Ann Lockley – contributor

What a month! Another 1700 miles into this journey means another 1700 miles of chasing mechanical issues – thank goodness for friends, quick and accurate mechanics, and www.rangerovers.net! After arriving in Phoenix, Arizona with a new fuel pump and filter but continued sputtering, bucking, and stalling problems, friends Chad Manz and Doug Lawyer from the Arizona Land Rover Owner and I swapped out a few parts in an attempt to fix the old girl. No such luck. We were supposed to leave for Hole in the Rock trail in southern Utah in two days but with it being literally the middle of nowhere, Kels stayed home and I warmed Doug’s passenger seat. Thank you, Doug!

Louise Limb – contributor

Mindful of last month’s comparison between my neat, short wheelbase Grand Vitara and an all too compact wood based storage solution, I was beginning to become quite paranoid about the utility aspect of my SUV, the 3Door GV having neither the off road respect that the Jimny has earned nor the sturdy pantechnicon-like usefulness of the long wheelbase version. 

That was until the other day, when a small boy on his way home from school in leafy Ilkley pointed at the chaos just visible through my open tailgate and in a stage whisper,  confided in his mother, ‘ that car’s got a big boot, hasn’t it!’ I felt gratified and proceeded then to embarrass all of us by replying, ‘yes, it is very useful!’. They scuttled off as quickly as they could and I continued to search the jumble for a lost gilet while keeping a tight hold of my keys…

Bob Cooke – contributor

Eugene had been tucked away in the garage for a couple of months, but the sight of a sudden flurry of convertibles cruising about with their owners taking advantage of the superbly summery weather in the weeks leading up to The Wedding, proved too much of a spur to ignore. Trouble is, one of the reasons I hadn’t taken Eugene for a drive for a while is that the old truck had developed a misfire and with so much else to do during the early days of spring – tidy the workshop, weed the garden, sit around in the sun with a chilled beer – I hadn’t got round to seeing what the matter was.

One fear was that it might be a stuck valve, the recurrence of a problem that developed when TV personality Bradley Walsh drove it about at high speed in low range during the making of a television programme, working the primitive old valve train past its limits; or it could be a fouled spark plug, which though easier to fix in the short term might point to a more serious underlying problem.

Garry Stuart – contributor

Last month I described the journey to Seven Sisters in South Wales, which is a fair old hike from Preston. The following weekend I knew that I was to go back to Wales to shoot the Whitbread Challenge Weekend and that it was at a town called Llandysul, which I quickly Googled, and ascertained that it was, as I thought, in Mid to North Wales, not too far South of Wrexham. Cool I thought, only a two hour trip, no sweat.

The day before I set out I logged onto Whitbread Offroad’s website to get a few more details and found a helpful map. Not recognising any of the place names I zoomed out to get a better idea of the location and was surprised to see blue sea appearing to the west of Llandysul which now appeared to have migrated to South West Wales close to Lampeter! It then dawned upon me that there were at least two Llandysuls in Wales and I was not going to the one closest to me. It was actually further into SW Wales than last weekend’s job and departure times had to be brought forward significantly and the easy journey that I was looking forward to had increased from two to over five hours.

Hils Everitt – Editor at Large

As the Jimny was about to be whisked away back to Suzuki, I thought it was time to sneak in a trip to the Lake District for some quality walking and a bit of green lane driving, as it hadn’t been off tarmac for some while. Playing about in the snow a few months ago was all very well, but I wanted some scenic pics of it and get that low ‘box working for one last time before it left for good.

The five-and-a-half-hour drive from Kent to the Keswick area was a pretty uneventful affair as I took the M11/A1 route then A66 from Scotch Corner. I always use this way as the drive west along the A66 is far more pleasant than the traffic jam that would be the M25 if I opted for the M40/M6 alternative.

Hils Everitt – Editor at Large

The other day somebody asked me: “How’s your Grand running these days? You’ve had quite a few problems with it lately.”

