Overlander 4x4 November 2024

4x4

LATEST: £200,000-PLUS BESPOKE DEFENDERS | TESTED: HILUX GR SPORT II | OFF-ROAD SPORT: KING OF FRANCE

OVERLANDER

DRIVEN SKODA KAROQ 4X4: Family SUV that’s up for the off-road challenge

25 ROUTES FOR WINTER Classic lanes where the adventure doesn’t stop for seasonal closures

November 2024 £5.99

MODDED GRAND

The redemption of the Mk2 Grand Vitara…

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A RIG FOR ALL SEASONS

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DEFENDER 2020 GET EXPEDITION READY WITH OUR CUSTOMISABLE ROOF RACK. SECURE YOUR EQUIPMENT AND STAYING ORGANISED 1. SELECT ROOF RACK

TF8005

Defender 90

1.8m (L) x 1.25m (W)

TF8006

Defender 110

2.0m (L) x 1.25m (W)

2. SELECT MOUNTING KITS

TF8007 TF8008 TF8009 TF8012 TF8014 TF8015 TF8016 TF8017

Jerry Can Holder Jerry Can Holder Mounted Awning Brackets Mounted Spotlight Brackets Storage Box Mounts HiLift & Spade Mounts Sand Track Mounts Roof Rack Access Ladder

Single Double Pair Set of 4 Set of 4 Set of 4 Set of 4

3. SELECT ACCESSORIES

TF900 Storage Box TF1708 Hard Case Awning TF716 Spotlight TF712 Lightbar TF1726 Expedition Shovel GHL4 Hi-Lift Jack TF999 Recovery Boards TF1750R 3.8L Terra Can with single triangle lock type mounts TF1751R 7.6L Terra Can with single triangle lock type mounts TF1752R 19L Terra Can with double mounts (one triangle lock, one triangle screw) TF1753R 6.5L Terra Can with double mounts (one bar lock, one bar screw)

SCAN THE QR CODE TO VIEW MORE EXPEDITION ACCESSORIES

QUALITY ACCESSORIES FOR DEFENDER 2020 Overlander4x4_2024_11_Nov_Allmakes_3PS_Gatefold.indd 1

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DEFENDER 2020 BUILD A ROOF RACK THAT MEETS YOUR EXPEDITION REQUIREMENTS IN 3 EASY STEPS

+

1. SELECT ROOF RACK

+

2. SELECT MOUNTING KITS

3. SELECT ACCESSORIES

TF8014

TF8008

TF8009

TF8012

TF8016

TF8015

www.terrafirma4x4.com

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Roof Racks Mounting Kits Rock Sliders Underside Protection Recovery Equipment

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16/09/2024 14:34

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T

he debate between proponents of roof tents and motorhome conversions is not going to go away any time soon. And it’s a very healthy one, too, so that’s fine.

There’s a third way too, though, and what a fine example of it we have in this issue. If you can trust all your domestic needs to a trailer, you don’t need to build an overland vehicle in the first place – just hitch it up behind your daily when it’s time to hit the road, and away you go.

There are of course drawbacks.

It slows you down on long journeys – though probably not to less than motorhome or roof-tented 4x4 pace anyway. And even the best off-road trailer can’t help but make you less agile in extreme terrain.

Not that extreme terrain is meant to be what you’re looking for when you go out on expedition, though, is it?

There are obvious advantages, too.

Like being able to drive around in a normal vehicle the rest of the time, rather than lugging a de facto house on your back. And when you’re out there and you’ve set up camp, you can

unhitch said de facto house and use your tow vehicle for going wherever you want to go. Most overlanders tend to stay in the same place for several nights at a time quite frequently, after all – but while doing so, you still need to be mobile.

Each to their own. I still like the idea of overlanding in a custom converted DAF or MAN truck, but looking at the Land Rover 90 and bespoke camping trailer we’ve featured in this issue, I can’t half see the appeal. The vehicle is a proper lifestyle motor with a big V8 conversion, alloys, leather, custom soft-top and so on – but then behind it, when its owner wants it there, is an expedition rig created by grafting a 110 tub on to the chassis from a Penman trailer.

The best of both worlds? Hard not to see it that way. It’s an achingly cool 4x4 whether or not it’s hauling home behind it – and when it is, it’s achingly practical too. A very fine example, albeit perhaps taken to extremes, of what makes 4x4s so popular in the first place.

Alan Kidd, Editor

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4x4

LATEST: £200,000-PLUS BESPOKE DEFENDERS | TESTED: HILUX GR SPORT II | OFF-ROAD SPORT: KING OF FRANCE

75% 25 ROUTES FOR WINTER OFF OVERLANDER

DRIVEN SKODA KAROQ 4X4: Family SUV that’s up for the off-road challenge

Classic lanes where the adventure doesn’t stop for seasonal closures

November 2024 £5.99

MODDED GRAND

The redemption of the Mk2 Grand Vitara…

4x4 Cover Nov AKSK.indd 1

A RIG FOR ALL SEASONS

Lifestyle 90 up front, camping trailer behind

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Six issues for the price of 12 sounds like half-price – but when you subscribe to Overlander 4x4 for a year, you actually end up getting 75% off the price on the cover

16/09/2024 15:26

CONTENTS NOV 2024 4x4 Scene 4

News

KGM marks 70 years in business with a top-spec Musso. Nissan unveils a lavish new Patrol that will never see the light of a British day. And Land Rover wants you to give it £200,000-plus for a fancy rebuilt Defender with a huge engine

12 Products

An expedition trailer to make the rest of the camp site jealous. Plus ultimate rock sliders, old-school seats for early Land Rovers and a new breed of all-terrain tyre made for full-size pick-ups

Every Month 54 Subscribe

Get Overlander 4x4 delivered for a fraction of the cover price

64 Next Month

It’s time for the verdict that matters on the trucks that count –get ready for Pick-Up for the Year

Driven 16 Toyota Hilux GR Sport II

Second-generation version of Toyota’s Dakar-bred double-cab goes up in the world

20 Skoda Karoq 2.0 TDI 4x4

All-wheel-drive version of Skoda’s midsize family SUV looks the part and delivers the goods

Vehicles 24 Ultimate Camping Rig

A Land Rover 90 rebuilt as a cool looking ragtop with a fancy interior and a glorious Lexus V8… but thanks to a bespoke overland trailer, it’s every inch the travel wagon too

40 Grandest Grand Vitara

We were no fans of the JT-era Grand Vitara. But thanks to some cool modding by George Lewis, at long last we’ve found one we like

Travel 30 25 Green Lanes for Winter

Many of Britain’s rights of way shut down at the end of October to protect their surfaces. Here’s a choice of classic routes with no such worries

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50 Namibia

One of Africa’s most expedition-friendly nations is also far more varied than you’d expect – and set up ideally for exploring by 4x4

60 King of France

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Not so much travel as international motorsport, with a gaggle of Brits taking part as the cream of Europe’s winching pros compete for top honours in the Ultra4 classic November 2024 I Overlander 4x4

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NEWS

BESPOKE SERVICE FROM LAND ROVER CLASSIC PUSHES DEFENDER TOWARDS A QUARTER OF A MILLION POUNDS

L

and Rover’s mission to put every independent specialist builder out of business continues apace. Land Rover Classic, the in-house division responsible for turning slightly used Defenders into things for multi-millionaires to put in their collection and never drive, is back with the (take a deep breath) Classic Defender V8 by Works Bespoke.

There have been several other examples of the original-shape Defender

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being fitted with a huge V8 engine, blinged up with stuff you never knew they needed (or they just didn’t need) and punted back out for absurd six-figure sums. The Works Bespoke programme takes it to a new level, however: Land Rover describes it as a ‘unique new commissioning service’ which ‘represents the pinnacle of personalisation and restoration offered by Land Rover Classic Works Bespoke.’

So, none of that lowbrow productionline individuality here, then. You can, it continues, ‘specify a fully restored Classic Defender V8 to reflect (your) personality, with an extended choice of materials, interior and exterior colour combinations, finishes, accessories and upgrades.’ And an extended price, too, presumably – this starts at £190,000 plus VAT but only for customers who don’t have a personality and therefore won’t be needing any of the fancy stuff.

Even these tragic souls will still get a Defender with a 5.0-litre V8 engine. We do wonder how Land Rovers ever survived all those decades without such a thing.

It gives you 405bhp and 380lbf.ft, which goes out through an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission; the transfer case behind it is retained, thankfully, so you do still get four-wheel drive.

Next comes a new high in Land Rover’s use of the word ‘curated.’ This was already ridiculous when used for things like leather trim options and paint colours, but now it applies to the mechanical parts used to modify these trucks.

Yes, trucks. That’s what Defenders are.

Always were, always will be.

Anyway. ‘All Classic Defender V8 by Works Bespoke vehicles benefit from a

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curated (cue mirth unbounded) selection of high-quality parts.’ These include fourpot Alcon brakes with 335mm front and 300mm rear rotors, revised-rate Eibach coils and anti-roll bars and Bilstein shocks, the latter promising ‘excellent on and offroad comfort and performance’.

Comfort and performance be damned, though. If you’re spending what might as well be a quarter of a million quid on a Defender, all you want is for everyone to know you can afford to do such a thing.

To this end, you can have your Defender on 16” Wolf wheels in black or Limestone. (Or buy a Wolf and save 200 grand. Just saying.) 18” Sawtooth alloys are also available, as are side steps, roof racks, roll cages, ladders, winches and a choice of roof-mounted lighting options (classic-style spotlights or an LED bar). As it is, LED headlamps come as standard.

Further choices include silver or black for the door handles and fixings and standard, Heritage or Adventure grilles.

And then of course there’s the paint. This is where you can really go for it: ‘clients can select the colour of their dreams for the timeless bodywork,’ says Land Rover.

Obviously it does help if you dream about the company’s pre-defined Heritage, Contemporary, Premium and SV Metallic palettes. If you don’t, however, it’s also possible to choose something completely bespoke by using the match-to-sample service on offer.

As it is, the SV Metallic palette provides ‘the most exclusive colour spectrum ever offered’ including colours such as Sunset Gold and Sunrise Copper. Heritage options include Balmoral Green and Marine Blue,

while Corinthian Bronze and Firenze Red are among the Contemporary offering.

Whatever your choice, Land Rover promises ‘dramatic depth and impeccable hand-finished quality.’

You can also have a body-colour or contrasting roof, which seems kind of obvious if the service is truly bespoke but they say it anyway. Presumably, since a 5.0-litre Defender is basically a bit of a hot rod, you could also borrow from the custom car world and ask for a House of Kolor finish with added metal flake, multiple layers of lacquer, hand-drawn graphics and pinstriping.

Similarly, you should be able to ask for an interior clad completely in your choice of leather with hundreds of hand-stitched diamond quilts. Maybe a bespoke dash pod housing clocks from a ’55 Chevy and switches from a Lancaster bomber, too. ‘The interior is recognisably Classic Defender, revitalised and crafted in line with the client’s desired specification,’ after all.

What we know is that the seats are indeed leather trimmed, as are the side trim, doors, roof lining and dashboard.

The leather in question is in one of five monotone or eight duotone colours, and an ‘exceptionally comfortable’ Premium seating option can be specified. £190,000 plus VAT and exceptionally comfortable seats aren’t standard.

You do at least get a gloss black centre console containing Land Rover’s Classic Infotainment System, giving you sat-nav, DAB and Bluetooth via a 3.5” touchscreen. And ‘clients are also able to look beyond this specific set of colours should they wish,’ which is nice to know.

