Tabla de contenidos para Issue #3 en ENGAGE4X4

It is sometimes the simplest spark which creates the burning desire to get out and explore. For some, it is a family camping trip, a destination. For my wife and me, it was a car which symbolized freedom and adventure at an impressionable age. My very first experience behind the wheel of a 4x4 was with a Land Rover Defender. I did not know at the time, but it would be the catalysis for a burning desire to acquire my very own box-on-wheels. My wife and I had rented one when we first got together for a day trip on Fraser Island, Australia – the largest sand Island in the world! Prior to this, we had never gone off-road in a 4x4, and we were woefully inexperienced. If I am…

NEW DEFENDER RALLY SERIES The workhorse reborn The Bowler Defender Challenge will run over seven rounds through the countryside in 2022 — similar to rally challenges run between 2014 and 2016. Back then, the modified old-style Defender 90s ran 2.2-liter diesel engines pumped up to 170 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque for a top speed around 110 miles per hour, this time the new-age petrol-engine Defender 90 promises a tad more speed and better handling through the rough stuff. Derbyshire Farmer Drew Bowler was in the business of making Land Rovers run faster and harder in off-road events from 1985: building a reputation for quality race machines. A Bowler first ran the Dakar in Africa in 2000; and their competition machines — Tomcat, Wildcat, and Nemesis — have raced…

PLUG IN, BABY Eco-friendly Wrangler This plug-in Wrangler 4xe – running one petrol and two electric motors – is claimed to be both the most off-road capable and the most eco-friendly Jeep on the planet! The factory said that it is the ideal solution for customers looking for a four-wheel-drive to be used every day, but who are also unwilling to compromise between “freedom, fun, and respect for the environment”. Despite all the new-age technology, the 4xe Wagon remains a direct descendant of the original 1941 Jeep and a Trail-Rated vehicle: capable of conquering tracks from the Sierra Nevadas to the Baja, Moab, to the Mojave. With a combined output of 375 horsepower and 470lb-ft of torque, the electrification further improves the Jeep’s renown off-road capability – especially at rock-crawling…

LANDCRUISER DONE RIGHT In the decades since the team at Proffitt have fully restored over 100 Land Cruisers, they have performed over 200 engine conversions and at least as many suspension conversions. They lost count years ago of how many bumpers, roll cages, and other parts they have designed, fabricated and fitted – but it numbers in the thousands. Back in the mid-1990s, vintage Land Cruisers were not considered particularly desirable by many in the wider automotive community. In fact, most vintage off-road-vehicle enthusiasts largely kept to themselves, and the classic-car and vintage-motorcycle world showed little interest in 4x4s. This all began to change when vehicles like FJ40s, Series Land Rovers, Ford Broncos, Range Rover Classics, Unimogs, Pinzgauers, G Wagons, and International Scouts became cool again – and it was…

DOWN AND DIRTY IN AN RS Kai Burkhard did not build this Syberia RS for the plaudits. It is not designed to be faster than other Safari sports-car builds, or prettier, or more capable in a particular off-road racing event. Syberia grabs styling features from decades of different Porsches; then, throws them over a bodyshell stretched to distortion – just because Kai likes it that way. It has been finished in triple black–matching the color scheme of all his other Porsches. Kai does not care how you judge the results: this Syberia RS is a car he built just for himself. “You can buy whatever you want,” he laughed. “Syberia RS is the perfect car for me. It combines all my favorite stuff from all my favorite Porsche models, so…

A PRADO YOU WOULD BE PROUD TO OWN Cullen Powers admits that a Land Cruiser FJ55 is not the most comfortable of machines. Understands that while many folk show interest in the veteran 4x4 wagon, it will not suit every man and his dog. And that Toyota has the “only-a-mother-could-love-‘em” sort of style, said Cullen. Yet the Des Moines photographer and traveler loves his 1974 green and white machine and its all-original patina. That is his Iron Pig, stablemate to a well-sorted Toyota Tundra and now a 1993 LJ78 Land Cruiser wagon. “The FJ55 is a cool car and good for driving around town … unless it’s cold outside, it’s hot outside, or it’s raining outside — then, it’s not so great for driving around. You can’t hear yourself think,…

Land Rover was a part of Virgin Galactic’s completed mission of its first-ever fully-crewed space flight, with Founder Sir Richard Branson on board as one of four Mission Specialists. The SpaceShipTwo Unity craft traveled with four Mission Specialists and two Pilots on-board. The six-strong crew started and completed their mission at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Sir Branson arrived for the ‘Unity 22’ mission in a Range Rover Astronaut Edition; and, after a safe landing, his spacecraft was towed back by a Land Rover Defender 110 to waiting well-wishers. The company’s fourth crewed spaceflight was the first to carry a full crew. Those in the cabin experienced out-of-seat weightlessness and incredible views of Earth from space. Audiences around the world watched a livestream of the space fligh: seeing first-hand the…

