Overlander 4x4 February 2026

4x4

NEWS: GRENADIER GAME VIEWER UNVEILED | TESTED: ALL-NEW KIA EV5 | MOTORSPORT: RECCEING THE DAKAR

OVERLANDER

ROADBOOK T-Cut at the ready for a day of scratchy byways in North Hampshire

SWEDE CHARIOT Who’d have thought a Volvo XC90 could be turned into an up-for-it off-road warhorse?

February 2026 £5.99

BUDGET BUSTER

Would you spend £35,000 on accessories for a Disco 2?

4x4 Cover Feb 26.indd 1

CHANGE OF HEART Small-block Chevy V8 for a revived Defender 90

ALL-TIME GREAT

One of the best Suzuki Vitaras Britain has ever seen 03/01/2026 19:07

4 X 4 TY R E S . CO. U K

4x4_Feb26_Flap_A TO DO.indd 1

03/01/2026 20:51

TF975 TF1707 TF1731 TF705

Roof Rack 2.5m Hard Case LED Awning LED Shower Awning Spot Lights

TF662 Win TF667 Win

TF1038 Raised Air Intake

TF7220 TF7116

Bulk Head Light Brackets Lights

TF31038 TF7112 TF31011 TF270

Halo & Bar Indicator & Side Light Halo & Bar LED Headlights Dynamic Side Repeaters Grille & Headlight Surround

TF0028 TF3360

TRED Winch Bumper 12,500lb Twin Motor Winch with 50m Synthetic Rope Steering Guard Front Diff Guard

TF0017 TF844

TF488 2.5” Competition 8 Stage 12” Travel Remote Reservoir Shock Absorber TF545 Mounting Kit TF542 / TF544 / TF140 Bump Stops

Every adventure starts with the right upgrades. Discover the complete ran 192 x 275 Cover.indd 1

15/09/2025 17:18

TF979 Flip Up Window TF979BIN Internal Storage Bin TF978 Fold Down Shelf

TF662 Wind Deflectors TF667 Wind Deflectors

TF051 Swingaway Spare Wheel Carrier TF980 Rear Ladder

TF150LH Snow Cowl

TF0023 TRED Rock Sliders TF3010B Front Mudflap Brackets TF3012B Rear Mudflap Brackets TF301 TF161G TF686 TF645GD

Travel Absorber

30mm Wheel Spacers Winrace Aluminium Wheels Big Brake Upgrade Front / Rear Stainless Steel +2” Braided Hose Kit

GET YOUR DEFENDER EXPEDITION READY

ete range of Terrafirma Defender parts designed to enhance your journey.

195 x 275 Cover.indd 1

15/09/2025 17:22

DEFENDER UPGRADES

Take your Defender to the next level with upgrades that enhance style, safety, and performance a cross the whole vehicle. From cutting-edge LED lighting like our new Halo & Bar units, to suspension, protection, and expedition essentials – everything you need is here in one place. www.terrafirma4x4.com

AD SPREAD.indd 13

13/10/2025 18:54

34 Tel: 01283 742969 Email: admin@pistonpublications.co.uk Web: www.totaloffroad.co.uk www.4x4i.com Online Shop: www.toronline.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/totaloffroad www.facebook.com/4x4Mag

Editor

Alan Kidd

Design

Ian Denby-Jones

Contributors

Mike Trott, Gary Martin, Olly Sack, Dan Fenn, Gary Noskill, Paul Looe, Mark Fraser, Kenny Tucker, Tom Alderney, Tushar and Pooja Agarwal

Photographers

Richard Hair, Vic Peel, Harry Hamm

Advertising Sales

Colin Ashworth Tel: 01283 742969 colin.ashworth@assignment-media.co.uk

Subscriptions Agency

WW Magazines, 151 Station Street, Burton on Trent, DE14 1BG Tel: 01283 742970

Publisher

Alan Kidd Email: editorial@pistonpublications.co.uk To subscribe to 4x4, or renew a subscription, call 01283 742970. Prices for 12 issues: UK £42 (24 issues £76); Europe Airmail/ROW Surface £54; ROW Airmail £78 Distributed by Marketforce; www.marketforce.co.uk

Every effort is made to ensure the contents of 4x4 are accurate, but Piston Publications accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions nor the consequences of actions made as a result of these.

When responding to any advert in 4x4, you should make appropriate enquiries before sending money or entering into a contract. The publishers take reasonable care to ensure advertisers’ probity, but will not be liable for loss or damage incurred from responding to adverts

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Where a photo credit includes the note ‘CC BY 2.0’ or similar, the image is made available under that Creative Commons licence: details at www.creativecommons.org

Overlander 4x4 is published by Piston Publications Ltd, PO Box 8830, Burton on Trent DE14 9QW

© Piston Publications Ltd, 2026

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overlander4x4.co.uk

4x4 Contents Feb 26.indd 2

03/01/2026 19:38

4x4

NEWS: GRENADIER GAME VIEWER UNVEILED | TESTED: ALL-NEW KIA EV5 | MOTORSPORT: RECCEING THE DAKAR

40% SWEDE CHARIOT OFF OVERLANDER

ROADBOOK T-Cut at the ready for a day of scratchy byways in North Hampshire

Who’d have thought a Volvo XC90 could be turned into an up-for-it off-road warhorse?

February 2026 £5.99

BUDGET BUSTER

Would you spend £35,000 on accessories for a Disco 2?

CHANGE OF HEART

4x4 Cover Feb 26.indd 1

Small-block Chevy V8 for a revived Defender 90

ALL-TIME GREAT

One of the best Suzuki Vitaras Britain has ever seen 03/01/2026 19:07

42

Pay quarterly by direct debit and you can get Britain’s only all-marques 4x4 magazine delivered to your door – for less than half the price on the front cover!

CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2026 4x4 Scene 4

8

News

Ineos puts the Grenadier Game Viewer into production, and Isuzu brings back a classic D-Max colour as it brings back the Huntsman off-road workhorse pack

Motorsport

We know all about Land Rover’s Dakar race trucks – but a pair of Defenders has also been in action setting out the rally’s course

12 Products

Cool kit from Lazer and Milltek for the current Ranger and Amarok, and a no-nonsense Bushtech canopy for the old-shape Defender 130

Every Month 42 Subscribe

Get Overlander 4x4 delivered for a fraction of the cover price

64 Next Month

Another month, another Chevy V8 – this time giving new life to an old Land Cruiser J70

Tested 14 Kia EV5

The Sportage sells in monster numbers, but Kia needs to turn some of those buyers electric. This ought to do it…

Vehicles 18 Small-Block Wonder

Big LS engines don’t always sit well in Defenders, but the old-school small-block Chevy has long been a great way of giving them proper grunt

24 Off-Road Volvo

There are so many options for a budget off-roader.

Did you think the Volvo XC90 was among them…?

30 Budget Busting Disco

The Discovery 2 is the go-to truck for Land Rover fans looking for a cheap off-roader. With £35,000’s worth of accessories, this one is definitely not that

34 Legendary Vitara

44

Built by a master technician and boasting Hilux axles with 42” of articulation, Matt Collins’ rare 1.9 TD van is an all-time off-road classic

Adventure 44 Overland to India: Part 3

From the bleak beauty of Tibet to the jubilation of finally arriving home

54 ROADBOOK North Hampshire

Hidden lanes in a gentle landscape – but even by winter, watch out for the scratching…

February 2026 I Overlander 4x4

4x4 Contents Feb 26.indd 3

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03/01/2026 19:38

NEWS TUNDRA GREEN RETURNS AS ISUZU BRINGS BACK HUNTSMAN PACK

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suzu has brought back the Huntsman accessory pack for the D-Max – as well as the Tundra Green colour with which it was originally offered on the previousgeneration model. The pack includes a wide range of equipment designed to help make the vehicle suitable for countryside users like forestry professionals, sport shooters and gamekeepers.

With classic outdoors usability firmly in mind, the Huntsman pack is designed to make the D-Max more of a working tool than ever. It is, however, this time based on the range-topping V-Cross model – recognising that to its customers,

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operating it outdoors is a lifestyle as much as a necessity.

As if to prove this, the pack features an Aeroklas E-Tronic Canopy above the pick-up bed – which can be specified in either Commercial or Leisure form (that is, with or without side windows). Beneath this, an under-rail bed liner supports a lockable Gearmate drawer system for organising your tools and equipment, and Tailgate Assist is fitted for damped opening and closing.

Unlike previous Huntsman models, being based on the current D-Max means this one comes equipped as standard

with a locking rear differential. The vehicle’s off-road abilities are further enhanced by a set of 265/60R18 General Grabber AT3 all-terrain tyres mounted on 18” black alloy wheels, and you also get black side steps, black rood rails and a towbar with 13-pin electrics. Inside, a 3D mat set helps protect the cabin from muddy boots.

The Huntsman pack for the current D-Max was first exhibited at the 2025 CV Show, with the vehicle itself finished in Techno Grey. This colour remains available, however Isuzu says Tundra Green has been brought back alongside it by popular

www.overlander4x4.co.uk

News Feb 26 IN PROGRESS.indd 4

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demand. Rather than being part of the D-Max’s everyday colour palette, both of these are available to order as an addition to the pack itself.

Prices for the Huntsman pack start at £6995 plus VAT, with either of the repaint options increasing this to £10,495.

‘We’ve had countless requests from our loyal customers to bring back Tundra Green,’ says Isuzu UK’s Darren Green.

‘It’s a colour that truly captures the spirit of the countryside and the origins of the Huntsman name. We’re incredibly excited to see these vehicles back on British roads – and back in green.’

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03/01/2026 18:10

NEWS

INEOS GRENADIER GOES INTO PRODUCTION AS CUSTOMISABLE GAME VIEWER

F

ollowing its unveiling as a show concept two years ago, the Ineos Grenadier is set to go into production as a customisable safari vehicle. Available in long and extralong wheelbase form, the vehicles will be supplied part-built by the Hambach factory, with no paint, tailgates, rear seats, side glazing, roof skin, trims or unnecessary electrical features.

Final build will take place at Ineos’ Kavango works in Botswana. This was acquired by the manufacturer in 2023 after its previous incarnation, Kavango Engineering, had turned a prototype Grenadier into a safari vehicle. The company has a 70-strong workforce operating in a 5000 square metre facility in Maun, supporting users in the safari, antipoaching, veterinary, primary healthcare and film production sectors.

Available with between four and nine rear passenger seats, depending on

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wheelbase, the Grenadier Game Viewer will be widely customisable by end users, with options including storage layout and roof design. In what Ineos says is an industry first, the vehicle is supported by a full factory-backed manufacturer’s warranty which allows operators to

work freely with the Kavango team while designing a vehicle that suits their needs.

