Salisbury Plain has a special place in 4×4 culture. On the surface, it’s a wilderness – yet there are few parts of the British countryside more overtly influenced by human activity. It’s distinctive yet poorly defined. It’s damaged but flourishing. And it’s one of the most restricted parts of the country – yet there’s a greater concentration of green lanes here than anywhere else.

Most of all, there’s nothing ‘plain’ about it at all. It covers around 200,000 acres in the southern half of Wiltshire and the western fringes of Hampshire, and a huge amount of it is empty and uninhabited. That’s because about half of it is owned by the Army – the Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA). Much of the military land is leased for farming and grazing. So the ‘wilderness’ part of the Plain that’s used day-to-day for troop training only covers less than half of its total area. Nonetheless, by British standards it’s a strikingly vast and empty place. And with so many rights of way open to motor vehicles, it’s paradise in a 4×4.

There’s something wonderfully bleak about driving there in bad weather, too. In some parts of the Plain, the rights of way are subject to voluntary restraint during the winter, but the majority are usable all year round – and it’s as majestic beneath scudding grey clouds or, even better, pouring rain as it as glorious in the balmy, sunlit days of summer.

Read the full article in the October issue of Overlander 4×4 –

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Which came first? Sorento or Sorrento? That’s easy. The Italian city was founded in the 7th Century BC, while the
first Sorento rolled off the line in 2002 AD. Yeah, I’ll use BCE if you explain to me what happened in Year Zero of the Common Era.

Actually we’re not even certain if the Kia is named after the city, but it seems likely even if it’s spelt differently. But, since we’re on the biblical subject, ‘Kia’ in the Bible means ‘a follower of Christ’, although it probably leans more towards the Korean ‘The rise of Asia’. And not, as some might surmise ‘Killed in Action’. Glad we’ve cleared that up.

So we know it’s called the Kia Sorento, and we know it’s been around for over 20 years in one form or another. And if we’ve been reading this magazine long-term, we know that it’s a multiple class winner over several generations of 4×4 of the Year. And here it is yet again in yet another form. This is an updated version of the fourth generation, so not completely new.

And yet it looks it. The bodywork now follows the style set by the wildly successful EV9. A style which, depending on your state of mind, looks like a rugged off-roader or an armoured personnel carrier.

Read the full article in the October issue of Overlander 4×4 –

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Arcane. It means: ‘Known only by a few’. Although in this case it also means: ‘Bought only by a few’. The Ineos Grenadier continues its journey away from the original idea of a simpler, back-to-basics off-roader – what the Defender should have been. And now that journey is not only accelerating, it’s going on a detour.

Ineos has formed Arcane Works, to create short-run limited-edition versions of the off-roader. And the first version is called the Detour. Whether that name works depends on your state of mind. On the one hand: endless roadworks, being sent down small lanes only to find the detour signs disappear, getting lost. On the other: ‘let’s go down this lane, it looks interesting and we’ve got some time to go exploring, such fun.’

So you’re now off the beaten track and your satnav has shrugged and gone for a lie-down. What vehicle do you own to conquer this terra incognita? We start of course with a stock Grenadier, with the 3.0-litre straight-six engine, either diesel or petrol. The only change is, in the petrol version, an exhaust system that more loudly announces its presence. That’s an indication that the Detour is more about appearances, outside and in, rather than any uprated engine, suspension or chassis changes.

Read the full article in the October issue of Overlander 4×4 –

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The all-new Ariel Nomad 2 is, according to the makers, ‘the ultimate go-anywhere sports car’. Given it was launched at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, that seems a bit of a stretch, since you need to arrive with your linen suit uncreased and your panama at a jaunty angle on your head as you give your smoothest smile.

Turning up in a Nomad 2 means a suit crumpled by sweat and dust and an overtight harness, a panama possibly now being worn by a surprised cow two fields away and a grin that is only just this side of sane. But men of a certain age are certain to be attracted, helped in part by a video of it focusing on ‘65% stiffer, 50% more travel’. Frankly that’s a future many would pay handsomely for.

But, Viz-level humour aside, it’s actually pretty amazing just how different and improved this second version of the Nomad is. It’s like everything, every element, is now better than it was, and it was mighty good to start with.

Read the full article in the October issue of Overlander 4×4 –

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Three and a half decades of the Land Rover Discovery. Feeling old yet? That’s three and a half decades, five generations, a generous sprinkling of 4×4 of the Year awards and heaven only knows how many limited editions.
It’s heaven only knows how many plus one now, anyway. Because how does Land Rover celebrate an anniversary? Why, with a special edition, of course!

