Nigel Fryatt – editor

Couple of firsts this month; a fully loaded load bed, and serious tyres fitted at last. The new Cooper Discoverer S/T Maxx tyres arrived and so it was time to load them up with the ‘pepper pot’ wheels to get them fitted.

The Cooper Maxx tyres are M+S rated and available in sizes from 16 to 18inch, which was a problem in that the OE wheels for the Hilux are 15inch – and small and weedy they look too. After some investigation it seems that I can use a 16x8inch steel wheel with a -7mm offset, which is said to give a better fit than a zero offset. That then means that Cooper 245/75R16 tyres would fit, so everything was going to be OK, wasn’t it?

Hils Everitt – Editor at Large

The latest revamp to VW’s Tiguan has created a more stylish and luxury feel to the baby brother to the mighty Touareg. And it certainly feels it when you’re cosily cosseted in the supportive and satisfying leather driver’s seat propelled by the effortless 2.0-litre 138bhp engine.

There are two engine options, and we have the lower powered of the two, but, quite frankly, I am more than happy with our lot. This 138bhp version is a schmooze of a cruise even from the lowly depths of third gear when it really starts to enjoy itself. As I mentioned in my intro report on our new long-termer last month, I clocked up 800 miles in a week and have to say that I have rarely enjoyed such a comfortable, sporty and relaxing experience in any other compact SUV.

Bob Cooke – contributor

It looked like a pleasingly demanding trail – narrow with some steep climbs and sudden drops, and some awkward axle-twisting humps along the way, the sort of track I’d have to take with care bearing in mind that the Cherokee has limited ground clearance and nothing much in the way of underbody protection. Careful positioning of the wheels kept most of the vulnerable bits out of harm’s way as the Jeep eased over the first big bump, which was followed by a sharp rise to the right, steep and sudden enough to have the Jeep’s tow bar scraping the gravel as the nose headed skywards.

Robert Pepper

Human beings need a certain level of stress to perform at their best. If they find a situation too difficult, needing to process too much information too quickly, demanding a level of skill and concentration beyond their abilities then fatigue and distress is the result, leading to underperformance. On the other hand, a very easy task or boring that requires little focus means boredom and complacency, leading to mistakes and again underperformance. The answer is eustress, a stress level enough to keep the human interested, engaged and in the zone of best performance.

Driving on long, straight, bitumen roads in a D3 is for me, boring. The car needs little attention and there’s not much to do. It’s not exciting, and after a few hours I feel tired, in the same way you’d feel tired after doing nothing on an airliner for half a day. But dirt roads are different. These are a constant challenge, not a difficult one, but enough to put me into the eustress zone as there are frequent corners, changing surfaces, different cambers, rocks to avoid and much more. I once drove all day on dirt roads to Australia’s northernmost point with people unused to such conditions, and they couldn’t believe how fresh they felt after spending that amount of time in the car. It was because we were never bored.

Hils Everitt – Editor at Large

Phew…our new long-termer must have the longest ever official product name we’ve ever had. To make life easier I’ll refer to it as the ‘Tiguan’; but that’s not in any way an attempt to undermine its amazing attributes.

Firstly, we have VW’s latest BlueMotion technology, which basically means that our new feisty tiger SUV incorporates a multifunction computer which gives you gear change recommendations on the screen in order to improve fuel consumption as well as Stop/Start and battery regeneration systems. The battery regeneration system is designed to help use energy that would otherwise be lost during braking. So when you’re slowing down or braking, the alternator’s voltage is boosted and used for bulk battery recharging.

Robert Pepper

Six recoveries this month, each of which has their own little story. No sooner I had finished enjoying the nostalgic delights of a Series 1 then it was into the most talked about car of the year, the Evoque, on a mission to see just how good it really is in the rough stuff. I have the answer, which will be featured in this magazine shortly, but I also managed to get our standby recovery Navara stuck because I didn’t check a mound that can usually be driven right over, and which had changed a bit since the last visit to the area. The Nissan’s lack of clearance didn’t help, but I’ll put my hand up for driver error there even if the recovery didn’t take long. Of course, I say this because as we finished the Evoque shoot and prepared to depart, the radio crackled into life and it was my assistant who had managed to get the Nissan properly stuck in a different location, well and truly high centred with all four wheels dangling in the air!

Matt Carson

The stock headlamps on a Jeep Wrangler are just about good enough, in other words, OK but not great. So when I got a call offering a test of some LED headlights, I was intrigued. Sharp-eyed readers may have spotted these sort of lamps making their way onto bespoke, high end Land Rovers from the likes of Nene Overland and others, but they haven’t hit the mainstream yet.

The lights in question are LED not HID, and are manufactured by JW Speaker. JW Speaker is probably the biggest light company you’ve never heard of and has been producing top quality lights for the military, mining and construction industry for many years. More recently, these lamps have filtered down to the aftermarket, where JW Speaker is already the bestselling LED lamp brand in Europe.

Ian Seabrook

As you may recall from last month’s Our 4x4s, my ‘bargain’ Maverick has required a pretty extensive brake rebuild with new discs, pads and calipers at the front and some bleeding and adjusting at the rear. I’d hoped that this would mean healthy brakes and no more problems but within a couple of weeks, the brake pedal had gone very soft and stopping power was very much reduced. The level in the master cylinder had dropped and a glance at the rear soon showed why. A wheel cylinder was leaking and a visible trail of fluid was dropping onto the rear wheel – making a mess of the alloy’s finish as it did so.

Louise Limb – contributor

In the couple of months since my last entry, the trip to have the brakes looked at again is still very much on the ‘to do’ list (I just drive even more cautiously for now), along with servicing and a peek at the back box of the exhaust, since ‘flatulent elephant’ has now been added to the mental chart of weird noises and sensations emitting from my gently aging steed. My Grand Vitara has served me well (and is so much more solid than the two Vitaras that preceded it), with only the usual catalogue of replacements and repairs, with the addition of course of marque specific irritants like plastic door handles that snap off in your hand, weak bits of trim (for example the power socket – formerly known in the age of the Morris Minor as the cigarette lighter) shattering under normal use and that old chestnut I have now to endure, the possible corrosion of the co axial cable leading to the radio aerial.

Sue Loy

Spent a very wet Sunday morning at our local Toyota dealer this month. Why? Well, it’s time for a change, or rather more of the same as I have decided to change the RAV4. For what, you may wonder… well, for another RAV4! Having spent the last couple of decades living with the Editor of this magazine, I do get the chance to drive an awful lot of 4x4s, so perhaps you’d think I’m not being very imaginative! It’s easy to imagine being the owner of the sumptuous, effortless, powerful, beautiful Range Rover Sport that I drove recently, and I would love one, but sadly that cannot be on the list.