former winner of the overall title) but it was propelled back to the top of its class by the arrival of the new 4xe model. This is a plug-in hybrid, and it’s the first electrified vehicle Jeep has brought to the market. You could argue that the company is a bit behind the curve in this respect,

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or indeed that it has simply been keeping its powder dry rather than rushing out a product that wasn’t completely right – either way, though, it’s here now and able to prove itself. Which, as its awards conﬁrms, it largely has. There are three versions of the 4xe and, unlike the conventionally engined Renegade, all of them have low range. Which is very welcome. So too is the presence of the Trailhawk model tested here, which tops the model line-up at £36,500 on the road. That’s pricey by the

standards of the conventionally engined Renegade range, but sounds like strong value for money

compared to some of the other vehicles on the market at that sort of money, hybrid or otherwise.

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The Renegade’s cabin is cool, chunky and well put together, with a purposeful style to the way its designed. The Trailhawk model differs little from the rest of the range, though there are a few body-colour elements to mark it out. Material quality is generally good, though the seat leather isn’t very supple and in an off-road model like this we’d have preferred to see them trimmed in some sort of technical fabric. The drive mode and EV controls are rather clumsily located at the very bottom of the facia, however the 8.4” infotainment screen is excellent and the system itself is powerful and easy to use once you’re used to it All 4xe models combine their electric motors with a 1.3-litre petrol engine and six-speed auto box to drive all four wheels. Elsewhere in the range, total output is 190bhp, which is already pretty good in an SUV of this size, but in the Trailhawk you get 240bhp. Combine this with 199lbf.ft at 1850rpm for the petrol engine and 184lbf.ft from 0rpm for the electric motor, and it sounds lively to say the least. The Trailhawk also gets larger 235/55R17 tyres, steel underbody

skid plates and an extra Rock setting in its off-road drive mode palette. Further equipment that’s exclusive to this model includes privacy glass, a height-adjustable boot ﬂoor and parking assist with a reversing camera – hardly epic, but it comes on top of a kit list that already left little to the imagination. Basically, there’s no such thing as a poorly equipped Renegade, whether you’re talking about toys, comfort or safety – but with the Trailhawk only costing £3900 more than the

entry-level model, it’s absolutely the one to go for if making the most of those low-range gears is anywhere at all on your to-do list.

CABIN AND PRACTICALITY Aside from a Trailhawk logo embroidered into its leather seats and an extra ‘Rock’ position on its drive mode dial, this model is much the same inside as the Limited

version we drove on the Renegade’s UK launch and reported on in our December issue. There’s a selection of body-coloured trim inserts, some extra brightwork and red stitching to the seats, but that’s about it. What this means is that it’s comfortable and spacious up front, with a good driving position and a decent view in all directions. Headroom is excellent, and while the waistline does feel quite high there’s still plenty of light in the cabin. We were grateful for the

Right: Considering it’s such a compact vehicle, the front seats are impressively spacious. Leg and elbow room are good, and head room is enormous Below: Adjustable lumbar support is always welcome. But the position of the button, under your knee on the seat base, is not an ergonomic high

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DRIVEN

reversing camera, though, as a fussy C/D post obstructs visibility over your shoulder. The camera’s image is displayed on a big, clear 8.4” infotainment screen which also runs a comprehensive infotainment system. Climate, media, radio, satnav and a whole screen of apps are all on here – it can appear daunting at ﬁrst, but unlike some systems it takes little time to learn. Elsewhere, ergonomics are generally good – the lumbar support button is buried on the seat base somewhere beneath your right knee (we can imagine people going through their entire time as owners without even

realising it exists) and the switches and buttons for the hybrid system and transmission are buried at the bottom of the central facia, making them awkward to see and operate, but that apart it’s all to hand. Talking of the hybrid system, you also get a 7” digital instrument cluster telling you what it’s doing, what state the battery’s in and so on. This is easy to keep and eye on an in truth, it kind of trains you to try and drive eﬃciently. The system charges itself on the move using regenerative braking and so on, so if you’re up for a challenge you can try to improve its indicated EV range as you go.

Carrying adults in the rear seats is possible, but unless they’re pretty dinky they won’t much enjoy it. Knee room is much more limited here, so we’d keep it just for kids. Or cargo, of course – the seats could do with folding ﬂatter, and they leave a sizeable step in the boot ﬂoor, but the tailgate aperture is big and square so loading up is nice and easy.

DRIVING As we said in the introduction, the Trailhawk’s hybrid system has 240bhp and 383lbf.ft. That’s a decent set of numbers, and the

results are as impressive as you’d expect. Jeep quotes a 0-62 time of ‘around 7.5 seconds,’ but the real story is that around town, it feels more or less instantaneous. Beyond here, too, while it might not be about screaming your way up to speed, it just keeps pulling and pulling. Our notes say ‘not quite Bentley torque but it almost puts you in mind of a small scale version of the same thing,’ which is praise indeed. Certainly, it doesn’t feel as if a heavy load would slow it down. The drivetrain is nice and smooth throughout all this, with no sign of breathless gearshifts – just that surge of torque that starts strongly

The rear seats are a lot less roomy than those in front. Knee room is just about enough for an adult, but in truth the back is much better suited to kids. The seats fold down easily but don’t lie particularly ﬂat, leaving a slope and a step in the boot ﬂoor. The tailgate aperture is big, wide and tall, however, so loading up is no problem

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and keeps on coming. It makes the Renegade very easy to drive, giving you all the response you’ll ever need without ever asking you to dig the throttle down into the ﬂoor. You don’t have to drive like Carlos Fandango for it to be enjoyable on the road, either. Its handling is tidy rather than spectacular, but it grips very well and keeps its weight under control in corners, making it an entertaining vehicle to hustle along country lanes. It steers nice and naturally on A and B-roads, too. Jeep likes to point out that when it’s in fully electric mode, the 4xe is rear-wheel drive – with all the joys this brings for handling. We can’t help but feel that they’re pushing the point a little, not least because if you’re going to be chucking it around on a B-road you’re hardly likely to be doing it without the petrol engine also running, but around town you can convince yourself that there’s an extra level of positivity to the way it corners. This of course is where electric power comes in to its own. The 4xe has a quoted range of 26 miles in EV mode, which covers the average day’s urban driving and then some, though the display on the battery

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monitor gave us a few rather inconsistent messages during our week with the Trailhawk. At one point it was showing 31% battery and a 6-mile range, which didn’t seem quite right, though overall it made more sense than that. It maintained what seemed like a pretty accurate watch on battery level while it was being recharged in hybrid mode, too. Obviously, it’s almost silent on the motor alone, but even when the petrol engine comes in it does so smoothly and quietly. We’ve driven PHEVs where this happens and it sounds like someone’s trying to land a helicopter on your roof, but the Renegade is admirably reﬁned. There’s nothing in the way of unwanted feedback or vibration through the pedals or chassis, and while a touch of wind and road noise is generated at motorway speeds it certainly won’t be enough to trouble you. If you were really looking for trouble, you might consider there to be a touch of brittleness to the vehicle’s ride on very poor road surfaces. We do mean really poor, though, even by British standards, so over the piece you’re unlikely

even to notice anything more than the odd muffled thump in pot holes. The Trailhawk’s 235/55R17 tyres have a little more give in them than the 235/50R18s you get on the Limited model, too, which to us translates into a touch less firmness in its ride. The purpose behind the taller tyres is to aid the Trailhawk’s off-road ability, and while it’s not a Wrangler it is very capable indeed in this area – by any standards, let alone those of a small SUV. Low range transforms it, of course, allowing you to drive with confidence over the sort of terrain that asks questions of its 28° approach and departure angles. Ground clearance is always to be borne in mind, of course, and

235/55R17 still isn’t what you’d call a rock-crushing sidewall size, but it’s very sure footed and, aided by a choice of drive modes that tunes the traction control, throttle sensitivity and so on, tractable. When all’s said and done, the Trailhawk carries Jeep’s Trail Rated badge – meaning the company has specced it as a genuine off-road performer. You might ﬁnd it easy to be sceptical about that sort of stuff, but Jeep is not a company to play fast and loose with its heritage and credibility. And the reality of driving it off-road bears out its claims. We’d be cautious about pushing it too far because of its bodywork – but in terms of pure capability, to date this is the most convincing electric off-roader we’ve driven.