He was not wrong. Regular readers will know about my last 12 months with my 2001 2.7 CRD Limited Grand Cherokee, that have been expensive and a right pain in the fleshiest part of the body. Throughout that time, it has visited three different garages. My good mate who owns Central Tyre & Exhaust did some serious diagnostics, which meant it then had to go to an auto ‘box specialist, and then it was a trip to the excellent guys at the Chrysler Jeep dealership Whitehouse of Tonbridge who did a swift job or replacing two injectors and cleaning up a dreadful mess under the cylinder head. All these were in a reasonable distance of my home and I either borrowed one of my mate’s hilarious courtesy cars or there was a train station very nearby to make the whole experience bearable and cost-effective.

Nigel Fryatt – editor

Looking back on some of the more recent reports on the Toyota reminds you just how bad, and for how long, the snow was with us this winter. Just looking at the pages actually makes you feel cold, which makes the fact that it’s now spring as this is being written, all the more pleasing. The Rav4 performed brilliantly during the cold snap, but if I’m honest, it’s far more preferable having to switch the air-conditioning on because it’s too hot! Mind you, Sue and I argue about just how much fuel the air-con is burning up, and perhaps opening the windows would be cheaper. I then point out that opening the window greatly affects the aerodynamic flow around the vehicle, causing drag, and using more fuel. We tend to compromise, but we have certainly been grateful of the air-conditioning as this is being written just after that fabulous ‘early summer’ weather we experienced over Easter.

Nigel Fryatt – contributor

It’s quite odd letting a man you’ve never met start hitting your 4×4 with a hammer. Okay, so it was more gentle taps than full-blooded thumps, but it was still rather worrying. Did he really know what he was doing? Should we have taken the Toyota to the bodyshop?

Regular readers will remember that a few weeks ago we had the Toyota’s front bumper repaired at a cost of £370. The RAV was off the road for nearly three days; such was the palaver involved in removing the huge front bumper, prepping it, spraying and then re-fixing everything. Thankfully, the culprit had acknowledged the ‘bump’ and our costs were covered. The repair was excellently done, yet despite it not actually costing us anything, nearly £400 for a minor scuff seemed excessive.

You can imagine the language, therefore, when yet another errant parker, in the car park, sheepishly announced they too had ‘just nicked’ the front wing of the Toyota. So after a visit to the Tractor Show (pic above), off we went again to the bodyshop for an estimate; two days this time, at a cost of £367 (plus VAT).

Hils Everitt – editor

Well, so far so good. After a catalogue of problems in 2010, my Grand has behaved itself very well so far. With my brand new set of General Grabber AT rubberwear we conquered the deep snow last December and since then the beast has not put a foot wrong.
So, it was with a little trepidation that when the annual service and MoT time came up recently I couldn’t help a real feeling of dread, just in case.

So, I dropped my 51-plate, 90,555-mile Jeep off at my mate’s garage and didn’t hang around to watch proceedings and dashed off in the hideous and ancient Fiat Punto that he had lent me for the day. I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t hand me the keys of the Smart car that I usually get with its quirky sequential gearbox and left-hand drive. I love quirky cars and this one is the ultimate. The Punto was a poor substitute and I could feel the pitiful glances that were directed my way – everyone smiles at the Smart!

Ann Lockley – contributor

Christmas arrived a month late here in Canada but I am not complaining – not one bit! TerraFirma and Rock Island Rovers stepped up to the plate and sent along the promised parts to get my poor stricken Kelsey up and running; without the wobble, I hope.

So my lovely package from Santa included included: Big Bore Expedition Shocks, Heavy Load Front & Rear springs, Rear Spring Dislocation Cones, Rear Top Shock Mount Relocators, poly bushing kit, all from TerraFirma plus all three ball joints and an ignition coil purchased here in Victoria, so how good it will work is anyone’s guess!