Innehållsförteckning för November 2022 från NZ4WD

NEWS NZ4WD'S regular contributor Kevin Isemonger was offered a chance to experience the Ineos Grenadier out west of Auckland at Jonkers Farm in mid-September. He's a bit of a Land Rover fan, and headed out to the exclusive preview in his long wheelbase Defender wagon. Who better to give his view of the Grenadier, which is arriving in New Zealand early in 2023? Here are his impressions: The story goes that UK billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe had become so incensed when Land Rover decided to stop producing the Defender (as we know it) that he tried to buy the rights to continue manufacture - and when the request was refused, he decided to build his own. The Grenadier was designed at (and named after) Sir Jim's favourite pub, the Grenadier,…

NEWS Summer Escape 4×4 tagalongs cover a range of different trips with a fantastic mix of tracks and go to parts of the South Island that others may not see. The guides do the planning; customers do the driving in their own 4WDs. There is a maximum of 10 vehicles per trip for safety and practicality. Think epic photographic views of remote locations, river valleys, majestic mountain ranges where the sun rises and settings, shining on the snow, mountain passes, back country huts, lakes, glacier-fed rivers and bays where the water is an iridescent blue, high country stations; and all types of vegetation from beech forests and native trees, snow level vegetation to farmland. There are usually four trips a year of seven to eight days with overnight stays: October,…

Adventure NZ A smart man once told me, "If you have the chance, you gotta camp up on top of Mt Kyeburn, you can't beat the views - or the stars!" He has spent a lot of time exploring central Otago so I have held onto that little tidbit of information for a few years now. I have even tried to put his advice to use twice but have been turned back by poor weather and truck problems. Well, it was time to try to put the advice to use again as Dave (4WD persona "Big D") and I decided to take our rigs down to Otago for a trip through the Otaeke Conservation area. This was going to be Big D's first real trip in his new (to him)…

TESTED An on-road editor goes off-roading with something he probably shouldn't. Two questions: Can you take a hybrid SUV with computercontrolled drive modes on sand and… what will happen? Two answers. Yes, you can go on sand with a hybrid vehicle and nothing untoward will happen unless you do something 'stoopid', like run it on the soft sinking sand at the tide lines where an evil fate will befall even a regular 4×4 with diff locks, transfer cases et al. To prove this, NZ4WD borrowed NZ Company Vehicle magazine's editor and convinced him to visit Port Waikato, home to Sunset Beach, which is where the locals who worship chaps like this dude (reportedly a Hawaiian Surf God, most likely Kanaloa) have the most effective way of controlling traffic on sand…

Ute Buyer's Guide 2022 TESTED: MITSUBUSHI GLX-R In September 2021 Mitsubishi Motors confirmed it had secured 5000 Mitsubishi Tritons for the New Zealand market when every car company was screaming and struggling to get vehicles to sell. This meant for anyone wanting a new ute, MMNZ was quite literally the only game in town. And those five thousand units? They were 98 per cent sold by January of this year. It's fair to say the Triple Diamond brand had a stranglehold monopoly on the market, with other major players hamstrung by international slowdowns or planned run-outs in anticipation of new product arriving later in the year. “Over half of our Triton customers work in infrastructure, trade, or agriculture, so we are extremely pleased to be able to support them so robustly…

CHEVROLET The demise of GM-Holden has an upside in the subsequent establishment of GMSV and a network of dealers and service outlets. All devoted to the mighty Bowtie brand which has been at the heart of many recent Holden products. The Trailboss wasn't here for long (a ZR2 version replaces it in 2023), but the year also saw the arrival of the big diesel HD version. Silverado is sublime, advanced, impressively economical. FORD RANGER Ford suffered through the first half of 2022 waiting for the next-Gen Ranger, then kicked off the second half of the year with a fat 5,000 firm orders - not including Raptor. The new vehicle takes a major step forward from the outgoing range - though the previous Ranger was a hard act to follow. Once…

4WD Sport Save the date: a day of action, crashes and high-speed excitement is on the cards on 19 November as the New Zealand Offroad Grand Prix hits the custom-built track at Colin Dale Park in Manukau. The event is inspired by the Mickey Thompson Offroad Championship Grand Prix series, held in California during the 1980s and also by race events in New Zealand in the 1990s. The CRC/Tisco Offroad Grand Prix events held at Te Atatu were a game-changer for the sport, attracting crowds in the thousands. That history is about to be rewritten as the Mickey Thompson New Zealand Offroad Grand Prix comes to Manukau International Offroad Stadium for the first time this November. Organisers are expecting an entry from north and south that includes the biggest names…