★★★★★

Jeep Renegade 4xe Trailhawk Uses green technology to be more than just a green car – the 4xe is enhanced on and off-road, too So, was Jeep late to the hybrid party or was it waiting to perfect its model offering? Here’s the answer. The 4xe does what other hybrids do, but a lot better than most of them. And it uses the technology to be a better vehicle both on and off-road. In the Trailhawk form tested here, it has a degree of capability that’s unique in the compact SUV market. It’s a great all-rounder and looks like a whole lot of 4x4 for your money

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TITAN OF THE B Winch challenges are designed to pit hardcore off-road vehicles and their crews in a battle against the most extreme terrain there is. Lee Craighead has been ﬁghting those battles for many years – and to give himself a better chance of winning them, he’s designed and built a spaceframe special that’s incredibly capable and strong as an ox. Say hello to Titan… Words: Gary Martin Pictures: Alan Kidd

he Editor of this magazine once told me the story of how he was invited to the Geneva Motor Show by Nissan’s press oﬃce. They were keen to have the media along to see the new second-generation X-Trail, which was getting its European

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launch there, and so Our Leader got to spend a few nights being wined, dined and generally made a fuss of in an expensive Swiss hotel. One evening, over dinner (code for Wine), the conversation turned to a vehicle Nissan GB had brought to the UK as a one-off demo truck.

Called the Titan, it was Nissan USA’s ﬁrst full-size pick-up; it looked like a D22 after a monumental programme of steroids and packed a 5.6-litre V8 engine that gave it instant urge and endless pull, as well as an exhaust note so rude it made you blush. Our road test report, which may have been

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BATTLES

written from within a lust bubble, basically said it was the best vehicle in the entire world. The Ed was sat opposite some sort of product bigwig who was responsible for Nissan’s 4x4 product range, and by the end of the evening (and, presumably, the bottom of the bottle) he reckoned

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he had convinced the bloke that they should add the Titan to their UK line-up. History has shown that he clearly did no such thing (and this was an era when Nissan was willing to take a punt on things like the Murano, not to mention a version of the Pathﬁnder with a 4.0-litre petrol engine),

but for a while there we thought there was a real possibility that the Titan would carry Britain triumphantly into a new age of full-size double-cabs. It may not have happened like that, but here at last is a vehicle called Titan. And it’s a Nissan. Well, sort of.

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Designed and built by Lee Craighead, it’s a Class 3 competition car built for winch challenges and Ultra4 rock racing. It’s based on a bespoke tubular spaceframe of Lee’s own design and sits on – you knew this was coming – Nissan Patrol Y61 axles. The Patrol is, or rather was, a wonderful thing. One of the last true off-roaders, it had a ladder chassis, beam axles and a transfer case you operated by pulling a lever and listening for the clonk as it engaged. They’re still sought after today, even in terrible condition – the reason being that those axles are worth their weight in gold. That’s because they’re extremely strong. Which is step one towards being a good challenge

axle, because putting down sodding great shock loads through a set of 40” Maxxis Trepadors is deﬁnitely going to ask questions, especially when they’re being created by a heavily breathed-on Land Rover Td5 engine. As Tom Waits would say, no-one brings anything small into a bar around here – big torque, big tyres and big grip had better equal big everything in between if you don’t want to be spending your life getting knocked out by big breakages. With reinforcing trusses and ART diff pans, the axles are stronger than ever, and inside they’ve got Atom 9 locking diffs and, up front, RCV halfshafts. They can take it, and so can the rest of what’s between the engine and the ground – an

Ashcroft Monster Box, Syncro Ultra-Spec transfer case and super heavy duty 1480 props from Bailey Morris. Going back to the engine, meanwhile, it’s running two Td5 Inside ECUs, a CR turbo, modded injectors and, returning to Nissan as the source of good things, a Skyline GTR intercooler and radiator. Twin Spal fans and a Davis Craig water pump help with the cooling, as do enough runs of silicon hose to stretch to the moon and back. The Td5 is a gutsy enough unit even in standard form, and it’s noticeable that when Lee gets on the gas, Titan shifts – no waiting around for turbos to spool or torque converters to wind up, it just grips and goes.

‘There are two sides to the off-road scene. The ﬁrst is the side everyone knows – the actual playtime. The second is the work that goes into prepping the vehicles – workshop banter being the best bit!’ 48 | MARCH 2021

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Above, below left: This is a Land Rover Td5 engine, but definitely not in a form your average parts fitter would recognise. As the logo on the cover suggests it’s been breathed on to the tune of not one but two ECUs from Td5 Inside – a good start, but it really is just the start. It’s running modified injectors, twin Spal fans and a Davies Craig auxiliary water pump, and the original turbocharger has been replaced with a bigger one from CR Turbo Engineering. This is backed up by an intercooler from a Nissan Skyline GTR, which also donated its radiator, and in addition to all bespoke wiring looms it has silicone hoses in places where most engines don’t even have places Below right: Behind the engine is a Monster box from Ashcroft Transmissions, running remote oil coolers and a Compushift Pro controller. This in turn is bolted to an Ultra-Spec transfer case from Syncro Gearboxes, which turns the Nissan Y61 axles via a pair of Bailey Morris 1480 propshafts

There’s also not a lot of waiting required when not even a set of 40” Treps can keep things moving. Front and rear winches are twin-top Gigglepin GP100s with +50 gearing, motor brakes and air freespools, and they pull the truck up near-vertical slopes like it weighs nothing at all. Watching it in action, nonetheless, we were struck by how frequently the winch’s rope was going slack as a result of Lee being able to keep driving on the way up. We’re not talking about

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the sort of climbs you get in top-level winch challenges, possibly, but certainly much more than a typical playday motor, even a hardcore one, would be expected to tackle. Basically, it’s very, very hard to get this thing stuck. A custom four-link suspension system using Eibach springs and Fox remote-reservoir air shocks and hydro bump stops helps here, as does Lee’s own hydraulic steering. Yes, his own. Like many challenge competitors, he also has a

sideline in the off-road trade; his company, Titan Offroad, makes and supplies hydro-steer set-ups and ranks many of his fellow winch and Ultra4 teams among its customers. During his time to date as a competitor, Lee has done it with Protrax and the De-Cider Trophy series as well as Ultra4 and the Viking Off-Road Club’s Odyssey Challenge. He’s had a number of different vehicles ‘of varying capabilities’ in the past, as well as a good many playday trucks, and

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Both axles are Nissan Patrol Y61 units, which means they’re strong out of the box. Making them stronger still are ART diff pans and reinforcing trusses, and that’s just on the outside. Hidden within them are Atom 9 locking diffs, which turn standard halfshafts at the back and RCV units up front

The vehicle is held up by Eibach springs and 2.5 x 14” Fox Factory coilovers with triple rate valves. A single check strap up front and two at the rear protect all this expensive stuff from the axles’ enormous limits of droop