In the back, you can order a full Ply Guys camper conversion, or alternatively the Adventure Pack includes a ladder and roof tent.

All this and more is included in the new Classic Defender V8 configurator, which lets you throw options around like confetti as you spec your dream Defender.

What it doesn’t do is tell you how much it all costs, at least not without you yielding up all your personal info, so we can’t tell you how much we got to by adding the sort of stuff everyday people fit to everyday Defenders.

What we can tell you is that these Defenders are based on donor vehicles from 2012-2016. So they’re not new cars, which of course is why Land Rover is able to sell them in the first place. The entrylevel price of £190,000 plus VAT gets you a four-seat 90 Station Wagon; a five-seat 110 takes it up to £199,000, while for a seven-seat 110 you’re looking at £204,000.

Those independent specialists must be quaking in their boots.

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NEWS

MUSSO SPECIAL EDITION MARKS 70 YEARS IN BUSINESS

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t might still be a new name, but KGN Motors traces its history back to 1954 and the formation of Ha Dong-hwan Motor Workshop. This merged with Dongbang Motor Co in 1963 and went on to be acquired by SsangYong in 1986.

That’s the name under which the Korean 4x4 specialist first came to the UK in 1994. Its first vehicles back then, the Musso and then the Korando, went on to be badged as Daewoos between 1997 and 2000 after General Motors bought

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a controlling interest in it, before turning back into SsangYongs after that went south. China’s SAIC took over in 2004, followed by Mahindra in 2011, before finally the company became part of the KG Group in 2023 and gained its new identity.

Despite all this, KGM can still boast of being 70 this year. It can and indeed it is – and more than that, the newly septuagenarian company is bringing out a special-edition version of its Musso double-cab to celebrate.

Based on the top-of-the-range Saracen model and available now, this is called the Saracen Platinum and it’s limited to just 70 units (geddit?) It has a numbered badge on the polished trim around its transmission shifter and comes with various accessories to make it special.

These include extended wheelarches and, between them, matt black side steps.

There’s also a black skid plate, finished off with a Musso logo. The big one, however, is an electric roll-top for the pick-up bed,

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which opens and closes at the push of a button on the key fob and can be stopped and locked into any one of its various staged positions.

Up top, meanwhile, the vehicle is fitted with a set of sports styling bars. These are made from stainless steel and powder coated matt black, so you can expect them to carry on looking like new for a long old time.

As well as that numbered badge, the vehicle also carries additional Platinum decals and comes with a commemorative keyring indicating where yours came in the line of 70 builds. Being based on the Saracen, it already comes with Nappa leather seats with heating all round and cooling and power-adjustment up front, a heated steering wheel, dual-zone climate,

cruise control, 18” alloys, all-round parking sensors and a 12.3” touch-screen system running sat-nav, a rear-view camera, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Like all Mussos, the Saracen Platinum is powered by a 2.2-litre diesel engine making 202bhp and 325lbf.ft. A six-speed auto box is standard on this model; the vehicle is rated to tow 3500kg and, unusually, can also carry a full payload of up to 1095kg at the same time.

As always with KGM, what already comes over as an exhaustively specced truck sounds even better when you look at the price. The Saracen Platinum will cost you £33,995 plus VAT – and better still, it comes with a standard five-year, 100,000mile warranty.

DUNE BUGGY SET TO GO ELECTRIC

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ixty years ago, Bruce Meyers founded Meyers Manx – the company behind the iconic dune buggy. The company still exists today, selling modern versions of that

classic GRP kit from way back, but as it looks to the future is has just unveiled the 2.0 EV model – which replaces the traditional air-cooled Volkswagen engine with an electric drivetrain.

These vehicles are all about bringing the outdoors into your cabin as you romp around off-road, so they’re much better suited to the beaches and dunes of California than the surface water and unkempt bushes of a typical green lane.

They’ve got a devoted following here nonetheless – and being able to run one from a plug on your garage wall won’t make them any less popular.

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NEWS

NISSAN UNVEILS NEW PATROL

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t won’t be coming anywhere near Britain, but Nissan has just unveiled the seventh-generation version of the Patrol. The simple 4x4 workhorse we knew and loved has become a high-tech luxury wagon – but behind the 22” alloys and eyeball-searing red leather interior it’s still an off-roader at heart.

Launched in Abu Dhabi in front of an audience including members of the UAE royal family, the Patrol is now powered by a choice of naturally aspirated 3.8-litre and twin-turbo V6 petrol engines, the latter giving it 425bhp and 516lbf.ft. In each case, all four wheels are turned via a ninespeed automatic gearbox and full-time, dual-range transfer case.

Very different to the Patrol we remember is the new model’s all-round air suspension, which allows its ride height to

be lifted for off-road use. You also get six drive modes – standard, sand, rock, mud/rut, eco and sport – and, more to the point, a locking rear diff.

There’s a wide range of models at launch, and an equally wide range of prices. Which is of course irrelevant unless you’re about to get a job in Dubai, but in

that particular market the cloth-trimmed, 18” wheeled XE costs the equivalent of fifty grand. Move up to the LE Platinum City, which is where things like two-tone paint, 22” rims and that quilted leather come in, and you’re closing in on eighty. It’s a moot point but we know where our money would be going…

Twin motors mean all-wheel drive for Volkswagen ID. Buzz WE WERE HUGE FANS of the old Volkswagen T5 and T6 in 4Motion form, but we’ve never covered the company’s all-electric ID. Buzz before.

That might change, though, thanks to the arrival of the new GTX model – whose twin motors give it 340bhp and, more importantly, all-wheel drive. And it’ll be just as at home off-tarmac as the T5 ever was.

The GTX is available in five and seven-seat form. These come with 79kWh and 86kWh batteries respectively, which means a range of 262 or 295 miles, and with fast charging on the case you can take one from 10-80% in less than half an hour. Prices start at £67,435 on the road.

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Caradoc Alloy Wheels > Smart Anthracite finish > Fits all Defender including early 90/110/130 > Offers a deep dish, wider offset > Significantly improves turning circle at the same time as enhancing on road handling. > ET0 off set, meaning no need for the use of spacers, they sit in the widest position > PCD - 5 x 165.1 > 1,100kg load rating > Wheel nuts (not locking) included DA3521 16” x 8” Caradoc alloy DA3522 18” x 9” Caradoc alloy DA3523 Centre cap for DA3521 & DA3522 DA2474 Set of 5 spare wheel nuts DA2475 Set of 5 locking wheel nuts

DA3523 DA3521

britpart.com Find your nearest stockist - britpart.com/stockist Part numbers used for identification purposes only and do not imply or indicate the identity of a manufacturer. Products available from a Britpart stockist. E&OE.

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Ex-forces recruitment policy lands 1500th military veteran on JLR’s books

NEWS

Land Rover to adopt forest-friendly tyres JLR has announced that the new Range Rover Electric will be its first vehicle fitted from new with tyres made from FSC-certified natural rubber. Made by Pirelli, these will then be rolled out across the rest of the Land Rover range ‘at scale’ as the company brings another field of car making in line with its Reimagine strategy of responsible sourcing and supply chain traceability.

The complex Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) operates a complex certification process which verifies that certified material has been identified and separated out during its passage along the supply chain. JLR says it is ‘fully committed to responsible sourcing, including working to ensure natural rubber used in its tyre production is traceable across every processing stage through to origin.’

This new commitment will see JLR using more than a quarter of a million FSCcertified tyres each year. In addition, it’s working alongside Pirelli to increase the percentage of sustainable and recycled content in all the tyres the company supplies for use on new Land Rovers.

‘JLR’s decision to adopt tyres made with FSC-certified natural rubber is a ground-breaking move that sets a new benchmark for sustainability in the automotive industry,’ says FSC International’s Fabian Farkas. ‘This initiative not only boosts the demand for responsibly sourced natural rubber, it also positively impacts the environment and the smallholder communities involved in its production.’

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JLR recently recruited its 1500th ex-forces member of staff. Ten years on from signing the Armed Forces Covenant, the company has since then been running a dedicated armed forces employment support programme – as well as partnering with Mission Motorsport, the Forces’ Motorsport Charity.

As well as supporting its own role as an employer, JLR engages with armed forces veterans to help them make the most of their experience and transferable skills elsewhere in the world of work. It has its own Armed Forces Engagement Manager and actively encourages other companies to understand what veterans can offer.

That Armed Forces Engagement Manager is Stephen Lees. ‘As well as technical skills many service leavers and veterans have,’ he says, ‘we also recognise the exceptional project management, leadership and organisational qualities and unique experience military candidates bring. JLR provides a sense of belonging

that individuals have held so dear throughout their military service.’

Among the ex-soldiers now working for JLR is Pete Whittenbury, who served in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) from 1988 to 2012. He continues to serve as an Army reservist, as well as being a Lead Engineer responsible for environment test management on power train projects and, most recently, the new Range Rover Electric. Armed forces veterans can be found throughout the company – from the shop floor in its various manufacturing and engineering sites all the way up to the boardroom.

Land Rover extends collaboration with Meridian Land Rovers have been fitted with Meridian audio systems since 2010. And in a new move, they’re still going to be fitted with them.

Actually, that IS a new move, sort of.

Meridian has been building systems for Land Rovers with engines; going forward, an extended contract will see it doing the same for the company’s electric vehicles.

It will also allow the company to get involved in the cabin design process at an earlier stage. JLR and Meridian already work closely together to help ensure the vehicles’ cabins are audio-friendly. And

it’s not just about music. Meridian’s latest noise cancelling technology monitors wheel vibrations, tyre noise and engine sounds transmitted into the cabin and generates a cancelling signal, played through the system’s speakers.

If noise cancelling is the opposite of what you want to achieve, Meridian is also behind the Tailgate Event Suite that’s another option on the Range Rover. This adds yet another bank of four speakers ‘to work perfectly when socialising with the tailgate deployed.’ So, the world’s most expensive ghetto blaster, then.

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PRODUCTS

Top end off-road trailer launched in America $72,000 | mammothoverland.com

Mammoth Overland has unveiled the Tall Boy – its first full-height off-road trailer, which features a king-size bed, two adultsized bunks and a full bathroom. Standing nine feet tall, weighing 1315kg and boasting 22 inches of ground clearance on its 33” tyres, the American-made camper unit is made to order and starts at $72,000.

The Tall Boy follows the HV and ELE trailers in the Mammoth Overland line-up.

These too were designed around the need for a king-size bed, the difference being that the new model adds a pair of bunks which the company says are big enough to accommodate a 6’2” adult.

When they’re not doing that, the top bunk folds down to create a couch-like sitting area while the lower one provides access to an additional set of lighting controls. There’s a 24” LCD television and dozens of USB ports, as well as storage space beneath the master bed. Heating is by a propane-fired Dickenson heater, while ventilation comes from outwards-opening windows and reversible roof fans.

While we’re talking electric stuff, power comes from self-heating Renogy 400Ah smart lithium ion phosphate batteries.

These can be charged while driving or by two 100W lightweight flexible solar panels, which rest on top of a 270-degree 23 Zero awning. This in turn covers a flight of access

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stairs and an exterior kitchen – complete with a sink, stove and 40-litre fridge.

Why an external kitchen? ‘Because overlanding is an outdoor experience.’ Too right. Food storage, on the other hand, is accessible from inside or outside, because needing late-night snacks are universal.

The trailer also has a full shower room which, in Mammoth’s words, ‘brings all the luxuries of home into the back country.’ Said luxuries include a shower and sink, fed by an instant hot water system with a 50-gallon tank, and a cassette toilet.