Servicing and repair will be provided by Ineos Kavango – as will training and parts sales, allowing customers the option of maintaining the vehicles themselves without voiding their warranty.

www.overlander4x4.co.uk

News Feb 26 IN PROGRESS.indd 6

03/01/2026 18:10

Britpart Cellular Dynamic Shock Absorbers Application

Lift

Fitment

Open/Closed Dimensions**

DC6012

Series - SWB / LWB

Long travel

Front

460/305mm

DC6013

Series - SWB

Long travel

Rear

580/360mm

DC6014

Series - LWB

Long travel

Rear

570/355mm

DC6000

Defender / Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic

Front

600/380mm

DC6001

Defender / Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic

Rear

590/375mm

DC6000L

Defender / Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic

50mm/2”

Front

665/425mm

DC6001L

Defender / Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic

50mm/2”

Rear

625/385mm

DC6000LL

Defender / Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic

125mm/5” (see note***)

Front

765/455mm

DC6001LL

Defender / Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic

125mm/5” (see note***)

Rear

750/440mm

DC6010

Discovery 2

Front

590/370mm

DC6011

Discovery 2

Rear

585/365mm

DC6002

Range Rover P38 - air suspension

Front

560/365mm

DC6003

Range Rover P38 - air suspension

Rear

505/340mm

DC6004

Defender

Steering damper

DC6005

Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic / Series

Steering damper

DC6009

Discovery 2

Steering damper

DC6006

Range Rover P38

Steering damper

DC6007

Replacement gaiter for DC6000LL & DC6001LL - single > Cellular technology tube > Sintered 18mm rod > Piston diameter 41mm > Polyurethane bush > Teflon piston with multi-lip seal > Single piece eye ring The Britpart Cellular Dynamic Shock Absorber represents a significant advance in Land Rover suspension systems. It features a cellular foam insert instead of a normal nitrogen gas or air, this is to stop the oil from boiling. The foam takes up less room which means more room for oil, 50% more, which offers maximum heat dispersion.

This heat dispersion translates to a very subtle but controlled ride that will not fade no matter how hard you push them. They are ideal for a driver who needs more control to complement performance improvements or to enhance a standard vehicle. The unique design ensures ride comfort and cornering ability is maximised and of

course they are superb off-road.

Notes - *Terms & conditions apply. ** Dimensions are +/- 5mm. *** The Plus 5” Cellular Dynamic Shock Absorbers are specialist suspension products and to install them additional fabrication work or brackets may be required.

Please ensure that they are fitted by a competent expert.

Britpart Super Gaz Shock Absorbers Application

Lift

Fitment

Open/Closed Dimensions** 605/385mm

DC5002

Defender / Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic

Front

DC5003

Defender / Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic

Rear

590/375mm

DC5002L

Defender / Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic

50mm/2”

Front

655/405mm

DC5003L

Defender / Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic

50mm/2”

Rear

640/400mm

DC5000

Discovery 2

Front

590/370mm

DC5001

Discovery 2

Rear

585/365mm

DC5000L

Discovery 2

50mm/2”

Front

640/400mm

DC5001L

Discovery 2

50mm/2”

Rear

635/390mm

DC5004

Defender

Steering damper

DC5005

Discovery 1 / Range Rover Classic / Series

Steering damper

Britpart Super Gaz Shock Absorbers offer a 35mm bore tube filled with Fuchs shock absorber fluid, using the best seal available, single piece eye rings, polyurethane bush mounts and a very durable powder coated finish. These offer a vast improvement in ride quality and damping performance. They are ideal for use with either the Britpart Yellow Spring range or standard Land Rover springs.

Notes - *Terms & conditions apply. ** Dimensions are +/- 5mm.

24 month/50,000 mile Warranty * on all shock absorbers

AD SPREAD.indd 28

03/01/2026 20:32

Motorsport

OVERLAND-SPEC DEFENDER 110S RECCE ROUTE FOR DAKAR RALLY Words Tom Alderney Pictures Land Rover

B

y the time you read this, Land Rover’s three-strong team of D7X-R Defender 110s will be in Saudi Arabia, competing in the legendary Dakar rally. Based on the high-performance Octa model, the rally

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vehicles are set to compete in the first running of the FIA’s new Stock class for production-based vehicles.

But these won’t be the first Defenders to run the course on the Dakar’s fearsome special stages. As well as

competing in the rally, Land Rover is also sponsoring it as Official Car Partner – with a fleet of modified 110s also being used to set out the final route the teams will take. Six vehicles in total will be supplied over the course of the four-year

www.overlander4x4.co.uk

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partnership, with the first two already hard at it in the desert.

The vehicles to be used for the recce are powered by the P300 petrol engine, giving them no shortage of the grunt required to keep moving in the deep sand

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of the Saudi interior. Though they’re not prepped to race spec, they do have full roll cages, rally‑spec dampers, reinforced underbody protection and elevated recovery points. They run all‑terrain tyres mounted on 18‑inch wheels, turned by an engine with upgraded cooling and a high‑level air intake, the latter featuring a cyclonic pre‑filter to help keep out the dust and sand.

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To all intents and purposes, setting out the route for the Dakar is like going on an expedition, and in many ways the 110s’ built spec does resemble that of an overland vehicle. The cabin’s passenger capacity has been reduced to just three seats, in order to make more space for equipment, and up top a 132kg‑capacity roof rack complements the additional space freed up inside.

An auxiliary fuel tank, which extends the 110s’ range to as much as 700km, is of course a classic overlanding addition.

So too is a full set of camping equipment including a fridge, additional lighting and a shower, the latter backed up by a 40-litre water tank. The crews also have to carry all their supplies for each recce mission, as well as the tools, spares and recovery kit required to be truly self-sufficient.

‘The unique challenge of the Dakar Rally comes from the demanding routes set out by the officials covering several thousand kilometres over a period of 10‑15 days,’ says Land Rover. ‘Dakar officials demand capability and durability from recce vehicles in order to be able to prove and validate every kilometre of competitive stage before the route can be finalised.’

With the setting out complete, the 110s’ job changes to that of being among the course opening cars on the rally itself.

Their crews from the organising team will carry out final checks and address any issues before the Zero Car comes through to fully open the stage – paving the way for those D7X-R Defenders, and many others, to take on the desert in the full heat of competition.

www.overlander4x4.co.uk

3pp Motorsport Defender Dakar recce.indd 10

03/01/2026 18:08

HAS YOUR

FREELANDER GOT AN ISSUE WITH THE

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Here at FreelanderSpecialist.com, not only will we fix the problem but we will look to determine why the problem occurred and discuss with you how you can avoid it happening again in the future.

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3pp Motorsport Defender Dakar recce.indd 11

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WE SHIP PARTS WORLDWIDE Tel: +44 (0)780 9575 421 theteam@freelanderspecialist.com www.freelanderspecialist.com February 2026 I Overlander 4x4

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03/01/2026 20:05

PRODUCTS Milltek exhaust promises more performance for Ranger and Amarok £709-£1429.17 inc VAT | www.millteksport.com

T

he latest Ford Ranger is not short of performance, and neither therefore is the closely related Volkswagen Amarok. In particular, the former is a proper weapon in 3.0 V6 Raptor form, with some outrageous noises coming from its exhaust when the drive mode dial is in one of its rude positions.

Problem is, 20.5mpg and 315g/km is not the stuff of a healthy future. So Ford also now offers the Ranger in PHEV form, with a turbocharged 2.3-litre engine mated to an electric motor – giving it only a little less power and performance while returning more like 44mpg and 145g/km.

It’s not tuned for rorty exhaust noises the way the Raptor is. But the good news is that thanks to Milltek, you can do something about that.

And even better news is that the Derbybased exhaust specialist can work its magic on the high-selling 3.0 TDCI diesel, too. This goes for the Ranger (2023-on) and

Amarok (2024-on) alike. In this case, it’s not so much about enhancing the exhaust’s sound as the engine’s performance – indeed, Milltek says its engineers developed valve controls specifically for each engine to optimise their delivery, with the tailpipe note from the petrol PHEV unit being a welcome bonus.

The systems on offer include front pipe-back and downpipe-back twin outlet

set-ups for the Ranger and a non-resonated cat-back arrangement with twin tips for the Amarok. In each case, the performance they speak of is the real-world kind, with the trucks’ primary use as load carriers and towing rigs very much in mind.

The exhausts are made from premium stainless steel and come with a choice of five different tailpipe finishes. All come with a lifetime warranty.

Double top from Lazer Lamps £1296 inc VAT

| www.lazerlamps.com

IF YOU DRIVE A NEW-GEN RANGER OR AMAROK and the above new of Milltek’s latest sexy metal hasn’t already got you wanting to spend money on it, how does a pair of LED bars mounted in a sleek looking roof pod sound? Yes, we thought so too.

This is what you can now have courtesy of Lazer Lamps, whose gloss black PC-ASA pod comes pre-installed with a pair of its Emarked Glide LED bars. Suitable for all versions of the current Ranger/Raptor and Amarok, with or without roof bars, the set-up delivers 23,000 raw lumens.

Wot’s this PC-ASA stuff? A blend of polycarbonate and something with a huge name including the word ‘styrene’ which combines extreme toughness with a high-quality and long-lasting surface finish, that’s wot. The pod comes with an automotive-grade 2K gloss black paint finish and ‘blends seamlessly with your vehicle for an installation with a true OE look and finish.’ Just as importantly, it can be bonded to the roof (while remaining removable) if you want a no-drill installation.

The whole lot comes with a full loom allowing connection to the vehicle’s original electrical system, though additional wiring is needed for models with LED Matrix headlights. Needless to say, Lazer offers this too.

All of this good stuff is made in the UK, which is always nice to know. And it’s covered by the company’s comprehensive 5-year warranty, which is nicer still.

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www.overlander4x4.co.uk

1.5 Products Feb 26.indd 12

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Bushtech canopy for Defender 130 £2880 inc VAT

| www.expedition-equipment.com

THERE’S NOT EXACTLY A SHORTAGE OF CHOICE WHEN IT COMES TO PICK-UP LOADBED COVERS, but the Land Rover Defender 130 is a bit less common than your average Hilux or D-Max and so too are the options on offer. Happily, then, South African specialist Bushtech hasn’t forgotten about the big old Landy and neither has its UK outlet, APB Trading.

Bushtech’s Defender 130 Canopy (Black Chequer) is exactly Free UK Delivery on orders over £15.00 + VAT what its name suggests. But it’s more besides, because it promises a level of strength and finish that puts it at the top of the tree – and the canopy comes with a 10-year frame warranty, which suggests they’re more than a little confident in its longevity.

To back that up, the frame has been load tested to 2500kg. It’s dressed with laser-cut panels and sits on a rubber base designed specifically for heavy load and chassis movement. Its doors have a reinforced bracing and their seamless hinges are waterproof and 18/08/2023 15:28 dustproof; even their seals have been thought through, sitting as4x4 Magazine_2023_September_PS Autoparts_QP.indd 1 they do on the doors themselves rather than the frame to prevent Tyres cheap. Not cheap tyres!! them from being damaged when loading and unloading.

Further features include a subframe designed for mounting false floors and accessory clips and reinforced internal roof bars with slots allowing multiple attachments to be suspended from the roof. A pressure equalising vent balances out negative pressure in the rear of the load box, helping prevent it from sucking in dust.

That’s a sign of an item that’s been designed by people who know their subject. So too are the large, electro-plated push lever locks you use to gain access, as are the laser-cut holes pre-cut in the bracings to let you run cables for lights and so on without any need for drilling, glue or tape.