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Above: Both axles are located by rose-jointed four-link systems using long lower and short upper arms. A PSC high-angle anti-roll bar provides some additional control at the back, and Fox hydro bumps are ﬁtted all round Below: Lee is known in the challenge business as the man behind Titan Offroad, a company whose hydraulic steering kits are found on many top comp motors. It won’t come as a huge surprise to learn that these include his own

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Gigglepin GP100 winches with +50 gearing, motor brakes and air freespool feature front and rear. The centre winch, which you can just about see in one of these pictures among other things such as the rear-mounted coolers and Lee’s own 34mm CDS roll structure, is a Goodwinch TDS, again with air freespool

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his daily driver is an Audi Q7, so this is definitely a man who likes his 4x4s. He likes his spannering, too. And indeed, he sees this as an absolutely central part of what makes off-roading so much fun. ‘There are two sides to the off-road scene,’ he says. ’The first is the side everyone knows – the actual playtime, speed, mud, water, testing technical sections, camaraderie, banter, sunshine and snow… and the breakages. Which brings me to the second part – the work that goes into prepping the vehicles, workshop time, friends giving up their own time without question to lend a hand, workshop banter being the best bit. ‘Essentially, we do all our own work on the vehicles. But we have had significant help over the years from both Shaun Dighton and Allen Sharp of team Sharp. Allen has been instrumental in the setting up of the suspension geometry, with the coil-overs and the fabrication and bracketing of the new Y61 axles. ‘Workshop antics bring numerous hazards, especially when welding while using brake cleaner – definitely not recommended! While rebracketing my rear axle at one point I ground up the receiving area of the axle and cleaned with neat brake cleaning fluid from a squirty bottle as you do, however when I went to tack the bracket on I hadn’t seen the puddle on the floor. Let’s just say it was a little exciting when I pulled the trigger… ‘Me surrounded by a ball of flames and Shaun jumping around like a scalded cat, trying to find

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suitable products to put out the offending floor fire. As many will know, most workshop substances are highly flammable, but luckily we have fire extinguishers! So all was good, apart from the apparent effects on Shaun’s pulse rate, and mine for that matter…’ He’s also quick to mention the support and understanding off-roaders are fortunate enough to get from their partners. Whether they’d still get this support if said partners knew about the sort of carry-on he’s just described is another matter, but it’s a little different in his case anyway. ‘I’m lucky in this respect as my other half is also into the same sport,’ he explains. And no, she doesn’t just drag winch lines about for him – she competes against him in a Class 3 motor of her own. Her name, Siobhan Cook, is apt to be familiar to you if you’re a watcher of the hardcore winching scene in the UK, and her vehicle will become familiar to you if you stick with 4x4 magazine for the next couple of months, because we’re going to be featuring it too. Who got the bigger air during our photoshoot? Keep it here and the pictures will tell the story…

As it is, Titan continues to develop. It had a couple of good years in challenge action after its initial build, riding on Land Rover axles with 300m internals, but the switch to Nissan, and to the new highly tuned Td5 engine, moved things up a notch for its third. Obviously, now it’s just a question of waiting for when its third season will actually be able to happen. Last year’s Odyssey Challenge was wiped out entirely by the pandemic, but with the Viking 4x4 Club hoping to be able to run a series during the latter part of 2021 Titan remains ready to take on all comers. The tough terrain of Britain’s winching sites might be a far cry from the wining and dining of the Geneva Motor Show, but at long last there’s a vehicle called Titan on the loose in this country. And it’s more than worthy of the name…

02/02/2021 10:32

THINKING BIG!

Words: Gary Martin

Buying someone else’s old project is fraught with danger. Sometimes, however, you take one look at a vehicle and see a world of possibilities opening out in front of you. You just need to think big… in the case of this portal-axled Land Rover Defender 110, make that very big

onventional wisdom has it that buying someone else’s old modified off-roader is like drinking ten pints of Stella and heading off into a minefield wearing only a pair of pants. You might make it out alive, but if you do it’ll be more luck than good judgement. Normally, buying a Land Rover from quarter of a century ago that last saw an MOT bay in 2012 would sound like doing all the above while also wearing great big clown boots and pushing a tartan shopping trolley ahead of you. But you don’t need to spend much time looking at this here Land Rover to understand that it’s very different to the norm. A Defender 110 Tdi dating from 1997, it was built as a working tool by a chap in Scotland by the name of Steve. The stuff about buying it is relevant, because at the time of writing it’s for sale (Steve says he’s getting a lot of interest, which won’t come as a huge surprise to you, but both this and the lack of cash being flashed thus far may have more than a little to do with You Know What.

Anyway, you could buy this 110. Which, if you’re into off-roading, might get you thinking. If you’re not into off-roading but you are into Land Rovers, it might get you thinking too – not quite along the same lines, but thinking nonetheless. This is, after all, a low-mileage Defender 110 from towards the end of the 300Tdi era. Steve tells us that there are just 94,715 miles on the clock, which for a Tdi is barely run in, so it’s sounding like there’s some real potential here. Oh, and it’s on a full Marsland galvanised chassis. Take that potential and double it. Either way, this is a truck you’re apt to look at and start imagining the possibilities. But as a vehicle in itself, it’s the culmination of a project that went several steps beyond your average off-road build. For starters, it’s on portal axles from a Unimog. The result is enough ground clearance to straddle even the most clumsily felled tree stump, which is a very handy thing in the sort of forestry environment in which the vehicle has been earning its keep. In addition, of course, with portals on the go you’ve got room for a proper

set of tyres – though even that is hardly enough of a description to do justice to the agricultural rubber you’re looking at here. Combine the ﬂotation these provide with the locking diffs that come as standard with the Unimog axles and you’ve got a vehicle which, in Steve’s words, will quite simply go anywhere.

The Tdi engine is famous for its ability to go round the clock so often you lose count. This one is barely run in at about 95,000 miles, and it looks cleaner than you’d dare hope on what is basically a huge ATV, too

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The galvanised chassis may have you thinking about cashing in, but portal axles, locking diffs and hydro steer are the stuff of next-level off-road ability. An exo cage does no harm, either, and as for those tyres… That’s the most over-used phrase in the entire 4x4 lexicon, of course, but you don’t have to stretch your imagination very far to picture it being pretty much true in this case. Basically, what Steve and his team created is a 110-sized ATV. But there’s more to it than that. The bodywork has been massively extended to cover the vehicle’s similarly massive track (it’ll still go through an eight-foot gate, but maybe don’t try walking alongside it at the same time) and its cab and front wings are protected by a full exo cage. The entire rear body is home-made, with a ply-lined pick-up bed between two huge wheelarches, while up front the wheels are turned by a hydraulic steering system. It won’t come as a huge surprise to you to learn that the 110 is not road-legal, at least not in the conventional sense. It is, however, currently taxed as an agricultural vehicle, so if that’s relevant to what you do for a living you could buy it and head straight for the fields. Or pub. If not, but you fancy it anyway, this would make an absolute boss of a playday toy. It’s a trailer queen in this form (Steve says he’s transported it on a 15-foot rig), but so too are many of the coolest vehicles. And if you don’t need a daily, turning up at a playday with this thing in tow is going to get you the undivided attention of everyone there. Just don’t try taking it to a Rover club event, unless you want to be responsible for the scrutineer undergoing spontaneous human combustion. Though of course, it wouldn’t need to be like that. Two Unimog axles, four agri wheels and tyres, one full hydraulic steering system… You’re totting it up in your head, aren’t you? Put it all on eBay and there’ll always be someone who sends you a ‘200 today m8’ message he typed with one hand because the other one was occupied. But take your time and deal with people who wash, and you’ll find that there’s several grand in that little lot? So now, if you were to so choose, you’ve got a low-mileage Defender sitting on a squeaky clean galvy chassis and all ready to be built back up, and you’ve also got a useful four-figure war chest with which to do it. Now, this is the point at which the mental off-roaders and the sensible Landy sniffers are

