Kevin Baldwin – contributor

I love cars, but the one thing I hate with a passion is the actual buying process, which is a big reason it’s taken so long for me to find a replacement for my 90 that was stolen in July 2010. Wasted journeys to look at glorified tat is no fun, but this time the delay in finding a suitable vehicle wasn’t down to a lack of interest but more the lack of choice available.

The 90’s replacement was always going to be a Defender, but this time I wanted to upsize to a 110, specifically the Utility Wagon model. The Defender 110 Utility Wagon was launched at the same time that the Defender range got its makeover in 2007. The new interior and 2.4-litre Transit engine and six-speed box were all new, as was the addition of the Utility Wagon based on the 110 Station Wagon, but with the rear windows and third row of seating deleted to create a more load-user-friendly and practical loadbed. The Utility Wagon is not a big seller, but is a hugely sought after secondhand buy; hence the reason it’s taken me so long to find a suitable vehicle.

Okay, so I’ll admit that, besides a strict Yorkshireman’s budget, my other exacting criteria did narrow down my choice of vehicles. It had to be silver, grey or black; I didn’t want the basic spec (there are three trim levels); the mileage had to be low-ish and, of course, it had to be straight and clean. The daily trawl of Auto Trader, eBay and various Land Rover-based internet sites became a tedious chore, but, in the end, a classified ad on the defender2.com website bagged me the 110 I’d been looking for.

Bob Cooke – contributor

The Cherokee launched over the crest so quickly and came down with such a thump that I banged my head on the roof – I didn’t think the seatbelt would stretch that much.

I blame the Trailmaster suspension – it’s given the Cherokee an extra two inches of ride height and is hard enough to absorb the worst of shocks from ruts and ridges taken a little too quickly. The result is that I find myself tempted to tackle increasingly difficult obstacles, safe in the knowledge that the lifted Cherokee has the clearance and beefed-up suspension to make it all seem easy.

I am actually a firm believer in the ‘tread softly’ approach, and I’m usually able to ease the Cherokee over even quite tortuous obstacles simply by getting the approach right so the old truck doesn’t have to lift a wheel, with consequent loss of traction. I can’t really afford that, because although the Cherokee’s Limited specification includes a limited-slip differential, it’s reached an age where there’s more slip than limit so there are times when the only way to clear an axle-crossing section is to floor it.

Garry Stuart – contributor

The beginning of March is when the new season for off-road sports events gets underway and that means lots of motorway driving, or at least it did before diesel became so flipping expensive. I had to go and shoot the AWDC new XL Challenge at the Walter’s Arena site near Seven Sisters in South Wales. From my starting point in Preston, the Via Michelin Guide on the internet recommended going via Chester, Wrexham, Welshpool, Brecon; a nice drive through the Welsh Marches. My instinct would have been to bomb down the M6/M5 and take the M50 across to Monmouth and Merthyr Tydfil.

I opted for the scenic route thinking that the lower average speed might be more economical on fuel. Arriving at Seven Sisters five and a half hours and 199 miles later, I appeared to have a third of a tank of diesel left.

The Walter’s Arena site is a huge area covering 1600 acres, and AWDC’s Neil Whitford and his band of marshals had used all corners setting up 20 long sections. Normally I walk around all the sections, but, in this instance, it was obvious that the Terrano needed to do some mild off-road work and cart me around the enormous site.

Louise Limb – contributor

As I was writing this I put aside my fussing and fretting about whether to risk the wrath of the walkers and farmers by driving a gentle Lakeland BOAT above Windermere, to witness in absolute horror on the glowing screen in the corner, the well-built Suzukis, just like mine, being tossed in the waves of the Tsunami, that overwhelmed north eastern Japan, like little tin boxes in a biblical flood.

It’s as good a reminder as any of the fragility of our highly-developed world and my thoughts, as I’m sure yours are too, are with their owners and drivers, even if, by the time this is printed, the devastation will have faded from our televisions.

Hils Everitt – Editor

My beloved Jimny nears the end of its time with us at 4×4 Magazine just as the rugby season ends, and it has proved an excellent manager’s kit lugger over the course of the season.