The canopy is only available with fitting in APB’s own workshop.

While they’re about it, the company also offers a wide variety Main supplier of of accessries to go with the unit to help tailor it to your work or and all major 4x4 tyres expedition needs.

RLG Tyres OFFICIAL STOCKIST

Groundcare • Car • ATV • Tubes • Mobile Tyre Fitting Puncture Equipment & Repairs • Four Wheel Alignment Durrants Farm, Rushlake Green, Heathfield, East Sussex TN21 9QB

Workshop: 01435 830664 Mobile: 07710 372672 Email: chris@rlgtyres.co.uk

www.rlgtyres.co.uk

February 2026 I Overlander 4x4

4x4 Magazine_2023_Feb_RLG Tyres_QP.indd 1

1.5 Products Feb 26.indd 13

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11/01/2023 17:23

03/01/2026 18:05

KIA EV5

K

ia has an almighty ongoing smashhit of an SUV in the Sportage, which is Britain’s second-highest seller after the Ford Puma. But this gives it a problem, because manufacturers are under huge pressure to increase the proportion of electric vehicles they sell – so the more Sportages it shifts, the more people Kia needs to be plugging in.

It’s been doing everything to encourage us, with the sleek and in some cases wildly fast EV6, the big and classy EV9 and the chic EV3. Add the cool EV4 and staggeringly

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www.overlander4x4.co.uk

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The EV5’s cabin is smartly laid out and very well put together – and in top-spec GT-Line S trim, extremely well equipped. Kia’s signature one-piece curved glass display module is at the heart of it, with excellent high-res graphics on the digital dashboard and infotainment screen. The media system (opposite page, below left) is as crisp as it looks and mirrors your phone without any need for a PhD or Doris Stokes – though depending on how you’ve got it adjusted, the rim of the steering wheel can obscure your view of the air-con graphics to the right of the info screen

practical new PV5 and you’ve got arguably the best EV line-up in the business.

But people just want a Sportage.

Maybe this will help. The EV5 is not a Sportage Electric, but it’s a family SUV that sets out to do everything that makes its combustion-engined comrade so popular, in a very similarly sized package. It’s well equipped, it has a decent range and its prices top out before you bust the newly increased luxury car tax threshold, so you can lease one without the tax man treating you like a smug rich in a Roller.

The figures that matter? £39,345 for the Air model, £42,645 for the GT-Line and £47,145 for the GT-Line S, Every EV5 at launch has a 214bhp, 218lbf.ft motor giving it an 8.4-second 0-62 time. Combined range is 329 miles for the base-spec Air model and 313 for the GT-Line and GT-Line S. As always, you can hope for more in town but must expect less on a run, especially a spirited one. It’ll charge quickly enough not to be a bore on occasions when you need to use a public charger, or in about eight hours from fumes to full via a driveway wall-box.

So it’s going to be a good, solid, efficient option that won’t waste your time or steal your money. You might be looking at those 0-62 times and thinking it sounds a bit hohum, though. After all, the EV9 can do it in 5.3 seconds, and the EV6 GT in 3.4. Possibly a bit of an odious comparison, that, but the main point is that the EV5 is a quicker vehicle than all that makes it sound.

Weight wait

To start with, accelerating away from a standstill, it’s quite ponderous. It doesn’t feel weak but it does feel heavy. Once it’s bowling along, however, it’s happy to pick up in an instant – and at overtaking speeds, it comes alive. Not in a whoa-wah-lairy kind of a way, but with a commanding certainty

that you’re going to get past without a fuss. As an illustration, we were on a dual carriageway during the launch event when the speed limit went from 50 to 60mph, so down went the right boot and almost without hesitation, we were doing 80. Our bad, of course, but that’s what the EV5 can do once it’s rolling.

It doesn’t do much of the other kind of rolling, as its suspension is nicely biased towards handling rather than ride. This comes through in a certain amount of thumping on bad roads, which isn’t harsh but once again makes it feel heavy, but the pay-off is that it’s enjoyable enough to hustle through corners. It’s not rapier-sharp on turn-in but its steering is accurate and positive enough to be entertaining. Find the right road (we were in Sussex, so we might as well have been trying to find Shergar) and it could be a lot of fun.

More to the point, first impressions are that it settles well on the motorway and isn’t a handful in town. We didn’t do enough of either on the launch route to be able to comment fully about things like wind and road noise at speed and the true effect of Britain’s shattered urban roads on its composure, and we look forward to spending more time aboard and reporting back on such matters in proper detail, but

February 2026 I Overlander 4x4

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The EV5 is an old-school practicality monster, with rear seats that fold 100% flat and lock into place to create a long, tall, wide load bay. There’s more space hidden beneath the rear part of the boot floor, too.

For oddments, the usual combination of cubby box, glovebox and door pockets is eclipsed by an enormous bin at the base of the centre cosole again first impressions are of a vehicle that does the right things and not the wrong ones. Our notes say ‘maybe a car that impresses you rather than exciting you’: it certainly did the former and we hope it’ll be doing the latter soon.

If 8.4 seconds is simply not enough to turn you on, the good news is that there’s an EV5 GT coming later in the year. This will have two motors, 302bhp and 354lbf.ft, and it’ll do the sprint in 6.2 seconds. More like it.

It’ll also be available in Matte Magma Red, which sounds, well, red. A welcome contrast to the range of colours available on the standard model, which are Boring White,

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Boring Black, Boring Silver, Boring Red and Boring Blue. Kia was so bold with colours for a while, too.

These are of course not their real names, and as the pictures here show at least some of the EV5’s colours do pop quite nicely in the sun (the red does, too). But in the bleary half-light of a grey December morning, the assorted colours that greeted us at the launch venue looked so dreary they made us despair. Even just one brave choice of an orange or yellow or something like that would make all the difference.

Happily, the colour doesn’t matter when you’re sitting in it. And its interior is definitely

its strongest suit – it’s very well equipped, robustly put together and practical to a degree that’s actually quite eye-opening.

Storage story

This starts with a van-like level of oddment stowage, led by an enormous floor-level tray at the base of the centre console.

There’s then a floating upper section above this, with cup holders and an inductive charging tray ahead of a fair sized cubby box, and you also get a big glovebox and decent door pockets.

That’s all good, and it gets even better if you’re carrying big stuff like a load of

www.overlander4x4.co.uk

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Further reasons for stretching to the GT-Line S include a full length panoramic roof, the front part of which opens, and Premium Relaxation seats. These are upholstered in leather, or something that wants you to think that’s what it is, but what really stands out about them is the range of ways in which they want to make you comfortable. They’re heated, which is no biggie these days, and ventilated when you want them to be, and best of all they give you a massage. A good one, too flat-pack furniture or the kind of tip run you need a holiday to recover from . Remember the era about 20 years ago, back before the world ran out of money, when car makers were all trying to be the one with the cleverest way of making their back seats fold flat? Well, the EV5 is a welcome throwback to those days. We unlatched the seats, expecting their backs to fold down and sit at some sort of angle, but as we did so their bases dropped away to the floor and the backs laid all the way down, clicking into place to create a 100% flat floor.

This is accessed by a big, wide tailgate aperture that makes loading a cinch, and there’s a hidden area below the boot floor for storing shallow items like laptops. Better yet, when the seats are up one adult can sit behind another in total comfort. The use of space really is outstanding.

Up front, typically of Kia there’s a curved glass display incorporating a digital dashboard and large media screen in one elegant sweep. It looks classy and it works well, with crisp graphics and easy, instant operation, and it hooks up to your phone without any messing around. Our only grumble would be that if you like to have the steering wheel set high, it’ll obscure part of the media portion of the screen.

Our test vehicle was a GT-Line S, which tops the range with a hefty £4500 price walk from the next model down. It’s worth it, too. We won’t list everything but you get ‘premium relaxation’ seats which are ventilated and give you a massage, a threepin mains power socket in addition to the usual USBs, surround-view monitor, head-up display and Kia’s top Harmon Kardon stereo system. In addition, this is the only model

available with a heat pump. Safe to say you feel very well looked after.

We’ve heard people say that the EV5 looks like a scaled down EV9, as if this is in some way a bad thing, but to us that just makes it a great design in a smaller package. And it does have a vibe to it both of the electric Sportage and the son of the EV9. It might not appeal to your heart the way it appeals to your head, but it’s hard to think of many boxes left unticked.

Maybe, maybe we’d say best wait for the GT to come along. But for an SUV to tempt the average driver over to EV ownership, there haven’t been many as compelling as this. We’d have one. It might need to be a GT, and we might have to budget a bit extra to have it wrapped in a colour that doesn’t make us weep, but the EV5 answers every question most buyers will ever think to ask.

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JOLLY GOOD SHOW We’re used to LS-engined Defender 90s and 110s, but an earlier version of the small-block Chevy V8 can add all the power you need while giving it a character all of its own Words Tom Alderney Pictures Legacy Overland

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www.overlander4x4.co.uk

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f there’s one thing you might think shouldn’t need changing on a 1995 Land Rover Defender 90, it’s the engine.

The 300Tdi was, in many people’s eyes, the best thing Land Rover ever made – so much so that famously, the British Army insisted on it instead of the later Td5 unit when the MOD placed its order for the eradefining Wolf. Way back then, our own editor described it as the perfect combination of engine and vehicle.

And, as the saying goes, you can’t improve on perfection. Or can you?

Improving things is what they do at Legacy Overland. And quite a few of those things were already perfect when they started out, like the Range Rover Classic and indeed the Defender 90. But one thing about cars is that they get less perfect as time goes on, which is of course why the restoration business exists.

Restoration and, in this case, modification. That’s something else they do at Legacy Overland. Restoring old Rollers or T-Birds is one thing but it’s not easy to make money out of bringing old off-roaders back to life. Boost the appeal by modernising them and adding a swathe of luxury on top of the shiny new metal and you can mark up more than just what you pay your welding guy. Slight simplification there, but you get the point.

Hence the appearance of a new a very American engine beneath the 90’s very British lines. Lots of restified Defenders

have been fitted with modern LS engines and not all of them have emerged with their dignity intact, but there’s been a long tradition of perking up old ones, from back before the Tdi era, by fitting them with the good old 5.7-litre small-block Chevy V8.

Lots of lazy power and a lovely noise – what more could you want?

Needless to say, the engine Legacy Overland used wasn’t an oily old lump fetched out of a rusted-to-death GMC truck or crashed Camaro. It’s an HP99C Vortec from ATK Performance Engines, fuelled by

People have been putting 5.7-litre small-block Chevy engines in 90s and 110s for a long time, and they have a charm to them the later, more powerful LS series struggles to replicate. This one is a Vortec unit from ATK Performance Engines, with EFI fuelling giving it a nice, lazy and mainly bomb-proof 290bhp and 375lbf.ft February 2026 I Overlander 4x4

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A wood-rimmed steering wheel goes beautifully with the tan leather trim that covers the seats, dash, doors and cubby lid

Below: The leather extends to the rear bench seats. Up above, light suede roof lining adds to the bright, airy feel in the cabin

a modern EFI system and putting and around 290bhp and 375lbf.ft. In the company’s own words, ‘the engine brings smooth, immediate power delivery while maintaining bulletproof reliability.’ Yeah, you can get a whole lot more by going bigger and fitting an LS3 – but do you need it? And if so, why? Or, more to the point, if you need

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that much power why are you putting it in a Land Rover 90?

