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.

Robert Pepper

This month has been a rather typical month for the Discovery – a 4×4 trip or two, the usual mundane school runs, shopping and personal transport duties. We went for a snow run after keeping a close eye on the snow reports, which promised much so we dropped everything and bundled into the orange beast, aiming to get at least 1100m above sea level. In good years, snow is found from 800m upwards and most seasons you can generally run into it from around 1000m. But this year it was slim pickings, as the photographs show.

The D3 does this sort of medium trip very well, as the drive to the snow mountains is around two hours and includes some very twisty and often wet tarmac, then off-road onto dirt tracks that are relatively high speed but still require clearance and traction. So all was good, except one of the D3’s major design faults and that is the park brake. For off-roaders it is the most troublesome part of the car, bar none, and that is because it is prone to clogging with mud or sometimes dust and dirt. Given the Discovery was developed in England, land of the long muddy green lane, it’s a bizarre design and even worse, it’s been carried over into the D4 when it should have been carried over to the rubbish bin. On this particular trip the activator light just lit up over corrugations, not activating the brake, but irritating. Yet another clean is in order. Why, oh why did they make it this way?

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).