Winter 2012 Issue of 4×4 Magazine

This is probably the most important issue of the year for us, when we get together a fantastic selection of 4x4s from the ‘softest’ SUV to the gnarliest Hardcore off-roader for our 4×4 Of The Year. This is an event that I am personally proud to claim started back in March 1986 with a mere four vehicles, all tested in Norfolk and photographed on the beach near my parents’ pub – where myself and the photographer stayed to save on expenses! Some things change and some things stay the same.

This year we had 24 vehicles, plus seven pick-ups (tested next month) adding up to a retail value in excess of £1m. Now that’s quite a responsibility and our test team remains small and perfectly formed, and it’s a personal big thanks to Hils Everitt, Sue Loy, Bob Cooke and LRE chief instructor and ace snapper Wayne Mitchelson for the testing duties. Sitting discussing the vehicles one evening during the test week, we established we had no less than 151 years of off-road driving experience between us. For a couple of members of the team, that was a salutary discovery! Hopefully we have managed to pass on that diverse and extensive knowledge in an entertaining manner in this year’s feature starting on page 26.

December 2012 Issue of 4×4 Magazine

Never quite understood Déjà vu. For those of a certain age, and similar eclectic musical taste, it was a seminal album from country rock superstars Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, but I guess it’s better understood as that ‘I’ve been here before’ feeling. Well, I certainly had that this month while writing News. It seems that the greenlanes in the Peak District are under threat, with the Peak District National Park Authority starting a ‘consultation process’ on some of the routes presently open to 4x4s. After writing that story, I went to find the November 1987 issue of this magazine for the ‘25 Years Ago…’ section. Low and behold, the lead story for that issue read: Greenlaning: Is this the beginning of the end? Now, 1987 was indeed ‘the bad old days’ when 4×4 off-roaders seemed to be singled out as the environment’s ‘enemy No1’, with the national press screaming that ‘fat tyred off-road vehicles’ were singlehandedly destroying the entire countryside of the UK.

November 2012 Issue of 4×4 Magazine

Writing this during the late summer sunshine we enjoyed earlier this month, it seems somewhat ironic that we are featuring preparations for the coming winter! We make no apologies, since if you are about to consider getting a set of winter tyres for example, now is a great time to start looking… and buying.

The severe winter of a couple of years ago meant that the demand for winter tyres far exceeded supply. Last year was milder, winter tyres sales dropped. Human nature perhaps; why buy something when you don’t need them? That’s a big mistake, in our opinion. The point that still seems not to be fully understood is that winter tyres are not snow tyres. They are tyres that work better than normal tyres, a lot better, when the temperature drops below 7degC. And by ‘working better’ we mean better grip, traction and, probably most significantly, winter tyres in cold weather offer significantly shorter braking distances.

I was very lucky to be invited to go testing with Pirelli earlier this year; to a cold, snowy and icy St Petersburg in Russia. The first hand experiences of driving 4x4s on snow and ice with, and without, winter tyres are explained on page 28. I’m not merely convinced on the benefits of the tyres, I’m now something of a passionate, crusading, fully paid up, winter tyre fundamentalist. It seems a complete no-brainer to me; use the best tools for the job and since the average temperature during rush hour in the UK is below 7degC for some six months of the year, why not have a tyre that works better in those conditions?

October 2012 Issue of 4×4 Magazine

According to the old song, it can’t buy you love. According to other deep thinkers, it can’t apparently buy you happiness (although I wouldn’t mind giving that one a serious test, after all, there must be worse things than being rich!). Money, it seems, is also the route to all evil. Be that as it may, there are some great opportunities available for 4×4 enthusiasts to spend it. For sure, when it comes to 4×4 ownership, a big pile of money can buy some superb off-roaders – including the new Range Rover that we have some sneak advance details of in this issue. However, as we have hopefully also proved in this issue, you can get a yourself a lot of 4×4 fun for not a lot of money.

We look this month at what is available for only £1000. Now, I appreciate that one man’s ‘only’ could be another man’s life savings, but when it comes to off-roaders it could be a real bargain buy. OK, so for that money we cannot claim that you won’t be buying yourself a fair amount of DIY work keeping everything running well, but for many, there’s no better way to spend a weekend than covered in oil, crawling around a cold concrete garage floor! The £1000 4×4 could turn out to be a real ‘hobby’ buy, the sort of machine you’ll take to a Pay and Play site knowing that a few more scratches down the side won’t make much of a difference. And if the brakes then need changing when you get home, that’s not too difficult. Even a bit of body damage can be worn as a badge of honour if it’s not the family’s pride and joy! So, hopefully, we have shown you can spend a little for a great deal of fun. And how ironic that in the same issue we should have the new £120,000+ Range Rover…

September 2012 Issue of 4×4 Magazine

Black. Round. Too expensive. Tyres, we all need them, but do we take enough time making the decision of what to fit? Do we leave them on the car too long? ‘Still got a few miles left, I’ll leave it for another month.’ Sound familiar? It’s surprising really, although admittedly understandable in today’s austerity, that keeping the Pound in the pocket may seem more sensible than splashing out on a decent set of rubber.

As this is being written, we are in the middle of the typical British summer – which means 60mph winds and torrential rain! Splashing out, therefore, is what a lot of vehicles will be doing on our roads. Poor tyres means poor grip, and that’s a serious safety issue.

Tyres are, therefore, the single most important item you can fit to your 4×4 for all kinds of reasons; climbing that steep muddy slope that always defeats you, to just keeping your family safe and secure on the school run. The trouble is, it’s just so confusing when you come to need a new set. What other product can you think of that has so many product numbers, letters and codes fixed to it? And to make things even more confusing, the EU, in its wisdom, now wants to add new stick-on labels. For heaven’s sake! With the best will in the world, I cannot see how that will help. It’s a laudable idea to be able to ‘rate’ tyres, so you and I can compare them, but tyres are not like refrigerators. Add to that the fact that the tyre manufacturer gets to self-certificate and I for one, am not filled with confidence. Fit the tyre and the sticker gets pulled off – buy that vehicle second-hand, and you have no idea what the rating was without doing some further research.