Adding to the smoothness is a 4L80E 4-speed heavy-duty automatic gearbox, which has been fully integrated into the vehicle with custom wiring, cooling and control logic to shift seamlessly in operation. Legacy Overland says that

more than 2100 hours went into the transformation – a process which included bespoke fabrication work to mate the General Motors transmission to the Land Rover transfer case. We’ve actually seen Defenders with high-powered LS conversions that have lost their low range as part of the job, which is sacrilege however you look at it – but Legacy Overland promises that this is a Defender which ‘feels as composed on the open road as it does unstoppable off-road.’

No wonder, then, that they called it Project Jolly. Well, if Hyundai can have a thing called N-Grin Mode in its electric hatchbacks…

And jolly nice it is too. It looks smart, with a set of Sawtooths and a gleaming coat of metallic British Racing Green on its freshly refurbished panels, but it’s inside that the jollity really happens. Well, so long as tan leather makes you jolly. It’s on the seats, the dash, the cubby lid and the door cards, and it goes with all new carpeting, a wooden-rimmed steering wheel and a

www.overlander4x4.co.uk

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Discover the range of alloy wheels for extreme off-road by EvoCorse.

The Dakar line, constantly evolving, has made us protagonists in major international competitions like the Dakar Rally and the W2RC World Championship our Off-road range offers wheels from 16” to 20”, providing everything you need for your off-road adventures.

We’re excited to announce that Exmoor Trim is stocking YETI, the ultimate brand for rugged, high-performance outdoor gear. Whether you’re heading out on a Land Rover adventure, tackling the great outdoors, or just looking for the toughest drinkware and coolers around, YETI has you covered.

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A good old Land Rover annual!

EIGHT OF THE BEST

The essential annual for Land Rover owners and enthusiasts

Land Rover

Some wine-fuelled bidding set Ed Owen on the route to owning an original Land Rover 90 V8.

By the time he was finished, it was one of the best of the breed you’ll see anywhere

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Y10EARBOOK £9.99

’s the year pages of ucts for best prod Rover your Land

North Devon Classic Trimming did a lot of work inside the vehicle. Some of the rear seat frames needed repairing, which they did before reupholstering the whole lot in chocolate leather. They also constructed a brand new cubby box to match, the original one having seen much better days, as well as installing heaters in the front seats and renewing the carpets throughout

Words Tom Alderney Pics Ed Owen

of high miles and destructive off-road use (Ed’s has only done 79,000 in its life), and the market recognised early that they were worth more than the typical rank and file Defender. Crucially, though, they needed not to have been cut about.

The V8 Ed found was pretty original and slightly tired. Its chassis was in absolutely tiptop condition, which is always a good place to start, and it had been partially restored. ‘The County had had quite a lot of mechanical work already done,’ says Ed. ’The fuel tank and some other bits.’

It had also had a load of work done to its body; Ed describes the results as ‘great at 10 feet, but closer inspection showed a low quality job in places.’ As well as not being one to mope, he’s not one to miss an opportunity – which of course this was.

‘During a very cold winter,’ Ed continues, ‘the 90 developed the pox… that is, micro-blistering, which meant the paint had some moisture in it.

‘I took it to Dean Crook Bodyshop in Tiverton.

We agreed that the only right thing to do was start again – so it had a glass-out respray. While

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couple of years ago, Ed Owen did the unthinkable and went looking at cars on the internet after a couple of glasses of wine. This is well known to be one of the most efficient ways there is of separating yourself from your money, sometimes with catastrophic results, but Ed managed to retain his composure and rather than liberating a ton of money on some awful sports car with no brakes and a sump full of woe, he homed in on a particularly sweet ex-Army 88” soft-top Land Rover Series IIA and Sankey trailer.

This is not the story of that Series IIA. Well, okay, this is the story of that Series IIA: ‘While it was lovely, it could barely get out of its own way and wasn’t really much fun on the road.’

Now, this isn’t just a case of someone having a whoops moment. Ed knows what

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he’s looking at. ‘I’m a pretty solid car nut,’ he says. ‘I’ve owned north of 100 of all shapes and sizes. On top of the Series IIA, I’ve also had a 2001 P38 and a 2013 2.2 90.’

You don’t have that many cars without knowing to punt them if they’re not working out. So, not being one to sit around moping about these things, Ed thought again. ‘I spotted a V8 90 at Motodrome in Henley. I spoke to Simon, the owner, and a part-ex deal was done.

The drive there towing the Sankey trailer was somewhat leisurely…’

So, then, this is the story of the Land Rover Ed bought to replace the Land Rover he bought.

First things first, as we mentioned it’s a V8 90 – a factory one, from the days when a V8 was just a more powerful engine option and not an excuse to rinse half a decade’s mortgage payments out of your most starry-eyed punters.

A cut above

Magical mystery tour

While all this was happening, anyway, original V8s continued to be seen as a cut above. A good number of them were spared the ravages

2026 Land Rover Yearbook

The 90 replaced an ex-Army Series IIA 88” soft-top and Sankey trailer Ed had bought in an online auction with the assistance of some wine. Turns out he wasn’t wild about driving the old warhorse – it wasn’t the first Land Rover he had owned, but it was the first leafer and not even a late P38 could prepare him for the experience

2026 Land Rover Yearbook

From within the depths of ancient earthworks to behind the gates of modern mock villages, Salisbury Plain hides a web of mysteries – and has an unrivalled rights of way network to let you explore them

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PRODUCTS

Kent Heritage Works introduces The Admiral – a 1976 Series III rebuilt as a unique best-of-everything classic

Ultimate exhausts for ultimate version of the new Defender

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Built from scrap: the Defiant Huntsman

Full story of an epic build

EXHAUST SPECIALIST MILLTEK has started production of a new sports system for the Land Rover Defender Octa. This is designed to ‘give it the sound it deserves’ – no, not the owner quietly sobbing while waiting for a recovery vehicle, or the police, but ‘an enhanced, deeper sound’ for its 635bhp twin-turbo V8.

Milltek notes that newer vehicles, especially those with turbos, can be disappointingly muted. They’re certainly not wrong there. So the company pulled out the stops to get its hands on an Octa as soon as possible after the vehicle’s release and started work immediately – the upshot being a non-resonated, particulate filter-back system which enhances the engine’s sound without releasing any further emissions.

The new exhaust integrates with the original valve control system, too. This means it mimics the original for performance when Octa mode is selected – only this time with the sort of note you want to hear from a big V8 on song.

Made from T304L grade stainless steel, giving it extra durability and longevity, the Milltek system has twin valves which are 80mm larger than the originals, as well as a rear silencer with a reflective design but no centre resonator. It can be specified with the company’s GT100 exhaust tips in polished black, brushed titanium and burnt titanium finishes, or left original if subtlety is your thing.

Which it’s bound to be if you buy an Octa, obviously.

2026 Land Rover Yearbook

A treasure trove of great Land Rovers

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110 expedition in a land seldom visited by Brits 04/11/2025 16:10

PRODUCTS

Brushless compressors from ARB promise huge gains in output and reliability 107 here’s a whole lot more to ARB than just Air-Lockers, but the Aussie off-road giant is still synonymous

with what most people see as the gold standard in locking diffs. Which of course means that air compressors have become a big part of its business.

The latest addition to the company’s range is its Brushless Twin On-board Air Compressor, and we’d challenge you to find a product of any kind anywhere with a more descriptive name than that. ARB meanwhile would challenge you to find an air compressor that gives you more for your money, as its brushless motor makes for a 50% increase in output compared to the company’s previous leading units.

Brushless motors rev higher and experience less wear than the traditional equivalent, allowing them to operate more efficiently. In addition, ARB’s compressor features active cooling, electronic speed control, constant performance monitoring and voltage and overload protection. Live diagnostics provide real-time audio and visual alerts and a staggered power-on feature helps protect the vehicle’s electrics against inrush current.

of production in 2016. The heated seat switch, meanwhile, is suitable for the Defender and also the Disco 2.

Two decades have passed since the latter vehicle went out of production, which is one definition of a classic. And it’ll soon be a decade since the last original Defender came down the line, which is another (al-

own words, ‘whether you’re tackling rough terrain or inflating camp gear, these compressors deliver faster air, optimal efficiency, and rock-solid reliability so you can spend less time inflating and more time adventuring.’

£198.50 | www.heritage1948.co.uk

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here aren’t many parts of an old Land Rover that aren’t prone to wearing

out. One of them that definitely is, but which is unlikely to be the first thing you think about when the subject comes up, is its seats.

Chances are you’re now picturing a cabin with the classic combination of semi-derelict dash, dog-eaten front seats and ingrained dirt everywhere. But the inward-facing rear benches are in a high-traffic area too – and the

Britpart’s 18” Caradoc alloys for original-shape Defender | www.britpart.com

WE’VE ALL GOT AN OPINION on the biggest diameter of wheel you should put on a Defender. Some have a view on the smallest, too. Depending on where you stand on these matters, 18” could be either a happy medium or neither one thing nor the other, but either way there are plenty of options out there.

There’s always room for another, though, and that’s exactly what this 18x9” satin black Caradoc alloy from Britpart is. It has a deeply dished design and an ET0 offset to go with its 5 x 165.1 PCD, so you’re looking at plenty of width without any need for spacers. Your Defender’s turning circle will love you for it, and if you’re running lifted suspension you’ll be able to work said turning circle with significantly less worry about it falling over.

The wheels have a load rating of 1100kg per corner. They’ll fit all original-shape Defender models, including pre-Defender 90s, 110s and 130s.

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The unit also boasts various features designed for easy installation, including quick-release mounts, relay-free design and what ARB says is a foolproof polarity correction harness.

All this might sound like overkill when all you’re doing is activating a diff lock. But for high-capacity jobs like airing your tyres back up after a demanding off-road session it sounds like a bit of a game changer. To quote ARB’s

Are you sitting comfortably?

beit a bit of an optimistic one). Safe to say that with things like chassis, axles and transfer levers, though, either is a whole lot more classic than anything that’s borne the name since. Even if they did have heated seats.

ca £350 plus VAT

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ca £675 plua VAT | www.britpart.com

Lucas Classic switches for retro Rovers

✔ Enhanced ✔ Restored ✔ Preserved ✔ Modified

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ll around us, the landscape of the The western part of the Plain is centred world has been shaped by man. around the ghost village of Imber, whose A genuine wilderness is an residents were evicted in 1943 as the area was increasingly hard thing to find turned into a mock theatre of urban warfare (especially in Britain, where even the wildest for troops to train in in advance of D-Day. A and most remote places are comparatively well noble cause, and one which was met by little trodden), however there’s still a tremendous resistance – however despite the War Office’s amount of the world whose character, even promise that the mass eviction was only when it’s the result of human activity, is temporary, Imber remains uninhabited and, defined by its emptiness. except on a few days each year, out of bounds You don’t have to go far to see examples to civilians. of this. The Lake District may look natural in Why the families of Imber were treated its beauty, but shorn of the trees that once so shabbily, when the MOD is otherwise blanketed it and mined out for copper and exemplary in its behaviour towards the Plain’s slate, it’s a post-industrial wasteland. The environment, its visitors and those who live in Scottish Highlands, too, have been shaped and around the area, is certainly a modern day over centuries by a gentry who came to mystery. So too, thanks in no small part to the control the estates where clanspeople once lack of rights of way here, are the many ancient lived on the land. And at the other end of the relics to the south and west of the village. country, Salisbury Plain is huge and, usually, empty – yet it’s crawling with mysteries laid Good manners down by humankind.