As an icon built around 80 years of unmatched 4x4 capability, the Wrangler has always pushed the limit of what a Jeep can do off-road. Jim Morrison, Vice President of the Jeep Brand North America, said: “The new Xtreme Recon Package with 35-inch tires straight from the factory pushes that limit even further. While the Xtreme Recon Package sets the benchmark for 4x4 capability, the easy-to-use Sunrider Flip Top for Hardtop fortifies Wrangler’s open-air spirit.” Priced at a US manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $3,995, the new Jeep Wrangler Xtreme Recon Package includes LT315/70R17C (35-inch) BF Goodrich KO2 all-terrain tires, 17-inch by eight-inch beadlock capable wheels, Swing gate reinforcement, 4.6:1 axle ratio and a 1.5-inch factory suspension lift with uniquely-tuned shocks. The package delivers best-in-its-class approach-angle, departure-angle, ground-clearance, and…

ANOTHER REASON TO BUY A FORD First pickup in America with a standard full-hybrid powertrain Once sported by Ford sedans in the United States and Ford-badge four-wheel-drives in Australia, the Maverick nameplate now appears righteous — suited to this little truck. It is cheap, it is cute, and it is the first American pickup which offers standard with a full-hybrid powertrain. And so it is a little unorthodox — like the droll James Garner in that long-running western show of the 1950s and Mel Gibson in the 1994 movie Maverick. The original Ford Mavericks were compact, and successful, two-and-four-door cars sold in North America through the 1970s. Australia’s Mavericks were re-badged Nissan Patrol Y60s — three-and-five-door wagons and pickups — from the late 1980s, while the nameplate was also used…

KICKS AND GIGGLES Today, Hodson Motors builds some of the country’s most different classics. Some restored to working order with a couple of tweaks; some worked over with crazy ideas; some given away in regular raffles. Riley said: “I had no background in automobiles. But Dad and I just started collecting as a hobby when he retired. We picked up some cool, unique stuff and turned that into what you see today. “I was never posting anything on social media about the vehicles from 2015 to 2019. We were building them just for kicks and giggles, just for he and I and family members. We’d pick a truck, take it home for the weekend – and really it was just a hobby, we weren’t making anything of it, didn’t have…

As a teenager in the southern state of Victoria, Australia, Roger was mates with Andy Brown – youngest of the three Brown brothers – and Roger and Andy helped out in the very first ARB store with odd jobs after school. ARB had been founded in 1975 by Tony Brown: inspired by a four-wheel-drive trek through the top end of Australia and noting the fragility, or ill-sorted, equipment many travelers were using; gear which could not cope with corrugated roads, heavy loads, and the heat and dust of the Outback. Tony had made better and more durable gear for his Series 1 Land Rover and was often called on by fellow travelers in the bush to help fix the likes of broken bull bars and roof racks. That experience sparked…

The all-new 2021 Ford F-150 Police Responder has the best acceleration of any pursuit-rated police vehicle tested: helping law enforcement officers respond quickly to emergencies. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department test data – as well as preliminary test results from Michigan State Police – show the 2021 F-150 Police Responder, America’s only pursuit-rated pick-up truck, had the fastest zero-to-60-miles-per-hour, zero-to-100-miles-per-hour, and quarter-mile times of any law enforcement vehicle – including SUVs and sedans. Greg Ebel, Ford Police Vehicle Brand Manager, said: “Vehicle acceleration and speed contribute to how quickly first responders can safely arrive at an emergency scene. Shaving even a few seconds off response times can make a big difference. Whether responding to an accident on the highway or a distress call from somewhere off-road, law enforcement officers can…

DAKAR CONTENDER Audi dips its toes in the sand Audi wants to be the first Car Manufacturer to use an electrified drivetrain in combination with an efficient energy converter to compete for overall victory against conventionally-powered competitors in the world’s toughest rally. Julius Seebach, Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH and responsible for motorsport at Audi, said: “The quattro was a gamechanger for the World Rally Championship. Audi was the first brand to win the Le Mans 24 Hours with an electrified drivetrain. Now, we want to usher in a new era at the Dakar Rally, while testing and further developing our e-tron technology under extreme conditions. Our RS Q e-tron was created on a blank sheet of paper in record time and stands for Vorsprung durch Technik.” The characteristics…