Life’s complicated isn’t it? Obviously most journalists have the moral attributes of a hyena which died through eating too many kittens.

So we’re not exactly in a place where we can even see the moral high ground, let alone stand on it. However, some events cause even us a certain amount of cognitive dissonance. This is obviously one. At one level the Children’s Desert, which has been running for 20 years thanks to Hyundai, does some really good work. The event operates in the
more remote parts of Morocco and this year the automotive caravan set off to build and equip two libraries, complete with all equipment including computers.

It wasn’t what you would call easy. The weather was a serious challenge, with high winds, rain, sandstorms and other
unseasonable, unreasonable elements conspiring to make the expedition from Tangiers down south a real adventure. But eventually they got to the remote village of Ouzina and duly set up the library – this was the scene, 20 years ago, where they set up their first school. The second library was set up in Tisserdimine.

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Since before the Ineos Grenadier went on sale, the company has been clear that it expects owners to modify and accessorise their vehicles. Executives spoke about taking an ‘open source’ approach to their designs so that the aftermarket could create products with which it could be tailored for various uses – and the aftermarket has done just
that, developing a wide range of solutions aimed at enhancing the vehicle for work, play and, in particular, adventure travel.

As if to highlight what can be made of the vehicles – and what imaginative accessory designers can create – Ineos’
Australian importer has produced the Kaiju. Based on the Grenadier in Quartermaster Chassis-Cab form, this is the company’s first special project build – and Ineos says it ‘epitomises an iconic heavily modified Aussie 4×4 overlander.’

Before getting into the equipment Ineos used to build the vehicle, there’s a lovely bit of mischief behind its name. As we all know, Aussie off-roaders traditionally head straight for the Toyota Land Cruisers – well, Kaiju is a Japanese word for a mythical monster, literally a ‘giant creature’, and Ineos says it was chosen ‘to convey the powerful capabilities of the Grenadier and acknowledges Australia’s love affair with modified Japanese 4×4 vehicles.’

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Yazeed Al Rajhi became the first Saudi Arabian to win the Dakar Rally, triumphing in his Toyota Hilux after a 7828-kilometre marathon in the deserts of his home country. In an event that saw 12 stages won by a total of 10 different drivers, the 47th running of the rally also saw strong finishes for a variety of manufacturers, with Ford and Dacia joining Toyota in the top five.

The rally was also one of the closest, with just three minutes and 57 seconds separating Al Rajhi from second-placed
Henk Lategan. The Swedish pairing of Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist finished third in their Ford Raptor, 20’21” behind the winner, with Nasser Al-Attiyah around three and a half minutes further back in fourth aboard the new Dacia
Sandrider. Compare that with the 1 hour, 52 minutes and 12 seconds by which Hiroshi Masuoka won it in 2003.

Al Rajhi was the third driver to hold the overall lead during the course of the rally – with all of them being in Toyotas.
American prodigy Seth Quintero took the top step on the podium at the end of day one, but after that it was Lategan
who moved to the head of the queue – a position he then held for an entire week.

The South African was never able to establish a comfortable gap ahead of the chasing pack, however – and when he
was beset by a combination of punctures and navigational errors while on Stage 9, a 357-kilometre monster between Riyadh and Haradh, Al Rajhi made his move.

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LAND ROVER HAS CONFIRMED that its entry in the 2026 Dakar rally will use vehicles derived from the Defender Octa. The high-performance halo model at the top of the Defender range, which is powered by a 4.4-litre V8 engine and costs from £145,300 in the UK, will compete in a revamped version of the Dakar’s Stock class which this year had only one finisher.

The Defender works team, whose campaign is being masterminded by Prodrive, will also take part in the 2026 FIA
World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC), of which the Dakar is part. In response to the growing popularity of high-powered 4x4s and SUVs, the FIA has introduced new regulations for vehicles in the Stock class, for production-based vehicles, which allow increased performance. In Land Rover’s words, this makes it an ideal way to ‘authentically demonstrate Defender’s extreme durability and capability.’

Two Defenders will run in all five rounds of the W2RC, with a third joining them for the Dakar. Drivers are yet to be announced, however with the top names in desert racing routinely switching allegiance as manufacturers come and go, Land Rover will inevitably be in discussion with a number of leading lights.

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Dacia has revealed prices for the Bigster, its new SUV that will slot in above the hugely popular Duster in its growing 4×4 range.

The eagerly anticipated new C-segment vehicle will start at £24,995 on-the-road, with 4×4 versions coming in at £27,195. Due to go on sale in the spring, with pre-orders being taken now, the Bigster offers a choice of three powertrains. These include the TCe 130, a 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine running a 48V mild hybrid system, whose 130bhp at 4500rpm and 170lbf.ft at 2250rpm goes to all four wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox. This is the only option in the range with all-wheel drive; the same engine is also available tuned for 140bp at 5500rpm and 170lbf.ft at 2100rpm but only driving the front wheels, as does the all-new hybrid 155, a petrolelectric
unit mated to an automatic box.

As always with Dacia, value for money is a huge selling point – and like the Duster, the Bigster will offer a strong kit
list for your money. There are three trim levels, again mimicking the Duster line-up, with an entry-level Expression model and two parallel range-toppers called Extreme and Journey offering a choice of enhanced ruggedness or luxury.