We’ve mentioned the 33” tyres, and these ride on 17” wheels at the ends of twin independent axles designed to let it follow a

highly capable 4x4 wherever the driver sees fit to point it. There are two full-size spares mounted on the front of the body, along with a molle panel and a ladder for access to the roof – which in turn is rated to carry 450kg static and 225kg dynamic.

The Tall Boy is currently available in firstrun Genesis Edition form, with orders being taken for builds in the last three months of this year. Only 10 of these will be made, with a standard version taking over after that.

The $72,000 price tag converts to about £56,400, though by the time you’ve got it over here and paid off the tax man you can expect to have spent something a lot closer to the figure you first thought of.

www.overlander4x4.co.uk

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Rock sliders that look good and won’t budge Price: £532.47 (90) / £666.43 (110) maltings4x4store.co.uk

COMPLETE READY TO DRIVE CARS OR SELF BUILD KITS • Build manuals & full kits, & ready-made bodies available controlled speed, lights, horn, • Manual includes full component • Pre-cut panel sets and body cutting dimensions & ready-made bodies available • Battery powered DIY kits or parts • Manual includes full component For more information please contact 01291 626141 sales@toylander.com www.toylander.com and body cutting dimensions For more information please contact 01291 626141

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Heavy-duty is good, and cool is good. So when something is cool and heavy-duty, well, that’s really good. Something like Terrafirma’s Tred rock sliders for the proper-shape Defender, CARS OR SELF BUILD KITS CARS OR SELF BUILD KITS for example. These are available for the 90 and 110 alike.

• Build manuals & full kits, • Build controlled speed, lights, horn,manuals & full kits, These are made using folded triangulated steel, meaning controlled speed, lights, horn, • Pre-cut panel sets • Pre-cut panel sets there’s no need for additional tree bars, and feature punched & ready-made bodies available & ready-made bodies available Toylander kits and ready built vehicles • Manual includes full component and swaged holes which make them look cooler than ever • Manual includes full component available in stock, hand built cars and body cutting dimensions as well as reducing unnecessary weight. They also feature and body cutting dimensions • Battery poweredlove DIY kitsto or parts that children drive.

• Battery powered DIY kits or parts punched and serrated alloy tread inserts to let them funcFor more information please contact 01291 626141 contact sales@toylander.com www.toylander.com Please us for more infowww.toylander.com at For more information please contact 01291 626141 sales@toylander.com tion as side steps – which is where their name comes from. sales@toylander.com You can see these floating the boat of people building For more information please contact 01291 626141 sales@toylander.com www.toylander.com For more information please contact 01291 626141 sales@toylander.com www.toylander.com hardcore Defenders and bling-mobiles alike. To this end, they can be colour-coded to the vehicle – something that will definitely appeal to the latter.

RLG Tyres

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OFFICIAL STOCKIST Snorkel box for Nissan Patrol Price: €22 | euro4x4parts.com

Nissan Patrols have come to be a rare sight in the UK. Almost all of those left here are Y61 models – that is, from 1997 until emissions and all that saw the vehicle pulled from sale around a dozen years later.

If you’ve got one, and no-one’s fitted a snorkel to it yet, Euro4x4Parts are here to help. The French company has just introduced a new kit, designed an and made in-house, which allows its own Equip’addict brand of snorkel to be connected via a glued-in ring to the vehicle’s air box.

The kit costs €22 on its own, but for obvious reasons you’re more likely to want it complete with an actual snorkel – which looks pretty bargainous at €119 including VAT.

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November 2024 I Overlander 4x4

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PRODUCTS

Tough tyres for tough trucks Prices TBA | coopertire.co.uk

Cooper has introduced the Discoverer Stronghold AT, a new all-terrain available in a range of 28 sizes to fit wheel diameters from 16” to 20”.

Designed with full-sized pick-up trucks in mind, it promises extreme strength and durability – so much that back home in America, it comes with a limited 60,000-mile tread wear warranty.

Naturally, it also promises to do the job in rugged terrain, with a combination of wide outer grooves for grip and self-cleaning, intra-lug ledges to eject stones and a narrower centre tread for overall stability.

Sharp shoulder edges and ‘hook’ elements on the sidewall provide further traction, which Cooper says will last the life of the tyre.

It also says that the rubber compound, along with wide lateral grooves in the tread, will help the tyre to ‘plough through water,’ and that the shoulders have textured edges for traction in snow. On that subject, the Stronghold AT carries the familiar three-peak mountain snowflake badge, designating it as a winter tyre – merely reassuring in Britain, but a legal requirement in many parts of Europe.

It may be made for big ol’ American trucks but with sizes including 235/85R16, 285/75R16, 235/80R17 and 35/12.50R20, Cooper’s newcomer has plenty to offer the sort of 4x4s you see over here. The competition is tough in the all-terrain sector – but so are the tyres, and this one promises to go the distance with any of them.

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Original-style Deluxe seats for Series II and III Land Rovers £350 plus VAT | rimmerbros.com

Leaf-sprung Land Rovers may have passed into the realms of the classic, but people are still using them for work and play – sometimes even as dailies. Which almost always means doing something about the original seats.

Made by Exmoor Trim, these traditional-style Deluxe seats follow the design of those used throughout Series III production. They have the distinctive sculptured styling, with face fluting running from front to back in the centre panels, and come trimmed in black vinyl.

The outer seat backs bolt in and have internal threads for the locking positions, while the centre seat back mounts with a pint type fitting. The outer bases and centre bases sit into the seat frames and are removable to allow access to the seat box compartments.

The seat backs are supplied with new pivot bolts, nylon washers and locking bolts. Leather retaining straps are available separately, and the seats can be had individually as backs or bases on their own – however at the clearance price currently being offered by Rimmer Bros, a full set has never looked like a better investment.

www.overlander4x4.co.uk

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TOYOTA HILUX GR SPORT II

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oyota introduced the GR Sport to the top of the Hilux range last year, attracting a lot of attention and no small amount of orders. It had a styling package inspired by Toyota’s recent history of success in the Dakar and other cross-country rallies, and it had tuned suspension designed to sharpen up its steering and handling in corners and prevent its responses from softening under prolonged hard use.

We tested the GR Sport last year and concluded that, to quote ‘our prayers have been answered.’ That was in reference to the suspension package, because our biggest criticism of everyday Hiluxes has

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been that we’d like to see more steering feel and response on the way into corners, particularly at speed.

Safe to say, the GR Sport got a massive thumbs-up from us. So what happened?

Toyota replaced it.

Not to worry, they replaced it with the Hilux GR Sport II. The same only more so, basically. So when we booked this year’s range-topper in on test, we mainly knew what we were getting but were also excited about what surprises it might have in store.

First up, no surprise at all is that there’s GR badging everywhere. On the grille, the doors, the tailgate, then in the cabin on the steering wheel, the seat headrests

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and even the start-stop button. Elsewhere, too, including on the info display when the dashboard screen fires up.

Otherwise, the cabin is dressed up with various areas of red trim and stitching – along with a strip of woven carbon effect materials running the full width of the vehicle along the top of the dash. It adds a healthy dose of individuality to what was already a nice, well made cabin, aided by things like part-leather sports seats and brushed aluminium pedals.

Outside, the Hilux was already a good looker and in GR Sport II form it gains its own 17” alloys under black wheelarch flares, mesh grilles, black detailing in lieu of

chrome and an aero sport bar (a faux roll bar attached to the top of the pick-up bed).

All-rounder

All the above is largely going over the same ground as last year, which is no bad thing as last year the GR Sport looked the business.

In particular, we applaud the decision to stick with lightweight 17” rims – it would be so easy to ruin a vehicle like this by fitting it with stupid low-profile tyres around rims that can’t even cope with a gravel track, but Toyota has stuck to its guns and given it 265/65R17s again. Not only that, they’re Bridgestone Dueler all-terrains too, helping make it a true all-rounder

This moves us on to the suspension, which once again is where the GR Sport stands out. This time they’ve lifted the vehicle by 20mm and widened its track by 140mm at the front and 150mm at the rear. So it’s not built for RTV trialling but it certainly is for stability at speed over rough terrain. Once again, the damping part of the equation is taken care of by monotube shocks rather than the twin-tubers used on the rest of the Hilux range, including the fully loaded Invincible upon which this one is based.

We’ll be honest and say we couldn’t feel any noticeable difference between the old and new models over similar terrain. But

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Based on the Invincible, and therefore packed with all the toys Toyota can muster, the GR Sport II stands out with its rally-inspired styling touches –lots of red trim and stitching, a swathe of carbon and brushed alloy pedals. The engine is the familiar 2.8 diesel, here in the highest available state of tune with 201bhp and 369lbf.ft. On the back, a sports bar mounted on the pick-up bed body adds to the image that’s a good thing, right? Analysing photos of the two vehicles, you certainly can see the difference in ride height, so the GR II does look like the more serious proposition – and if you can get an inch of lift (not quite, but who’s counting) without any apparent compromise in ride, you’ve done well.

What you certainly do feel is a real improvement in the Hilux’s handling. It was already a lively, agile truck which can be palmed around effortlessly in town and left to rumble away contentedly to itself on the motorway. But previously, when we’ve tested everyday models from the premium end of the range, we’ve wanted to see more steering feel and response on the way into corners, particularly at speed.

With its wider track aided by stiffer, taller coils and those monotube shocks, the GR Sport II does an admirable job of addressing that. What we said last year about the previous one is that it’s ‘brisk, positive and thoroughly biddable – but also refined, smooth and fuss-free. Corrugations don’t shake it, nor do pot-holes – in fact, we found that not even a rough green lane,

run through with tree roots, could faze it at all. The GR Sport provides you with fluent, predictable handling that allows you to take fast corners (or rather, to take corners fast) with confidence and authority.’

Hard cornering

What would we add to that? Well, we found the GR Sport II to be extremely stable during fast lane changes on the motorway and under hard cornering on twisting roads. It resisted the terrain’s attempts to throw the cabin violently from side to side on badly potholes green lanes, too. We can’t say if this was more noticeable than it was in the original GR Sport, but it IS noticeable and that’s enough.

Also noticeable is the addition of disc brakes on the rear axle, in place of the previous model’s drums. These are backed up (should that be fronted up?) by enlarged discs at the sharp end, so overall braking effort is significantly greater – not that it was short in this area before, but with the added potential of all that suspension plus the 201bhp, 369lbf.ft output of the 2.8-litre

diesel engine in its most potent form, this is certainly a case of doing the job right.

It’s also very relevant to note that the uprated brakes will resist fade under prolonged very hard use. The same goes for the higher-spec shocks, too – these might still be a far cry from Toyota’s Dakar racers, but you could give the truck an absolute pasting without their performance going off. No big deal if you’re just after a pick-up as a family car – but very much so if you’re planning an overland build that needs to be able to deal with corrugated desert tracks for hour after hour with a full expedition rig mounted in its bed.

In this way, while the GR Sport II might be a bit showy in its styling it has a strong claim to be considered a turn-key base for a major project. If you’re fortunate enough to be able to do that straight from the dealership floor, obviously. At £49,750, it’s very well towards the top end of the pick-up market – but the extra money does get you something worth having. Even if all you want is a cool truck that really handles, indeed, this is a Hilux to put a smile on your face.

