[X]

KELSEYAdmin

1413 POSTS 0 COMMENTS

Chinese Whispers

Now, it’s highly unusual for a manufacturer to launch a new model onto the market, with all the associated fanfare, only to withdraw it immediately – before any models have hit the streets – and declare that production will be delayed by three months while a number of ‘key issues’ are sorted! That appears to be the case with Great Wall’s newest SUV, the H8, according to a report in the respected China Motor News. And the news raised more than just eyebrows when announced, as shares in the company fell by a reported 10 per cent; Great Wall is a particularly large company, so a 10 per cent drop is a lot of Yuan.

The H8 is the bigger brother model to the particularly successful selling H6 (which we still believe may available in the UK later this year). The H8 is claimed to be a competitor to the Honda CR-V and Ford Kuga, so this is a mainstream model, not a niche product.

Get the full story

Defender Challenge Series Announced

An exciting new rally car was unveiled at this year’s Autosport International motor racing show in January. Bowler Motorsport is building the new Defender Challenge car, which will be available to enter a one-make rally championship over the coming year, aimed to be the ideal feeder series to get people up to the standard where entry into the Dakar Rally can be more than just a pipe dream.

The modified Defender 90 hardtop is powered by an uprated version of the 2.2-litre diesel engine, developing 170bhp and 450Nm, mated to a six-speed transmission. It remains road legal, but has the necessary safety equipment fitted including roll bar, and fire extinguisher system and comes with all the necessary Motor Sports Association paperwork and log book, making it ready to race.

The Defender’s suspension has been upgraded to meet the demands of high-speed competition with the help of Bilstein (more details in Products on page 14). The vehicle’s bodywork has a Bowler Motorsport body kit to accommodate the lightweight 18inch wheels. A Bowler Defender Challenge vehicle costs £50,000 (plus VAT), and there is a £10,000 entry fee to the championship. Bowler also offers a servicing and logistical package that would allow an owner driver just to turn up and race, and not need your own support team behind you.

Get the full story

Does Rolls-Royce need a 4x4?

The news that the iconic luxury limousine manufacturer is actively considering building a 4×4 was somewhat underwhelming. Given the market for luxury SUVs, perhaps RR had to be seen to consider the idea. Of course, it was even less of a surprise that, should RR build such a vehicle, it was claimed it would become the most expensive production 4×4 in the world. Now of course it would. Are you listening Bentley?

In a world where the greatest range of British-built 4x4s are owned by an Indian company, the fact that another brand so synonymous with Britain is now owned by BMW shouldn’t really surprise or disappoint. Add to that the fact that Bentley is owned by Volkswagen and you wonder if the comments by Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös were made for VW’s benefit – since that German manufacturer has already announced a luxury 4×4 Bentley will be with us in 2015.

BMW does have extensive experience of some very clever high tech carbonfibre technology, and so there would be no problem with the technology to build a 4×4, the question would be what kind of market there would be for such a product? Perhaps the most important comment from the RR boss about this whole story was confirmation that should the company go ahead, any 4×4 Rolls-Royce would be built in the UK, at the Goodwood plant, because of the value that RR customers put on British engineering. It’s just a shame that the profits for such skill will leave the country.

Of course, Rolls-Royce has been involved with a successful 4×4 before… The original Austin Champ was fitted with a RR designed engine. Now that is what you call a heritage.

 

Box it upThe MUD UK cubby box bin is a simple but effective way of creating extra storage space in the cabin of your Land Rover Defender. It fixes to the rear face of the Defender’s standard cubby box to create an easy access storage bin for both front and rear seat occupants. It has been designed to fit all Defender models, and comes with all necessary fittings. It’s a great place for storing maps, CDs, and will even hold large water bottles. Fit one and we’re sure you’ll fill it, one of Murphy’s indubitable rules! The cubby box costs a very reasonable £28, including VAT and is available direct from the MUD UK website.

Website: www.mudstuff.co.uk 

Remote controls

Warn’s newly designed winch remote control system is now even easier to fit and operate, since it merely plugs in directly to the remote socket and can then be used wirelessly. This gives much more user flexibility and can be used up to 50ft away, which in itself is an impressive distance. The kit has a wireless transmitter with holster and mounting hardware, which can then be safely stored in the vehicle. The receiver plugs directly into the ‘D’ plug of the control pack. The wireless system is compatible with the Warn 3700 and 4700 utility winch models and available from the Arbil 4×4 dealer network. If you want to know more, contact the guys at Arbil, or check out the website.

Website: www.arbil4x4.co.uk 

 

Competition shocks from Bilstein

Top suspension company Bilstein has joined forces with Bowler to create a new shock absorber for the new Land Rover Defender Challenge Series (see details, News, page 10). As this is a ‘one make’ championship series, it is important that the shock absorbers for the Challenge are of a particularly tough standard, but not prohibitively expensive for competitors. The new dampers feature an active compression valve as well as a uniball supporting bearing to eliminate the slop and movement often found in standard fittings. A large 46mm diameter piston has been employed to ensure maximum damping force. Each damper uses Bilstein’s proven gas pressure technology and is of an inverted monotube design for maximum performance and rates have been factory pre-set to ensure a level playing field for all competitors across the championship. The units each have a remote reservoir, offering an increased oil capacity for improved heat dissipation and damping sensitivity. The units were unveiled with the new Championship at the recent Autosport International Show at the NEC.

