At last we have the long overdue successor to the ageing Isuzu Rodeo. The all-new D-Max, is bigger, butcher and more in line with the extremely tough competition. But can it really become the UK’s best seller?
Words: Hils Everitt Photography: Hils Everitt and Isuzu
Paul Tunnicliffe, managing director Isuzu (UK) said at the outset of the D-Max presentation: “Our five-year plan is to be the No 1 pick-up in the UK.” A wave of raised eyebrows and tight smiles followed, reacting to the sheer bravado of this statement, and then a look of nodding respect as it sunk in that he really meant it.
To achieve this remarkable feat, Isuzu needs to double sales of its brand new pick-up truck. Sales hit around 2400 in 2011 which isn’t setting-the-world-on-fire territory and to double that some serious marketing and distribution improvements need to happen.
Here’s an interesting 60 year celebration to come out of our Diamond Jubilee shenanigans. The AA is to reintroduce the Highland Patrol to Scotland. Originally started in 1953, the Highland Patrol were known as ‘the troopers of the north’ and were introduced due to the increasing tourist traffic to the north of Scotland. Traffic, it would seem, that would have a propensity to break down or get stuck in the snow!
First seen at the Festival of Speed in 2009, American cult TV star Jesse G James is back in the UK this year with his Baja desert racing truck. This ‘larger than life’ television personality will be back at the Festival again, where he will apparently be ‘hooning around throughout the spectacular Goodwood Park landscape’. James is famous for his US TV shows, including Monster Garage and Motorcycle Mania in which he rampages across deserts and through houses. There is also the show called Jesse James is a dead man (!) where he achieved a world record speed of 199.7mph driving across El Mirage dry lake in a hydrogen-powered vehicle. The sedate English surroundings of Goodwood Park will be something of a contrast. If you want to see some of his exploits, they can be found on You Tube, or go along to the Festival of Speed (29 June – 1 July) to see him in real life action.
The Knebworth Festival of Transport takes place this Sunday, on Father’s Day. For this year classic bikes, Minis and VW’s have been put into the mix not to mention the 40 Custom Cars and Hot Rods that will be attending with the A602ers.
The Weekender fridge comes in either aluminium or stainless steel exterior. It has a separate freezer compartment with an overall volume of 50-litre (40-litres fridge, 10-litre freezer). It comes complete with internal lid, high strength carry handles, lockable latch, internal light, and digital thermostat battery monitor. The weight of the aluminium freezer is 23.6kgs, while the stainless steel version is 26.2kgs. The National Luna Weekender Fridge is priced at £949.56.
Audi has decided to produce a high performance concept version of the otherwise somewhat sedate Q3 SUV, and creating the RS Q3. Under the bonnet is a 355bhp 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine giving the Q3 a claimed 0-62mph time of 5.2 seconds and 165mph top speed. Given that Audi all but ‘invented’ the performance 4×4 road car with the original Quattro back in 1980, it is perhaps a surprise that this hasn’t been done before. Less of a surprise is the fact that the German company chose China to unveil the project and test the response. Restyled front grille, deeper side intakes, pronounced rear diffuser and large oval exhaust pipes denote the RS version. The car sits 25mm lower than the normal road version on 20inch alloy wheels and super low profile tyres. It’s all black and dark blue inside, with contrasting Alcantara and Nappa leather. And just to emphasise where the sales of this model would be aimed, should it go into production, on the rev counter, Chinese characters replace the usual Arabic numerals…
You are going to need to drink plenty of clean water and this Life Saver Jerry can filters all bacteria, viruses, cysts, parasites, fungi and all other microbiological pathogens without the aid of chemicals. It complies with all British, US and European drinking water regulations and comes complete with a replaceable cartridge, instruction manual and silicon grease and has a service rating of up to 20,000 litres of water. The Life Saver Jerry Can is priced at £282.66.
With the explosion of the SUV market in the last few years, it’s great to see that equipment and accessories’ manufacturers have embraced the latest craze for these ‘pseudo’ 4x4s
Hils Everitt – Editor at Large
Phew…our new long-termer must have the longest ever official product name we’ve ever had. To make life easier I’ll refer to it as the ‘Tiguan’; but that’s not in any way an attempt to undermine its amazing attributes.
Matt Carson 
The stock headlamps on a Jeep Wrangler are just about good enough, in other words, OK but not great. So when I got a call offering a test of some LED headlights, I was intrigued. Sharp-eyed readers may have spotted these sort of lamps making their way onto bespoke, high end Land Rovers from the likes of Nene Overland and others, but they haven’t hit the mainstream yet.
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