The GR Sport II gains a 20mm suspension lift – if this was last year’s model, you wouldn’t see the chassis rail above the top of the tyre here 18

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27/01/2023 14:09:12 01/03/2024 10:34

SKODA KAROQ 2.0 TDI 4X4 SPORTLINE

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here’s a rule of thumb in the brotherhood of road testers that says if all you can find to criticise about a car is the way it looks, then it’s a good car. In the 4x4 game, we call it the Terrano II effect, or at least we do if we’re depressingly old.

Conversely, if the only thing you can say about a car is that it looks good, that suggests it’s not much of a car. We all know, though, that there are many people who buy a car for that reason alone – and indeed who will reject one because they just don’t like the look of it.

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So where does that leave us with this Skoda Karoq? We clapped eyes on it at the new Kodiaq launch earlier this year and spent the rest of the day engaged in ridiculous fanboying over its paint. As did everybody else. It’s called Phoenix Orange and it’s just stunning – when we’re not doing this magazine we tend to be found hanging around hot rods, a world in which people routinely spend five-figure sums on paintwork, and this here Skoda would stand out alongside more or less any of them.

So it looks stunning in this colour. You can decide on that for yourself but we had

people commenting about it in car parks.

But that alone doesn’t make it a good motor.

Incredibly, the paint only adds £390.

Our tester, a Karoq 2.0 TDI 150 DSG 4x4 SportLine, would cost £44,480 with all its options, on top of a £41,095 list price. Lower down the range, you can get a Karoq for less than thirty grand, so this is up there – still a fair whack of money, but a fair whack of SUV too.

And it has four-wheel drive, which is increasingly rare in vehicles of this nature. Good on Skoda, and the VW Group in general, for not abandoning this

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There’s a feeling of quality throughout the Karoq’s cabin, with plastics that are never less than robust and feel tactile where you’re most likely to put your hands. The seats are comfortable and have loads of adjustment, and the seating position is excellent – we spent hours and hours behind the wheel, in all sorts of traffic conditions, and never once felt fatigued

fundamental element of what an SUV is.

Our Karoq had Eco, Normal, Sport, Individual and Snow drive modes, each of which does something, but when we took it green laning all we needed was four driven wheels. And it worked well, providing plenty of traction at real-world speeds. Admittedly it was dry and very dusty, but it was also very loose and stony, with baked-in unevenness in the tracks we tackled – and as well as keeping its grip on the ground, the vehicle’s suspension worked very well to retain its poise and control while the terrain was trying to move its body around.

Ground clearance is a limiting factor, naturally. And you’ll only get so far on 225/45R19s, especially when things are wet and slithery. But in appropriate conditions, the Karoq is a sure-footed companion.

Tragic roads

It’s placid around town, too. Again, you’ll have Britain’s tragic roads trying to jolt and jostle the body around, but it resists getting loose and the inevitable pot holes don’t come through the floor like you’ve hit a landmine. It’s easy to manoeuvre and, with the 2.0-litre diesel engine slugging out

265lbf.ft from 1600rpm you’re just pointing its nose and letting the torque do the rest.

Easy driving is very much part of what the Karoq is all about, indeed. It’s possible to get it with a manual gearbox, but if you want four-wheel drive it’s auto all the way – a pity in some ways, but the DSG box is smooth as anything, operating without you noticing and never once shifting a gear, or indeed holding on to one, when you don’t want it to.

This makes it a pleasing companion on a long cross-country thrash, where the diesel engine does its job well without turning it into a flying machine. The chassis handles tidily and grips very well, allowing fluent cornering. We thought it felt a little heavy going hard into corners – not to an alarming extent, but at times it felt as if we were having to work for it.

On the motorway, it’s absolutely in its element, with a settled ride and nothing more than a touch of road noise to disturb the calm. You can have an everyday conversation at real-world cruising speeds with no problem at all. What those speeds are is not entirely up to you, though; several times, the cruise control reset itself in reaction to road signs, mainly getting it right but on occasion trying to turn us into a mobile roadblock. And couple of times, it tried to get rid of the editor’s driving licence by resetting itself to 100mph on the way through roadworks – something you notice when it’s a 2.0 TDI doing it, but the same

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thing happening in a car with a big, silent engine (or electric motors) and the sort of chassis that isolates you completely from the road would be downright dangerous.

Too much technology is a common curse upon today’s vehicles, and by no means is the Karoq unique in this regard.

It’s been forced on the motor industry by legislation, in the main, and results like this show that the legislators have been more interested in ticking boxes than getting things right. Another example we encountered over and over came when we were cruising along, gently holding the steering, and the Karoq kept beeping away and telling us to put our hands on the wheel.

This is industry-wide stuff, though, and none of it detracts from the main point.

Which is that this is an excellent vehicle which, overall, is a pleasure to drive.

Cut and thrust

As we’ve come to expect from Skodas, it’s nice just to sit in, too. The seats are excellent, with plenty of support and adjustability (we spent many hours on board without feeling fatigued afterwards), and there’s an excellent view in all directions.

You never feel ragged when driving it, whether in the cut and thrust of city streets or the tedium of a busy motorway. We had the dubious pleasure of having to get from Maidstone to Reading on a Friday afternoon rush hour, which is about as miserable an experience as Europe’s roads are capable of serving up, and we didn’t arrive feeling ready to kill someone. Quite an achievement for any car.

There’s plenty of space up front, with excellent legroom, though you’ll have to give some of it up if you want another adult to be able to sit behind you. It’s possible to get

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one six-footer behind another, but neither of them will be particularly happy, so the back is definitely better left for kids. Headroom is excellent all-round, though, and rear-seat passengers do get a good view out.

Behind them, the boot is impressively spacious when you’re running in five-seater mode. Drop the rears down and the volume available gets bigger yet – though they leave an enormous lip and lie some way from flat, so the space isn’t as helpfully packaged as it could be.

Quality all round is very good, though.

There’s no sign of any compromises there.

The dash is almost creak-free and the centre console is made of plastic but feels hewn from rock. Those plastics are dense and stout, and those on top of the dash have a soft, rubberised texture.

There’s a usefully deep storage bin here, in addition to a big cubby box, a decent glovebox and door pockets that go on forever. The floor console also contains the usual cup holders, as well as an inductive charging pad, and there’s a huge coin tray in front of the driver’s right knee. All told, if you can’t find places for all your oddments, you’ve got too many oddments.

The feeling of quality extends to the controls and in particular to the multimedia system which, typically of Volkswagen Group products, is clearly presented and easy to use. We found that it could take a moment to react to prompts, though it hooked up to our phones every time without any messing about.

We averaged 40.4mpg over the course of our week with the Karoq. Not quite the 48.7 that’s quoted as its official combined figure, but still a more than acceptable figure in a medium sized SUV with fourwheel drive that was tackling unmade tracks on the Wessex Downs one minute, carving up the streets of Swindon the next, loving life on A and B-roads later that day then smoothing it up the motorway on the way home – and making all of it feel like second nature.

This is what £44,480 gets you in this case. There was a time when that would have been unthinkable for a Skoda, but the Karoq is definitive proof that the company has gone from making some of the cheapest cars around to some of the best.

This car is a hell of a tool. And it doesn’t half look good in orange.

www.overlander4x4.co.uk

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TWO IN ONE This restored Land Rover 90 is a top-notch lifestyle truck – and with its matching expedition trailer, it can walk the overlanding walk with the best of them too Words Olly Sack

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onventional off-roading wisdom has it that when you’re preparing a vehicle for overland expedition travel, you should modify it as sparingly as possible. The more standard it is, the less potential for something to go calamitously wrong because it’s been taken out of spec.

All the same, there will inevitably be things you have to change. You’ll want a proper set of heavy-duty all-terrain tyres on it for starters. Heavier duty suspension, too, to cope with all the extra weight you’ll be carrying. A reliable means of self-recovery.

Consumer electrics you can rely on. A radical new engine. Stuff like that.

Spot the odd one out in that list.

Yet here it is – a Defender 90 built for adventure travel and packing a 4.3-litre Lexus 3UZ. An absolute lion of an engine, this was used in the GS430 and LS430 where it put out a super-smooth 300bhp and 325lbf.ft – though to drive one, you’d think it had plenty more than that.

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Just as importantly, all the engines in Lexus’ UZ series were strong as an ox – and, if you wanted them to be, very very tunable indeed. Four-figure outputs are not unheard of – and the standard Lexus auto behind it was built to be capable of taking very nearly that much too. No wonder it’s

popular as a repower option in all manner of motoring scenes.

Sure enough, in the words of Jim, the 90’s owner, ‘the Lexus V8 is a perfect match.’

It was fitted by DT Engine Solutions of Stafford, and he reckons they were a perfect match too. ‘The installation is absolutely

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When it’s not in full travel mode, the 90 is a superior lifestyle truck with an interior that’s comfortably poshed up but not over the top. This was achieved largely by coming home from Exmoor Trim laden down with leather seats, steering wheel, dash pod and door pockets, and by installing a custom stereo with four speakers and a sub. The latter is controlled via a dash screen which doubles up as a reversing camera monitor. Exmoor was also responsible for the combination soft-top which can be made fully weatherproof (below) or rigged as a bimini to keep the sun off but let the air in

first class. The handmade exhausts and air cowlings are a thing of beauty.’

You might say the same about the vehicle itself – and the bespoke expedition trailer that goes with it. Jim had the Land Rover professionally restored in 2021; it dates from 1990 but he now has himself what is basically a nearly-new Defender with just 6000 miles under its wheels.

What did the professional resto entail?

Well, the 90 was rebuilt on a new galvanised chassis, so that’s a pretty good start. The doors were replaced, and all the panels were resprayed in what you’ll immediately recognise as HUE green. It has a proper name but we all know it as HUE green and I mean that most sincerely.

Elsewhere, the Lexus lump was mated to an Ashcroft reconditioned gearbox and transfer box with limited slip diff. The brakes were replaced with all-round discs.

Obviously that’s just some of the sexy stuff, but the work was all done by Land Rover specialists and in Jim’s words, no expense was spared – he wasn’t about to let them anyone get away with doing the hidden stuff on the cheap, not that he’s the kind of guy to give a major job to the sort of outfit who’d do that in the first place.

by a custom rad with air sucked through it by twin fans. It goes without saying that a whole new wiring loom was going to be necessary if anything was ever going to work, along with a remote oil cooler for it to keep working long-time. The discs are aided by a new brake servo and the cabin environment is aided by an uprated heater matrix.

The cabin environment. Let’s talk about that. Jim went to Exmoor Trim and came back with a load of cool stuff; seats, steering wheel, door pockets, dash pod; oh yes, and a combo soft-top allowing him to make it fully weatherproof or, if the sun’s out, see the world from beneath a

jaunty bimini roof. He can not only see the world as entertain the world, too, thanks to a bespoke ICE rig with four speakers and a sub; this is operated via a screen which doubles up as the display for a dash cam and reversing camera.

So far, none of this screams overlander.

And right enough, what we have here is a lifestyle Landy. A superbly built, smartly specced and beautifully finished one, but a lifestyle Landy nonetheless. But then you look at what’s behind it – and now what we have is a game-changer.

The trailer was done in 2021, around the same time as the Land Rover that pulls it. It’s underpinned by a Penman military

Knock-ons

Obviously, a change of engine is going to bring a list of knock-on jobs to consider.

We’ve already mentioned the air ducts and bespoke exhaust, and of course there’s a load more good stuff besides. The big V8 sits on fabricated mounts and is cooled

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With the rear tub from a 110 grafted on to the chassis from a Penman military trailer, the camping rig is made of incredibly solid stuff.

