Garry Stuart – contributor

This June marked the eighth anniversary of ownership of my Nissan Terrano. I reflected upon all the past cars that I have owned and realised that the Terrano is the one that I have owned the longest. As a roaming freelance car/motorcycle photographer for the past 26 years I have clocked up huge mileage travelling from job to job in a whole range of cars (and a few bikes).

My first car was a Mk3 Ford Cortina which was the first car I drove in France way back in the early ’80s when I shot the Le Mans 24hr Bike Race. Little did I know back then that this was to be the first in a long line of cars that I would sleep in; a practice that continues to this day. Other cars included a Matra Rancho (great car), Peugeot 309, Citroen BX, Astra Van, Ford Sierra, Ford Mondeo and even a classic 1970 Porsche 911.

Ann Lockley – contributor

Whether you are a mountain biker, climber, kayaker or off-roader, Moab, Utah should be on everyone’s ‘bucket list’. The spectacular scenery, the incredible slickrock trails, and the funky little town all make it a unique place to visit. That being said, unless you like overcrowded trails with Jeeps as far as the eye can see, don’t visit over the Easter holidays.

Jeep Easter Safari is the largest off-road event in North America with two thousand registered vehicles in attendance and normally double that of ‘hanger-on’, unregistered vehicles. The place is a zoo with up to 50 vehicles per trail at any time and every campsite and hotel room booked up sometimes a year in advance.

Kevin Baldwin – contributor

The one constant in the Defender’s lifespan has always been that the factory stereo is rubbish. Once upon a time you could forgive Land Rover for not even trying because the ‘wireless’ output was always going to lose the sonic battle as it tried to drown out the ambient noise from diesel clatter and transmission whine.  These days the Ford Transit-engined Defender is a far more civilised place in which to spend time which ironically only serves to highlight the shortcomings of the standard stereo set up. I like music a lot and therefore have always felt the need to upgrade the sound system in every Land Rover I’ve ever owned. And this one was no exception.

Garry Stuart – contributor

Although the Terrano spends most of its time pounding up and down motorways and autoroutes, there are of course instances when I can take advantage of its off-road abilities. As long as deep water or mud is not involved (my tyres are just not suitable), I am happy to take it on rock and gravel trails especially when it saves me the effort of carrying the camera gear any distance. Although bog stock, the Terrano can cope with fairly rough ground without grounding out too badly.

Recently I had an assignment to shoot a story on the volunteers of the Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team undergoing one of their regular training exercises. The site of the exercise was at an extensive quarry system high up above Bacup in Lancashire. It would make a fantastic site for 4×4 pay and play days but is reserved for the exclusive use of mountain bikers and walkers except for the times when the mountain rescue team need to take their Defender 110 and brand new Discovery Emergency vehicles on site for training. The Terrano was able to go on site in its official capacity of camera car.

Shion Scudamore – contributor

This month has again seen a bit of progress with the TM, I finally got the driver’s floor replaced with sections I had folded up by a local fabrication company. So far I have got through the best part of an 8ft x 4ft sheet of 1.6mm steel replacing all the rotted sections, I think it’s safe to say most of the cab below the doors seems to have been cut out and replaced. I have a mountain of lower cab panels for grit blasting so they can be sprayed up before reassembly, some final welding work needs to be completed first. The temptation to restore the cab to pristine condition is always nagging at me but I need to be pragmatic, as I want to get her back on the road for the summer.

Nigel Fryatt – editor

Greenlaning is well named! We took the Toyota down one of our local lanes the other day; just an undulating country lane, but boy had it changed. Spring had indeed sprung and the route was well overgrown. Good to see things growing like this but it does cause problems. OK, so it is a very easy route but when the weeds are now as high as the Toyota’s bonnet you do get a little concerned as to what they are hiding – even though you know the route doesn’t have any nasty surprises!

It led me to jump out on occasion and check that all was well. Plus some of the nice thorny bits that were overhanging the route had to be pushed out of the way for fear of it scratching the Rav’s paintwork – which, for a vehicle of this age is actually pretty good.

Louise Limb – contributor

When my Grand Vitara was shiny and new (well, new to me) I marvelled at its relatively quiet and torquey diesel rumble, the luxury of decent interior trim after the Spanish built crate that was my 4U2, and door pockets. The Vitara discouraged the casual thief. Anyone looking in would see nothing much on show, because there was nowhere to put anything, not even door pockets. It encouraged a degree of asceticism, which I now feel was probably good for my soul. This didn’t last and I did buy and eventually fill plastic storage boxes, which floated around the floor.

Now I have lived for a while with my sufficiency of drinks holders (which I use to store pens and art materials, chewing gum and other nameless stuff) and odd little nooks and shelves, I find my car has become a reasonably orderly extension of my workspace. Except of course, my home doesn’t have brakes and we don’t have much in the way of earth tremors round here, so when I have to pull in swiftly on a country verge for the inevitable youth in a Golf blatting around blind corners at inappropriate speeds, or death wish bunnies threatening to coat my wheels with guts, the carefully arranged sideboard of goodies always seems to end up in the passenger footwell – which is a beneficial if mystifying design point, as the contents of a paint box around your feet while driving is not to be recommended.

Bob Cooke – contributor

Slab Common is a military testing ground a feature of which is the interesting selection of redundant tanks lying around, lumps of seriously heavy metal that make the Cherokee feel like a lightweight city car rather than a beefy off-roader. Another feature that somehow seemed to back that feeling up was the inability of the Cherokee to haul a Land Rover out of the gloopy mud puddle into which it had sunk itself axle-deep. We naturally always carry a selection of recovery gear – straps, shackles, a kinetic rope and even a shovel, and when we spotted the Land Rover with its wheels churning uselessly against the mud we stopped, as all good off-roaders should, to offer assistance.

Hils Everitt – Editor at Large

So it is with heavy heart and a tiny tear in the eye that I say a fond farewell to the little Suzuki Jimny SZ4. The Jimny and I established a great bond between us over the last eight months and I am already really missing its under-damped suspension and bouncy ride that never failed to make me smile.

It’s been off-road a few times, for example on a lovely greenlane in the Shropshire hills with Toby Savage’s gorgeous Ford Willys Jeep and solo in the stunning Lake District, as well as strutting its stuff alongside the immense Bowler Nemesis last summer.

As one of a steadily decreasing breed of budget 4x4s left in the world that offer true low-range gearing and impressive off-road ability – give or take the odd ground clearance issue – it still ranks high on our ‘we like’ list. You really can have some proper off-road fun in it, as I have amply discovered during its time with the magazine.

Shion Scudamore – contributor

The TM has been on the back burner for quite a while, my last report appearing in the December issue last year, but now it’s parked in front of the house there is more than a little pressure to get on with it! And I am pleased to say that at last there has been some progress.

A phone call to Dave Crouch proved to be particularly worthwhile as he was able to unearth some fresh panels for the cab; including much needed wings and an air cleaner stack. The wings were picked up for a very reasonable £350. There’s still some work to do before they can be fitted, so when I have finished repairing the cab lower front wings these are to be dispatched to Ian Gilby’s spray shop for hosing down in G4 Orange two pack. Some doors should then follow next month, budget permitting, which should save a lot of messing around trying to patch up and repair the old ones. The result will be a bit of instant progress, always important in a big project to ‘see’ some results and give you the encouragement to keep going!