Table of contents for July 2015 in SA4x4

Great queues of cars at all the border posts during the December holiday season are a sign South Africans have forgotten something: that travel within our borders can be truly rewarding. After all, this is a huge, diverse country with thousands of kilometres of back roads. What’s more, they form links between dozens of charming towns and villages which are now often passed by. Years back, magnificent mountain passes and bridges across impassable rivers were built to make the lives of farmers, traders and townsfolk a bit easier. The railway network was in full swing, too, forming the economic lifeline between remote areas and the city business hubs. Much has changed, but the people who still live in those dorpies have some fascinating stories to tell. So, instead of racing…

So, this is it. Already launched in May in Thailand, the 8th generation Hilux (due in local showrooms in the first quarter of 2016) is set to make waves in South Africa, almost certainly reclaiming the best-selling-bakkie crown from Ford. New engines, a whole new chassis, plus striking looks and a luxurious interior, will step up the game. Under the hood in the petrol department, the old faithful 2.7l VVT and 4.0l V6 motors do duty with all-new transmissions. A first in the bakkie segment, the six-speed manual with ‘i-MT’ will automatically rev-match the engine speed to the transmission, providing seamless down-changes. A six-speed automatic is also available, along with a more basic five-speed manual, presumably to be placed in lower-spec models. The old 3.0D4-D and 2.5D4-D motors have been…

If you are a couch potato with no particular interest in birds, and one who has never been to any place wilder than the kiddies’ park down the road, you would probably think that the birds in the picture above belong on a bottle of Scotch whisky. But they don’t. You are confusing them with a Red Grouse, which is Scotland’s national game bird. The Red Grouse is a Scottish cousin of our local Burchell’s Sandgrouse, which you may also confuse with our own famous Namaqua Sandgrouse, also called the “Kelkiewyn”. Now, as many a couch potato will probably know, The Famous Grouse is a brand of blended Scotch whisky first produced by Matthew Gloag & Son in the late 1800s; it has been the best-selling whisky in Scotland for…

Prado Killer, Propshaft Valley, Sledge Hammer, Klipdrift, Hmm-Hmm, and Skipskop. These are just a few of the colourful names you’ll find at Moegatle 4x4; they’re used to describe the trail’s twenty-or-so obstacles. However, most of us know the trail for its infamous rock face: Koos se Klim, a 43º slab of granite that reaches far into the sunny-blue skies of the North West province. Admittedly, this trail review is long overdue. Moetgatle 4x4 is by no means a new route, but for some reason, and despite my many years of travel with SA4x4, I never quite got around to driving it. (Perhaps it was a subconscious decision). I think part of my hesitation was not knowing if I could find the right vehicle for the job. There aren’t too many…

‘‘Don’t hold back, Andrew; let’s show these ballies how it’s done!” my co-driver Tymon Smith excitably exclaims as he clambers into the mud-soaked cage. Strapped in, his look of glee quickly turns to pale fear as he realises control has been relinquished to a madman. Flag down, third gear, low range, rear locker engaged and throttle pedal buried deep into the carpet, I glance at the wildly out-of-control sled being towed behind me, briefly wondering if I should slow down for Tymon’ s safety. I quickly send that silly thought to the back of my mind and keep the throttle open. I know I’m going too fast, but as a thick quagmire approaches, the need for momentum is a good excuse for my recklessness. Keeping it completely pinned, we make…

Since 2004, I have written about 120 articles on GPS (Satellite Navigation) for SA4x4. I thought it might be time to test your knowledge on the subject, and encourage you to find out what you have learnt from these articles during this period. So, here are a few questions that will allow you to test your knowledge on the subject, give you a chance to win a Thule backpack, and (maybe) at the same time, learn something new. Good luck, and enjoy. 1. What is the correct name for the American GPS system? 2. What is the general accuracy of a navigation GPS device? 3. Which are the best batteries to use in an outdoor satellite navigation device? 4. What is the name of the Russian satellite navigation system? 5.…

THIS MONTH’S WINNER PETRUS DELPORT AGE: 12 PRIZES TO BE WON! SEND US YOUR ENTRIES: Post: Send to Junior Explorers’ Club, PO Box 31062, Tokai, 7966 Email: Scan an original drawing, or send us digital artwork via email to angus@sa4x4.co.za. Please make sure you include a photo of yourself together with your name, age and your mom’s or dad’s contact details (including their email address). Entries featured on this page will win a mini LA Sport Jeep or another prize of equivalent value. Entries are restricted to children between the ages of three and 12. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.…