And upon these underpinnings it’s been built to a sensationally high standard, with a full length roof rack and batwing awning from Direct 4x4 as well as a fold-out bathroom tent and huge lockable storage box. Inside, it’s been fully lined and insulated for sleeping – though the roof rack will also take a tent if required. Add in a slide-out kitchen with two gas burners and a sink, a lithium ion battery pack with solar charging and mains outlets, loads of LED lighting and more storage shelves, drawers and lockers than you can count, and you have a setup that’s at home on a provisioned camp site or going off-grid for prolonged periods of time

chassis, meaning it starts with damped leaf springs and hydraulic disc brakes as well as having massive strength built in.

On top of this, you might well recognise that the body is based on the tub from a 110. A risky business, this; we’ve all seen those car-towing-itself creations which start out as a good idea and end up looking absurd, but the Defender look survives intact thanks perhaps to the built-in sense of

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purpose which is further enhanced by all the kit bolted to the outside of the trailer.

This includes a full-length roof rack from Direct 4x4, which can take a tent if required but is equally at home shouldering the weight of all Jim’s expedition supplies and essentials. It’s also home to a 270-degree bat-wing awning, also from Direct 4x4, while on the offside a fold-out toilet and shower cubicle lines up ahead of a large lockable

storage box. You know those squirrelly little efforts Land Rover charges people about a grand for to put on their new Defenders?

Those have a picture of this thing on their bedroom wall.

Something else you might notice is that the trailer has a 50mm towball. We’d like to tell you that Jim spent a few years living in the Outback and developed a taste for road trains, but the truth is a little more lifestyley.

www.overlander4x4.co.uk

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35844

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89

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CATALOGUE GET YOUR FREE COPY! • IN-STORE • ONLINE • PHONE 0844 880 1265

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Ideal for use as a garage/workshop Extra tough triple layer cover Heavy duty powder coated steel tubing Ratchet tight tensioning WAS NOW size Model (LxWxH) m exc.VAT inc.VAT inc.VAT CIG81212 3.6x3.6x2.5 £249.00 £298.80 CIG81015 4.5x3x2.4 £279.00 £334.80 CIG81216 4.9x3.7x2.5 £319.00 £394.80 £382.80 CIG81020 6.1x3x2.4 £349.00 £418.80 CIG81220 6.1x3.7x2.5 £389.00 £478.80 £466.80 CIG81224 7.3x3.7x2.5 £489.00 £598.80 £586.80 CIG1432 9.7x4.3x3.65 £1099.00 £1318.80 CIG1640 12x4.9x4.3 £2599.00 £3118.80

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12/09/2024 09:55

‘It’s so a bike rack can be fitted,’ he explains.

And before you start clucking and tutting about obscuring the rear lights, he also fitted a power socket so he can throw on a light board and keep it as safe and legal as ever.

Going back to our comment about the roof rack being able to house a tent or anything else, that’s all very well but if he’s taken the ‘anything else’ route where’s he going to sleep? The answer is that inside, the trailer is fully lined and insulated – and equipped with a single mattress. It might not be as spacious as a roof tent but it’s still roomier than the sleep pods you get in some of those hotels-from-hell you see on the continent.

pull off the road and jump in the back for the night. However, unfurling the awning creates a footprint over twice its original size.

‘The solar panel and on-board water tank mean I can go off-grid for a long period – but the mains and water hook-ups mean I can use campsite facilities too.’ Despite being finished at a time when lockdown was still something we feared, rather than something we look back on and go sheesh, did that ever really happen, Jim has taken the full rig on an expedition to Corsica and come back convinced of its capabilities for adventures of a decent length.

Of course, even the most professionally fitted 4.3-litre V8 is going to suck down a hefty bit of unleaded when propelling a heavy rig with the aerodynamics of Beachy Head all the way to the southern end of Europe. But if you see that as being The Point, maybe check that someone hasn’t nicked off with your soul.

The actual point is that this is a lifestyle Land Rover of the very highest order – and, thanks to what it’s got on the back, a Defender that takes the notion of practicality to the next level and beyond. Even in full expedition trim, with the trailer sprayed and finished to perfectly match the 90 itself this is a statement vehicle that kicks dust in the face of all the bolt-on bling you can muster.

Two vehicles in one? At least.

Having had all the work done by professionals, Jim clearly does have a hefty sum invested in the set-up. How much is for him to know, but when we came across it he had it up for sale at £59,000.

A hefty sum too, of course. Just think, you could almost have a new-shape Defender for that. Ask nicely and they might even put one of those squirrelly little boxes on the side, too…

Thanks to Jim for his help in compiling this article. The 90 and trailer are currently for sale at £59,000; if you’re interested, email the editor on alan.kidd@assignment-media.co.uk and he’ll pass it on

Million quid

Actually, it’s probably roomier than some million-quid London flats. ‘I’m 6’2” and sleep in there comfortably,’ says Jim, and when you look at it from the outside that shows just how well packaged the whole thing is.

What else is in there? What isn’t? There’s a slide-out kitchen with twin burners and a sink, above a twin gas bottle store hooked up to the stove. There’s an onboard water tank with a powered pumped external hookup. There’s a lithium iron battery pack with a 240-volt mains outlet, integrated charger, inverter and MPPT solar charger – that’s enough juice to run a fridge. There’s a large pull out drawer and shelf, more storage lockers than we care to try and count and loads of LED lights and 12-volt sockets.

‘The camping trailer is incredibly versatile,’ says Jim. ‘At its simplest, you just

November 2024 I Overlander 4x4

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TRAVEL

25 LANES FOR WINTER

Green laning is a great way of exploring the UK, but many insurance companies don’t cover off-roading and green laning. That’s why our Isuzu – pictured here – is insured by Adrian Flux, a specialist insurance broker that covers off-roading and green laning. Whether you’ve modified your 4x4 or you own a classic 4WD, they can help. Give them a call on 0800 085 5000 for a quote.

Long Cross County Length From To

Cumbria / Northumberland 2.7 miles NY 738 499 NY 773 518

scape in splendid isolation. And ‘splendid’ is

rights of way in Britain, with no end of tricky,

the word.

uneven rocks – the reward for which was a

Tilberthwaite Road

of green lane politics mean its surface has been turned into something you can drive in

lengthy gradient as it drops off the moors into

County Length From To

Allendale. It can be uneven here, but in the

This magnificent mountain pass in the Lake

end which wider vehicles won’t get through

main it’s a firm, stony track crossing the land-

District used to be one of the most technical

without scraping against the parapets.

Arguably the best of the many unsurfaced roads around Alston, Long Cross features a

Cumbria 1.7 miles NY 308 014 NY 300 031

series of glorious views. Sadly, the scourge

an everyday car; this takes some of the excitement out of the adventure, but the views are as sublime as ever. Be warned, though, that there’s a narrow bridge at the northern

Insurance for your 4X4 30 www.overlander4x4.co.uk Call 0800 085 5000 or visit adrianflux.co.uk 25 Lanes.indd 30

Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

16/09/2024 16:00

In some parts of the country, the rights of way network is closed to motor vehicles for half the year. But elsewhere, the trails are all-weather in nature, with a surface that can sustain 4x4 use even in the wettest conditions. You always have to exercise caution, of course – but here are 25 classic routes which, with the exception of snow, ice, fog and flood, are more or less immune to the weather and waiting to be enjoyed…

Long Cross

set of axle twisters. It’s to the National Park Authority’s credit that they haven’t closed this fantastic lane for their own convenience; they do ask you to do it from west to east, but this means you can stock up at the visitor centre café before you go.

Dirtlow Rake County Length From To

Derbyshire 2.3 miles SK 126 826 SK 153 819

It’s not that far from civilisation, but Dirtlow is one of the bleakest places you’ll ever find yourself – especially when the weather’s giving it a good go. It’s easy enough to drive, though, with three distinct sections – a long run between dry-stone walls, a wide open track that’s a magnet for surface water and a long, stony trail next to a road.

At the latter end, it’s handily positioned to take you a few yards along the tarmac to the start of Pindale Road, a tighter, steeper lane and one which goes ideally with Dirtlow to create a nice half hour or so’s action.

Houndkirk Moor Limestone Hill County Length From To

Cumbria 1.9 miles NY 328 017 SD 342 995

ity to make up a great day’s laning, and there are enough here to give you an experience like nothing else in the UK.

Grizedale Forest

South Yorkshire 2.4 miles SK 270 805 SK 290 835

There aren’t many rights of way where you can feel the bleak isolation of a remote moor top – while still being able to overlook one of

of a wide open valley as you meander along

County Length From To

its flanks, pausing at times to tackle rock

Not many trails start at a visitor centre, skirt

see loads of walkers here, so be prepared for

steps. It doesn’t take many trails of this qual-

a series of art installations and finish with a

a lot of stopping

At times on this long Lake District trail, you could half-close your eyes and think you’re in the Rockies. Towering trees cling to the edge

Cumbria 1.6 miles SD 336 944 SD 357 955

County Length From To

Britain’s biggest cities. But that’s how it is on Houndkirk – a long, stony trail near Sheffield that’s suitable for any 4x4 but still manages to be exciting whatever you’re driving. You’ll

November 2024 I Overlander 4x4

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16/09/2024 16:00

Horseshoe Lane

Pheasant Pen

County Length From To

County Length From To

Gwynedd 3.2 miles SH 736 022 SH 750 036

Powys 2.1 miles SJ 171 326 SJ 178 299

to have you catching your breath. Hopefully that’ll just be in awe at the expansive views as you crest its highest point, but if you don’t treat the savage off-camber rock faces at its northern end with the respect they demand, it might be for altogether less pleasant reasons. Talking of unpleasant things, this

This is an absolute monster. It’s commonly

The Pheasant Pen is legendary for being

route has only recently been reopened after

known as Bastard Lane, and you’ll find out

tricky to drive (and dangerous if you get it

suffering massive damage at the hands of

why – combine extremely uneven ground

wrong), but significant grading work over the

anti-4x4 vandals seeking to block the route.

with heavy-duty side tilts and a massive rock

last couple of years mean it’s now more of a

A reminder that however wrong-headed those

face with water flowing down it, and you’ve

scenic drive – albeit with some alarming side

people are, you’re always an ambassador for

got possibly the most taxing technical lane in

slopes. It’s still pretty uneven at the head of

your kind when you’re on the lanes.

the land.

the valley, but whether you’re travelling up or

Sadly, the vermin of the 4x4 world are all

down the hill you’ll be treated to sensational

too aware of it, and illegal off-roading has

views. Take care, because there are still big

caused serious damage in the surrounding

drop-offs into the valley below, but this is now

forest – if you spot this happening, film or

a lane you can approach with relish rather

photograph them if it’s safe to do so and

than trepidation.

report them to the police, because they’re the reason why lanes like this get closed. Littering is a problem on this lane, too – something that’s unusual on rights of way used predominantly by 4x4s – and a voluntary restraint is in place requiring you to drive it only from west to east to prevent ground damage.

White Stones County Length From To

Wrexham 2.5 miles SJ 157335 SJ 170 369

Strata Florida County Length From To

Powys / Ceredigion 7.2 miles SN 804 568 SN 755 646

Strata Florida is famous throughout the 4x4 community, both for its sheer length and mainly, the almost unbelievable number of fords you go through on the way along it.