Website: www.bilstein.com 

 

The growth in SUV ‘soft-roaders’ continues apace. For the traditional, more serious mud-plugger, such vehicles are often dismissed, disparagingly. Armed with some knowledge to aid your driving ability and the soft-roader will go a lot further than is often considered. And at the end of the day, isn’t it great that the soft-roader needs some driver input rather than just switching the super sophisticated terrain control to ‘Auto’ and ploughing on regardless?

Words: Robert Pepper  Photography: Robert Pepper and Wayne Mitchelson

soft roadersThink 4×4 and vehicles like the Discovery, Land Cruiser and Grand Cherokee come to mind, or maybe pick-ups like the Hilux or Ranger. These vehicles are capable of carrying heavy loads over rough terrain, but are not cheap to buy or to run. Smaller, certainly lighter vehicles such as the Santa Fe, Freelander, SX4 and others offer rough-terrain capability at lower prices – these are soft-roaders designed for lighter duty work and they lack low range gears. The question is whether the trade-off is worth it, and how far can you go in a softie?

First off, any 4×4, whether it has low range or not, needs two basic features to be seriously considered for off-roading. The first is front and rear recovery points, which doesn’t mean screw-in eyes but might mean a rear towbar. If there is no front recovery point then at least use two screw-in eyes and use a long bridle (at least 5m) to equalise (but not halve) the load.

The second is a full-size spare wheel, or at least the option to take one somewhere. Spacesaver spares or worse yet, the aerosol can option you spray into a punctured tyre, just don’t cut it off-road. These two criteria alone cut the wide field of soft-roaders to far fewer, and it is these which are your real candidates for any terrain rougher than a dirt road.

Get the full story

March 2014 Issue of 4×4 Magazine

march coverIt’s better to be 70 years young than 40 years old. How appropriate, this month, is that quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Not someone I knew much about, but he seems to have been a leading light in the Supreme Court in the USA in the early part of the 20th Century. He retired at 90 days and 309 days old – which I reckon you can ‘round up’ to be 91 years young.

Why mention him? Well, I reckon old Wendell would have got on well with our contributor Les Carvall. Having finished a successful business career, Les sat back, relaxed but found that the tartan slippers weren’t best suited for his itchy feet. But instead of going fishing or sitting in his shed drinking tea, Les decided to drive around the world in a Suzuki Jimny. Now that’s quite a simple sentence to write, but it’s not an easy thing to do. The physical achievement of all that driving is one thing, the organisation of getting not one, but two Jimnys around the globe through some of the remotest parts of Asia is the bit that really impresses us. You can read the full story this month and if it doesn’t inspire you to actually do that trip you’ve always promised yourself… well then you are certainly getting old.

You need a certain maturity to compete on a rally raid event, and the Dakar in particular. For us mortals, a high-speed off-road event that covers some 5600 miles is pretty unimaginable, especially given the conditions. It’s an iconic event, ‘the Dakar’, and this year it was totally dominated by the Mini All4 Racing machines, with seven finishing in the top ten. Now that’s not a problem if they were battling it out, but sadly three stages from the end, the monstrous ‘team orders’ came into play and the top three Minis trundled across the finish line without breaking into a sweat. Don’t know about you, but that seems to devalue everyone’s efforts when that happens. Didn’t impress the organisers of this year’s event either it seems. What you cannot deny, however, is how impressive the domination of the Mini All4 Racing rally raid cars have been for the last three years.

Get the full story

Hils BlogToyota’s RAV4 celebrates 20 years in the business, as does our columnist! And even after two decades, the world of the SUV continues to surprise

So, here we are, now well into 2014. I hope you all had a great Christmas and fun New Year and managed to survive the awful weather that the end of 2013 brought us. In recent years, this has been a busy time of year for 4x4s, dealing with heavy snow brought to our shores from Siberia. This time it’s been high winds and terrible floods bought by weather systems from the northwest. But, once again, 4x4s have been prominent in responding to the floods, and the emergency services, in their Land Rovers and pick-ups, have been invaluable.

We all know, however, that even a traditional 4×4 with a higher air intake than your average saloon car isn’t immune and careless people still manage to kill their vehicles by thinking they can just drive through any deep standing water because they have an ‘SUV’. Even our impressively capable vehicles can be washed away in deep water: it’s a very strong element. You, dear 4×4 readers, would not be so reckless, of course.

Get the full story

Looking to improve the performance and efficiency of your 4×4? Paul Guinness takes a look at what’s available to get more from your engine

 

Tuning guide – more power, less fuel Most folk are probably perfectly happy with their diesel-powered 4x4s, SUVs and off-roaders. They manage to offer reliable, sturdy motoring, reasonable power and decent enough torque in most cases. And if those who crave more performance choose to run a petrol-powered 4×4 instead, perhaps usurping a Td5 Discovery in favour of a V8, then they’re probably content to spend more on fuel in return for that extra on-road ‘oomph’.

Sometimes, though, even the most contented drivers crave just a bit more power, or some extra response when their right foot is applied to the ‘go’ pedal. And when it comes to towing or even off-roading, a bit of extra torque could be handy on occasions.

Assuming you don’t have limitless funds available, however, it doesn’t always make sense to change your 4×4 for a more powerful model, given how much extra you’d almost certainly end up spending. So what’s the alternative? Simply this: improve what you already have. Paul Guinness offers a guiding hand through the maze of aftermarket products and services to get that little bit more from your 4×4’s engine.

Get the full story
Prev1...192021...142Next Page 20 of 142