All models come with keyless entry, dual-zone climate, alloys, front and rear parking sensors, Multiview camera, auto
wipers, Hill Start Assist and intelligent cruise control with speed limiter. You also get four YouClip attachment points
for securing accessories, while standard equipment also includes all the usual safety kit. A 10.1” central touchscreen
runs a multimedia system with four speakers and wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, while
a 40 / 20 / 40 split rear bench promises easy fold functionality.

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You know the deal by now. Moving over to electric car is a necessity. You might agree for the sake of
the planet or you might think it’s all a big scam and they’re actually worse but the government has spoken and that’s
that. The industry is getting more and more electric with each new model and all you can do is rant angrily on social media.

If there’s one vehicle among all of them that’s guaranteed to wind up those with a child-slavery-in-Bolivia-or-something stance on EVs, it’s the Lotus Eletre. ‘Simplify then add lightness,’ said Lotus mastermind Colin
Chapman, and EVs are heavy. Not only that, it’s an SUV. An SUV! Blazes…

Chapman also said something along the lines of ‘adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere.’ And here we are in a Lotus SUV with, get ready for this, 905bhp. Not a misprint. Nine hundred and five. We’re pretty sure this is the most powerful production 4×4 we’ve ever seen, and aside from the occasional billionaire level hypercar it must be among the most powerful cars full stop. It has 905bhp, and 726lbf.ft, and it weighs 2640kg. Not a great deal of lightness added there, then.

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We’ve always kind of loved the Volkswagen Tiguan. It’s a bit like a smaller Touareg, and we’ve always loved that too,
ever since way back in 2003 when the first example came thundering in on a wave of V10 goodness.

The Tiguan was never quite that mental but it’s always been one of those vehicles you can’t help but admire. Its case wasn’t helped when the Skoda Kodiaq came out and it was a bit like when your hot new girlfriend takes you home to meet her family and you discover that her sister is ever hotter, but the sales charts showed that there was plenty of room in the market for both. We’re clearly not the only ones who’ve always loved the Tiguan.

The new Kodiaq came out last summer and has just been crowned 4×4 of the Year 2025. There was a new Touareg quite recently too and it’s as suave as ever. And then there’s the new Tiguan – which, unlike the old one, looks and feels more like a smaller take on the Touarag than a more Volksy take on the Kodiaq.

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Every now and again, someone does something mad and you’ve just got to stand back and admire them for
it. I’m not talking about mad in the Cape Fear sense, or the Charge of the Light Brigade or something like that – more the kind of madness, if that’s what it is, that drove people to climb Everest or discover America. Insert joke of choice here.

It’s not quite in the same league as those world-class feats of boldness. But someone, somewhere looked at the Cupra
Formentor and said ‘let’s turn it into an offroader.’ And then the people he said it to, rather than making some tired comment about answering a question nobody had asked, said yeah, alright, let’s. So they did.

The someone, at least at a corporate level, is JE Design. The company is German, as are so many of the most visionary tuners and modifiers, and it specialises in VW Group vehicles, specifically VW itself, Audi and Seat. Cupra is Seat’s stand-alone premium performance brand, not unlike what Lexus is to Toyota in terms of luxury.

JE says its main focus is ‘styling in the aerodynamic sector using synthetic materials that are manufactured using the methods of vacuum forming, injection moulding and foam plastic technology.’ Got that? We think it means they make
body kits. But there’s a lot more than just a mere body kit to this bad boy.

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Scottish Mountain Rescue recently held its annual National Training Conference. Naturally, off-road driving was one of the skills the charity’s volunteers were learning – and Ineos was on hand with a fleet of Grenadiers to help them do just that.

Based at Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms, the event saw representatives of ten mountain rescue teams tackle a variety of real-world rescue and recovery scenarios on the nearby Alvie Estate, using Ineos’ Grenadier station wagons and Quartermaster pick-ups. ‘We were able to provide our volunteers with crucial handson 4×4 coaching, training them to tackle tough terrain without the use of a vehicle-mounted winch,’ explained Ray Smith, 4×4 Lead at Scottish Mountain Rescue.

‘These skills are indispensable in many rescues where 4x4s are used, not only to transport volunteers to remote locations but also to move casualties and act as a mobile centre of operations. Everyone was impressed by the capability, comfort and characteristics of the Grenadiers.’

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‘THE MOST INTENSIVE TESTING ANY RANGE ROVER HAS EVER ENDURED.’ That’s quite a claim, but it’s what JLR says the forthcoming new Range Rover Electric is currently being put through as it endures temperatures exceeding 50°C in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates.

These tests make for eye-catching marketing, of course. But there’s much more to it than just that. The vehicle will debut a new Intelligent Torque Management system which allocates the job of managing wheelspin to each individual electric drive control unit. According to JLR, this reduces the reaction time at each wheel from around 100 milliseconds to as little as 1 millisecond – allowing the system to negate the results of traction loss more effectively than ever before.

This has been demonstrated in the UAE in particular when driving on fine sand. JLR says that during testing, its vehicles
are required to scale it five times without showing any reduction in performance in order to get a pass mark – and that the Range Rover Electric completed the feat with flying colours. ‘Well balanced weight distribution and an advanced suspension system maintain control and stability effortlessly through the sand, performing with ultimate composure. Uncompromised traction systems provide instant torque allowing for quick acceleration, responsiveness and a refined drive even when navigating diverse dune formations.’

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