It’s a very different state of affairs just a few This is the hinterland of the Ridgeway, the miles to the east, where Tilshead is a thriving track along the Berkshire Downs which is little place at the centre of a web of byways. commonly taken to have been Britain’s first It’s a good spot to start a day on the Plain, road. The route was first established around as it’s home to a filling station and village 3000 years BC – but even before that, ancient shop – and it’s always good manners to civilisations were leaving their mark on the provision yourself locally when you’re visiting downs that are now part of the Plain. the countryside.

Much is known about the tumuli and long There’s a pub in Tilshead, too. It’s called the barrows that pock-mark the vast military Rose and Crown and here’s another of those training area that Salisbury Plain has become. modern mysteries: what on earth is going on But a great deal is still shrouded in mystery – with that pub sign? Having just brought up the as are elements of the landscape shaped in subject of good manners, it’s probably best if modern times. we leave you to decide for yourself…

Bridging the gap between the two is an Anyway, if you head south from Tilshead extensive network of public rights of way. you’ll quickly see a byway off to the right.

Unusually, almost all of these are Byways Open Miss it and you’ll see another one even more to All Traffic (BOATS), making them perfect quickly, but the first is the one to take as for exploring on four wheels – and even it runs right past White Barrow, a Neolithic more unusually, those which were lost to the edifice measuring some 250 feet in length obscene 2006 NERC Act have been returned and 150 wide which has been dated to 3500to their rightful form by the Defence Estate, 4000 BC. So that’s what your 240-times-great which recognises and signposts them as grandparents might have been doing when Permissive Byways. Thus drivers can use them they weren’t listening to Status Quo. freely – though unlike the BOATS they join with In 1909, White Barrow gained the distinction to provide miles of unsurfaced driving for offof being the first ancient monument to be tarmac explorers, they can be closed when in purchased by the National Trust. At the use by their military landlords. time, the War Office was buying up as much While rights of way can’t be closed for land as it could get its hands on to create anyone’s convenience, however, their use what’s now the Salisbury Plain Training Area; can still be restricted. Some of the byways protecting the barrow, along with 2.75 acres of on the Plain are subject to the Army’s iconic surrounding land, cost the Trust a princely £60. red flags, while others are under voluntary Even at about £6000 in today’s money, that still restraint – which typically asks drivers to avoid sounds like a pretty tidy deal. them during the winter half of the year. In So that’s what we know about it. What we the latter case, there’s no legal comeback for don’t know is what it was for, or what was those who don’t – at least, not until the lanes inside it. It was partially excavated in 1806 by are formally closed, which is the next step if archaeologist Colt Hoare, who found evidence common sense fails. Happily, the vast majority of it having contained a wooden burial of 4x4 drivers take their responsibilities to the chamber; no full excavation has ever been countryside very seriously. undertaken, however in 1997 a geophysical

2026 Land Rover Yearbook

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Price: varies | www.britpart.com

THE DISCOVERY 2 IS A CLASSIC NOW. So too is the Defender in Td5 and even Puma form. We know because Lucas Classic is doing bits for them.

The bits in question here are switches, operating things like the hazards, heated rear window and rear washer and wiper on Defenders all the way up to the end

Obviously, a full respray is going to mean curtains for any decals on the vehicle. This wasn’t a problem, though, as the ones it came with weren’t period correct. We’d like to know what was going through the mind of whoever

As has been the case for a long time, a preDefender 90 or 110 with its original engine is an increasingly rare thing. When it’s a factory V8, it was already something of a classic way back before such a word was ever applied to a Land Rover with coil springs. There are, or were, plenty of V8s going about that started out as four-pots: these are only ever as good as the guy who did the conversion, which leaves a fearsome amount of room for awfulness, and as petrol prices went trough the roof and a growing supply of ex-Disco Tdi engines came on to the market, most were subsequently converted again from V8 to diesel.

Words Gary Martin Pictures Alan Kidd and as credited

ADMIRATION

they were at it, they caught a couple of tiny bits of rust and put new footwells in.

‘I’m absolutely delighted with their work – it’s easily better than when it first came out of the factory.’

Curtains

2026 Land Rover Yearbook

traffic in question tends not to be what you’d call gentle. Tools, machines, animals, dead animals, half a ton of pea shingle, half a ton of drunk labourers… every cliche under the sun applies, and all of them have the potential to take their toll on your rear seats.

Hence these 2-Man Galvanised Bench Seats in black vinyl, which are now part of the high-quality, made-in-Britain range offered by Heritage 1948. These have been designed to perfectly replicate the original rear load seating found in Series Land Rovers since their first launch in 1948, and promise a traditional appearance combined with modern durability – not to mention precision manufacture to the highest standards of quality.

The seats are based on a heavy-duty galvanised frame and feature high-density foam padding, giving them improved comfort over the original. This is wrapped in a durable black vinyl which ought to be hard to damage but easy to keep clean.

The seats fit directly into the load area of any Series II or III and any 90 or 110, including

pre-Puma Defenders, thus covering the entire range of production from 1958 to the end of the Td5

era. Resting on the wheel box in the traditional way, they mimic the traditional folding operation of the originals, with retaining straps allowing them to be stowed vertically when not in use.

The benches come complete with a full fitting kit promising hassle-free installation. Seat belts aren’t included, however Heritage 1948 can sell you those too.

2026 Land Rover Yearbook

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Remember the good old days, when magazines were big and thick and there was loads and loads of great stuff in them to keep you reading for hours? Remember when there were no fake pictures… no AI nonsense… no comments sections full of people ranting at each other about VAR, small boats and which toilet you should use if you’re transsexual?

Well, the 2026 Land Rover Yearbook is a good old magazine, just like they used to be back then. It’s 132 pages long, printed on good quality paper and packed full of great stuff to read. It’s a compilation of the best stories from the last year and in some cases beyond – great vehicle builds in detail, overland expeditions to dream of, a huge 10-page products round-up and the news from behind the news coming out of the factory and around the Land Rover scene.

The 2026 Land Rover Yearbook makes a perfect Christmas present for the Land Rover fan in your life – especially if that Land Rover fan is yourself! It’s a great read – all year round!

132 pages • Just £9.99

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08/12/2025 17:11

The dash pod contains a CarPlay enabled head unit and a bank of rocker switches for the heated seats, electric windows and central locking. Below it are the outlets for a retro-fit air-conditioning system. The main gearstick controls a four-speed General Motors auto box, which Legacy Overland mated to Land Rover’s own LT230 transfer case. With high and low range retained, along with the locking centre diff, this is still every inch a proper 90

light suede roof liner to create a bright and extremely appealing cabin. Not one you’d want to get in wearing muddy boots or use to cart a load of wet logs and a chainsaw back from the woods, but even if you did you’d be too busy enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of the heated high-back seats and the sounds from an amped six-speaker CarPlay audio system to worry about it. And you’d actually stand

a chance of hearing your tunes properly, too, thanks to a full suite of Dynamat acoustic and thermal insulation.

This is a 90 which was, in its makers’ words, ‘built for ruggedness but ready for a new kind of adventure.’ Legacy Overland set out to preserve the Defender’s silhouette while completely redefining its performance, comfort and refinement and turning it into a ‘precision-built modern performer.’

As everyone always says, a Defender is a blank canvas on which to bring to life your vision of the perfect truck. You can turn one into many different things… even if, truth to tell, a sports car is not among them. This one is more of a hot rod in nature – they didn’t channel it or chop the roof, thank God, but with plenty of power, cool looks and glorious interior, it was made to make its owner feel good. Jolly, indeed.

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THE NEED FOR

SWEDE We always used to say that the Volvo XC90 was a more capable off-roader than even its own manufacturer gave it credit for. But this one takes the vehicle’s abilities to a whole new level…

Words Gary Martin Pictures Lauren Grover

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bout a million years ago, our editor used to rent a trailer from a guy near Croydon who had been one of the founder members of the All-Wheel Drive Club. He was a friendly old chap with no end of great stories, and he had an off-road Volvo.

This was back before even the first V70 XC had been thought of. So if you know your Volvos, and you’re familiar with what the AWDC used to get up to back in the day, you’ll already know that we’re talking about a TP21 Sugga. This was a military 4x4 from the mid-50s and if you thought those old Volvo estates people used to use

as tailgating devices were imposing to look at, one look at a Sugga would make you run and hide.

So we’ve got previous for Volvo offroaders, sort of. But we’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s a firstgeneration XC90, and it’s been modified.

Yes, really.

Immediately, you know that this is going to be a story about home-brewed engineering and fabrication. The choice of parts available for modding an XC90 is less than generous; they do exist, but even if you include the inevitable stuff from brands with names like Crip-L and Terraplop that

The winch and fairlead might look small but they’re on an XC90 and if that doesn’t make them unique in the UK, we’re yet to see another. The vehicle’s owner Charlie is a welder by trade and he fabricated the bumper himself, along with the sump guard you can see below it in the picture at the top of this page February 2026 I Overlander 4x4

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265/65R17 BFGoodrich KO3 Mud-Terrains are definitely not the sort of tyre you expect to see on an XC90. Their 30.6” diameter looks pretty meaty under the Volvo’s standard arches, but a 30mm suspension lift makes just enough room for them to fit without fouling. The combination adds hugely to the vehicle’s ground clearance, something that’s aided at the back by some judicious trimming to the bumper – and by the side-exit exhaust you can see in the picture above you’ve never heard of and don’t ever want to again, it’s not exactly like buying accessories for a Defender.

But we like home-brewed engineering and fabrication, because necessity is the mother of invention. And if you want to turn one of these into an off-road weapon, a whole lot of invention is going to be very necessary indeed.

The vehicle was built by Lauren Grover and her partner Charlie. ‘When we first bought the XC90,’ she says, ‘it was simply an impulse purchase for a holiday trip to Cornwall. We chose it because of the space and comfort and at the time we had no plans to turn it into anything more.’

Well, that soon changed. Charlie’s friend Ryan owned a Land Rover and after they had

got home from their holiday, he suggested that they should take the Volvo off-roading.

Sounds like a bit of a wind-up merchant, does Ryan – I mean, when we first asked Volvo’s press office if we could test an XC90 back when they were new, they pointed out that just because it’s a 4x4 doesn’t mean it’s meant to go off-road.

Snowball fight

But actually, he wasn’t on a wind-up. Having finally managed to get an XC90 out of Volvo back then, one of our take-away verdicts on the vehicle was that it was a more capable off-roader than they realised. Maybe Ryan knew that too. Anyway, says Lauren, ‘that idea snowballed quickly and we ended up transforming the car into a fully off-roadready build.’

