Bob Cooke – contributor

It’s just as well that I carry one of those head torch things in the Cherokee. Not just because we’ve entered the dark days of winter, though it’s useful on those odd occasions when you need to see if what you’ve just run over is edible. I don’t even need the torch to find my way up the driveway after parking because the Cherokee has a “sentinel” headlamp system, which leaves the lamps alight for about 45 seconds after switching off the ignition. I need the torch because the dashboard lamps have failed, so I need a means of checking my speed and finding the stereo and heater controls after dark. It’s an odd one – the dash illumination doesn’t work, nor does the stereo display, yet the digital clock still ticks away in the dark and the stereo still works, it just doesn’t show me what station I’m listening to. The handbook doesn’t assign a fuse to the dashboard illumination, so I’m somewhat bewildered.

Ian Seabrook

After repeatedly scraping the underside of my Maverick during a rock-strewn day of greenlaning, I decided it was time to check the ride height. The gap between the front tyre and wheelarch should be around 20mm less than the same gap at the rear. Use of a tape measure revealed that not only was the front end about 30mm low, it was another 10mm lower on the passenger side.

Thankfully, raising the ride height couldn’t be easier, or cheaper. The torsion bar suspension includes an adjustment mechanism to allow for sag over the years. All you have to do is undo the locknut on the adjuster and then screw the adjuster down for more height. It means a certain amount of scrabbling around on the floor but as the ride height goes up, this gets easier!

Nigel Fryatt – editor

It’s arguable which manufacturer can actually claim to have started the ‘lifestyle’ pick-up idea, but high up that list has to be Mitsubishi. The arrival of the L200 in 2005 certainly raised the stakes and helped extend the market for what previously had been a purely commercial sector. The L200’s unique design, especially the rear door/loadbed treatment, produced a machine that people wanted to be seen in. Looking at the latest incarnation parked alongside my ultra conservative Toyota Hilux, the new L200 Barbarian Black is certainly something to be seen in! Resplendent in violent bright candy red, you only need to add a couple of ladders to the back and it could pass as some kind of private performance fire engine.

Hils Everitt – Editor at Large

So last month we said farewell to our ES Tiguan and now it’s a big hello for the winter to our VW Escape, just in time for the wintry season.

Temperatures have dropped, there is a severe frost outside and some parts of the country have been thwarted by horrendous floods and heavy snow; and we hope that our Escape gets to play in some wintry conditions to see just how good it is. The Escape is the ‘off-road’ version which has a more off-tarmac amenable body shape with an improved approach angle of 28° (from 18° in the ES), thanks to the shorter nose, and the ‘off-road’ button. It also sports front underbody protection plus side and underbody protection pack.

Shion Scudamore – contributor

It’s been some time since I put pen to paper on the progress of the Bedford rebuild, as usual life filled up with “stuff” and other projects got in the way. By popular request from my family, I now find myself the owner of a Volkswagen T25 camper as well as the Bedford, although alas not a Syncro.

Temptation to convert it has been curbed by my wife and the huge cost of Syncro transmissions. This has also meant the passing of another sad milestone, now for the first time in 33 years, I don’t own a Land Rover. The Discovery has moved on to new pastures to provide some funds and time for other projects.

Robert Pepper

Our Discovery 3’s odometer is now about to tick over 80,000 miles, many of which have been off-road, carrying a load or both. Lots of things wear out and need replacing over time – tyres and fluids of course, but also suspension. Sure, the Discovery has air suspension, which can be inflated so it doesn’t sag, but eventually everything wears out and for suspension in particular the dampers are a case in point. The Discovery was becoming rather too floaty over corrugations and bumps at cruise, and even at lower speeds the suspension bounced over rather than absorbed the undulations. So time for replacement dampers, but not a lot of choice. I spoke to Bilstein and found they have withdrawn their product from the Aussie market permanently, and then had a chat to Koni to discover that their product has also been withdrawn, albeit only temporarily. After a bit of research the best remaining option seemed to be the Land Rover standard kit, and as our Discovery is under warranty – thanks to a two-year extension programme – that was also the safe choice. So on went a set of shocks and, as ever with suspension changes, there’s quite a difference in handling, and that’s apparent even around town. There’s less pitch when accelerating, less nosedive when braking and more assured handling around the corners. And there’s better traction off-road, as all the sophisticated traction control in the world won’t help if the tyres aren’t well and truly in contact with the ground.

Sue Loy

Now, I never thought I would be doing this! Some month’s ago, my brother pointed out that the ideal personalised plate was available and ‘you should get it quick.’ A lot of my friends call me ‘Suzy’, so being able to have a reg plate that ‘says’ SUZI LOY was tempting but somehow I didn’t get around to it. However, I recently decided to check if it was still available. Surprisingly, I found it ‘for sale’ on a number of specialist sites, at different prices. I then went direct to the DVLA site (www.dvlaregistrations.direct.gov.uk) and it was available there – a lot cheaper! The other benefit, quite apart from having much more confidence in buying from the DVLA rather than other motor traders, was that their price included the £80 that you have to pay the DVLA to transfer the plate.

Bob Cooke – contributor

I’m impressed. Not just at how much a few inches of extra ground clearance has improved the Cherokee’s performance over tortuous terrain, but at how well the Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac tyres coped with the deep, churned-up mud of the Avon Dassett off-road site. We’d just watched a selection of off-roaders including a Discovery and a Toyota Surf slithering and crashing their way up one deeply rutted track, showering mud and slush in their wake, seemingly relying on sheer momentum to overcome the lack of traction. My first thought was not to try that route, but having looked around at the alternative ways out of the mud hole we’d ended up in, only to see yet deeper, thicker mudbaths, it became obvious that the uphill track would be the most sensible option. However, because I’m still worried about the possibility of knocking the Cherokee’s dodgy-looking exhaust off, I certainly wasn’t going to take it at speed.

Hils Everitt – Editor at Large

After a few months of touring around the country in our Tiguan SE it’s time to say goodbye as we are replacing it with the Tiguan ‘Escape’ model just in time for the winter months.

Although they have the same name, these two have very different specs and feature different equipment. Our SE comes at an on-the-road price of a pretty hefty £25,675 which includes £135 VED (band F). For that little lot you get the very impressive and elegant 1968cc TDI that pumps 138bhp, which may not sound a huge amount, but it does pack a powerful punch when up and running on the motorway and is incredibly smooth and responsive. When mated to the solid 4MOTION permanent four-wheel drive system and six-speed manual gearbox, it formed a stable combination that gave me a lot of fun getting the most out of it. There is a 168bhp engine option but, unless you really want some extra poke, the 138bhp model is perfectly adequate. Torque is quoted at an impressive 236lb ft@1750-2500rpm which helps to make it a useful towing vehicle that can haul 2200kgs.

Phil Weeden

We were recently invited by SsangYong to an off-road experience at Grange Farm near Wansford. As it was a mere stone’s throw from our Peterborough office and the sun was shining, it was easy to bust out of the office for the afternoon and play on an off-road course. The South Korean carmaker has reinvented itself of late and boasts a range of good value 4x4s: Korando, Rexton and Rodius, with the Korando Sports pick-up (featured in this month’s Pick-up Of The Year test, page 46).