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apt to see it in different ways. The latter will be thinking about building it back up using standard axles and making it look as much as possible like the day it emerged from the factory. Honest low-mileage TDis ﬁtting that description are normally to be seen for sale at approaching three times the £11,500 Steve wants for this one. If you’re an off-roader, you might well be thinking in terms of keeping the portals. There’s a stack of money in a pair of Mogs, but of course you do still need to pay out for a set of replacements with no real guarantee that they haven’t spent the last ten years with newts living in them. And if you want lockers, put another grand on top of that. Still not convinced? They’re portals. They’re doing the work of a suspension lift, a body lift and that sabre saw you’ve got in mind for the wheelarches. The reason more people don’t use them is that they’re rare and expensive, but you’ve already got a set. Over to you…

Either way, the cost of what happens next is very much up to what that is. Back to standard, full-house bling, green lane toy, ultimate off-road weapon… whatever you’ve got in mind, this Defender is looking likely. Or you could keep it exactly as it is and be the guy who makes it across every bog and swamp while your mates are sunk up to their chassis in it and wondering how much digging it’s going to take just to be able to reach a towing point. One way or another, you’re looking at this 110 and having some sort of vision. Which is appropriate, because some sort of vision is exactly what it already is. Steve had a vision when he built it, and now it’s a sight for sore eyes. You’d need a big garage, whether you intended to rebuild the vehicle or just keep it out of sight. Nothing wrong with thinking big, though. That’s what Steve did when he built this beast – and whatever you fancy making of it, one way or the other that’s exactly what you’d need to do too.

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FUTURE PROOF

Words and pictures: Mike Trott

ver since the ﬁrst pictures of the new Land Rover Defender started coming out, every man and his dog has had an opinion to express on it. Some love it, some hate it – but a common theme is that if you love the old model, you’re probably not that much of a fan of the new one. Of course, a lot can change in just a few years – just look at the Defender. One minute you’ve got a vehicle being made at Solihull that’s true to the

58 | MARCH 2021

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heritage of the Green Oval, the next moment you haven’t. It’s a ﬁckle business and governments are even worse. First they offer you incentives for lapping up diesel-powered motors, then the next moment, once you’ve taken the bait you’re being treated like a criminal for owning such a machine. Taking all this into account is JE MotorWorks. They aren’t blind to the fact that the new Defender isn’t really going to be for the traditional Defender customer and as a specialist in what powers

vehicles bearing the Landy badge, the company has decided to do something about it. There are a number of reasons as to why production of the Defender was halted, although chieﬂy it’s because of EU legislation on vehicle emissions, which would mean a car that eats coal for sustenance isn’t likely to be given the thumbs up. The Defender’s archaic design also proved problematic, with its boxy shape giving it the drag coeﬃcient of a shed.

4x4 02/02/2021 10:00

There’s no end of companies refurbishing old Defenders to take advantage of the galloping demand for real Land Rovers. But at JE MotorWorks, they’re doing it in their own special way…

So what of JE MotorWorks’ latest conversion t o the Defender, then? It looks just like an ordinary Puma, with the same slab-sided shape and all the curves of a spade. Wonderful – that means it’s still the icon we love. However, there is one major difference here, and it’s to be found within the engine bay. In order to make their ‘future-proof’ Defender, JE MotorWorks has sought to ﬁt a modern four-cylinder petrol unit within the Land Rover.

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The idea is that everything we admire about the Defender remains, only there’s now a power unit up front helping the old shed keep pace with present day emissions and performance. Sounds brilliant, although it won’t be so good if they’ve decided to lift the four-pot petrol from a Dacia. Not that there’s anything wrong with Dacias, but a Defender needs something with more guts. Something, for example, with a whiff of Mustang about it…

Yes, JE is renowned for its handiwork with V8 engines – just as the Ford Mustang is famous for having one. But that’s not what brings these two together in this instance. Offered in the latest Mustang is a 2.3-litre four-cylinder EcoBoost engine – and JE MotorWorks has taken this and adapted it to ﬁt a Tdi, Td5 or TDCi Defender. Why this engine, though? ‘This is a very practical evolution of the Defender: a relatively eﬃcient four-cylinder petrol with

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Ford’s 2.3-litre EcoBoost petrol engine looks perfectly at home in the Defender – though holding on to a gear while the revs soar past 6000rpm is deﬁnitely a culture shock. The conversion is available with a choice of manual and automatic gearboxes, priced before VAT from £16,600 and £24,500 in manual and auto form respectively

The World’s best accessories for Land Rover Defender

As the engine was developed for the Mustang, the option of a multi-speed automatic,’ explains naturally there is an element of sportiness to its JE MotorWorks chairman and chief engineer power delivery, but this is not a sledgehammer Jonathan Douglas. like the Defender Works V8 – it’s usable power ‘We think the next generation of Defenders, had (286bhp if you must know) that delivers strong they continued, would have included a four-cylinperformance and a zingy edge. der petrol, so we created the 2.3 GDiT package, The manual gearbox is the same Getrag unit making it fit and work as an upgrade – but this that you get in any Puma, so you have to work to also effectively future-proofs the Defender.’ achieve a preHop inside the GDiT and it’s all very familiar, cision shift, with the high seating position, a big naval ship which makes steering wheel in front of you and a square me think the slab of bonnet lying ahead of you. Turn the key Tiptronic auto to start the engine, though, and the familiarity JE will be comes to a stop. offering may Usually upon firing up a Defender you’re suit the petgreeted by the familiar chatter of a diesel unit. rol’s smoother But here, the motor settles down into a smoother personality. hum. This is still a Defender, so it’s not like sitting JE Moin the back of a Rolls-Royce Phantom. NeverthetorWorks is less, it’s still an improvement in refinement. quoting from We drove the manual version of JE’s GDiT £16,600 plus Defender and the main thing that strikes you is At Terrafirma we stand behind every product VAT for the its ability to rev. We’re so used to torquey diesels we sell, we believe that Quality is the definition of conversion and changing up a gear long before we’ve something superior, more than fit for purpose and that with a manual clocked 4,000rpm that opening the taps on this meets customer’s expectations. gearbox, and EcoBoost 110 and watching the revs rise past from £24,500 6000rpm is both strange and thrilling.

Terrafirma Serious 4x4 Accessories now come with a Certificate of Conformity, the ultimate statement of quality and industry first! 60 | MARCH 2021

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with the auto. Add £200-500 for models with aircon and £3200-£3900 for Td5s and Tdis, which require more work than Pumas. This doesn’t include the money you spend on buying the base vehicle as well, of course. But as we all know, an old-shape Defender is an asset – and this conversion is all about protecting the investment you love.

4x4 02/02/2021 10:01

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OU SONT LES NEIGES D’ANTAN? One of the most famous lines from the world of poetry is Francois Villon’s lament for times gone by. ‘Ou sont les neiges d’antan?’ translates as ‘where are the snows of yesteryear?’ He wasn’t talking about green laning in the winter – but, given the way our weather seems to have forgotten how to be anything other than grey and dull, he might have been. Britain hasn’t had any proper snow for a decade now – so what is there to do but look back at an epic adventure from last time the country turned truly white? Ou sont les neiges d’antan indeed… Words: Alan Kidd Pictures: SteveTaylor

hree years ago, the phrase ‘Beast from the East’ entered the British conscience. A mass of cold air from the Arctic blew in across the North Sea, hit the UK and dumped several inches of snow in the course of an afternoon.