4WD Sport The stars of the World Rally Championship blew through New Zealand in late September, wowing thousands with the sheer speed of the new semi-hybrid rally cars. It has been ten years since New Zealand last hosted a round of the championship. There have always been strong ties between rallying and off-road racing and the 'tribes' have cross-pollinated at the highest levels for years. Internationally the likes of Carlos Sainz, Ari Vatanen and Sebastien Loeb have all had distinguished careers post-rallying by applying their talents to the most punishing off-road endurance races in the world. Locally, off-road racing has seduced many drivers away from rallying. Enduro expert and multiple Taupo 1000 winner Clim Lammers of Hikurangi started his career in a Datsun 1200 at the Maramarua Rally but decided…

The all new Ineos Grenadier's progress toward an on-sale date continues. In September, with millions of kilometres of testing completed and tooling well under way for production, Ineos brought a prototype to New Zealand to show the Grenadier to an exclusive group of prospective buyers who had pre-registered on the brand's website. The car park was full of late model Range Rovers, a current-model Defender, a Mercedes or two, an Audi A6 and a couple of Teslas. The Grenadier was well and truly flying under the radar, but NZ4WD had an exclusive opportunity to attend the show-and-tell event. Engineering, testing and proving processes have to be painstakingly thorough for an all-new automotive project these days. Grenadier prototypes have completed more than 1.5 million kilometres of testing in all environments from…

German automaker BMW has confirmed it is close to launching a hydrogen fuel-cell version of its X5 SUV. Like most new technology developments, the iX5 Hydrogen is an 'umbrella' vehicle, aiming to spread the word about hydrogen as a fuel using the brand's high end 4WD and starting with demonstrations and real-road testing. The project is another instance in a developing relationship between BMW and Toyota that started with the Japanese brand adopting the BMW Z4 as the basis for its new Supra: Toyota is building the fuel cell units for BMW to fit into the iX5. The announcement is also seen by some as redefining the current push toward plain EV vehicles. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles create their own electrical power. Toyota's system feeds hydrogen generated in a land-based…

Hulk 4×4 is one of the fastest growing players in the New Zealand four-wheel-drive market, with an extensive range, including the very latest in recovery equipment. Headlining the Hulk 4×4 recovery equipment offering is its tough electrical winches, to ensure even the most loaded 4WDs can get out of strife. The HU9500 electric winch for 4WDs and SUVs has a working load up to 4,300kgs with features including a 12V 5.5hp/4.0kw series wound motor, a sealed main body and a control remote switch. Taking recovery to the next level are the Hulk Professional Series 12V remote controlled electrical winches, which are IP67 rated sealed and water resistant. Both units have a rated line pull of up to 4,300 kilograms, with the HU9500S coming with a 28mm steel cable and the…

Products On the road, off the beaten track, for industry, or around the farm, when drivers want to upgrade, accessorise and personalise a vehicle they turn to Ironman 4×4. Ironman 4×4 products include load carrying gear, suspensions, canopies, trays, cargo boxes, drawers, and a full range of roof racks, all of which have been developed in the harshest proving ground in the world: Australia. Ironman has been the first choice for Australian customers for more than 50 years and for New Zealand customers for about 10 years. Sold in more than 40 countries, Ironman 4×4 will deliver the comfort and safety owners demand as well as quality and value for money. Terraquip NZ is the importer for the Australian company's state-of the-art, outbacktested suspension kits, shock absorbers, springs, winches, bull…

Is the southern hemisphere cunningly waiting for critical mass the deliver affordable electric vehicles, or are we all just blindly clinging to our FFDC utes and trying to pretend the whole mess will go away? The trends suggest we may be out of step with the world. First, sales of fossil fuelled vehicles are slowing globally. New Zealand and Australia are in love with utes and SUVs, and rightly so, but the world is less passionate. With so many nations swearing off their fossil fuelled private vehicles (in every case, led by their governments), are we going to run out of cool vehicles to drive? Second is the rise of electric vehicles. Year on year, worldwide EV sales were up 40 percent in 2019 with 2.1 million finding homes and,…

