Robert Pepper

Last month I closed the report with a mention of some sand driving in South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, and this month is all about drawing a few conclusions from that little jaunt. First off, I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again – the D3 is an excellent family camping vehicle. It eats up the miles, carries everything we need and does the business off-road. There’s a couple of tips we use for packing though – the fridge goes on the middle second row seat which folds down flat, a feature I think only the Pathfinder and XC90 offer. This frees huge amounts of room in the rear, and also means the fridge is easily accessible. Our roof rack has a metal mesh on it, so all the bulky but light bedding and tent can go up top, zipped up securely in a roof bag. We’ve worked out many ways to live with the car, but the basic space, storage features and just overall ability of the car really does mean it works as an overlander.

Hils Everitt – Editor at Large

Once again, my beloved Grand, having just celebrated its 11th birthday, got the chance to have a little play in the Kentish snow. As always, it was a premium class act and took all talk of ‘impossible driving conditions’ with a pinch of salt. Although, in a literal sense, a little more than just a pinch of salt, courtesy of the council gritter lorries, which has played havoc with my already very tarnished alloys. I do, however, now have some new Jeep wheel centres, so will sort out the damage once this rotten winter is over.

The General Grabber AT M+S rubber fitted to my poor alloys play an absolute blinder in the snow. All the talk of massive stopping distances in the snow and ice for standard road tyres just doesn’t apply to them. They are superb and create an overwhelming feeling of total safety. But that’s not to say I don’t take care in severe conditions, far from it. I just know that I don’t have to worry in the slightest and can pootle along quite happily; confident I can stop pretty smartly and smoothly.

Louise Limb

Buying a ‘new’ second-hand 4×4 is always daunting, yet as I open the first of two service books in the neatly presented folder and survey the almost spotless leather upholstery, I feel better. The passenger seat looks barely used, the back seat pristine. At first glance, only the slightly worn leather covering steering wheel bears witness to the 200K mile club membership the Freelander has earned itself. The first full service took place at Herbert Engels dealership in Krankelsweg on 16th January 2002, with 5184 miles on the clock and the most recent, including the air con in July 2012 at 200,513 miles at Hunters Land Rover in Derby, along with replacement of a chafed intercooler hose. Further inspection of the most recent of the pile of photocopied receipts reveals that the brakes were overhauled in November 2012.  A tiny patch of rust under the rear nearside window mars an otherwise near flawless body, joined by a couple of superficial car park dents along the doors and the road grime of one last sleet filled journey from Essex to a family run garage in Skipton where the last exceptionally careful owner traded it in for a Freelander 2 (also with a fair few miles under its tyres).

Sue Loy

As the saying goes, ‘accidents happen’, and that’s never more true than when driving. I have always been of the opinion, however, that even my beloved RAV4 is just a  machine and if it was ever to be involved in an accident, I wouldn’t get irate. People are more difficult to mend than cars, so if no-one gets hurt, then let’s all stay calm and relaxed.
That was certainly the case just before Christmas when the RAV was the innocent party in a road traffic accident that didn’t seem that much of a problem at the time. And since the other party immediately apologised and assumed responsibility, we drove home with only the problem of contacting our insurance company, confident that all would be sorted.