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Britain being Britain, chaos reigned. Pipes burst, cars crashed, rural communities were cut off and people had to start eating each other. Yet in the greater scheme of things, it was a fairly short and not even all that sharp weather event whose impact came and went in

the twinkling of an eye. Certainly, as is always the case when snow hits Britain, it’s hard not to imagine people from countries like Norway, Canada or Switzerland looking on and shaking their heads in bewilderment at how little snow it takes to leave us thrashing around helplessly.

The problem is, of course, that we’re not used to it. We know what to do about rain (moan, mainly) but when snow arrives, Brits don’t know how to react. Those of us with 4x4s know exactly what to do though. We know to go green laning.

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Beast from the East aside, it’s been about a decade since Britain last enjoyed widespread long-lasting snow. By ‘enjoyed’ we mean ‘suffered,’ for many people. But for those of us who dream of laning in a winter wonderland, 2010 and 2011 weren’t about beasts from the east.

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More like love from above. Normally, when it snows on a Monday in Britain you’ll be sloshing around in slush by Wednesday, but during those wonderful winters ten years ago we were actually able to plan ahead for white weekends away on the lanes.

Back then, our little group of laning mates came from all around the country, with the area around Salisbury Plain being handily located in the middle of us all. What more excuse could a person need? Truth to tell, we had been planning a weekend’s laning down there since

way before Christmas, so it was just fantastically lucky that the chosen weekend, halfway through January, coincided with a monster freeze which saw hardcore snowfall covering the south of England for weeks. I love laning when the sun’s out and the birds are singing, but my

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This is what it looks like when our Editor is in the navigator’s seat. There’s literally nothing that can go right when this happens. Behind our poor old Patrol, Steve in the Terrano and Kit in the 90 keep a safe distance and wait to see what’s going to go wrong next own personal view of the Plain is that it’s best enjoyed when the weather is at its most horrendous. It’s a scary old place to be with torrential rain beating down on your windscreen and visibility obscured by relentless low cloud; obviously that’s quite a good description of the average summer’s day, but here we were meeting up in Amesbury for a new year’s weekend of fun on the lanes – and rubbing our hands with glee at the prospect of doing

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it with deep snow as far as the eye could see. Somehow, everyone trusted me to navigate. A bad idea at the best of times, and a terrible one in a white-out. Worse still because this was a time when things like Viewranger were only about a decade old, so I was still about a decade away from getting round to using them. Maps made of paper, landmarks covered in snow. What could go wrong?

So we’re leading the way in the Patrol that was once my badly battered but much loved chariot. Behind us are Steve Taylor in his Terrano and Kit Kaberry in his 90 (which, years later, he sold to me and it’s still in my garage today). This, then, is the order in which we all did U-turns after the very first lane of the day struck me down with a case of the Salisbury Plain disease. Many of you will be familiar with this ailment. Victims are to be

seen heading confidently off along what is quite obviously the correct track. Some way further on, their brake lights glow red as their surroundings begin to look wrong. But it’s just GOT to be the right track, it’s SO obvious, so on they go. And then, a few minutes later, back they come. And back we came. Lane number one, cock-up number one. Genius. My excuse? Only that it was barely possible to avoid following the one set of tyre tracks in the blanket of snow. If they’d deviated from the route we were looking for by more than a couple of degrees, it would have been obvious much earlier, but there you go. As it was, we had been on the correct byway until a forked junction – at which it became completely invisible beneath the snow. Unable to see that there was even a junction there, let alone a byway to follow, we’d been lured off-route. The problem out here is that you don’t have to stick to the byways when you own the land, which means the whole of the British Army gets to drive wherever they like – leaving tracks all over the place in the process. Like the byway itself, these were covered in snow – with the exception of the tracks we’d followed. The other problem, it may be said (and it was, frequently), is that I’m a crap navigator. The terrain itself hadn’t been taxing thus far, and that’s how it stayed as we retraced our steps to the road

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Left: Side slopes are even more fun in the snow. Right: When two vehicles in the same convoy arrive at a junction from different directions, you know you’re on an Alan Kidd lane run north of Bulford then followed it up towards Tidworth. The aim was to find a way across Milston Down that would link up with the Old Marlborough Road, a well surfaced dirt track running more or less north-south across the eastern of the Plain. I’m happy to say that at the second attempt, we made it. Turning left on to Bourne Bottom, a long and well defined byway running past a rifle range, we once again found ourselves following tyre tracks in the snow. This time, though, there were no junctions to miss… at least, not until we got to one of those ‘crossroads’ where there seem to be about a dozen tracks all congregating at the same point. It could be argued that I should have seen this coming, what with it being marked on the map and all (actually, it’s only five tracks, but who’s counting?) Too late, however, I realised that it was time to hang a right on the Old Marlborough Road; too late, at least, to avoid sending the Patrol on a path which, seen from the air, would have resembled the business end of a shepherd’s crook. The others were deprived of the opportunity to mock me by the fact that this time, we didn’t make the mistake of stopping; they may by now have been working out why I never fit CBs in my vehicles. Actually, any thoughts of winding each other up were quickly forgotten when the Old Marlborough Road presented us with a New Marlborough

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Side Slope. A combination of good off-road technique and sterling grip from the Patrol’s Goodyear Wrangler MTs meant we clung on better than any three-tonne truck has a right to, but the Terrano’s all-terrain pattern had it sliding all over the place. Kit got a nice case of Land Rover Lean going on here, too, before the track opened out into wide, expansive terrain with the endless whiteness of Figheldean Down to our left and Sidbury Hill to our right. This part of the lane is never a tricky drive, but the polished snow reduced traction to a minimum and kept all three drivers on their toes. Then something amazing happened: we got to the end of the lane, and back on to the road, and the surface beneath our wheels didn’t change at all. It’s not as if the road, between Netheravon and Everleigh, doesn’t see much traffic. Take a look on a map and you’ll see that any other route from one village to the other covers at least twice the distance. But here we were, driving along in wall-to-wall whiteness. Who needs byways anyway, eh? Soon enough, though, we got to Everleigh and joined the main A342… and things got even more surreal. East of the village, snow had started to drift out of the fields to the north of the

road – and the further we went, the more it encroached, until finally we were crawling along what was in effect a single-track road with a wall of snow mere inches away to our left. This led us to Winterbourne Dauntsey, home of some nice fords which were even nicer when flanked by pretty snow-covered trees. We detoured via a long series of three lanes which run south-west from Shipton Bellinger to the perimeter of Boscombe Down Airfield, then followed the valley of the River Bourne to the Winterbournes. Quite why a straggle of buildings barely big enough to justify being called one village manages

to count as three is something I’ll never really understand. But Winterbourne Gunner, Winterbourne Dauntsey and Winterbourne Earls is what they are, and good luck to them. Luck is a handy quality to have on your side, actually, if you fancy a crack at the larger of the two fords here without considering your line first. It has been ‘maintained’ in the time that has passed since our visit, and is no longer as scary as it once was, but back then in the middle of winter it had a reputation for being deep; here and there, very deep. We found this out when the Patrol’s front right wheel disappeared

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into a hole and suddenly there was water lapping around the top of its bonnet. And this was while taking what’s considered the shallow line. Kit, meanwhile, went for the deep option and produced a textbook example of how to create a bow wave. Splendid, but for the fact that three of us were standing on the concrete parapet next to the ford and that

