TOP 5 4 X 4’s Quickie: Toyota’s Land Cruiser has been the mainstay of African expeditioning for a very long time, and there’s a very good reason for this. It’s unstoppable. Practically unbreakable. Can almost always be fixed with a hammer. And has dual fuel tanks for a range of comfortably over 1000km even on the roughest terrain. Now even available in a station wagon.
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Toyota Land Cruiser Highs: The Toughest. Period. Lows: A very rough ride.
Factoids: 4.0-litre petrol motor, 170kW, R417 900
Quickie: The Defender might be the more macho, but the Rangie has off-road capabilities that even this legend struggles to keep pace with. And it’s all packaged into a vehicle which feels positively regal regardless of the surface being conquered, with bundu-bashing abilities which will flatter the beginner but beguile the expert off-roader. The new model adds even more power to the awesome TDV8 motor as well, which is always a good thing.
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Range Rover Vogue SE TDV8 Highs: Effortless everywhere. Lows: Have been some buildquality issues.
Factoids: 4.4-litre turbo diesel V8, 250kW, 6.9 s sprint, R1 464 100
Quickie: We found the Pathfinder with the V9X turbo diesel motor to be lacking very little, especially at the price this thing sells for. It’s very well equipped, comfortable and refined on the road, and then strong and capable off. It suited the family just fine on long trips, and it even turns a fair deal of heads. It does struggle to fit in an average-sized garage however...
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Highs: Mountains of torque. Lows: Feels seriously big all the time, and not that light on fuel either.
Factoids: 3.0-litre turbo diesel, 170kW, 8.9 s sprint, R652 000
Quickie: At the launch of the Jimny I remember looking at the offroad track and thinking the Suzuki guys were mad. Admittedly we did struggle a bit with some of the more technical obstacles, but some perseverance saw everyone through to the astonishment of everyone who hadn’t yet driven the car. A never-say-die attitude goes a long way in this activity.
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Factoids: 4.0-litre petrol engine, 200kW, 7.6 s sprint, R457 600
Suzuki Jimny Highs: Much, much more capable than you’d ever expect. Lows: Noisy on the highway, and definitely lacking grunt.
Factoids: 1.3-litre petrol engine, 63kW, R201 900
Quickie: Toyota have pulled off some black magic with the FJ - it doesn’t ride anywhere near as rough as either a Hilux or a LandCruiser, and yet show it some challenging tracks and it’ll perform comparably to this daddy of 4X4s. Yet take it back onto the road, and it’s impressive there too. And to top it all off, it looks and feels like the toy it is.
Nissan Pathfinder 3.0dCi V6
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Toyota FJ Cruiser Highs: Most of the ability of a LandCruiser, but much more charm. Lows: Quite heavy on fuel. Quite heavy generally in fact. Drive Rating: 88/100
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