They take time to start happening, whichever direction you approach it from, but once

Finally, don’t do this one alone – it’s re-

A stony and at times washed out track across

you’re into them it’s almost non-stop – and at

mote, and the potential for vehicle damage or

the soggy moorland of Bryn Du, this trail can

times you’ll be driving along the river rather

accidents is high. But what a lane it is!

have your wheels waving – but it’s more likely

than through it – as seen on the front cover.

Pheasant Pen

32

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25 Lanes.indd 32

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Crychan Forest County Length From To

Powys / Carmanthenshire 3.0 miles SN 840 414 SN 881 435

The trail through the eastern half of Crychan is fairly easy to drive – though navigating your way along it might be trickier, as there are plenty of junctions that don’t always bear much resemblance to what’s going on on the map. The surface gets splashy in the winter, but it’s good and firm underneath..

Woolvers Road County Length From To

West Berkshire 4.9 miles SU 489 812 SU 454 803

Strata Florida lengthy section in a ever-denser wood. At its

gravel that make up this bleak moortop trail.

southern end, the track links with various oth-

Start from the east and by the time you’ve

ers to create an almost five-mile section with

reached its highest point, you’ve put on

just a small amount of road liaison in it. And

almost a quarter of a mile in altitude. It’s a

with so many other byways in this area, you

reasonably straightforward drive in any de-

won’t want for more to explore.

cent 4x4, but one which puts you at the mercy

Busk Lane County Length From To

North Yorkshire 2.2+ miles SD 943 871 SD 934 839

of the weather – snow lingers up here, and if it’s wet and windy back in civilisation it’ll be like Armageddon at this height.

At its western end, Cam High Road links via a few miles of single-track tarmac to another lane known as West Cam Road, or the Cam Steps. The steps themselves are gone

Approached from the north, you’ll feel like

now, but by combining the two you’ll be able

you’ve been on an adventure before you

to spend a couple of hours soaring above

even get to Busk Lane. After several miles of

the surrounding countryside from the seat of

single-track road, you’ll see a track stretching

your 4x4.

out up the hill ahead of you as you reach the farm – and that’s when the fun really starts.

It’s rocky in places and rutted in others,

Glaisdale Rigg

You can call it a road all you want, but this

with steep gradients and a view that seems

lane is definitely not somewhere to go in a

to go on forever. Then at its southern end, the

Fiesta. It’s easy enough at its northern end,

lane gives you a choice of turning right on a

where it dives off from a busy road junction

gentler track or left and enjoying more rocks

County Length From To

near East Ilsley, but all of a sudden there’s a

and ruts over the moorland of Stake Moss.

West of Glaisdale village is a series of rights

side slope to contend with – followed by a

Woolvers Road

Cam High Road County Length From To

North Yorkshire 4.75 miles SD 925 895 SD863 853

North Yorkshire 2.1+ miles NZ 768 053 NZ 740 040

of way centred around one main track running east-west across the moor. It’s very easily driven – just enough to make it an adventure if you’re up here on holiday and fancy surprising the family with a bit of ‘offroad’ action – but its popularity with walkers and horse riders mean discipline remains

The legend next to it on the map says ‘Roman

essential. You won’t want to rush it, at any

Road,’ not that you wouldn’t have guessed

rate – the effortless views to the south see

from the miles of dead-straight stone and

to that.

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Slaley Forest

caused by illegal off-road use away from the right of way.

Fremington Edge County Length From To

North Yorkshire 2.3 miles NZ 044 990 NZ 045 023

Fremington is not a particularly long lane, and the first part of it (coming from the south) is tarmac. But you’ll feel like you’ve been on it all day, whichever direction you take it in.

That’s because the central portion of the route is a steep, loose, uneven rock crawl as you tackle Fremington Edge itself. In either direction, it feels like a seat-of-your-pants driving challenge, and coming downhill from

Rudland Rigg

Fosse Way

County Length From To

County Length From To

North Yorkshire 10+ miles NZ 592 061 SE 659 927

Hurst village in the north you have the whole of Swaledale laid out below you. Even on the

Wiltshire 11.8 miles ST 840 796 ST 947 951

tarmac section, it’s still a beautiful drive – and the top portion over Marrick Moor takes you through a strange landscape of spent mine workings. One of the best lanes there is.

Copehill Down

One of the longest uninterrupted stretches

Running along the Wiltshire-Gloucestershire

of off-tarmac driving you can do in the UK,

border as it strikes north into the Cotswolds,

Rudland is actually about the same length as

the Fosse is a series of straight gravel tracks

the famous Rubicon Trail. It only takes half

suitable for almost any 4x4. In effect, it’s sev-

an hour or so to drive, though, as opposed

eral separate lanes on the same heading, with

to two days, because the bumps are mainly

liaison sections in between, but you can also

County Length From To

quite small – though you certainly don’t want

weave in the many other tracks branching

One of the Salisbury Plain classics, Copehill

to rush it. A few miles from its southern end,

out to your left and right to make things more

combines a number of byways which can be

meanwhile, a crossroads with two other

interesting for driver and navigator alike.

woven together to make a long and at times

rights of way gives you the chance to create

You’ll need to do a bit of this, indeed, as one

Wiltshire 7.9+ miles SU 036 473 SU 057 446

tricky lane run. The high point is your passage

a circuit including some steeper gradients –

section of the Fosse itself has been closed

around the fabled German Village, built by

and yet more stunning views to boot.

to 4x4s in the last few years due to damage

the Army in 1988 for training troops in close

Old Coach Road

combat should the Soviets invade Europe – not just because of the weirdness of your surroundings, but because while some of the rights of way are under voluntary restraint by winter, they’re more than made up for by dozens of permissive byways opened up to the public by the Defence Estate.

Violets Lane County Length From To

Hertfordshire 0.9 miles TL 437 280 TL 436 294

The words ‘Furneux Pelham’ make all green laners smile. The village is at one end of a unique right of way – which is also the course of the River Ash. For much of the year, it’s a reasonably firmly surfaced sunken lane with big, long puddles in a chain along a mile or so of its length. But when river levels are

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high, particularly in winter, that same mile or

there’s only one real route through the forest.

what you’re here for is the hugely expansive

so becomes a trough of standing water that’ll

This is still worth the drive, though, because

scenery, Actually, you should come here for

come right over your bonnet and up your

at times the expanses of conifers stretching

the history, too; next to the lane are the rem-

windscreen. You have been warned…

in all directions could almost have you believ-

nants of Lodge, the tiny hamlet in which an

ing you’re in Scandinavia.

18th Century tale of robbery, witchcraft and

Harling Drove County Length From To

Suffolk 3.2 miles TL 839 888 TL788 881

Old Coach Road

This long, straight lane i nThetford Forest is

County Length From To

unusual in that it’s predominantly sandy. No,

A classic right of way in the Lake District, the

it’s not like driving in the Sahara – but here

Old Coach road stretches from west to east

and there, the surface is sufficiently deep and

and passes through a wide valley that’s glori-

soft for you to feel your engine starting to la-

ous in the sun and bleak as anything in the

bour. Combine this with an almost savannah-

mist and rain. This being the Lakes, there’s

like landscape of scattered trees and scrubby

every chance you’ll see both before you get to

bush, and you can easily convince yourself

the far end.

you’re somewhere altogether more exotic.

Slaley Forest County Length From To

Northumberland 4.5 miles NY 951 566 NY 986 545

Cumbria 5.0 miles NY 380 219 NY 266 231

Deadman’s Hill County Length From To

North Yorkshire 6.7 miles SE 044 808 SE 091 743

ritualistic murder give it its name.

Best of all, the trail fetches up crossing Scar House Dam – and bringing you to the start of In Moor Lane, which climbs steeply up the towering escarpment you’ve been seeing in the distance for as long as you can remember. Safe to say it’s worth the wait…

Long Lane/Dawson Close County Length From To

North Yorkshire 7.0 miles SD 813 695 SD 898 743

North of Settle, these two lanes rise to cross the hills between Ribblesdale and Littondale, giving you uninterrupted views of Pen y Ghent before skirting around Churn Milk Hole, a huge collapsed sinkhole, then dropping down the edge of a yawningly wide hanging valley.

There are several squeakily tight gates to

This is one of the greatest off-tarmac drives

get through, but these are lanes to relax and

There are several byways in Slaley, but with

in the whole country. It’s not vastly tricky,

enjoy – well defined, usable in all weathers

most of them having been closed to 4x4s

though there are steepish hills to tackle, but

and sure to be glorious all year round.

Deadman’s Hill / In Moor Lane

November 2024 I Overlander 4x4

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GRAND FINALE

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It’s been a long time since we were horrified by the all-new Mk2 Suzuki Grand Vitara. Almost two decades later, we’ve finally found one that’s a worthy successor to the Vitaras of old Words Olly Sack Pictures George Lewis and Alan Kidd

B

ack in 2005, Suzuki invited us on the launch of the all-new Grand Vitara. The replacement for the first model to bear the name, this was radically different to its forerunner. Up until now, the Grand Vitara (and the Vitara before it) had been real off-roaders with a proper chassis and a proper rear axle – but all that was gone, to be replaced by a monocoque, all-independent suspension and gearing that was about as much use as its wheel travel. The five-door did get low range but, bizarrely, the three-door didn’t.

Suzuki had hired the best off-road events team in the business to create a route through a Hertfordshire forest that would prove the new Grand Vitara was still the real thing. Even they couldn’t work magic, though. As we drove round it, remarking to ourselves that we could do this in a Fiesta, is became clear that was we were driving was very much an on-roader.

The problem was that it wasn’t even much cop at that. It handled pretty well, as Suzukis always do. But its ride was horrible, its refinement was largely absent and bits of the dashboard fell off when we touched them. After a decade and more of adoring everything Suzuki did, we were aghast.

In particular, it saddened us that with Suzukis’ wonderful suitability for modifying, we couldn’t see anyone ever doing it to the new Grand Vitara. We were right on that score, too – even if the amount of them on

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Above left: When George bought a set of remoulds on Marketplace but the pros couldn’t get them to balance, it was time for a quick fix in the shape of some General Grabber X3s. Great tyres but these were 245/75R16s, as opposed to the 235/70R16s the Grand Vitara had worn previously. Time to break out the grinder; see if you can spot where… Since then, the X3s have been condemned by the MOT man and replaced by the Radar Renegades you see here Above right: The most recent MOT saw the front suspension arms being replaced – you can see how much newer they look compared to everything around them (apart from the tyres, which were also new at the same time)

the roads suggested that the car-buying public didn’t share our views on what it was like to drive. Almost 20 years later, for the first time we’ve finally come across one being used for off-roading.

It’s a 2.4-litre five-door dating from 2010 and, as you can see, it’s looking a lot cooler now than it did then. Not that it didn’t look cool then (Suzukis have always been styled pretty slickly, in the main) but over the last year it’s had a new lease of life.

That’s how long its owner, George Lewis, has been building it. When he’s not building it, he’s green laning in it. Actually, he does both when he’s not driving massive great agricultural machines back and forth over the fields of northern Lincolnshire. And when he’s not shooting. He’s a countryside sort of boy.

The shooting, and the farming, both contributed to the story of how the Suzuki got to be the way it is. George bought it in 2020 and went on to spend the next three years driving it completely stock.

‘It was primarily used as a shoot bus and my daily to work,’ he says. ‘It wasn’t until I started on a new farm, a mate’s Defender caught my eye – even though it was a Chelsea tractor, I started the thinking about how I could make the Grand Vitara off-road ready.’

To be fair, if people can turn Defenders into Chelsea tractors then why not turn Mk2 Grands into off-roaders?