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put us right in the firing line. We had half expected the water to be frozen over; there was no sign of that, but nobody had volunteered to wade it for depth either and being chased up the road by it was definitely not on anyone’s to-do list either. After this, the Winterbourne Arms seemed like a fairly safe place to retreat for lunch, and sure enough it

proved to be an excellent choice. It had haggis on the menu, too, which at least a couple of us approved of wholeheartedly even if it filled everyone else with dread. As the afternoon wore on, we traced a path along various sections of the Monarch’s Way near Middle Winterslow, heading away from Salisbury (something I’m always happy doing). The lanes here, in contrast to the Plain, are pretty and cosily wooded, though of course they were also every bit as snowy. We were wondering whether there was a similarly chilly reception in store for us in Middle Winterslow itself, when we pulled up to the road junction to find a Saab blocking the byway. You always wonder in these situations whether someone’s parked there to force laners to stop

and make themselves known, so they can have a rant and maybe even force a stand-off, but I knocked on the nearest door and a very nice woman apologised for getting in the way as she came out to move her car. Behind every nice, helpful woman, of course, there has to be a grumpy, sullen, suspicious man, but the old chap who muttered at me from over her shoulder may actually have been wishing me a happy new year for all I could tell. Far worse was to come on our last lane of the day, a winding, wide-open and easily driven byway running from near Great Durnford to meet the A303 just south of Stonehenge. At least, it was easily driven until a slow-moving ATV in front of us suddenly parked across the track, blocking our path, and the person on

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it got off and walked away. Smelling a rat, we sat for a couple of minutes watching them pottering around by the fence next to the track, whereupon a Land Rover came trundling down to meet us. Out gets a posh old cove who explains that yes, we do have a right to be there, but his wife is freaking out about our headlamps panicking her horses. I’ve heard some proper cobblers from antis on lanes, but this was a new one. Her case wasn’t helped by the fact that she was feeding her horses right by the fence next to the right of way, nor indeed by the two horses we’d already passed who were obviously not bothered by us in the slightest. But what can you do? Well, you can gently explain that while you understand their concerns, you do have a right of passage,

perhaps also counselling them that obstructing a right of way is a criminal offence, as indeed is harassing those using it. You’d reassure them, of course, that as a responsible right of way user you’d keep your speed and engine revs to a minimum so as to avoid any danger of disturbing animals in the fields adjacent to the right of way, and you’d helpfully suggest that if 4x4 users are causing genuine distress, perhaps they should contact GLASS or other green laning clubs to discuss the use of voluntary restraint during the hours of darkness. Then you’d bid them goodnight and proceed carefully on your way. And what would happen? ‘Rogue off-roaders terrorise Wiltshire OAPs,’ etc etc. You might as well have told them to shove their stupid horses,

chucked a load of litter in their garden and roared off up the lane in a cloud of flying mud, smashing their ATV in the process. So, around we turned and headed back to the village, feeling slightly deflated, mildly amused and very indignant. Not to worry, there were stacks more lanes to enjoy the following day, the plan being to follow the long byways south of Wilton before returning to the Plain and exploring the troop training area south of Tilshead. The good thing about this part of the Plain is that it’s not used for live firing, so you won’t be kept off by red flags. We already knew that the Larkhill artillery ranges were out of bounds until 2pm; the lanes over here are a very easy drive, but I’d been keeping them up my sleeve as

a way of rounding off the weekend in case the snow had made the rest of the Plain a no-go area. We’d already found that that wasn’t the case, so now we were aiming to finish up with a tour around the ‘German Village,’ where troops are trained in close-quarters combat. First, however, came the important business of dinner. We went to the Malet Arms, in nearby Newton Tony; ten years have passed and who knows how much the place has changed since then, so it would be unfair to rip into the food we were served, but looking back at the weekend it felt as if this was the moment when it all started to go wrong. And on Sunday, it did go wrong. It started okay, with the byway south from Stratford Tony (Tony got about, it appears). This starts with a

Left: The Winterbourne fords used to be kind of legendary among laning folk. The one seen here has been ‘improved’ since we took these pictures, but it’s still beautiful – and watching from the footpath still carries a risk of getting wet feet Right: Approching Middle Winterslow from the west on the Monarch Way, our route was blocked by a Saab whose owner didn’t seem to realise it was a right of way. You always wonder what’s in store when this happens because there are people who do it on purpose so they can start trouble when you ask them to move, but in this case it was an innocent mistake

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quaint little ford between two bridges which, hand-made signs tell you with earnest intent, are private, then runs for a couple of miles through sometimes quite thick undergrowth. The house at the southern end of the lane won the Snowman of the Weekend award by an embarrassingly long way. This lane meets the A354, where you turn right and almost immediately right again on the Ox Drove. Here, you’re on to a long stretch of byway… but we weren’t. Voluntary restraint notices saw to that. These days, we’d have been all over Trailwise 2 in advance to check this kind of stuff and make sure the

route we were planning wasn’t going to be pronged by VRs and TROs. In truth, anyway, it wasn’t a huge shock; the eastern end of the Ox Drove does tend to get messy during the winter. Unlike TROs, which can be imposed for the most mendacious of reasons, Voluntary Restraint notices don’t go up without careful thought and consultation. See one of these, and it’s a no-brainer. So, pausing only for some more rubbish navigation by me, we headed south to see if Toyd Down could do with some company. It could have done with an ice-breaker, I can tell you that much.

The lane was pretty much entirely uneventful until its last fifty yards, where the drainage around it was either hopeless or very badly damaged. What this meant was that we came to a full-width flood which had frozen right over, with inches-thick lumps of ice sticking up out of its surface where, presumably, a vehicle had disturbed it mid-freeze. There are rules about how you drive in deep water, and about how to nose in to surface ice to break it before you drive through. But what when the ice seems thick enough to take the weight of your vehicle, but you’ve no idea how thick it is and how much water there is

underneath? Or, indeed, what the ground surface is like below even that? What if the ice lets go? What if it takes your weight but your tyres can’t get any traction on it? The answer isn’t just to rig your winch and hope, but in the absence of anything more scientific that’s what we did. Steve and Kit thought I was being a big girl’s blouse and that it was going to be a doddle. And you know what? It was a doddle. All three vehicles simply drove straight along the bank to the right of the ice, their nearside wheels breaking gently through the surface, and that was it. Easy. Easy, and blouse.

Big boys’ toys, and all that. Sometimes the only answer is to give it up and start lobbing snowballs at each other. Note that the back of a Defender is very well shaped for hiding behind in this scenario

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We had planned to carry on straight across the road here and on to Duck’s Nest, a lovely long lane leading to a network of byways on Whitsbury Down, but alas it had fallen victim to a TRO since I last drove it. Given that on that occasion, I was in a completely standard Subaru Forester, it’s hard not to smell another rat, not least because what was once a firm, well drained surface was now hidden beneath a vast flood with a permanent closure sign poking up out of it. This was starting to get boring, so we decided to play safe and head north towards Compton Down. Also known as Old Shaftesbury Drove and The Herepath, this is one of the longest lanes in Britain, stretching from White Sheet Hill in the west to the outskirts of Salisbury itself – a distance of around eleven miles. To get here, we followed the easily driven byway across Little Toyd Down, leading us across the A354 and back the way we’d come to Stratford Tony. Retracing your steps seems a bit wrong when there are so many other lanes to choose from, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and besides we just wanted to check that the water in the ford was still okay. More okay than Compton, as it turned out. This was a magical, snowy drive though an avenue of trees… until we got to Fovant Down, passing the obligatory traveller’s caravan (and BMW, must to our amusement) beneath Chiselbury Hill on the way, and were confronted by yet another voluntary restraint notice. This section has been known to get quite badly flooded in the past, but only because the surface is so firm it holds the water like a series of big dishes. Back in the day, I drove it in that same Subaru. Since then, as with the Ox Drove, winter VR has become the norm. But this was the first time I had ever seen Compton with the shutters up. Oh well, nothing for it but to head to the Plain. No way is that going to be closed…

