Winter 2015 Issue of 4×4 Magazine

Welcome to the 2015 4×4 Of The Year. This is our annual special issue where we look at the latest 4x4s on the market, from the seriously hardcore, the seriously expensive and the seriously competitive SUV market. Hopefully you won’t mind me blowing the magazine’s well used trumpet to explain that this magazine was the first ever to do such a major four-wheel drive group test back in the 1980s, and we have managed to continue every year since. As you can imagine, we are genuinely rather proud of that record, and since I was in on the very start, I can also be personally proud (and somewhat surprised, if I’m honest) to be still around and involved.

It’s always a massive undertaking to get all these vehicles together in one place, and the logistics were managed impeccably as ever by Sue Loy. We then need a photographer who understands the special demands of a 4×4 test, and once again we relied heavily on the many talents of Wayne Mitchelson. Our thoughts go to Wayne as he has managed to injure his back since the test – thankfully he got the images to me before the accident! Here’s hoping you are back behind the wheel soon, Wayne. In charge of most of the testing were previous editors of this magazine, Hils Everitt and Bob Cooke; add myself to the mix, and the team is complete. Our thanks also have to go to Peter and Heather Morgan who let us use the extensive facilities at their Motor Safari site. Without their help and support we would not have been able to complete the test. Thanks, guys.

January 2015 Issue of 4×4 Magazine

Time for a confession. I’m getting rather interested in tyres. When discussing with any of my non off-roading friends that I’m about to write a feature on 4×4 rubber, I regularly get the rather tedious, and not very funny, comment that tyres are ‘black and round – what more is there to say?’ Plenty as far as I am concerned, and a lot of it very interesting in my humble opinion. In this month’s issue is the report of my recent experience driving 250 miles through the Mexican Baja, testing the new 4×4 tyres from BFGoodrich. This was an illuminating, entertaining and at times alarming experience, driving Baja Challenge buggies over some of the most testing off-road tracks and rocky trails this writer has ever experienced in 30 odd years of motoring journalism. For once it was not driving with a bunch of fellow journos, some of whom may think they are hotshot aces when getting behind the wheel, my fellow drivers in Mexico included actual Baja 1000 winners, and professional off-road specialists, including Rod Hall – the only person to complete all 46 Baja 1000 events! Humbling? You had better believe it.

December 2014 Issue of 4×4 Magazine

For many, SUVs are just plain ugly. Too big, too brash and too much. These people had a field day when Porsche unveiled its Cayenne. The company’s desire to make sure everyone knew it was a Porsche by grafting a 911 sports car nose on to the front was thought by some to be a hideous piece of automotive design. It’ll never sell… The Cayenne is now the largest selling model in the German manufacturer’s range; fair to say that, when looking at the sales figures, Porsche is now really an SUV manufacturer that side-lines in quirky sports cars.

SUV design is primarily a case of function taking first place over form. Few are designed just for design sake; a Defender is hardly svelte with smooth lines that make you want to run your hands along the bodywork – and not just for fear of catching yourself on a protruding rivet. It’s built to do a job and its looks are secondary. Much has changed at Land Rover with the high-class designs rolling from Gerry McGovern’s studio. When the Evoque was first shown, its dramatically different looks made traditionalists declare it was not a proper ‘off-roader’, it was soft and an example of design over function. Sales of the Evoque destroy such comments with sales being 50/50 between male and female customers, and driven properly the Evoque is a competent off-roader. And like the Cayenne, the Evoque is a huge sales success.