Land Rover Defender replacement info leak!
UK Publication Autocar reports leaked documents from Land Rover reveal details of the long-awaited and much speculated Defender replacement. Since the 2011 ‘DC100’ concept was met with widespread disapproval, Land Rover have kept impressively quiet on the Defender replacement. Expected concept and release dates have…
Police now targeting YOUR modified 4X4
Dear Reader, Your lifted 4X4 is in danger. You knew your suspension lift, body lift and tall tyres added up to good ground clearance. You may not have known for certain that you were crossing into illegal modification territory. ‘Operation Lift’ by Queensland Police is…
Colorado ZR2 Bison – Raptor killer?
Front and rear locking diffs. Race bred remote reservoir coil-over dampers. Snorkel. Steel front and rear bumpers. Underbody skid plates. Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac tyres. Enter the Chev Colorado ZR2 Bison. Chevrolet are taking on the Ford Ranger Raptor with the new Colorado ZR2 Bison, beefed up…
2019 Kia Sorento is a hard-core off-roader!
No, really? Take a stock AWD 2019 Sorento, bolt some off-road rubber on, a couple of bonus bash plates and disconnect the sway bars and you too could drive Hell’s Gate on Hell’s Revenge in Moab, Utah. Clearly a spotter is critical in technical…
New/Old Kid on the Block: Ssangyong Rexton & Musso
Come November this year we will welcome Ssangyong back to the market with the Rexton wagon and Musso ute. Having been absent since 2006, there’s a lot of water under the bridge for the once classically South Korean styled 4X4s. Now way back in the…
Used 4X4 of the Week: Nissan Pathfinder
Introduced in 2005, the R51 Pathfinder was Nissan’s answer to the Toyota 4Runner and Mitsubishi Challenger in the four door mid-size 4X4 category. The Pathfinder name began in the mid to late 80s. The R51’s immediate predecessor the R50 was available from 1995 and offered…
Used 4X4 of the week-NM/NP Pajero
The 2000-2006 Pajero is a mid-sized 5 door wagon best known for being driven by mums on the school and soccer runs. Whilst most have never seen a dirt road in their life, the NM and NP Pajero can make for a very good touring…
Will the real Nissan Pathfinder please stand up?
When the R51 Nissan Pathfinder was replaced in 2013, we all let out a collective sigh. No chassis rails, no proper 4WD, no ground clearance, no transfer case. The Nissan R52 carried the Pathfinder badge in name only. Sure, the R50 was a softroader as well,…
New-look 2018 Mazda BT-50 revealed for Australian Market
Designed and developed locally, the new 2018 Mazda BT-50 has copped a new snout in an effort to appeal more to those wanting a more masculine kind of look to their 4X4 ute. With the front-end design changes and added equipment across grades, this is the second…
Outback testing in the 2018 Jeep JL Wrangler
It’s mid-January in Alice Springs. The temperature must be 45 degrees C. Parked innocuously in the stifling heat are two Jeep Wrangler Rubicons, one short wheelbase, one long wheelbase. Nothing too unusual there. Until you look a bit closer. The top of the grille is…
Have a closer look at the 2018 Navara’s new dual-rate coils
When we drove the V3 updated 2018 Navara a couple of weeks ago, we found it to be vastly improved. Along with the faster steering, there is one thing that transformed this ute the most: the coil springs. It’s a dual rate setup, which means…
2018 Jeep Compass Trailhawk Review
This is the Jeep Compass Trailhawk, the small 4WD that fills the boots of a decidely forgettable unit sold previously. We got an invite in the mail, and thought what you’re probably thinking now: “No thanks, it’s just a softroader. I prefer rock crawling over…
2018 Nissan Navara: Have they finally fixed it?
There’s no getting around it, the original D23 Nissan Navara that came out in 2015 missed the mark. Unloaded, it was a great car. It was efficient, grunty and comfortable. Plus, it shed those leaf springs in favour of a five-link coil-spring setup. But, it…
Hold your horses, but don’t hold your breath. Nissan is bringing the Titan to Australia.
In the face of a highly competitive and fast-evolving 4WD ute market in Australia, Nissan has all but confirmed they are bringing in some big guns to bolster their brand and position. That’s right, they’re going full-size with the Nissan Titan. Nothing’s official until it’s…
STAR WARS vs Nissan: Nissan Titan AT-M6
The Nissan Titan is a rather remarkable ‘truck’ all by itself; add livery and a build to resemble a walker from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and you get the Titan AT-M6. California based company Vehicle Effects (built all of the cars for the Fast…
2018 Ford Ranger Raptor: Here it is
Ford’s Ranger Raptor is here, now without camouflage or speculation to hide behind. There’s plenty to get through on this highly anticipated ute, which is the first of (probably a handful) a new series of off-road performance utes. Let’s get into some details. The Engine…
2018 Haval H9 Review
Haval is here, and their proper 4WD offering has been improved. It’s called the H9, and is a seven-seat 4X4 roughly the same size as a Ford Everest. The brand is new to Australia, but they are big in their home of China. 2017 was…
New 2018 Toyota HiLux range announced: Rugged, Rogue, Rugged X
In an effort to keep up with the Joneses, Toyota has revealed a new range of specification levels for the 2018 Toyota HiLux. Manufacturers of Australia’s best-selling vehicle have obviously realised that SR5 isn’t a high enough specification for some folk, and they need something…
Ford Ranger catches fire in Cairns
Just one day after Ford issued a recall for it’s Ranger ute for the risk of fire, one has been seen burning in northern Queensland. Now, first things first. We don’t know the important information about this incident. Most importantly, we don’t know about what…
4X4s and grass fire risks. What you need to know.
Ford has just issued a recall of their hugely popular Ranger because of the risks of fire from grass collecting under the vehicle. Mazda has also acknowledged the problem on their BT-50, but this is a problem that goes well beyond just these two 4WDs….