Ute accessory guide For New Zealanders, utes make a lifestyle statement. Once, they were all about work and it was easy to know what someone did for a living by looking at their ute. They were considered a tool of the trade just like a builder's hammer, a farmer's Swanndri. Just like tools, they were built for function, with appearances hardly thought about, let alone considered in the design. Fast forward to today and the average ute owner is much more image conscious. Their ute has become an expression of who they are as a person and the freedom of their lifestyle. Utes have got taller, wider, bolder, more hightech - and black has replaced chrome. It's now common to buy utes off the shelf that have good appearances at…

MY 4WD Here at NZ4WD, we're not shy about proclaiming undying love and admiration for Toyota's 70 series. Bluff fronted, flat-screened, cab-on-chassis old school 4WD. Like Suzuki's Jimny, the 70 has built itself a massive cult following among those who want or need to 'go bush' into gnarly places on a regular basis. It turns out we are by no means alone. Among the devotees of this tough, nuggety 4WD is Darryl Eastgate, who has built himself a little ripper. Darryl traded his 200 series Cruiser around the time that Covid started messing with our lives. Describing himself as "a bit of a luddite at heart", he wanted a truck that "wasn't fussy inside with all the leather like the 200". He wanted something he could invite his dog into,…

The leave form is in, the trailer is ready, we're on the road again. The Giti Radial Tires Offroad Race team is heading for the New Zealand Offroad Racing Grand Prix at Manukau in late November. We get: heats, semi-finals and a final round; we can camp at the trick; and of course there's a postproduced TV programmme going out on TV3 after the event. An audience in excess of 250,000 people (not counting the 'plus one' watchers). Racing in front of real crowds again - what a novelty! It's a bit of a challenge - we go up against a big field of 'proper' race trucks like the mighty Pro4 of Joel Giddy on a course that rewards big horsepower as much as it does trucks set up to…

I should really reduce the size of my vehicle fleet. I have the Land Rover 90 for off road, the Discovery for tougher safari trips, the Range Rover LM322 V8 as a car, the Range Rover Sport that when the gremlins are sorted will replace the Range Rover and the Discovery 3 which was to be the next project 4WD vehicle before a pandemic slowed things down. With so many vehicles I am always chasing something when it comes to the warrant of fitness time and the latest due is the Discovery 3 V8 which has been used as a farm runabout over the last 18 months. This time last year the Discovery 3 failed its warrant of fitness test due to a noisy electric parking brake. Not that it…

Jeep has announced a comprehensive plan for its next generation of fully electric '4xe' vehicles. As part of its plan to become the leading electrified SUV brand in the world, Jeep is announcing new fullelectric 4WDs and bringing back some well-remembered model names. In the opening phase of the programme, three all-electric SUVs will be launched in North America and Europe by the end of 2025. Half of all Jeep sales in the U.S. will be fully electric by 2030; by that time all of the brand's European sales will be fullelectric. Jeep Recon This all-new SUV is aimed at those who love to explore the outdoors in near silence with a rugged, fully electric vehicle package. The Jeep Recon will be offered exclusively as a BEV, and it will…

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, we have to assume Suzuki's feeling very flattered this year. This is not a secretly developed five door Jimny Safari, though we would forgive readers for assuming so. But wait is it even real, or are we now having to sift through a steaming pile of 'alternative facts'? Chinese media would have us believe it's a wee 4WD from Chinese auto maker Tank. The company also offers a Tank 400 aimed at the Toyota Land Cruiser LC300 and plans to enter the Australian market with a toughened Tank 300 aimed at Jeep's Wrangler. Game on. That country's auto industry has been pretty good at making 'tributes' to desirable cars and SUVs over the past couple of decades. There's been the not-quite-Rolls Royce; the…

22 - 23 OCTOBER Off Road Racing National Championship Final Final round hosted by Auckland Offroad Racing Club. Short course and enduro over two days. www.oranz.co.nz. 11 - 12 NOVEMBER Force4 King of Canterbury 2022 Not for the fainthearted, this will test trucks and drivers to the limit. The venue is 20km west of Methven with pits and scrutineering on site. The course is approximately 7.5km long circuit with five bonus deviations to test teams, made up of fast flowing areas, some rough terrain, possible winch walls, valleys, rocks and mud. 12 NOVEMBER Lucas Oils NZ 4WD Trials series Round 1 Omaikao Road, Kaiatea, Whangarei. Hosted by Counties 4Wheelers. www.nz4×4trials.co.nz/calendar/ 19 NOVEMBER Mickey Thompson New Zealand Offroad Grand Prix Colin Dale Park, Manukau. Spectacular non-stop race action, whole track viewable…

