May 2012 Issue of 4×4 Magazine
Not usually one for the ‘name-dropping’ lark, I just have to tell you that this month I’ve been off-road in Russia, no less! Never been before and it more than lived up to expectations. I had been invited to St Petersburg by a major tyre company to test a new winter tyre that will be available in the UK later this year. I cannot tell you much about it at the moment as all the details are still embargoed, and anyway, you won’t be thinking about winter now we’ve just got spring appearing over the horizon. All I can say is if you thought about a winter tyre this year, but didn’t quite take the plunge, stick with 4×4 Magazine and we will tell you later in the year about a new product to the UK market that is very impressive indeed; take it from one who has just driven a Range Rover Evoque up a ski slope, and then back down again, that we were very impressed with this new rubber.
Interestingly, in St Petersburg, they still have a large number of cars on studded tyres… yet, while the river remains frozen for six months of the year, the city roads are clear of snow and ice a lot of the time. The studded tyres are therefore sand-papering the roads and creating a fine dust that when it rains or snows (and that’s most days, there are two seasons in St Petersburg; winter and July) covers everything in a dirty black sludge. You can actually taste the dust, which is quite unpleasant. More pleasant was that the roads are full of the latest 4x4s. Every model you can think of is thrashing about the place, even the Great Wall Wingle pick-up. That’s a Chinese copy of a Japanese pick-up driving around St Petersburg – you wonder what the proletariat demonstrators that stormed the Winter Palace during the Russian Revolution would think of that…
The Race2Recovery team, comprised primarily of injured British servicemen, has achieved what can only be described as an extraordinary result on its international rally raid debut. Both of the team’s Qt Wildcats finished the eight-day event and in the process, claimed a stage win for each competing member of the team.
THIS YEAR WILL see a brand new Land Rover Show at Eastnor Castle. Timed to celebrate 50 years of engineering heritage, the Show will be held over the weekend of 25/26th August. All the usual club stands are expected to be there, together with a retail village and autojumble.
More and more new 4x4s are arriving with rear view cameras fitted as standard. The bigger the vehicle, the more useful these cameras become. Indeed, reverse parking the Editor’s Hilux underlines the fact that, especially for pick-ups, it is very difficult to see what is behind you, low to the ground. There is now and aftermarket option available that, despite the product name, comes from the British company, Bierley. The new AmeriCam Reverse Camera can be installed to any vehicle in around 30 minutes. It includes a small flush-fitting camera to the rear bumper, linked to a slimline 3.5inc LCD screen that can be positioned wherever suitable inside your vehicle. The camera is waterproof (IP68 rated) and is certainly very subtle. AmeriCam retails at around £200 including fitting which seems pretty reasonable for this aftermarket addition that is often listed as a ‘luxury’ option on new 4x4s. You could also save by fitting the system yourself. For more details, and to see your nearest dealership, go to 
The comprehensive range of Aroura Light Bars are now available from Devon 4×4. They stretch from a tiny four inches to a massive 50 inches! Claimed to have the virtually indestructable Lexan lens, fully waterproofed (rated at IP68), these light bars are suberbly suited to off-road use. Prices start from £130.80 (inc VAT). To find out more, contact the guys at Devon 4×4. 
THE GERMAN TUNING and modification company Arden Automobilbau Gmbh has a reputation for working over British vehicles, and so it’s no surprise that their designers have taken the Evoque as the company’s next project. Arden already does a number of conversions on both Jaguar and Range Rovers, as well as BMW’s Mini, so the Evoque was a logical next choice.
This March, Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi will unveil a new model, which, although not expected to be a 4×4, could herald the potential for a new Shogun model in the next couple of years. The company’s “Jump 2013” campaign is a completely new design philosophy and will be unveiled at this year’s Geneva Show. Hopefully it will herald plans for a new Shogun which, even the most passionate owner must admit, is beginning to look a little long in the tooth and is falling behind its rivals not just in terms of looks, but also some of the electronic devices now available on a lot of other premium 4x4s. Here’s hoping.
WHEN YOU CONSIDER that original four-wheel drive vehicles were open-topped, convertibles even, it’s interesting that there are so few such models on the market these days. It all started with ‘jeep’ 4x4s, and it is really only Jeep (the manufacturer) that still offers full open-topped off-roading with the Wrangler. Even Suzuki gave up a few years ago when first the SJ, and then the Vitara stopped producing wind-in-the-hair versions. Are times about to change, we wonder?
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