And not only is there a special edition on the cards. It’s going to premiere a new engine, too. This is the D350, a six-pot mild hybrid diesel with outputs of 350bhp and 516lbf. ft. The most powerful engine used in the Disco so far, it displaces 3.0 litres and launches the vehicle from 0-60 in 5.9 seconds while returning a best-case WLTP figure of 34.0mpg.

What else about the 35th Edition is going to make it stand out from the rest of the range? It’s based on the Metropolitan model (or ‘inspired by,’ to use Land Rover’s words) and features 22” black alloys, a sliding pan roof, four-zone climate, a cooled cubby box, head-up display, massage seats and the Cold Climate and Towing packs among the highlights.

Find the full article in the October issue of Overlander 4×4 –

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Something that was clear for all to see at the recent Bath and West edition of the Great British Land Rover Show was the huge number of Defender fans now who have turned their vehicles into camper vans or full-on expedition vehicles. There’s a lot of home-brewed ingenuity to be seen among this new breed of modifi ed Landy, however an increasing number of owners are turning to professionals to help them create a true motorhome-style interior. And here’s an
excellent example of the latter.

It’s an early Puma, dating from 2007, which makes it a 2.4 TDCi. Its owner, Lewis Maynard, bought it last year with about 120,000 miles on the clock and a freshly installed camper conversion on the back.

The work was done by Black Paw 4×4, who installed everything including, yes, the kitchen sink. The kitchen sink, IndelB 30-litre fridge-freezer, Dometic Smev two-burner hob with automatic lighter, you know the sort of thing. As always, making the most of every square inch is critical to a good installation, and the sink has a large storage cupboard beneath it.

Read the full article in the September issue of Overlander 4×4 –

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Isuzu has never been shy about playing the special edition game with the D-Max, and the new Steel model is a perfect example of that. Based on the range-topping V-Cross, it’s available in manual and auto form with a limited run of
300 vehicles.

We drove one recently during a media event featuring a range of D-Max models. It’s mechanically identical to the V-Cross, however with a variety of additional features it offers something on top of what is already a well equipped package.

To recap, you get 18” alloys, leather, heated seats, dual-zone climate, cruise, a rear locker, front and rear parking sensors, reversing camera, a range of advanced driver assist safety systems, DAB and a 9” touchscreen running Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The V-Cross is also marked out by its gunmetal styling theme.

Read the full article in the September issue of Overlander 4×4 –

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SsangYong had been making good vehicles for a long time now, but they’ve been held back in this
country because people didn’t know whether to order their SsangYong withnoodles or rice. Well, last year the company
changed its name to KGM – so maybe now British 4×4 buyers will start taking them at face value instead.

You’ll be familiar with the Rexton, Musso and Korando, but the Torres is the first vehicle to be launched under the
KGM badge rather than inherited by it. It’s a medium SUV with a distinctly chunky, up-for-it sort of off-roady character, and it’s available with either a 1.5-litre petrol engine or an electric motor.

That’s ‘an’ electric motor, singular. This is plenty powerful enough but only drives two wheels; the petrol version is available with all-wheel drive in the range-topping model, but that aside the Torres (which takes its name from Torres del Paine, a spectacularly mountainous region of Patagonia) is built to be a family SUV rather than a true off-roader.

Read the full article in the September issue of Overlander 4×4 –

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Corporate slogans are often fairly meaningless – Hilton’s hotel slogan used to be ‘Travel should take you places’. Holiday Inn’s was ‘Look again’. But to be fair to Ineos, their new campaign states that the Grenadier is ‘Built For More’, and they’re busy backing up that statement.

This campaign also underscores just how far the Grenadier has already penetrated round the planet, and just
how many useful partners the brand already has. What you see here represents imaginative work from Germany to
Botswana, with components from Austria to the UK.

Five new interpretations of the Grenadier were first shown at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Bear in mind these aren’t some rough cardboard cutouts, they’re finished vehicles, or virtually so. They focus on everything from competitive speed to even more off-road ability for a wide variety of practical purposes.

Read the full article in the September issue of Overlander 4×4 –

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The new Defender Octa will cost from £145,300 when the order book opens at the end of July. And the Octa Edition One, whose availability will be limited to the first year of production, is set to take the price still higher to £160,800.

Powered by the 4.4-litre twin turbo V8 from the Range Rover Sport, the Octa is SVO’s take on the Defender 110. The
engine delivers 635bhp and 553lbf.ft – figures which translate into a 0-60 time of just 3.8 seconds and, when equipped with 22” road tyres, a top speed of 155mph.

This doesn’t make it quite as fast as some of its similarly priced rivals in the ultra-SUV market. However JLR promises that unlike them, it will be ‘as fun to drive on‑road as off‑road, with no compromises.’

Read the full article in the September issue of Overlander 4×4 –

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