Working together, Charlie and Ryan installed a 30mm lift kit. This is something that actually is available to buy, with a range of options available from various corners of the world – almost all of them quote a lift of 30mm, which in old money is a little more than an inch, as this is as far as you can take the XC90 without going custom and swapping to coil-overs. You can however get approximately the same again by adding spacers between the main chassis and

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the suspension subframes; Lauren and Charlie had already bought as set when these pictures were taken, but they hadn’t yet installed it. As things stand, there’s room under there for a set of 265/65R17 BFGoodrich KO3 muds which stand just under 31” tall, and that’s a pretty decent bit of rubber to be sliding under one of these.

Between the lift and the tyres, the Volvo’s ground clearance is completely transformed. However Lauren and Charlie had a lucky break on this score when they fitted a side-exit exhaust – ‘purely for aesthetic reasons,’ they admit, ‘but we later realised it was the best option for gaining additional rear clearance.’ Many a Range Rover has ended up with its tailpipe wrapped around its back axle after a failed hillclimb, so this is the case even if you drive a gnarly off-roader.

But that doesn’t seem to stop this one.

‘Considering the XC90 doesn’t have many of the advantages of traditional off-road vehicles,’ says Lauren, ‘it has performed unbelievably well. We paid just £800 for this car and it has genuinely become one of the best vehicles we’ve ever owned. It handles green laning and off-road use far better than we ever expected.’

It could be argued that if you start with rock-bottom expectations of a vehicle, it can

hardly help but exceed them. But actually, none of this comes as any surprise to us – after all, we’re the ones who told Volvo it was more capable than they knew. And besides, we’ve seen its ancestor up close, and even the great-grandson of a Sugga is sure to be a tough nut.

The only surprise really is that someone had the imagination to set out to do this at all. But with results like this, more people ought to try…

Outstanding

What really makes this Volvo stand out, anyway, is its front bumper. Charlie is a welder by trade, so fabrication work is second nature to him and he made up a heavy-duty unit complete with a mounting plate for an electric winch. The winch itself, and the hawse fairlead ahead of it, do look kind of small compared to what you normally see on 4x4s, but it’s there for emergencies not punch hunts and anyway, as far as we’re aware, it has the distinction of being the only one in the UK bolted to a Volvo XC90.

Charlie also fabbed up a sump guard to protect the Volvo’s engine. And while he didn’t bother with a steel bumper for the back, he trimmed the factory one to improve the vehicle’s departure angle. Just as well the exhaust was already out of the way by now and wasn’t left looking vulnerable.

Depending on how extreme they want their off-roading to get, we’d say a set of rock sliders might want to be on the to-do list. Lauren and Charlie do have one of these, though it’s commendably short – in addition to those subframe spacers, Lauren says the only thing they’re currently thinking about is getting the engine mapped to help it turn those big tyres on hill climbs.

As it is, the entire drivetrain remains standard. Unlike the original Volkswagen Touareg and Mercedes M-Class, which came out at around the same time, low range was never an option on the XC90, and though it did have traction control it was never available with locking diffs.

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BIG MONEY The Discovery 2 has long since become the go-to Land Rover for off-roaders on a budget. It doesn’t take much to turn one into a seriously capable vehicle – but here’s one that’s had more spent on modifications than it cost new Words and Pictures Mike Trott

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here’s no such thing as a poor man’s Land Rover. But while the biggest money will always be found at the top of the Defender game, the supposedly less hardcore models have, as they got older, taken up a role at the budget end of the market.

Hard as it is to believe now, the Range Rover Classic used to be the ‘cheap’ option – to the extent that people would cut them up and turn them into hybrids. Once the supply of rough ones was used up, attention turned to the Discovery 1 – and then in turn,

Modified Discovery 2s are ten a penny, but this one is a cut above the crowd.

The raised air intake, LED spotlights and Front Runner roof rack are all the stuff of a proper expedition build, but it’s the window deflectors that make the difference between an everyday off-road hack and a fully fledged show-stopper

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when all but a few of these had either rusted into the ground or been beaten to death at playdays, the Discovery 2 filled the void.

This was the last of the proper Land Rovers to be around at budget prices (the P38 Range Rover never caught on, being so fearsomely complicated and expensive to run, though it too was built with the right stuff for off-roading). A decade and a half ago, there were loads of them around: today there are far fewer available to buy, though if you visit any off-road event or Land Rover show you’ll soon see where they’ve all gone.

The Discovery 2 had low range, beam axles and a proper chassis. You could do all the things with it that you could do with a Discovery 1 and, though it was a more complicated vehicle, many people did just that. It was rust-prone in the rear chassis, leaky sunroofs were very good at rotting out the bulkhead by channeling water down behind the A-posts and the electronics

governing the traction control are a work of base comedy, but the right stuff is there and they were powered by the excellent Td5 engine. And though prices for good ones are much firmer now than when the market was at its most flooded, it’s still a lot of truck for your money.

No wonder the off-road aftermarket has long since created a world of choice for Disco 2 owners looking to mod their wagons. It’s a world that many have dipped into, with the result that quite a lot of the vehicles they’ve built look much the same, but a good one will always still stand out in the crowd.

This is one of them. It’s definitely not your average bashed-together green lane wagon – but then, nor is it your average budget build. In fact, when it was built its owner spent more putting it together than it would have cost back in 2002 when it was first registered.

On a Defender, swathes of chequer plate along the bottom of the doors is a red flag.

We’re still not fans of the look, but on the Disco 2 it just means more protection

Fully loaded

That’s saying something, because it’s an ES. The joke was that the letters stood for ‘extra special’, and it probably is only a joke, but at that stage this was the range-topper. ES meant heated leather seats, air conditioning and twin electric sunroofs, Harman Kardon

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ZU alloys, BFG tyres, D44 bumpers, Emu suspension, Polybushes, ARB Air-Lockers, National Luna dual battery management… this is a Disco 2 that was built with nothing but premium accessories. The guy who built the vehicle certainly appears to have used it, though it also looks like he didn’t think to include a course of rust treatment in his wish list stereo, cruise control and parking sensors.

It sounds like nothing today, when there are Nissan Qashqais that can give you a massage and Hyundai Konas you can warm up by app so they’re nice and toasty for you on a cold winter’s morning, but back then this Disco was as loaded as they came.

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Or at least, that’s what Land Rover thought. But Land Rover didn’t reckon with a future owner who had the means and the inclination to spend £35,000 on modifying it.

‘The guy had a big vision, but an even bigger pot of money,’ says Dave Williamson, in whose hands the Disco found itself

after its builder had turned his attention elsewhere. Some, I’m sure, will question the man’s sanity, but rather than being negative let’s admire his willingness to put his money where his mind was.

Dave calls it the ‘Discovery Destroyer Extreme.’ I reckon it looks more like a late night eBay search that’s taken an expensive wrong turn. Either way, to be fair to the artist behind it, the modifications aren’t what you’d call cheap but they certainly were goldstandard stuff all-round.

Let’s start with that Td5 engine. It was given the popular remap treatment by Alive Tuning, a reworked ECU lifting its output to a nicely usable 200bhp. This is aided by a larger Garrett turbocharger and a stainless steel exhaust that gets the fumes gone nice and efficiently, exiting to the side of the vehicle to keep it out of harm’s way.

So it’s got more guts to turn the wheels with, and when things get gnarly it’s got more wheels to turn thanks to the ARB Air-Lockers installed in both axles. The Disco wouldn’t have had its central diff lock

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connected from the factory, however it looks to us as if this one had it done as part of the build. Certainly, two of ARB’s best dancing to the tune of the three amigos sounds like a wasted opportunity…

The owner who built it certainly didn’t miss the chance to protect it underneath, anyway, fitting guards to shield the diffs, steering and fuel tank from impacts. The lights are guarded, too, against a different kind of impact (you’d hope) and a raised air intake is backed up by a full set of breathers.

Pulling power

Then comes the real heavy metal, in the shape of heavy-duty D44 bumpers front and rear. The first of these is home to a 12,000lb winch spooled with Plasma rope, because the deeper you can travel into nadgery off-road territory, the worse you’re going to get stuck when you finally get there. Sorry, the worse your mate’s going to get stuck because he didn’t have £35,000 to spend on his truck.

And this certainly is a vehicle that can get a long way into the rough stuff. As well as those diff-locks, its owner went to the

top of the ARB range and specced a full Old Man Emu suspension lift, installed using Polybushes from front to rear.

These days, it’s not uncommon to see Disco 2s with huge lifts rumbling about the place on equally huge tyres with tread so lumpy they’re barely even round. These tend to be the budget wagons. This one contents itself with just enough of a lift and a set of 265/75R16 BFGoodrich MudTerrains mounted on ZU alloys. Good, sensible, practical stuff that’s stylish enough to pass muster and has the grip to get a skilled driver anywhere a More Power artist with a set of 37” Humpin’ Gangsta Mudwhores can manage.

Nonetheless, we’ve said it before that even just a modest 265 is enough to put near-on three tonnes of Disco 2 into brake fade. We know because it happened to us.

We didn’t do what this guy did by fitting a set of 325mm grooved discs and six-pot calipers, though…

Further good stuff you’ll have spotted includes a set of rock sliders protecting the sills and a set of LED spots above the windscreen. These are mounted just ahead

of a Front Runner Expedition roof rack, which possibly gives a hint as to the sort of use the truck’s former owner had in mind when he invested all that money in it.

There have been even more exacting Disco 2 builds since this one was done, and as you can see from some of the pictures it looks like the guy who did it might not have thought to add a dose of Dinitrol to his wish list (other rust prevention treatments are available, etc). But overall, it seems to me like our guy wanted to set a benchmark with this project – and there certainly can’t be many people who’ve poured this much money into modding one.

Nonetheless, the Disco 2 still does just about remain the go-to choice for modders on a budget. As they become more and more scare, however, and with those left alive now tending to be the ones at the top of the market, the last of the traditional Discoverys is well on the way to following the Range Rover Classic into exclusive status. They’re still out there but, as we said at the top, there’s no such thing as a poor man’s Land Rover. And this is no such thing as a poor man’s Land Rover.

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SLOW

FORECAST Matt Collins thought off-roading was going to be slow and dull. Then he tried it – and three Suzukis later, he had built one of the greatest Vitaras Britain has ever seen Words Gary Noskill Pictures Steve Taylor

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ff-roading is boring. It’s slow, and it’s boring. Right?

We all know someone who thinks like that. Then one day we take him off-roading, and next time we see him he’s bought a 4x4.

Matt Collins used to have more reason than most to assume that off-roading was slow, because he was a trackdays kind of guy. A co-founder and director of Ecosse Automotive, an independent Peugeot specialist in Bo’ness, he’s been the brains behind any number of iconic modified GTis, revived classics and cherished retro motors, and these days he’s partial to putting his foot down in a 660bhp Porsche 996 GT2.

So when his friend Rab suggested he should try experiencing what happens on the other kind of tracks, he took a bit of convincing. ‘I didn’t fancy it,’ he admits.

‘But Rab told me about this place near Scarborough where you paid your money and they gave you a 4x4.