Bendix has applied its many decades of braking expertise to develop and launch the new 12V Ultimate Tow electric brake controller, providing additional braking control and enhanced safety for drivers who regularly tow heavier trailers or caravans. Developed, fully programmed and tested at an Australian facility, Ultimate Tow features its own unique braking algorithm, ensuring superior performance and reliability in demanding local conditions. By law, trailers with a gross trailer mass (the weight of the trailer with everything in it) of between 750kg and 3,500kg are required to be fitted with either a mechanical or electrical brakes. And anything over 2,000kg must have an electric, or electric/hydraulic brake system and an electric 'break-away' controller. Breakaway systems are designed to activate the trailer or caravan's electric brakes if they decouple from…

Ute Buyer’s Guide 2022 New Zealand's love affair with utes endures and gains pace despite the best efforts of policy-makers and other frowny types in Wellington. While SUVs work well for families and lifestylers, the double cab, 4WD (mainly diesel) ute reigns supreme. Ute tax or no ute tax, the 4WD 'DDC' simply suits our way of life, the best all-season, all reason vehicle for New Zealand use. Add in some third-world (or worse) road conditions and declining budgets for road repair, and a good strong ute is worth its weight in gold. High profile tyres with strong sidewalls and tread construction, supple and robust suspension, and a slightly better view of the road ahead all mean utes are our 'it' vehicles when it comes to rough roads like State…

Ute Buyer's Guide 2022 TESTED FORD RANGER XLT VS MITSUBISHI TRITON GLX-R As most 4WD fanatics know already. Ford's Ranger is the new kid on the block, while Mitsubishi's Triton has been around for ages and has been constantly evolved and upgraded. Sad but true: Ford somehow managed to book us a rear-wheel-drive truck to go up against Mitsubishi's rally/rally-raid proven four-wheel drive. Talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight. Short of renaming the magazine 'NZ4WD…And Occasionally Not', what are we to do, how do we arrive at something close to a head-tohead comparison? It's radical we know, but we went for the RWD Ranger XLT vs the 4WD Triton and had a ball. Our frantically pulledtogether reasoning is based around price, and the knowledge that high-riding RWD derivatives of…

Auckland 4×4 Performance has been the 'must stop' source of 4WD accessories since 1998. It evolved from the family business, Papakura Auto Electrical Ltd, which was first established in 1952. Richard Brooks served his time as an auto electrical apprentice in the mid1980s within his father's business. "Once qualified I became interested in Fuel injection diagnosis and repair. Through my involvement with the Bosch NZ service council, I managed to meet a wide variety of fellow business owners." Talks with Autokraft owners Tim and Hugo, North Island importers of ARB, led to the creation of Auckland 4×4 Performance in mid-1998. "So mid 1998 was the start of the Auckland 4×4 Performance division. I still remember our first client's 80 series - and Old Man Emu suspension fit-out. The customer and…

WEEKEND DRIVE Contributor David Coxon is back home and took a drive out to the east coast. He met some of the locals, who have a special love of fur coats. May and I have always found the south coast of the Wairarapa the perfect place to escape the city regardless of the weather - on a fine day the coastline is glorious and on a bad day it is impressive. On this occasion, when we went for a spring trip with some friends, the weather couldn't make up its mind, so we got a bit of everything. Our first stop was the base of Onoko Spit - a perfect morning coffee stop and a chance to drive along the spit. The ford to get onto the spit was a…

By the time you are reading this, Santa songs will be drifting through the supershop aisles, corridors and toilets. It is nice to have relaxing toilet tones, but please, not Christmas in there. Keep our blood pressure down, let us contemplate a joyous four-wheeled sled ride. Snowy pine trees unlikely but get some jingle bells for your bush-bar. Eftpos cards will titivate the tills. When we used real heavy-metal discs or paper money to buy things it took time to remove the wallet from the pocket or bag, inspect its contents, fossick out coins and notes, make a selection, hand them to the till-person, watch them count out your change before announcing the sale was contracted. It still wasn't too late to change your mind though. And you'd had all…