Louise Limb – contributor

It’s been a few months since the Mass Air Flow meter was replaced (at considerable cost) and after no improvement in performance, my friendly mechanic Phil went back beneath the bonnet and tightened the throttle cable – there’s a locking nut at the engine end, as it felt slack. The result was immediate (and cost nothing as Phil’s one of the good guys). Once again my wheels could tackle hills with the confidence of a mountain goat. Nearly six months on and a couple of fully loaded trips to shows, the Grand Vitara is running as well as ever, though there’s been a recent slight drop off in power again, requiring lots of gear changing. When Phil’s back from his holiday in the Caribbean (vehicle maintenance people, like hairdressers, will never be short of work) he can see if it’s slackened off and do whatever’s necessary.

Bob Cooke – contributor

From a high point overlooking the lake it looked a bit like a little kid’s playground with Tonka toys scattered all over the place – mainly Land Rovers, since the Yarwell Quarry site near Peterborough is home to a Land Rover enthusiasts’ group, and it’s so popular that the place positively swarms with old Series Land Rovers and nicely modified Discoverys. Fortunately they don’t mind other marques joining in the fun, though the marshal who welcomed us to the site did give us a friendly warning: “There’s been a lot of rain,” he said, “So the lake is deeper than usual. Our advice is to stay away from the water – and don’t expect us to recover you if you don’t.”

That obviously didn’t apply to the Land Rovers – we spent an entertaining half hour watching snorkel-equipped old Land Rovers charging bonnet-deep through the lake then opening doors to let the flood water drain out of their footwells.

Bob Cooke – contributor

I haven’t dared to tell Pete how I came to get the Cherokee stuck, because he’d call me such an idiot. Particularly since, for once, his 1949 Willys just didn’t have enough oomph to pull my Jeep out of the mud hole. When he drove off without a word I assumed he’d got the hump and had just abandoned me, but he came back with Brett Mawer in his high-rise Range Rover which hoiked the Cherokee out of the hole as easily as a bear snapping up a salmon.

It was only after the Cherokee had regained terra firma that I spotted the tell-tale green indicator lamp on the dashboard and realised why the Cherokee hadn’t been able to follow Pete’s Willys through that particular mud hole.

I’d like to point out that I do know the difference between ‘permanent’ 4WD and ‘part time’ 4WD as applied to the Jeep. I blame the fact that the Cherokee was in the wrong 4×4 mode on old age. The Jeep’s old age, not mine!

Louise Limb

After months of rain the venerable Freelander, like everything else, is becoming rather soggy. Pressed into service on alternate days to eke out the miserly mileage allowance permitted under the unreasonably expensive insurance terms, the Land Rover’s eager TD4 engine is relishing the 90 mile commute my other half has begun travelling each day, a more economical if tedious VW Golf doing the other 50 per cent of what are currently very wet journeys. As a result, the old blue Freelander is becoming cosmetically rather sad looking. Kept outside, the metal window seals are crimping even further, giving their rubber coating a curled appearance, the rust spots are spreading and the rear door is becoming even tattier. I dread the day if and when the incredibly complex rear window cum door lock mechanism breaks. Nevertheless, with the repeated deluges something was bound to give.

Robert Pepper

Last weekend we were out again in the summer Aussie heat, camping and exploring, and in those conditions a swim, perhaps the most relaxingly pleasant way to cool off.  But not just any old swim. There’s nothing quite as refreshing as diving into a briskly flowing river and being carried, with no effort on your part, downstream – it’s a depth of coolness the artificial, chlorinated swimming pool cannot match, and you need to experience the difference to believe it.

In much the same way the Discovery 3 and 4 look similar, but the latter is more capable than the former. And both have subtle and non-so-subtle mid-life updates, which improve things a little here and a little there. The D3’s traction systems were sophisticated in 2005, but now the very latest D4s now sport an eight-speed automatic and traction control that works harder when wheels lift off the ground and a range of other improvements. The differences can be hard to spot, but they’re there. A little like the oft-discussed question of whether the optional e-diff is worth the money, and what affect it has.

Bob Cooke – contributor

The sign said ‘winch vehicles only’, which is why I didn’t take the Cherokee over that particular hump, but it didn’t stop Tom Parr driving his Land Rover up the steep climb leading into that area. The sudden burst of laughter from his on-looking buddies after the car disappeared over the other side was a call I couldn’t resist, so I parked the Cherokee and walked over. Surprise, surprise, Tom’s Land Rover had planted itself so deeply into a water-filled hole that it had flooded the driver’s footwell; it took a snatch recovery from a friend’s car to pull it back out of the hole.