‘I still didn’t think it sounded very exciting. But then I managed to tie it up with a trackday in my 306 GTi, so I went along.’

The place he went along to turned out to be none other than Langdale Quest. Which could have been the beginning and the end of his interest in off-roading, but happily this was a few years before the events which saw that particular off-road facility go from being one of the nation’s favourites to a name people muttered about darkly between gritted teeth.

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Hi-Lux axles are located via a three-link front and four-link rear, using a central bolt-on cradle imported from the US. This meant fabricating brackets on both axles to mate up to the Johnny-jointed rod ends; these brackets also double up as coil spring mounts at the front and shock mounts at the rear. The overall effect of the suspension work is to lift the vehicle by eight inches, with a further three coming via a body lift, and to allow a massive 42 inches of articulation

No such worries for Matt. ‘I had an absolute blast! It was brilliant, I couldn’t believe what these wee things could do.

They were standard SJs with mud tyres, I was hooked. Off-roading wasn’t as boring as I thought…’

No sooner had he got home than he was on to eBay, and no sooner had he done that than he was the proud owner of not one but two Suzuki SJs. They were, he admits, ‘rusty buckets,’ but for general messing around on the shale bings that provide much of the off-roading around his home in Scotland’s central belt, they were the perfect place to start.

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That was all very well, but Matt’s not one to stand still. Unfortunately, the next step was hampered by the fact that he reckoned Suzuki’s other 4x4 at the time, the Vitara, was ‘a bit of a hairdresser’s car.’

As you’ll have worked out by now, he’s got over it. So much so that he went on to buy no less than four of the things.

The first, which came via another friend, was just a basic example on a set of mud tyres. ‘It had more bits falling off it than going on to it’ is Matt’s assessment of the vehicle, but then things started to change.

He saw a Vitara for sale in London with a Calmini suspension kit already fitted, and

managed to do a swap for a car he wanted rid of.

Now things could start happening. Matt was going off-road a lot, and learning more every time. Specifically, what breaks. ‘A lot of the time, we were going off-roading and breaking things. And if you just replace it with what you’ve broken, a lot of the time you’ll go straight out and break it again. So it was a progression of trying to find out what the weakest parts were and work through it.’

Down the pan

On the Vitara, the alloy front diff pan is infamous for being about as robust as a

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damp tissue. The standard mod here is to replace it with a steel unit from the Grand Vitara V6 or TD; with this done, and a very solid set of home-made bumpers fashioned from 6mm plate and complemented by a set of jackable sill bars, the vehicle was becoming a lot less prone to damaging encounters with the ground.

Or so it appeared. But then one day, it did that thing where you get to the bottom of a steep hill, suddenly you’re standing on your nose and then slowly, oh so slowly (Matt reckons he was blown by the wind), over she goes.

Bye-bye roof. And A-post, too.

Now, what Matt had was a set of worthwhile mods attached to a very worthless vehicle. Just as well he’d already sourced the vehicle destined to become his next project, then.

This was a rather unusual Vitara, in that it was one of the only original-shapers to combine a diesel engine with a short wheelbase. Oh yes it did. Matt says he’s lost count of the number of times people have asked about his engine conversion (and now we’re among them) , but it’s actually factory-standard: Suzuki fitted the 1.9-litre Peugeot turbo-diesel in the old-shape Vitara Commercial, making it the only SWB

oil-burner until the Grand added the option several years later.

The idea was for this vehicle to take shape in its own sweet time while Matt continued finding his way in Vitara II. But now that Vitara II was Vitara II RIP, it was time for a rethink.

He’d bought the commercial in need of some repairs to its bodywork, so with that knocked off he started stripping the ruins of the old one and transferring its bumpers, front axle case and so on across to their new home. Said new home also received the coat of orange paint which helped it cut a dash; this is a Volkswagen colour,

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Matt fabricated the front and rear bumpers himself for one of his previous Vitaras before moving them over to this one after totalling it in an endo. Both are made from 6mm steel plate; the rear unit carries mounting points for the roll cage, while the front is shaped to maintain as much approach angle as possible and includes a cradle for the Warn 9000 electric winch

apparently, and Matt chose it because he reckoned (correctly, we’d suggest) that the vehicle’s original dark green hue was just too boring.

What’s under the paint? Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up, shall we?

Going live

You may by now have noticed that the Vitara’s independent front axle has gone, to be replaced by a hefty live unit. This was

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sourced from a 1990 Toyota Hi-Lux – one of the last before that vehicle went over to an independent front end of its own. It’s fitted with Aisin freewheeling hubs and an ARB Air-Locker – something Matt also used in the Vitara’s original front diff, with fairly catastrophic results for the factory-standard components it was working with at the time.

The back axle has a locker, too, though this is electric rather than air-operated.

Sourced from a 2005 Hi-Lux, it dates from

a couple of years before Toyota started replacing the good stuff with a limited-slip diff which, frankly, can’t hold a candle to it.

Not that he knew any of this at the time – in fact, so impressed had he been by the Lock-Right in his old Vitara back end, he’d already bought one to go in the Hi-Lux axle he was after. ‘There was this wee box on the side with wires coming out of it…’ he says of the moment he discovered he had a locking diff. He still reckons the Lock-Right was

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‘probably the best value for money thing ever, it made so much difference off-road,’ but when you’ve basically got a locker for free, you’re not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Both axles are fitted with 5.71:1 Yukon Gear crownwheels and pinions and turned by a set of custom propshafts. Damped by Doetsch Tech shocks, they’re bracketed to accept coil springs and a location system featuring a three-link front and four-link rear using Johnny Joint rod ends and a central chassis-mounted cradle imported from the US. The overall effect is an eight-inch lift front and rear, which combines with a threeinch body lift to provide plenty of space for a set of 35x14.50R15 Pit Bull Mad Dogs on 10x15 Champion Beadlocks.

Pit Bulls, remember those? If there’s anything that dates a story even more than a reference to Langdale Quest, it’s a reference to Pit Bull tyres. Both were good while they lasted, though.

Anyway, Matt found that the front tyres did rub slightly as the axle approached the limits of its 42-inch range of articulation.

Forty-two inches, by the way. if Kenny McLean did axle articulation…

Now, the width of the rubber works pretty well with the height of the truck, but there’s a reason why experienced off-roaders, at least in Britain, prefer tyres around them that are lean. And Matt confesses that perhaps it wasn’t the best idea. ‘The tyres that are on it look great,’ he says, ‘but it would probably benefit from a thinner size. Once you’re in ruts, it wants to stay in them.’

Power up

As we’ve already mentioned, the Vitara is still on its original engine, which is a Peugeot XU9 1.9 turbo-diesel. As you might expect from someone who specialises in the French marque and is no stranger to hacking round Knockhill and Ingliston, however, Matt certainly hasn’t left it the way it was when it rolled out of the factory.

Leading the way is a Garrett T2 hybrid turbo, which works with a custom intercooler and Samco boost pipes to crank things up several notches. A recalibrated Bosch fuel pump helps deliver the extra juice the charged air allows the engine to burn, while a custom raised air intake and stainless exhaust allow it to breathe as freely as possible.

The result is 120bhp and 235lbf.ft, which is enough to haul what is now a two-ton

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The Peugeot 1.9 XU9 turbo-diesel was fitted as standard to a small run of Vitara Commercials – the only diesel-engined short-wheelbase examples of the original-shape model ever sold in the UK. Matt has made a variety of changes to this one, including a Garrett T2 hybrid turbo and custom intercooler with Samco boost pipes as well as a custom raised air intake with wide elbows to allow maximum air flow. Aided by a recalibrated Bosch fuel pump, the engine now develops 120bhp and 235lbf.ft. Also under the bonnet is the solenoid pack for the winch, keeping it as far as possible out of harm’s way Vitara pretty much wherever Matt fancies pointing its rose-jointed steering. That wouldn’t be true without the four-paddle cerametallic clutch he’s fitted, though, because all that extra output would quickly rip the centre out of the original unit.

That’s another example of the way this vehicle has been thought through. Matt’s honest enough to admit that there was a lot of trial and error involved in the way he learned what off-roading was all about, but

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the fact that he has learned a lot of lessons is evident in so much of the way the Vitara is. Take a look around its neatly finished bodywork, for example, and as well as those bumpers and sills you’ll find a very nicely mounted Land Anchor on the back door, as well as a six-point cage whose mountings to the sills are neatly chamfered rather than ending in an ugly bluff edge.

Elsewhere there’s a custom roof rack, extended arches and a Warn 9000 electric

winch wound with Plasma 12-Strand rope, while on the inside a TMAX twin air compressor is complemented by goodies like dash-mounted winch controls, a longwheelbase rear centre console, roof nets and rear storage system and a roof-mounted Midland 80 CB with its handset integrated into the dashboard. Matt’s road and track influences are notable, too – he’s fitted electric windows and a central locking conversion, as well as SPA Design electronic gauges showing voltage, oil pressure and temperature, coolant temperature, charge temperature and boost pressure.

That might be a little over the top for a playday motor, but so what? This is a Vitara that demonstrates a level of finish and attention to detail for which too few off-road vehicle builders ever think to strive.

Maybe it’s because he’ll always be a circuit racer at heart, but it’s clear that to Matt, presentation does matter. It’s an approach that’s stood him in good stead, making the Vitara a show winner in the good old days of the British Indoor 4x4 Show at Donington when he had first built it.

Yet this is just for fun. Circuit racing is where he promotes his business: to him, offroading is all about a bunch of mates having a laugh together. ‘If you take a friend out off-roading with you,’ he observes, ‘he’s then looking to buy a 4x4.’ And he’s living proof of exactly that.

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TRAVEL

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part 3

IT’S A LONG WAY

HOME After driving several thousand miles across Europe and Russia, surviving the deserts of Uzbekistan and staring disaster in the face on the way across snow-bound mountain passes, you’d probably think you’ve had enough adventure for one road trip. But when your next stop is the Chinese border, and your route home goes through Tibet and Nepal, things have only just started to get interesting…

Words and pictures: Tushar and Pooja Agarwal

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t had felt as if we were staring death in the face at every turn as our Jeep battled through the snow-bound mountains of Kyrgyzstan. So we didn’t mind at all when it took six hours to cross the Chinese border – we were just grateful to have got there!

As well as entering a new country here, we met a new travelling companion.

According to the rules, anyone driving their own vehicle in China has to be accompanied by an official guide; ours was FeiFei, a very jovial, helpful and sweet 26-year-old girl who seemed even more excited than us about our adventure. And we were really excited.

FeiFei had arrived at the border with all our paperwork, and by knowing what was going on she made the whole process a bit simpler. Not that we hadn’t become old hands at the frontier game ourselves by this stage, having been through England, France, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan en route to China. Funny to think that with a third of our mammoth trip still to go, all we had to do now was cross in and out of Nepal and we’d have reached India, our ultimate destination.

That of course is because China is big.

Very big, and in every direction, including

up. No more flat deserts now: it was only mountains and more mountains. For the best part of a week, we lived at an average altitude of 13,500 feet.

At least our Cherokee’s 4x4 mode, which had been playing up on the way through Kazakhstan, was now working again.