It wasn’t, but we had to turn back a couple of times on the way. First was thanks to a road out of Dinton that had been closed because of sheet ice; second was on a byway running west out of Berwick St James, which is normally an easy drive with great views. The views were certainly great, almost blindingly so in the relentless whiteness which made it almost impossible to get any sense of scale in your head. The driving, however, was anything but easy. In fact, it turned out to be impossible. Snow had been drifting across the lane in the wind, and the higher we climbed the deeper it got. Finally, the Patrol’s axles were grounded out in the stuff, its wheels spinning hopelessly and the rest of the lane quite clearly Not Happening. I got out to take a look ahead, finding that this was just the beginning of the really deep stuff, and turned round to draw a finger across my throat in the time-honoured We’re Turning Round gesture, when BOSH! From nowhere, a snowball gets me right in the face. The free-for-all that ensued probably looked like what would have happened if the Marx Brothers had taken on the Keystone Cops in a custard pie throwing competition. It only took a gentle tug from the Terrano to get the Patrol free, but then came the less than joyous task of reversing about three quarters of a mile to a field entrance where we could finally turn round. Never mind, German Village here we come… Or not. The track running west from Orcheston is sheltered for perhaps a quarter of a mile, and we bumped along without incident. But

then it opens out to the north and immediately, we were facing a drift that made the ones we’d just been stuck in look like chickenfeed. I tried ‘wading’ it and sunk in up to my waist; it was perhaps half a dozen car lengths long, with a few yards’ respite before another, and another, and another. So that was it. Snow stopped play. Not something we’d have ever thought would happen to a convoy of ruffty-tuffty 4x4s, least of all in boring, mild old Britain, but there you are. Beating a path back to the A360 and regrouping in Shrewton before going our separate ways, we felt somewhat defeated – but at the same time elated at having had the privilege of enjoying such a uniquely wild experience in our own back yard. At the time of writing, the sort of ‘news’ outlets that live off the proceeds of clickbait are loudly

trumpeting some comment or another from the Met Office that conditions in Northern Europe are similar to those that provoked the Beast from the East. So you never know. But our two beasts from the (Far) East, and one from the east side of Birmingham, were no match for the worst that winter could do on that white weekend in Wiltshire. We had a ball, and we felt like go-anywhere pioneers at a time when people were panicking over grit shortages, but when it came down to it the snowdrifts won. Not that we minded. When an everyday yellow road on the map turns out to be more taxing than the average byway, you know you’re having fun. It was adventurous, it was beautiful and it was, sadly, an experience we might never get again. Take it from me: if winter does ever do us all another favour like this, grab it with both hands.

With dusk beginning to gather and one final bid to cross Salisbury Plain scuppered by waist-deep drifts, all that’s left is to contemplate the sad fact that a winter like this might not happen again in our lifetimes. And sure enough, ten years on, it hasn’t since

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OUR 4X4S Vehicle: Jeep Cherokee XJ Year: 1994 Run by: Alan Kidd Last update: July 2020 On the fleet since: September 2002

The long goodbye… ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END. So it stands to reason that all bad things do too. Being a Cherokee owner has, to be honest, been good and bad. And now both have come to an end. It wasn’t meant to happen this way. That could be an epitaph on a great deal of what happened during the Chezza’s time with us, actually, but when the end came it was brutal. Well, it involved eBay so it was never going to be much else. Having been off the road for more than a decade, we had only just got it back from being recommissioned by the leading experts at Storm Jeeps when, far away in China, someone got ill. Long story short,

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we’d all been working from home for months and then one day an email arrived pointing out that the office car park is a car park, not a storage facility, thank you very much. The Cherokee wasn’t the only vehicle of ours that hadn’t moved since the start of lockdown and to put too fine a point on it, something had to give. I could tell you all sorts of stories about the assorted low-life timewasters I had the misfortune to deal with during the selling process, but you’ve probably dealt with them too. One or two stand-outs, nonetheless. The guy who won the initial auction with a last-minute bid then ten minutes later discovered that his

flight home from Angola had been delayed for seven weeks… I mean, how can you not feel sympathy for someone with such bad luck, right? Mister Can I Just Buy The Bumper was a favourite, too. But

the best of the lot was a nextlevel fiction writer who, once we’d relisted it as a classified ad, put in one of those please-take-pity-onme low bids you come to expect. I went back offering to meet him

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Three stages in the early development of our Cherokee’s first incarnation. Above, its first appointment was with Surrey Off Road, where it gained a +3” Old Man Emu suspension lift and, what you’re looking at here, an ARB front bumper. Next stop was Gumtree 4x4, whose resident Jeep expert is seen above right knocking a hole in the wing while prepping it up to receive its Safari snorkel. Finally, to the right, it’s back at Gumtree again while receiving front and rear ARB Air-Lockers. By now, and with a Warn 9500 winch on board that bumper, it was pretty much ready for anything. More was to follow, in the shape of a Kaymar rear bumper with a swing-away spare wheel carrer but that really is all it took to bring out the best in the XJ

in the middle and got a hilarious response saying something like ‘I neither need nor want the Jeep, I have a warehouse full of very expensive cars and I just thought I might put some change into it in case I fancy doing something with it one day.’ You can just picture him sitting there typing away with his one free hand while surrounded by McDonalds wrappers and crushedup Andrex, can’t you? At the other end of the scale, I got a few messages from people who didn’t have the space, or the money, but just wanted to say how cool they thought the Jeep looked. Which certainly did the heart proud, and I had a few good chats with fellow XJ owners as a result. It’s nice to be reminded that among all the sniffers of bicycle seats you find online, there are some proper people too. And then finally, I got a phone call from an Aussie girl whose boyfriend had fallen in love with my Jeep. Sometimes it just feels right and this time it did, and so it was to prove. They drove halfway across the country the next day to check it out and do a deal and, I’ve got to say, I was absolutely delighted that the Cherokee was going to such

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a good home. The guy was totally overjoyed that it was going to be his and told me all the things he was planning to do with it – he couldn’t stop smiling, and if that’s not a massive thumbs-up for everything we’ve done to the vehicle down the years then I don’t know what is.

Either way, he couldn’t have been any more different to warehouseof-Ferraris man, and that was more than enough for me. A very brief reprise as to what those things were. It’s a story that’s been told in bits and bobs before, but this is the last time I’m going

to get the chance to wax nostalgic about her so please indulge me. I bought the Cherokee in 2001 with the idea of doing RTVs in it. But then the following year we launched Total Off Road magazine and needed something for setting out our Roadbooks, so it was built up

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OUR 4X4S

With the new +8” suspension system in place, Part 2 of the story was underway. But if only it had been that simple. The taller suspension needed a new steering set-up, and to say it was a case of trial and error would be generous. The first (above left) was nothing short of horrific, with about half a turn in the steering wheel before the ones on the ground started to do anything. This was replaced by the one seen above centre, which was a big improvement but was still better at feeding bump-steer back from the road than it was at anything else. Finally, it came back from Jeepey with the system seen to the right, which actually worked. You’re never going to get something with this much height to steer like a sportscar, but at long last we knew where it was going to be pointing. In our heart of hearts, though, what this whole process has made us understand is that the Skyjacker suspension was really intended to be used on Jeeps that would also be getting hydro-steer as part of their build as a laner instead. We put on a +3” suspension lift using Old Man Emu kit and fitted ARB front and Kaymar rear bumpers, the former with a Warn winch on it, as well as a Safari snorkel and ARB Air-Lockers at each end. On went a set of 31x10.50R15 BFGoodrich Mud-Terrains, and I can’t tell you how much fun it was. It did its thing, it shrugged off loads of scrapes dents and it was a blast. Then one day a chance conversation with someone at Skyjacker ended up with them sending us a full +8” Rock-Ready

suspension kit. It was, we were told, one of only three that had ever gone outside North America, and it certainly made our Cherokee look distinctive. It gained a new identity at this point – basically, we swapped all the good bits on to a new, straighter vehicle at the same time as ﬁtting the suspension. Unfortunately, the (now long since defunct) Jeep specialists who ﬁtted it never really got to grips with the steering, and it was never less than a handful to drive on the road.