The Slindon Safari off-road site, near Arundel in West Sussex, is a place where you can quite easily get a car stuck, but that’s only part of its attraction. There’s a good selection of really difficult off-roading that allows well-modified and winch-equipped vehicles to get to grips with the terrain, but there are also areas just challenging enough to enjoy a day out with an unmodified car, and plenty of middling tortuous terrain for something in between, like the Cherokee. There are wide open areas, there’s a lower section with so many humps and holes that you could easily lose a car in it, but my favourite areas are under the trees where, at times, you could imagine yourself in a dark and almost impenetrable jungle. That’s an impression enhanced after the recent heavy rains, since some of the tracks threading through the forest area had become so waterlogged that progress along some of them brought images of the most demanding days of the Camel Trophy to mind.

Robert Pepper

Just got back from a camping trip of about three weeks. Our trips are somewhat unplanned; we pretty much decide where to stay late each afternoon, and typically move on after one or two nights. Everything our family of four needs is carried by the D3, either inside or on the roof rack. Fully loaded, the D3 might surprise many, as it looks a lot less ‘loaded’ than many other 4x4s, yet has everything a family needs for four days of remote bush camping. There are a few tricks to the packing, and I’ll share some here.

First up is buy all your gear from hiking shops, because that’s where you’ll find the lightest, smallest and best quality kit as every gram counts when on foot, whereas car people tend not to care. But you should, because weight and bulk add up. For example, down sleeping bags are warmer and compress more tightly than polyester bags, and quality inflatable mats pack down smaller than cheap self-inflators. Two, or even three small hiking stoves work very well and give you more space, better than lugging around a huge gas BBQ with a heavy gas pot. You probably don’t really need that big, heavy director’s camp chair – a smaller, simpler, lighter one often works well. Modern LED battery-powered camp lights are small and light, so ditch the big, bulky 12v electrics. Hikers also have collapsible buckets and dual-purpose cutlery, again cutting the weight and bulk. Take this minimisation approach throughout your gear and it’s amazing how you can cut the bulk and the weight.

Bob Cooke – contributor

EVEN the most cautious and careful driver can have an ‘incident’ when driving off-road. It’s one of those activities that you shouldn’t do, if you are not prepared for the consequences that might involve some damaged metal (or plastic), since it’s not always just your pride that gets dented.

That would be a good way of introducing, or indeed excusing, the dent that now appears on the Suzuki’s front bumper. I could regale you with stories of derring-do, on how the little Suzuki had been ploughing through the rough stuff, embarrassing vehicles more suited to serious mud-plugging, when one of those nasty mobile rocks ‘jumped out’ in front of me and caught the valance. I could say that, if it was true. Sadly, I have to admit that the damage was done… in a car park. Now it was the muddy, slippery car park at a small wildlife nature reserve somewhere in Surrey, and not a tarmac covered Tesco’s car park, but that still doesn’t quite excuse it.

Stupid thing was, when I drove in and parked I noticed the small wooden fence, less than a foot high, low down on the passenger’s side. It would be easy to miss that I thought to myself. Of course, some time later when I came to reverse out of the space, putting the wheel to full lock and looking over my shoulder to see all was clear behind and easing back, the resulting graunching noise told me that, basically, I was an idiot.

Hils Everitt – Editor at Large

So, having put a deposit on my new 2009 Mineral Grey Grand Cherokee Overland I picked it up four days later, after a two-hour train journey and a large chunk of cash filtering out of the bank account. The dealership didn’t seem too bothered that I didn’t want to take up the finance offer; I got a pretty cheap bank loan instead, with a bit extra to sort out the garage doors – one needed replacing and the other garage just needed a door, full stop.

In fact, the garage and its intended new electric rolling doors were a big issue in the purchase of this particular Grand. The garage we keep the MX5 in was fine, of course, bags of room. In my old WJ, parking in our open garage was quite a precise operation, with just an inch or two to spare either side. But garaging the WK Grand could have been a real problem.

Robert Pepper

Perhaps the most commonly discussed topic in Discovery circles is that of tyres, and on that front I have news. Back in the April 2013 edition I reported that the D3’s BFGoodrich KM2 mud tyres had worn out, and I was replacing them with the least aggressive tyre I’ve ever owned on a 4×4; Cooper AT3s. The logic behind this was simple; after years of driving stock-standard press cars with standard tyres I’ve still managed to have a lot of fun and get pretty much anywhere I want to go. This is because over time vehicles are becoming more capable, with ever-more effective traction control, power delivery and suspension. Even today, my 2008 Discovery 3 can hold its head high, and while it is modified the mods are all about touring, not off-road capability. Tyre technology has also progressed, with punctures becoming so rare road cars are omitting spare tyres entirely, and traction has improved across all surfaces.  Yet for all that progress punctures are still entirely possible and in the ongoing war of sharp mallee roots against tyres it is fair to say nature is still well head.