Falkland warrior

It was another Land Rover that really got George thinking, though. This is one he saw out and about on the mean streets of Grimsby, near where he lives; it’s owned

Above: On an older-model Vitara (or Grand Vitara), you’d be looking at a nice beam axle here. The multi-link independent set-up introduced in 2005 aids handling but doesn’t do anything at all for ground clearance or articulation – even with the +2” springs and shocks seen here Below: As George says, it’s not a 4x4 if it doesn’t have LEDs. There are few things more capable of bringing out the snob in an off-roader, but he’s happy to announce that his are cheap ‘uns from eBay and Amazon. Doesn’t seem to stop them working…

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The snorkel, roof bars and roof rack were birthday and Christmas presents. Next time someone you love gives you socks, make them stand in the corner reading this magazine until they’re ready to apologise

by Steve Allenby and it’s quite possibly the coolest Freelander in existence. ‘It looked like it was straight from the Falklands,’ says George. ‘An incredible build that really started my modding experience!’

His first port of call was Jimnybits, where he picked up a Black Raptor 2” lift kit consisting of +2” extended shocks and

springs for the rear and a pair of 2” spacers for the front. Going higher means going wider to keep it stable, so he also bought in a set of 30mm wheel spacers and now he had a Grand Vitara with a stance worthy of the name.

Or did he? ‘I realised quickly that despite the lift kit, the Grand’s weakness is still

A 13,500lb Rhino winch is tucked nicely in behind the bumper. Quite a lot of weight there nonetheless, especially as it’s wound with steel cable, but the suspension does still hold it nice and level Suzuki’s 2.4-litre petrol engine is not the stuff of smoky burnouts, however it does shift the Grand Vitara quite happily – aided in this case by a K&N filter, a gentle tune for more torque and a straight-through exhaust

ground clearance. I now understood what a Suzuki line means! So I bought some full underbody guards from Sumpguard UK, giving me some peace of mind that I wasn’t going to do any serious damage to major components.’

Now we’re getting someplace. The first step is definitely to avoid grounding out, but the second is equally definitely to avoid damage when you do. And you will.

George had it sorted there now, and he wasn’t stopping. ‘Of course, it can’t be a 4x4 without light bars. So I sourced some cheap ones from eBay and Amazon.’ Selfappointed brigadiers of the kit snob army, read it and weep.

That was it for a while, but so long as people are able to list things for sale there’ll never be such a thing as a finished project.

You know what’s coming. ‘The truck stayed like this for a few months,’ explains George, ‘until I got lucky on Facebook Marketplace and found some Freelander 1 modular rims and remould tyres.

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Sadly, for the life of them the guys at the tyre shop George took the Suzuki to couldn’t get the tyres to balance. So the next day they were swapped out for a set of used General Grabber X3s, going up in size from 235/70R16 to 245/75R16.’ That’s a 30.5” replacing a 29”: ‘needless to say, the grinder was busy that afternoon!’

Mud angel

Now he’s rolling tall, he’s plated up and he’s got lights. It’s all going very well. And it got better. First came his birthday and then came Christmas – and lo, the angel of the mud came down and the people of Galilee (well, Grimsby) saw that it was good, and they did anoint the Suzuki with bounteous

gifts of a snorkel, roof bars and a roof rack.

And there was much rejoicing.

There wasn’t quite as much rejoicing when the MOT man pointed out a variety of annoying things. Most of these were the sort of small details you can polish off pretty quickly, but it was clear that those Grabbers weren’t so much part-worn as just worn. Enter a brand new set of Radar Renegade R/T+ rubber, a pattern which falls somewhere between the traditional notion of an all-terrain and a mud-terrain.

The front suspension arms pulled fails for excessive pin and bush wear, too, and these too were renewed. Look under the vehicle now and you’ll see that they’re black amid a sea of the browny grey all off-road

vehicles end up in. It’s not uncommon for lifting a vehicle to find out weak spots in the standard parts of the suspension, so no huge surprises there.

Obviously, with bigger tyres to turn and more weight to shift, Suzuki’s 2.4-litre petrol engine might be finding life a bit of a struggle. Its notional output would be around 160bhp and a similar amount of torque, but we remember it from way back then as being better at making noise than stirring the soul. George’s might not be any quieter but the noise in question is a nicer one thanks to a straight-through exhaust, and the combination of a ‘moderate tune’ and a K&N air filter helps add a little in the way of zest.

‘It looked like it was straight from the Falklands. An incredible build that really started my modding experience!’

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These are the things that matter when your lane warrior is also your daily drive. But as you can see, it certainly IS a green lane warrior – having taken Suzuki’s road-biased SUV and turned it back into more like what it should have been all along, he’s not shy of using it the way it now should be.

We might have been aghast when we first drove the second-generation Grand Vitara. But as time went on, the vehicles themselves got better and Suzuki was well and truly back on track. Still, every time we’ve seen one since we’ve thought back with a shudder to that awful day in 2005. Until now. Finally, a Grand Vitara that relishes taking on the sort of terrain you couldn’t do in a Fiesta…

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SUBARU FORESTER fuel economy and CO2 results (WLTP): Combined 34.7mpg, CO2 emissions 185g/km. MPG figures are official EU test figures for comparative purposes & may not reflect real driving results. Fuel consumption achieved in real life conditions & CO2 produced depends on a number of factors including accessories fitted (post-registration), variations in weather, driving styles & vehicle load.

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TRAVEL

GOING BUSH

PART 1

Namibia is one of Africa’s most varied nations – and one of its most distinctive. Long distances blend with tough terrain in its deserts and safari parks – the perfect environment for a Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ79 with a Bushcamper conversion to demonstrate why it’s up there with the lions and elephants as one of the kings of the jungle Words: Jurij Modic Pictures: Jurij and Mateja Modic

O

verland travel is normally about living out of your own vehicle, but for many years we have been exploring Africa for two or three weeks at a time in rented 4x4s.

Doing it this way wouldn’t be for everyone – obviously, if you’re planning a years-long global expedition there’s no way you’d do it

50

in a hire car – but it’s still very much a way of life.

Living non-stop out of a truck wouldn’t work for us but, having visited Africa for the first time and fallen in love with it, we’re constantly drawn back there. And renting a fully equipped overland vehicle is, for us, the perfect way to travel.

It does mean that we have to be prepared to deal with a mixed bag of trucks, some better prepared than others.

In Zambia, for example, we needed to change a wheel – only to discover that the nuts holding it on were too big for the spanner the hire company had supplied.

That could have been very dangerous out

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Handover time is always nerve-wracking when you’re hiring a car and desperately hoping you’re not going to get a shed.

No danger of that here – the HZJ79 Land Cruiser from Savanna Car Hire was brand new, with just 5100km on the clock, as was the top-quality Bushcamper conversion mounted on its back

in the desert, but fortunately it happened in a city. Incidents like this are rare, though: by and large, the vehicles we hire have proved to be excellent and very well suited to our purpose.

The best so far, however, has been the Toyota Land Cruiser Bushcamper we rented from Savanna Car Hire in Windhoek

for an 18-night expedition in Namibia.

Being based on the legendary 70-Series is a good start (an HZJ79 double-cab in our case), and the equipment and storage layout in the habitation area really is topnotch. Opening the roof top tent takes a maximum of 30 seconds, and to close it takes not more than one minute. And all

this requires only one man, with absolutely no need for assistance.

Better still, the vehicle itself (as well as the camping equipment) was brand new – it only had 5100 kilometres on the clock when we took it over, to which we added another 4600 during our trip.

This was our first visit to Namibia, making it the eighth African country we had explored. Our plan was to start with 10 days in the national parks of the North (Etosha and the Caprivi Strip), followed by about a week among the classic attractions of central Namibia.

We visited Namibia in August, which is late winter down there. If you like the idea of travelling in Africa but very hot weather gets you down, you might take a leaf from our book here: the highest daily temperatures rarely exceeded 30°C and even though it was sunny almost every day, they mainly stayed at around 25-28°C. They didn’t drop below freezing at night, either.

A month later and we’d have been into the rainy season, but really we could hardly have wished for anything better.

We could have wished for a slightly more efficient experience when we first arrived, though. Our flight landed an hour late and then passing through immigration took us

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an additional hour. The process of taking over the vehicle was quite efficient, but we still hit the road more than two hours later than planned. It was already early afternoon and, with a good 400 kilometres ahead of us, it was obvious that we would have to drive last part of it in the dark. That made us a bit nervous – seasoned African travellers try to make a rule of only ever being on the road by day – but there was not much we could do about it.

Strange places

Now, your perfect picture of overland travelling may well be of yourself in your vehicle, taking life at your own pace and hitting strange and wonderful places along the way. And yes, it can be like that. Be warned, though. We planned this trip more than half a year in advance – and when I tried to book a camp site inside Etosha National Park, they were already all full.

So instead, we had a reservation at Etosha Safari Camp, a few miles from the park’s Anderson gate – and thank goodness for that, as we would have been too late to enter the park anyway.

It was already pitch dark when we arrived and the camp was quite full, but we managed to squeeze ourselves in somewhere. It had been an exhausting day, after 16 hours in the air and another six hours on the road, but having our first braai and cold beer made us forget how tired we were. We were in Africa again and that was all that mattered!

We thought we might sleep in the following morning, but obviously our excitement for what was to come won out

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The campsite at Halali makes up for with dust what it lacks in shade. But that pales into insignificance when you’re sitting by a floodlit waterhole in the evening while a crash of black rhinos deal with some sort of unsettled family dispute over our exhaustion from what had been as we were up and waiting at the gate before the park was even open. Etosha really is a prime spot for self-drive game viewing, with its open plains and excellent roads, and we had a very relaxing time there. We had no luck with cheetah, leopard, serval and other big cats, but we saw lions on three occasions. Elephants and plain game were in good numbers, too, looking very healthy and not skittish at all – unlike the Hilux we saw smashed up and rolled at the side of the main road. Someone must have been having a little bit too much of a relaxing time.

We spent that night at Okaukuejo, followed by two at Halali. Both campsites

were a bit bleak and dusty, with very little shade, but evenings by the floodlit waterholes in each were amazing. Those at Halali were particularly productive: the first evening, we were entertained by two black rhinos, and the second by no less than five of them at the same time. They seemed to have some unsettled arguments among themselves, too, so the whole experience was quite noisy and aggressive at times!

Strip show

After three days in Etosha, we left through the Namutoni gate on the eastern side of the park and set off en route for the Caprivi Strip. If you take a look at a map of Namibia, it’s an oddly shaped nation, more

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Dirt roads make for easy travelling, but they can catch out the unwary – especially when the unwary are used to everyday cars with a lower centre of gravity and suddenly find themselves driving trucks carrying heavy roof loads. Judging by the single tyre mark, the Hilux’s position and the damage to its left A-post, it was doing quite some speed and went over more than once before coming to rest here

or less rectangular but with a long, thin limb sticking out of its north-east corner – kind of like a mirror image of Oklahoma, which has something similar running along the northern edge of the Texas Panhandle.

The Caprivi Strip has borders with Angola and Zambia to the north and Botswana to the south. With an abundance

of water, it’s a totally different natural habitat to the rest of Namibia – making its three national parks, Mahango, Nkasa Rupara and Mudumu, more like being in a separate country.

Leaving Etosha, an excellent tarmac road led us via Tsumeb to Grootfontein.

This is a large and well established town

and a major intersection in Namibia’s road and rail networks, but just before we arrived there we took a detour to the right and followed a good gravel road to one of the country’s lesser-known attractions: Hoba Meteorite.