A STITCH IN TIME What an experience we had in July 2009! My wife and I had accepted an invitation from the family to join them in the Moremi Game Reserve for a week’s holiday. While in Moremi, we decided to leave two days early. We wanted to check out the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, as we hadn’t been there before. We arrived at the Deception Pan campsite late in the afternoon, realising only then just how remote and far apart the campsites are from each other. So, we were alone, with no other people in sight, when we decided to start a campfire. We’d brought no firewood, as we’d been told that we could collect our own in the reserve. Just then, we heard two prides of lions challenging…

When Oom Jochemus van Tonder slowly lit another cigarette, having pulled his packet yet again from a breast pocket labelled “Landbou Wepener”, I picked up my notebook, assured that his story about the bridges of Jammerdrif was not going to go up in smoke. We were having tea in his house, and in this part of the world, the pace of life is a little slower. If one cares to sit down and listen to Oom Jochemus, you may also start to believe that, yes, indeed, “A holiday in the mountains of Lesotho is much more enjoyable than a vacation by the sea”. While I listened and drank tea, I got another anticipatory rush of excitement about the rest of my planned journey: 2 500km without crossing a border. The…

Why do South Africans, and others from around the world, love to travel through our country and into the continent of Africa? It has to be the incredible variety of things we get to see – from changing landscapes, to different vegetation types, to a mind-boggling variety of animals. These animals range from the majestic African elephant, weighing in at over 6 tons, to the pygmy shrew, weighing only a couple of grams. The birds, reptiles and insects, alone, defy the wildest imagination in terms of their variety and abundance on our continent. This collective abundance can be referred to as biological diversity - or biodiversity. Surprisingly, people in many first-world countries do not know what “biodiversity” is. A survey conducted in London revealed that 65% of the people polled…

Camping in the bush while having vehicle electrics drawing up to 4A, is not sustainable. Trying to solve the problem with back-ups like solar-powered DC-to-DC chargers, or installing a second battery, won’t work either. The excessive current draw has to be eliminated or reduced, and that’s that. This is a challenging problem (raised in the March issue by Alan Moseley, a Ford Ranger owner), and one that many of us 4x4ers have, especially when a vehicle is left standing and unused. When I tested my (diesel engine) Land Cruiser 70 Series Troopie, for example, it drew 1.29A with the ignition on, and dropped to 750mA in the accessory position. With the keys removed from the ignition (everything off and courtesy lights switched off) the current draw was about 300mA when…

MOBILE SHOCK TESTER The Bilstein mobile shock absorber tester, which made its debut at the Auto Mechanika industry show, will be hauled about the country in the coming months to auto shows, car-related events and one-stop service stations on holiday routes. Once unpacked, it forms a 12m drive-on machine suitable for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. It can detect shock-absorber defects within minutes. Worn dampers are one of the primary causes of poor roadholding, and can increase stopping distances by up to 20%, lead to rapid onset of aquaplaning on wet surfaces and poor traction on various surfaces, and reduce the effectiveness of electronic driver aids. Bilstein’s research shows that up to 15% of vehicles on our roads have defective and potentially-unsafe shock absorbers. Get tested. SAFE AT STEVE’S…

FRANCOIS NEETHLING 2013 HILUX 3.0 D-4D 4X4 Age: 45 Occupation: Deck foreman. Modifications: Alucab, drawer system, 50-litre National Luna Weekender fridge, dual-battery system, Kicker music system, Kalahari 158 solar panels, 3 x jerry cans, and a 50-litre water tank with shower tent. Future modifications: I am going to fit a Rhino bumper, upgrade my suspension, add LED spots and get more aggressive tyres when the current ones near their end. Dream vehicle: This is it! Most memorable trip: Did our third camping trip to Namibia in 2014, and it was the best! From Brandberg, White Lady Lodge, to Palmwag, Etosha and then Henties for eight days of fishing. Future trips: Our next trip will be up to Northern Namibia, Epupa, Caprivi and Botswana. I never leave home without: My wife…

You can understand why Land Rover chose to call its new entry-level softroader the Discovery Sport: it conjures up the bigger sibling’s tough chassis, solid on-road presence and go-anywhere ability. However, make no mistake, the new entrant is a replacement for the Freelander II and is pretty much based on Evoque underpinnings – and that’s no bad thing. So, what you have is a monocoque construction, and the same front suspension and Haldex 4WD drivetrain worked through a ZF nine-speed gearbox. What has changed, is the rear suspension: now a long-travel, multi-link affair that has a short strut tower which frees up vital interior space and is key to the Discovery Sport’s big party trick. And that trick is the ability to carry up to five passengers in comfort, and…

