Hils Everitt – Editor at Large
After two severe winters, the South East escaped relatively unscathed this time. Here on my Greensand ridge we had a light dusting one day, which didn’t last and we thought that we may have escaped after all the warnings. The weather was mild, and then we hit a really cold snap, but still no precipitation.
Temperatures dropped to well below freezing and I was glad that I had my General Grabber ATs holding up the silver machine’s four corners. The feeling of reassurance you get with a decent set of tyres in poor conditions is priceless. When the heavy snow did finally arrive on Saturday night – as predicted – in early February while I was having dinner at a friend’s house in the countryside I was very glad of my ‘GGs’.
The Geneva Motor Show, which takes place every March, is a fantastic litmus test for the automotive industry. Three years ago, just after the economic crisis hit, the show was a muted affair, and there was a distinct low-key presence of 4x4s. Since then however, carmakers have dusted themselves down and started looking forward. There’s a continuing trend for going ‘green’ with alternative fuels, in particular electric, all the rage. So from the gas-guzzling image of the past, 4x4s are now looking as respectable as the Queen’s butler. And with that new polished image is the belief that we all want vehicles that can go anywhere, anytime and in any weather. So there seemed to be a proliferation of SUV and crossover style vehicles.
After receiving a good response at the recent Geneva Show, the new Volkswagen Passat Alltrack will be available in UK showrooms at the end of May. The Alltrack has VW’s 4MOTION four-wheel drive system, and a raised ride height, which VW claims will give it ‘greater agility off-road’. The UK will have two available models; a 2.0-litre TDI 138bhp with six-speed manual gearbox, which is priced at £28,475, and a 2.0-litre TDI 168bhp with six-speed DSG transmission, priced at £31,025. 
THE 1,000,000th Land Rover Discovery has left its ‘birthplace’ in Birmingham, to make a ‘Journey of Discovery’ by driving to Beijing in China – one of Land Rover’s fastest growing markets, and the country of an exciting new joint venture (see News page 13). The journey will be a 50-day, 8000 mile trip and will end at the Beijing Motor Show on 23rd April. The promotional tour also allows Land Rover the the opportunity to launch its ambitious fund-raising project for the company’s Global Humanitarian Partner, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) which aims to raise £1million to support a water sanitation project in Uganda.
EXMOOR IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE, BUT, SADLY, ITS TRACKS ARE CLOSED TO VEHICULAR TRAFFIC. BUT YOU CAN ENJOY SOME OF THEM IN YOUR 4X4 ON A FOREST DRIVE, COURTESY OF A GENEROUS AND, WE THINK, FANTASTIC LANDOWNER
After a disastrous year, Subaru returns to the 4×4 market with the all-new XV. The company needs this model to be a success. How will it match up?
Nigel Fryatt – editor
It always strikes me that when off-roading, you need eyes all over the place. You’re looking ahead, both sides and in the case of a long wheelbase truck like my Hilux, it’s worth watching the tail too. Of course, one of the most important areas is under the vehicle. Yes, you can look ahead, but drive over an obstacle, dislodge rocks and rubble and the track underneath your vehicle will be a bit different than what you last saw. Wading too, can be difficult. Again, you can follow all the rules, wade out and check the depth and poke and prod the ground to see if it’s firm, but you’ll never know exactly what’s there. Which is where underbody protection comes in.
Bob Cooke – contributor
The ground was soft, calling for careful progress to prevent the bar grip tyres from sinking deep into the boggy earth below; something big had passed by this way, probably during the previous summer, churning the ground into a ripple of humps and hollows among the closely-packed trees, so the effect was almost like fighting a Hobie cat through the waves on the way to the beach, attempting not to run down any of the mass of swimmers in the process. Eugene made steady progress, avoiding the deeper ruts, steering gently among the trees… until suddenly and inexplicably the Hotchkiss came to a dead stop. There seemed to be no obvious reason – the Hotchkiss hadn’t bellied down in the soft stuff, it hadn’t become cross-axled… and then someone called out: “Oy – you’ve caught it on a tree!”
Vehicle theft is rife, especially in rural areas, and we must protect our 4x4s, just as much as our right to drive on legitimate greenlanes by doing it properly
Robert Pepper 
It’s 06:55 in the morning and I’m just about to have the first coffee of the day. In about an hour I’ll be loading the family into our Discovery 3 along with my camera gear. The Disco is ready to roll as I was under it last night replacing a bashplate and checking it over. It’s full of fuel, but we don’t plan on using it all today even though we’re off on a day trip. We’ll be meeting some friends in Geelong, south-west of Melbourne and wandering off in the Otway National Park to just drive some tracks and see what happens. We’ll probably stop for morning tea, maybe do a short bushwalk or two, enjoy the scenery and drop out onto the Great Ocean Road. Or maybe not. Could be we spend five hours recovering a vehicle or two chain sawing trees off tracks.
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