Discovered about a hundred years ago by Jacobus Brits, a farmer, who ran

Hoba Meteorite was unearthed about a century ago after a farmer hit it with his plough. Weighing around 60 tons, it hit the planet at about 6000mph sometime in the last 80,000 years. The Namibian government awarded it national monument status in 1955 to prevent people from tampering with it (a few chunks had already been chiselled from its edges by then), meaning it has remained intact where it landed

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Nkasa Rupara is rarely visited by tourists.

They’re missing out on a vast landscape which is absolutely unspoiled and pristine On the southern tip of the Caprivi Strip, Nkasa Rupara National Park deserves more visitors than it gets. The authors arrived at their camp site early in the afternoon and had the whole place to themselves – save for the occasional warthog into it while ploughing his fields with an ox. Scientists have dated it to less than 80,000 years old, and estimated that it hit the surface of the Earth at slightly more than 6000mph. It weighs around 60 tons, making it the world’s heaviest intact metallic meteorite; it was made a national monument in 1955 to prevent people from moving it, the result being that it still lies where it landed; a tourist centre has been

built at the site, with amphitheatre-style seating in rings around it.

We stopped that night at Roy’s Camp, about 50 kilometres north-east of Grootfontein. With nice, shady pitches, clean bathrooms and a lively bar, plus a handy location just off the main road, this was an ideal stop-off on the way to Caprivi.

The next morning we continued to Rundu, right up north on the border with

Angola. This is Namibia’s second biggest city after Windhoek; it’s still less than quarter of the size of the nation’s capital, but it was the perfect place to replenish our supplies for the coming week away from civilisation.

At the village of Divundu, we turned toward south to Shametu River Lodge on the banks of the Okavango River. This was noticeably different to those we had stayed at in Etosha; its pitches are very private, each with their own kitchen and bathroom area, but on the other hand they’re a bit away from the river, with no wildlife to view.

It would have been the perfect time to relax in our camp chairs and watch the animals, too, because after a long day on the road we were too tired for a game drive.

Parks aplenty

The following morning, we headed to the nearby Mahango National Park. This has a slightly odd history in that it was merged with the Caprivi Game Park in 2007 to become part of the 6274 square kilometre Bwabwata National Park, but it retains its own character and is in itself small enough to be quite thoroughly covered in one morning. We found that the tracks alongside the Okavango were in good condition; the wildlife was prolific, too, but

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Susuwe is a tiny corner of the much bigger Bwabwate National Park. You definitely need four-wheel drive and low range to get through the sand here – and it’s worth putting in the work, because the area is teeming with elephants, buffalo and birds so colourful they look like they’ve been painted the people weren’t – we didn’t meet any other cars there at all.

We left the Okavango area the following morning, discovering that while the Caprivi Strip may be narrow it’s certainly long – the journey to the Kwando River to the east meant covering around 250 kilometres.

Luckily, the main road along the Strip is excellent and allows you to maintain a decent speed.

Our target was the Nkasa Rupara National Park, on the southern tip of the Caprivi. We arrived at Rupara Restcamp early in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day in its lovely surroundings, enjoying visits from local warthogs and observing birds around the camp. Surprisingly, we were the only guests there – and again the next day, while exploring the park we didn’t meet a single other vehicle.

As this shows, Nkasa Rupara is rarely visited by tourists. They’re missing out on a vast landscape of swamps alongside the Kwando which is absolutely unspoiled and pristine. The park’s counterpart on

the far side of the Kwando, in Botswana, is Linyanti – part of Chobe National Park, which is definitely not short of tourists.

Mudumu National Park, meanwhile, is situated only around 40 kilometres north of Nkasa Rupara and also lies alongside the Kwando – but it is a totally different environment, with deep sand and riverine forests providing a stark contrasts to the previous day’s swampland.

Another contrast is that there are only three camping spots inside the whole park, each accommodating only one small camping party. They have no facilities, except for a long-drop toilet, so you have to be totally self-sufficient – it’s as close to wild camping as you’re ever going to get in a national park. We spent two nights there and for me, this was the best camping experience of the whole trip – we were right on the river bank and, with no other sites nearby, it felt for all the world as if we had the park all to ourselves.

Our final night before heading back towards central Namibia was in Nambwa

Community Camp. This is in the Susuwe Triangle, a small part of the Bwabwata National Park that’s located on its eastern border, and is rich in game, particularly elephants and buffalo which can easily be found in great numbers. It lies on the western bank of the Kwando river and is similar to Mudumu on the other side, both in its wild character and in the very deep sand sections along its tracks. You wouldn’t want to go here without, a sturdy 4x4 – and of course, with our HZJ79 we had pretty much the sturdiest there is.

As we said earlier, the Land Cruiser we hired in Namibia was the best vehicle we had explored in by this stage in our travels. Being so new was a bonus, and its equipment was top quality, making it a pleasure both to drive and to live out of. It was a superb camping companion – and had already proved itself to be the tough, dependable and sure-footed all-terrain wagon we were going to need as we pointed its blunt nose towards the desert.

Continued next month

The authors, who are regular travellers in Africa, document their visits there in a Wordpress blog titled Our African Ramblings. You can find it by visiting safaribug.wordpress.com

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RETURN OF THE KING There was no King of France in 2023. Must have been a revolution or something. But this year, Ultra4 Europe was back in business and ready to crown a new champion Words: Graham Scott Pictures: Ultra4 Europe

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S

Aymeric Syre won the Legends class by a country mile, completing 12 laps to leave second and third place Paul Molinero and Jan Klingenberg trailing in his wake

o the Americans have the baseball ‘World Series’. Despite its name, all of the teams come from the USA. This is kind of the opposite. Teams from ten different countries, all from Europe, all trying to be the King of France.

Of course, you could argue the 40 teams had a pretty clear run, since the last French king, Louis XVI, was executed over 200 years ago. However, that did not deter the teams from tackling what is one of the most challenging off-road competitions. Of course, everything Ultra4 Europe does is challenging.

This is elite-level competition, for the best of the best in the field of competitive winch racing. It’s not elitist, but it is a cut above the mucky norms of most.

So perhaps that makes the title King of France about right. And it actually happened, which is a triumph in itself because last year it was cancelled at the last minute due to lack of numbers. They had 40 entries this year, which is more than double what they were on when the 2023 event was pulled.

The event is held in the grounds of Chateau de Lastours, near Narbonne. That means close to the Pyrenees, where there are plenty of rocky, dry, dusty hillsides mostly full of vineyards. Rolling off the route here could have terrible consequences. Those vines are valuable.

Perhaps that’s an odd site, but also in keeping with the event. And it also means some long, fast sections and then other sections that looked more suitable for mountaineers. Make no mistake, a production 4x4 would simply not be capable of completing the full course.

Instead there are five categories: Stock, Modified, Legend, SSV and Unlimited. The more productionbased categories, like Stock, were not required to cross the two extreme zones that everyone else had to cross, first up and then down, every day. However, with a 20km lap length, there was plenty for everyone even though just over half the teams were in the ultimate Unlimited category.

And this was no one-day affair. If you’re going to be king, you have to work for it. For example, there were two prologues, one during the day, the other at night, even before the event proper got underway.

And then there were two days of competition over a course laid out by Nicolas Montador (a former King of Wales, even though he’s French) and our own Chris Bowler. A clue there that, in golfing terms, this was going to be more US Open than crazy golf.

If you wanted to tackle this in the Stock category you needed to have a standard chassis, engine and bodywork and only one shock absorber per wheel.

But if you were in the Unlimited category you could have a ‘motor of choice’ placed front or rear in your chassis of choice. This could have independent suspension front and rear and two shocks per wheel, though these were limited to a maximum of 37”.

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Teams from Portugal took all three places in the Unlimited category.

Flavio Aquino won it for OnOff Racing with a total time of 4:27:45.510 in his Wrangler-bodied proto, with Antonio Oliveira less than three minutes behind and Andre Hernandez a dozen minutes further back in third

So this was the playground for some extreme off-roaders, all competing to be, to give it its full title, ‘King of France 2024 Locked by ARB’. As you can see from the photos this was the sort of terrain that probably put some work the way of the local dentist way after the event. Absolutely brain-

rattling ascents and descents over rock fields, and then some very fast sections, perilously close to the vines. Will no-one think of the wine?

But really the main focus was on those two extreme sections, named WSR Rocks and Gigglepin Rocks. If you didn’t have

a winch it was unlikely you’d be getting through. Particularly when the section had to be taken uphill. It made a strange sight – competitors in Nomex suits and helmets trying to scramble up what looked like a rock wall, with loose boulders falling underfoot, and always a desperate search

The irresistible rise of the SSV has been there for all to see in desert racing and comp safari, and they’re starting to make serious inroads in Ultra4 too. This was actually the second most populous class after the full-fat Unlimiteds. Team Skyworks from Italy locked out the first two places, but third went to France’s Noah Jacquet – the youngest driver in the event 62

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The Y60 Patrol was never a common sight in Britain, and they do like to rust, but Mathias Armand provided further proof that this is one of the toughest 4x4s of all time by taking the Stock class title. Second and third places both went to French-entered Land Rovers, with Yohan Chinot’s 90 the only other vehicle in the class to even complete the same number of runs as the winner

for somewhere solid to get that winch strap wrapped around.

Seriously might be worth considering having a mountain goat as co-driver for next year. It was the sort of terrain that just hammers everything, from tyres to suspension to occupants.

Which of course made it all the more watchable. Despite not being as open to press and PR as some events, the organisers had set up everything from a drone to cameras round the course, which all played out live through a big monitor to spectators who could also wander round the paddock. Frankly, reaching much of the course would have been beyond most of the spectators, especially after lunch.

Despite all the extreme off-roading and the serious desire to win the event, there was still time for a fair amount of enjoyment. To see the spirit in which some teams approached the competition you just have to look at the team names. To take three at random: The Brothers of Extreme, Off Road Terror and The Crazy Germans.

With teams from all over Europe, from the UK to Poland, from Holland to Malta, it was actually a trio of drivers from Portugal who triumphed in the Unlimited class – perhaps they’re more used to dry, rocky terrain than someone from Bradford.

Flavio Aquino, Antonio Oliveira and Andre Hernandez took the three podium steps, although this did not seem to remotely deter

other competitors from planning their return next year.

It says something that Jim Marsden of Gigglepin Racing, who has probably won more events than anyone else in British motorsport over the last couple of decades, only came 12th. He wasn’t sulking about it: ‘If you love hard and fast Ultra4 style racing and want to race the best teams in Europe in incredible surroundings, make sure you are here in 2025.’

Actually, perhaps he was playing it canny just to make sure he’ll be around to take part again next year at all. Maybe failing to be crowned King of France is not such a bad thing. It didn’t work out too well for Louis XVI, after all…

Daniel Barros gave Portugal another trophy, winning the Modified class in his Y60 Nissan Patrol pick-up. Compatriots Bruno and Jose Santos were third in another Patrol; in between them was extreme off-road legend Ralf Kueller from Germany in his Jeep November 2024 I Overlander 4x4

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NEXT MONTH

PICK-UP OF THE YEAR Will the Ranger’s reign continue?

PLUS Ford F150 turned into a big rig for big trips

New generation VW Touareg on test

A new lease of life for our Isuzu D-Max

DECEMBER 2024 ISSUE: ON SALE 24 OCT 64

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Isuzu (UK) Ltd a subsidiary of International Motors Limited. Visit Isuzu.co.uk or contact your local Isuzu dealership for more information.

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