Then one day it became a lot more of a handful when the panhard rod sheared from the axle midcorner. It was mainly down to luck than we didn’t stack it terminally there and then, but we lived to tell the tale and a few months later it was back with a new set-up that was a little less bad but still an object lesson in how to create as much bump-steer as possible. Then the PAS box let go, twice, and so did the water pump. By now, the Cherokee was in another garage whose owner is a bit of a creative

off-road genius, but he was also an MOT tester and you know how longterm projects always tend to get put to the bottom of the to-do list. Especially when they involve trying to build a high-steer set-up which, it turns out, can’t be done. So eventually we settled for just getting him to do an MOT test on it instead and seeing what happened, and safe to say the results weren’t pretty. Another prolonged spell in storage followed (it actually become a Christmas decoration

Below left: With the Skyjacker suspension in place, it all started out looking so promising. The XJ was riding high and looking good, and it could certainly flex. In this picture, it climbed the ramp without any diff-lock, so we were feeling confident Below right: Having picked it up, we drove the Jeep straight to KAP in Keighley. The company is known mainly as a Suzuki specialist, but it started out as a body shop and is famous for the paint finish on the vehicles it builds. Here, the Jeep is emergng from the spray booth looking resplendent in its new coat of white Right: Another small alteration to the vehicle was its entire identity. L3 OJS might have been amazingly capable off-road but her shell was in a bad way, so we stripped off all the good stuff and rebuilt it on to a new, more solid XJ

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Things could have got very real indeed when the panhard rod bracket sheared from the axle mid-corner. This was the lowest moment in our entire time with the Jeep, though had there been anything coming the other way it would have been a lot lower still. To add insult to injury, when we brought a trailer to fetch it home its 33x12.50R15s turned out to be too wide to ﬁt

one year, when I decided that since it never moved off my driveway I might as well cover it in lights), after which we trailered it up to Storm Jeeps and ﬁnally, just in time for Covid to screw everything up, it emerged with a fresh ticket and ready to go. Oh, the irony. As you can see from the pictures on these pages, the Cherokee also went from green to white during its lifetime, thanks to a classy respray job from KAP in Keighley. That was one of the good bits, certainly, and some other specialists deserve praise too – Gumtree 4x4 and Surrey Off-Road in particular, and of course Storm Jeeps. There are also some that fall in to the if-you-can’t-say-anything-good category, for crimes ranging from sending us parts that had been rejected by quality control for their own domestic market to, in one memorable case, actually stealing something from the vehicle while it was parked in their yard. So, yes, it’s been up and down…

4pp Our 4x4s Mar 21 Cherokee.indd 77

But at least it did ﬁnish on a happy note. The week after Aussie girl and her boyfriend had been to see the XJ and make it theirs, I lashed up a trailer behind our Isuzu D-Max GO2 and, on one of the wettest and most revolting days of the year (and there was strong competition), towed it down to its new home on the outskirts of London. And they were every bit as delighted to see it on their own turf as they had been on mine. It was as if the Jeep knew, too. During the whole period when I had it for sale, it never once ﬁred up on its own without a jump start. But the moment its new owner gave it a try, boom – it burst into life with barely a pause and for the last time, I got to enjoy listening to the wonderful blaring rasp of Jeep’s 4.0-litre straight six singing out through its, er, not completely standard exhaust. During that long spell of waiting for a proper buyer to come along, I used to (jump) start it up once a week and take it for a couple of

laps round the business park where we’re based, just to keep it loose and lubed. Part of the peripheral road climbs a long hill and on the other side of the fence are some houses, one of them owned by the guy who got kicked out of the Victor Meldrew club for being too much of a grumpy old sod. He’s actually been known to complain about the amber beacons on gritter lorries. So each time I was running the Cherokee up, as I climbed the hill going past his house I would put it into kickdown and enjoy the thunderous roar from that big six-pot working hard under load. It

sounded even better than normal on the way up there, I can tell you… Yeah, there have been bad bits to owning the Cherokee. But the good stuff is what I’ll remember about the old tart, and annoying Mr Grumpy was deﬁnitely one of them. But all good things come to an end. And so, having stashed my ratchet straps and driven off into the distance, for the ﬁrst time in almost two decades I’m no longer a Jeep owner. There’s one very, very good thing that hasn’t come to an end, though – she’s just gone to a new home. You’re gonna love her, guys. Take good care of my baby.

02/02/2021 10:27

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ARB are the first to break cover with their accessories for the new Jimny SO WHO HAD ARB in the firstnew-Jimny-mods sweepstake, then? The Australian 4x4 accessories giant has unveiled its Project JBOX demo vehicle, sporting a range of off-road items which, while they are all still prototypes at this point in time, will become available to buy in the near future. Suzuki’s Australian importer worked with ARB by giving the company’s engineers access to a pre-launch vehicle, allowing them to start work early on developing a range of all-new and adapted accessories. In addition, ARB was able to test-fit existing products to confirm they would work on the new vehicle – and the great news for Jimny fans looking to build a serious off-roader is that these include the legendary Air-Locker. Among the new products ARB has developed for the Jimny is the smallest ever version of its Summit bull bar. This will come complete with a winch mount, which on Project JBOX has been used to house an 8000lb Warn Magnum. Underneath the vehicle is a new suspension system. ARB doesn’t quote the size of the lift it gives the Jimny, apart from to say it’s ‘suitable for a set of new muddies and improved off road ability’ – which could of course mean anything. Safe to assume, however, that it’ll be in the usual commercial range, which means it can be expected to be in the region of two inches.

Further metalwork will come in the shape of steel rock sliders and a tubular roof rack. You’d need to be doing pretty extreme stuff with a Jimny to put its sills at risk, especially after lifting its suspension, but for any sort of long-range travel a roof rack would certainly be a must-have way of overcoming the limited luggage space that’s an inevitable consequence of the vehicle’s small size – or putting the little Suzi to work. With this and the bull bar adorned with LED lighting, some underbody protection bolted on and a gear reduction transfer case mod to take care of the bigger tyres you’ll surely want, ARB is already well on the way to being able to kit out a new generation of super-Jimnys. How long before it all becomes available to buy? We don’t yet know – but it’s surely shorter than the waiting list Are you crazy about Defenders? Dotty about Discos? Does the sight of a classic Series for an actual vehicle. To keep tabs on progress, visit www.arb.com.au. I make you weak at the knees? If so, The Landy is most certainly for you! The UK’s only

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• Frame - Powder Coated UV Stable Dark Grey Hammerite Finish • Doors - Powder Coated UV Stable Light Grey Smooth Textured Finish • Other Colours Available to Order • Locks - Black • Solid Side Doors • Front Panel - Fixed Clear Glass • Rear Door - 4mm Toughened Glass • Roof Rails come as standard • Pressure Equalizer Vent Load Bearing to 2500kgs

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