Ian Seabrook
The Maverick came to me with an entire eight months of MOT, which made the £500 asking price seem all the more of a bargain. As it happens, it then needed a near-complete brake rebuild and I’d ended up fitting new calipers, discs, pads and rear wheel cylinders. Therefore when the MOT was looming at the end of August, I was quite confident of a pass and headed to Tsalta Motorsport (www.tsaltamotorsport.co.uk) in Aberystwyth with fairly high hopes.
As reported last month, I had concerns about corrosion at the rear of the sills. The Maverick and Nissan Terrano II sibling have a pretty good rust record, but the sills are a definite weak point. I was right to be concerned though, the separate chassis meant that the tester put their weak state on the advisory list. That was academic as I decided it was far better to patch them up now than let the rot spread into the entire sill and floors.
Nigel Fryatt – editor
For anyone regularly enjoying off-roading, getting scratches on the bodywork goes with the territory. At least with the off-road, greenlane, territory. For those of us that use the 4×4 for a multitude of uses – daily driver, family saloon, and occasional mud-plugger – it’s a little more difficult. While you accept that there might be the odd scratch, you want the vehicle to look good.
Last month in our Atlas Overland adventure to the Mediterranean island of Corsica, our 4×4 convoy explored the central wooded lowlands and scaled the heights of the magnificent Monte Cinto. Now the tour heads north towards the stunning coastline and glorious beaches
It is appropriate that we should have a test of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class on this month’s front cover, as the company can rightly claim to celebrate its 105th anniversary of the very first commercially available 4×4 vehicle. Given the amount of celebrations that are recognised by other major players like Land Rover and Jeep, it’s worth remembering that the German company has a rightful place in the pantheon of 4×4 greats.
Jaguar Land Rover owner and Tata chairman, Ratan Tata gave an interesting interview in the Indian press this month. He was commenting on a deal for a new low-cost aluminium smelter, a joint venture between the Saudi Arabian Mining Company and Alcoa (the world’s leading producer of primary aluminium), being built in Saudi Arabia. This new factory would make the production of aluminium highly competitive and which could, said Ratan Tata, offer an “interesting business case” for the company. Now, given that the new Range Rover is built using a comprehensive aluminium monocoque, is it too large a leap to consider that Tata might indeed look at some sort of JLR production in Saudi Arabia? The vehicles would be closer to an important market, that’s for sure. (Our full, detailed, technical insight into the new Range Rover starts on page 38 of the 
The Land Rover range takes another significant step upmarket with the announcement that the previously more modest, Freelander 2, is to get a premium uplift. While we read, wide-eyed, that the new Range Rover could possibly top a six-figure on the road price, news has arrived about changes to the Freelander for the 2013 model year. This includes two completely new models, the ‘sporty’ Dynamic and the top of the range HSE Lux.
Bluecol – probably best known for their antifreeze and de-icer products – has a great range of winter products. These include the Snow Treads studded mats. Made from tough Polymer they could help getting you moving when things get particularly icy. They also fold away and can be stored in the boot. Bluecol also has a Snow Mat, which is a similar option only more flexible and they fit the contours of the road a little better. Ideal to use on your drive, especially if it has an incline. Neither are suitable for serious off-road usage, but as a ‘get you home’ could be ideal. One useful item that everyone should keep in the rear of the car is a shovel, and the Bluecol version has an extendable shaft. They also do an excellent Magnetic Frost Protector which wraps around the windscreen and ‘attaches’ to the car’s bodywork. This, of course, works great for snow and ice and for those very occasional days when the sun’s up and therefore it stops cooking the interior. These products will be available from the usual motoring retail outlets or check out the main website at: 
The Automobile Association has produced a comprehensive selection of products that will help when the weather turns. Much of these are available through motor factor outlets like Halfords, but you can also get them direct from the AA’s website – where they could well be cheaper! There were special offers available when this was being written, including an impressive £20 off the ‘Ultimate Winter Car Kit’ which comprises of an emergency snow shovel, gloves, hat, foil blanket. Snow and ice shoe grips, towrope, high visibility vest, and a big bag of de-icing salt. All packed together in a canvass bag. To find out more, check out: 
The rejuvanted South Korean carmaker has already impressed with its Korando SUV. Now it’s ready to tackle the burgeoning pick-up market. 
While there are more and more electric vehicles coming to the market, having an electric quad seems a little unlikely because of the size of the chassis, matched with the size of the batteries. The guys at Electric Quad Bikes have had a two-wheel drive electric quad – the Eco Charger Dominator – on the market for a couple of years now, but the really interesting news is that they have now got a 4×4 version, called the Eco Charger 4×4 Eliminator. And very impressive it looks.
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