The compact SUV market has been in upswing for years now, and everyone who counts is building a raised-body version of an existing B-segment model, fitting it with some premium kit, and charging a fortune extra for the privilege of a high driving-position and the hint of a lifestyle statement. Jeep has now joined the fray, with an interesting Italian-influenced Tonka Toy that’s based on the Fiat 500X and built at the giant Melfi plant in Italy. (A wide 4WD-capable version of the platform also underpins the Opel Adam.) All-American, this is not; it reflects Chrysler’s joint ownership with Fiat SpA. That US-flag-waving spot of national pride brushed aside, the Renegade is a good little car. It’s trendy, individualistic, chock-full of rather nicely-judged plastic textures and nifty trim-detailing, plus a…

It was Day One on safari. We’d been inside the park for all of five minutes when we spotted a lone female lioness walking through the savannah to our right. The day was still unbearably hot, but she didn’t seem half as bothered as we did, wilting away like pathetic white flowers in the back of the Land Cruiser. Then she stopped dead, looking straight ahead. She’d seen something. We scanned the surrounds and spotted an impala with a young foal about 100 metres ahead. We glanced back at the lioness, which had crouched and begun edging forward carefully and purposefully. The hunt was on. Suddenly she opened up her stride. The mother impala spotted the danger and took flight, but her young was too slow to follow suit. There…

Charles Leach of Louis Trichardt has a most interesting four-wheel-drive machine. Not a Jeep or a Land Rover, it is a Steyr-Puch Haflinger, a vehicle produced in Austria. With a wheelbase of only 1.5 metres, and running on 12-inch wheels, it seems at first glance to be little more than a mechanism one might find on a golf-course. However, it is a most efficient four-wheel drive that, in really bad going, can easily leave all but the most capable modern 4x4s scratching stones. It is named after a horse bred for hard work in the mountains, and 16 647 were produced between 1959 and 1975. Charles has had not just one Haflinger, but two. The first he bought for R10 000 from The Baobab Resort at Tshipise near Messina in…

OFF-TAR TEST: MAZDA CX-5 AKERA AWD 2.2 DIESEL AUTOMATIC At SA4x4, we don’t often get a Mazda to play with – they’re clearly too busy building small city hatchbacks to give us a proper 4x4. Of course, there is the Mazda BT-50, which is in fact a brilliant machine based on the best-selling T6 Ranger, but actual people don’t buy it because it resembles a gummy-bear melting in the sun. What Mazda is designing properly at present are their softroaders, chief among them the CX-5. To my mind, it’s one of the most under-rated vehicles on sale today. Admittedly, the one we have here to test is the ‘old’ one – last year’s model, lacking the new grille and interior updates. But, under the skin, nothing has changed. Our top-spec…

We all know what a shock absorber does. How it works is also rather simple. A spring (whether it be air, leaf or coil) takes the weight of the vehicle, and the shock stops it from bouncing by converting kinetic energy to heat, using pistons and valves. Imagine a coffee plunger, and you already understand the basics. How a shock absorber takes the heat, adds another dimension to the story. A 4x4’s suspension needs to absorb punishment from a variety of terrains, from tarmac driving with no load, to corrugated dirt tracks with a full load. Shocks must also provide a comfortable ride for many neglectful years without being serviced, while being submerged in water, covered in dust and bashed by stones. There’s little doubt that the shock absorber is…

WINNER ALEX STRYDOM The huge dust cloud created by Alex Strydom’s 2007 Jeep Cherokee Sport 3.7 at Sandwani near Cullinan was snapped by his son Dylan (13). Alex avers that few Cherokees have been kitted to this level – which includes a 2.5-inch Skyjacker full-suspension lift, an ARB bull bar with a T-Max 9500lbs winch, Mickey Thompson 16-inch wheels with BF Goodrich M/T tyres and a home-made roof rack. He recently finished in the top 25 out of 150 vehicles competing in the Rust de Winter Jamboree. ROGER WRIGHT A late-evening shot taken in the Namib on the Koichab 4x4 Dune Trail was one of the highlights of a recent trip in an Amarok double-cab auto undertaken by Roger Wright and his wife. They drove 8200km over four weeks, covering…