I have extolled the virtues of its surprisingly good carrying capacity despite being a diminutive 4×4 in previous reports. You have to put the rear seats down to make the best use of the space – that is obvious – and the seats don’t actually fold down flat, but there is still a good area for stowing an enormous shirt bag, two sets of water carriers and bottles, a large water carrier for fill-ups, a bag of balls, and various other bags full of kit that 18, hefty muscle-bound rugby players need to get them out on the pitch every Saturday.

Due to the poor weather we have had during the season I have had to protect the Suzuki’s rear with some plastic sheeting to make sure that the excessively muddy kit has not soiled the leather upholstery or the carpet-backed rear seats.

Nigel Fryatt – contributor

Our RAV4 is knocking closer to the 100,000-mile mark and 10,000 of those miles have been done in the eight months since we bought the vehicle. In that time, while we’ve been checking, it has needed very little oil, and it’s not too thirsty, either; we have been averaging around the 35mpg mark.

Perhaps it would be better with new windscreen wipers, and we are very pleased with the Continental winter tyres fitted, but apart from that, costs have been very low, and it has been eight almost problem-free months. Still doesn’t make you that confident when you take your 4×4 for the MoT and an annual service does it?

Ann Lockley – contributor

Kelsey rides like a new rig after the installation of 90 per cent of her new Terrafirma parts! Getting the parts installed, however, proved to be a bit of a challenge. My long-time friend, and the person responsible for introducing me to Land Rovers some 20 years ago, Jason Coakley, manages Simoes Automotive, the shop that installed the new transmission in the summer. The trans swap was worse than a nightmare and the owner, Norbert Simoes, had actually banned ‘Kels’ from ever stepping ‘tyre’ in the parking lot ever again. Thankfully, he was enjoying a week’s vacation in the Bahamas – perfect timing. Glen van Drecht, the newest mechanic, offered to do the work. He did a great job, for his first Range Rover; even went so far as putting on new brake pads free of charge, and was still talking to me at the end of it…

Ian Shaw – contributor

Having spent most of my career as a magazine road tester, I am constantly questioning what separates a great vehicle from a merely good one; a vehicle you can respect from one you love. When it comes to the vehicle you own, the question has amplified validity – after all, it’s one’s own money at stake. Do you buy with heart or head – or a combination of the two?

If truth be known, I bought my Defender 110 Utility Wagon with a combination of the two. I don’t consider myself a dyed-in-the-wool Land Rover fanatic, I didn’t grow up on a farm or learn to drive in a Series III, and, other than tinkering with an ancient Series IIA a mate owned in our late teens, my first real experience of Land Rovers was as test editor on the old Off Road & 4Wheel Drive magazine when a 110 Hi-Capacity Pick-up arrived for test in 1989.

Bob Cooke – contributor

Derek was thinking: ‘I didn’t mean to get into this position, but there’s no point in stopping now – pedal to the metal and hope it all comes right!’ It was the moment I thought he was going to put Eugene’s rollover bar to the test for real, the moment I realised I was actually watching the underside of the Hotchkiss as it scrambled by, showering mud from its whirling bargrips.

I guess it was Gary’s fault. He had seen the Hotchkiss and expressed an interest in doing a little off-roading. Naturally, I’d invited him to join us at Boxgrove to have a little drive round in Eugene. Gary did take it very carefully for the first few minutes, so much so that he was making hard work of some of the obstacles. Hence I suggested that he could try going a little faster. Oh dear.

Garry Stuart – contributor

A drive up to Scotland to photograph the Scotia Extreme Winch Challenge was the last straw for me this winter. As I have mentioned previously, I have gone through this winter without a heater in the Nissan, due to a leaking heater matrix. After a long day on a freezing muddy Scottish hillside, I was faced with an equally freezing, four-hour-drive home. Not nice!

The next day I phoned Mark, who runs the local Kirkdale Garage in St Annes, Lancashire, and asked him to order a new matrix pronto. His suppliers seemed to have difficulty in getting one so I got onto the internet and in 15 minutes had bought one from an eBay store (www.demisterman.co.uk) which arrived by courier two days later. The Terrano was then booked into Kirkdale Garage for some major surgery. This will be the subject of a future 4×4 workshop feature, so I’ll say no more about it other than it was a traumatic experience.