We needed it, too: having completed our journey east at Kashgar and turned south towards Tibet, we found that 90% of the driving was on mud and gravel tracks, often wet and sometimes snow-covered.

More than once, our visibility was blighted by sandstorms, then at the other end of the scale the ‘road’ would disappear into unpredictable fords. Tough going (often, we’d cover just a couple of hundred miles in twelve non-stop hours), and definitely the sort of conditions for which four-wheel drive was made!

Beyond Kashgar, we reached the highest point in our journey at an altitude of 16,600 feet. That’s about four Ben Nevises perched on top of one another! We drove on to Mazar, a ‘village’ which turned out to be just a few shacks occupied by road workers, where we got laughed at for asking where the toilet was. ‘Anywhere you want!’ came the reply…

On the way from here to Tielongtan, in the equally mountainous Aksai Chin region, we were brought to a halt by a huge broken

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Main pic (below): This is the road to Mazar. Someone must have thought Mazar was REALLY worth getting to…

Above left: Mazar is little more than a collection of shacks occupied by road workers. This was where, when the authors asked where the toilet was, the answer was ‘anywhere’ Above centre: A feature of the mountains of Aksai Chin is that the wind rarely stops blasting away. Note the way the drips from the handpainted altitude sign go off to one side Abve right: When you find truckers rebuilding the road as they go along, you know you’re definitely in 4x4 territory. The authors did more than 1000 miles on the main G219 highway from Xinjiang into Tibet, and only about 10% of it was surfaced hole in the road ahead. The only way round it was on a dried-up riverbed beside the road, but as we inched on to it we started sinking – it wasn’t as dry as it looked.

Quickly, we reversed out and stopped.

We weren’t stuck, but we were in the wilderness at 16,000 feet and the road ahead was impassable. A couple of cars

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were parked on the other side, wanting to come our way. Now everyone was waiting to see who would make the first move.

It’s a blast

Then the stalemate was broken, as a big army truck appeared from the opposite direction. It paused for a few seconds,

then just geared up and went for it – and blasted through. The driver parked next to us and FeiFei asked if we’d be able to do the same. ‘No,’ he said, ‘not in that car. It won’t make it.’

But what choice did we have? We said our prayers, kissed, stopped thinking about everything, engaged four-wheel drive and

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Top left: It might not be the last word in comfort but when you’ve got four-wheel drive and the road ahead looks like this, it’s hard not to roar with delight Above left: Pin-sharp landscapes, emerald lakes and cold, crystal-clear air in your lungs… the going might be hard, but what’s not to love?

Above right: After a meeting with a washed-away road that had to be skirted round via a riverbed that wasn’t as dried-out as it first appeared, the Jeep was starting to look less like a holiday wagon and more like an expedition truck went for it. The Cherokee ploughed into the wet mud and started going down. Turning the wheel got us out of the mud. Now we were going sideways and once again started sinking. Another turn of the wheel, this time the other way, and we inched forward again. Just. Keep. Moving. With the engine roaring, we slid into a ditch, mud flying across our windscreen as the tyres fought for grip. And then, finally, our front wheels clawed their way on to the tarmac and moments later we were there, breathing huge sighs of relief. We had made it: thank you, Jeep!

Unfortunately, our stay in Aksai Chin was short-lived. Reaching Tielongtan after

a twelve-hour drive, we quickly had dinner and went to bed – blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.

The town is at 15,300 feet, and altitude sickness can strike fast. Pooja woke at midnight, struggling to breathe – and her condition was getting worse by the minute.

We woke FeiFei and she called the owner of the lodge where we were staying.

Fortunately, he had bottled oxygen: we don’t want to try and imagine what would have happened if he’d been as unprepared as us.

That averted the immediate crisis, but he advised us that it wouldn’t be safe for Pooja to stay at such a high altitude

and suggested we drive on straightaway towards Duma, lower down the valley.

Death Valley, as it’s known in China, which was no great comfort as we rushed through the night, still on treacherous, unmade roads, with Pooja holding the oxygen mask to her face. It was a huge relief to reach town, at six the following morning, more yet once Pooja was returned to health.

Even after that, though, the driving wasn’t much fun. The roads remained terrible, and wherever we stopped we found that hygiene was very low on the list of priorities. If it weren’t for the unparalleled natural beauty of China and

Left: Plopped on a dusty plain surrounded by towering peaks, Tielongtan is a literal one-street town. No suburbs here…

Right: Pool is a very popular bar-room sport in Tibet. Nothing unusual in that. In these parts, however, it’s regarded as an outdoor sport Centre: A main street made of concrete, an imposing exit gate and then bang, you’re into the wilderness. No fun at all when an attack of altiude sickness means you’ve got to get to lower ground as fast as you can in the middle of the night February 2026 I Overlander 4x4

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Left: Being informed that the Chinese authorities require you to have an official guide in your car at all times, you’d expect it to be some starched nazi taking delight in telling you all the things you’re not allowed to do. Safe to say, FeiFei wasn’t much like that Top right: Mount Kailash is sacred to several religions; to Hindus, it’s the home of Lord Shiva. No-one has ever climbed it, though the 32mile trek around its base is a powerful form of pilgrimage Above right: The North Sichuan Hotel is home to pilgrims and adventure tourists alike when they’re visiting Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar. As hotels go, it’s definitely got location on its side, if not architecture Tibet, and the fact that we were now so close to India, our spirits really would have been in the doldrums.

Tushar’s mood got a real lift, though, when after 600 miles of non-stop mud and gravel the road surface suddenly turned into tarmac. No warning, no reason, just an abrupt end to the bumping and shaking.

Once again, relief washed over us. We stopped the Jeep as just admired the beauty of the smooth new surface, then

Tushar got out and literally kissed it, then lay down flat on his back in the middle of the highway. The things we take for granted in our everyday lives!

Sacred site

Needless to say, the tarmac ran out after fifty miles or so and we were back on mud, rocks and gravel. But now we were more excited than ever, as our next stop was the holy site of Mount Kailash.

Located in south-west Tibet, near the border with Nepal, Mount Kailash is sacred to devotees of several religions. In the Hindu faith, it’s home to Lord Shiva; no-one has ever climbed it but thousands visit each year in pilgrimage, believing that walking the Kailash Parikrama, a 32-mile path around its base, will bring good fortune.

Sadly, the Chinese authorities refused us permission to do the Parikrama on the basis that we were Indian nationals

Left: With the parched ground constantly being whipped up by biting winds, local fashions are dictated by the need to protect yourself from getting dust-blasted. As yet, no-one has managed to establish a successful contact lens business here Centre: Believed to bring purity to those who bathe in it, Lake Mansarovar is another sacred place for Hindus. It looks like it would also bring colds…

Right: As the authors settled in for a quiet evening’s camping by the lake, groups of pilgrims on organised tours started arriving in their droves – bringing with them a small town of gazebos and, more importantly, outside caterers. More than 100 vehicles flocked to Mansarovar during the course of the evening – every single one of them an 80-Series Land Cruiser 48

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SPECIALISTS IN LAND ROVER & 4X4

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4X4 PLAYDAYS EVERY MONTH 10am to 4pm

Cynghordy Llandovery Carmarthenshire, SA20 0NB Tel: 01550 750274 e-mail: info@cambrianway.com

Slindon open second and fourth Sunday of every month (BN18 ONB) PLEASE NOTE!

QUADS ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED!

More info and pics Google youtube/slindon 4x4

sharpens.throat.crows (Gate 31)

www.cambrianway.com

4x4 entry £40 per vehicle

(full driving license required)

Green Lane Holidays in Mid Wales

Parking only £5

Family run guest house and self catering cottages with spectacular views, en-suite bedrooms, comfortable lounge bar and excellent home cooked food.

Pressure washer, drying room, map room with local lanes marked, on-site 4x4 course, guides and GPS hire available.

We specialise in organising 4x4 owners’ days and expedition training at our 4x4 off-road site at Slindon in West Sussex for owner-drivers.

A very popular venue for both individuals and groups of 4x4 enthusiasts

www.4x4driving.co.uk

Get in touch with us:

01903 812195 07802 582826

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Buddhist prayer flags are a common sight in Tibet, where they’re flown to bless the surrounding countryside. Dust storms like this one on the road itself between Zhongba and Saga are a common sight, too, though at least it obscures the state of the road itself travelling in our own car through sensitive parts of the country. We had been given a set route which we had to stick to; there was a ten-hour stretch of driving in Aksai Chin where we were forbidden to stop, even for toilet breaks, or take pictures, and in Tibet we weren’t to talk to any monks. We had to register at almost every army post so they could keep tabs on our whereabouts, and when we decided to abandon plans to visit Lhasa and leave China a few days early, mainly because both of us were feeling unwell from the effects of altitude, we were told we had to stay at the border until our prescribed exit date. When we did get to leave, the army searched every item in our luggage and even checked the pictures in our camera.

Before this, though, a highlight of the trip was a visit to Mansarovar Lake. In the shadow of Mount Kailash, this too

is holy; the highest body of water in the world, in the Hindu faith it represents purity and anyone who bathes in its waters is cleansed of all sin.

We knew that Lake Mansarovar was a place of pilgrimage, but as we spent the evening camped by its shores we didn’t expect more than a hundred Toyota Land Cruisers full of Indians to show up! They were all from big groups organised by different companies, and the best part was they all had cooks travelling with them – which meant Indian food for us that night!

A night we had thought would be very quiet became a big event for us. We met some great people and made new friends, and it was great that so many were interested in Friendicoes, the animal welfare charity behind our adventure.

Still in Tibet, we drove on to another small town, Zhongba. Once again, the

going was extremely hard and stressful – we covered around 150 miles in nine hours of rocks, fords and steep mountains tracks. From there it was more of the same en route to Saga; the Chinese government is in the process of extending the tarmac road west from here towards Mansarovar, but for us this was the worst going we had yet faced.

We were told that conditions would improve beyond Saga, though really it wasn’t until we reached Lhatse that we felt we could relax. We had been living in constant fear of breakdowns on the rough, remote mountain tracks, but this last stretch before we crossed the border into Nepal was a blessed relief.

Cruiser control

It has to be said that in spite of all the punishment we gave it through China and

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Tibet, the Cherokee remained extremely dependable. All the same, the Land Cruiser is king here. Aside from a very few others, it’s the only 4x4 you see – and it provides a lifeline between villages and towns, tackling the most treacherous road conditions with ease. At times, we’d be doing less than 10mph over the rough tracks, and a Cruiser would, well, cruise by at three times our speed. Our Jeep did brilliantly – but we have to be honest and say that the Land Cruiser is the vehicle to pick if you want to be prepared for the toughest terrain.

After the emptiness of Tibet, Nepal was our reintroduction into the civilised world. Kathmandu is a bustling city full of cars and people, lots of streets with shops, vehicles blowing their horns, traffic jams, pollution… basically, it’s just like any other big metropolitan city. That probably makes it sound like hell on earth after the wonderful, untouched landscapes that had been our home for the previous week, but it felt great – not least because we were

able to check in to a hotel and catch up on some sleep!

Heading west, we planned to cross into India at Sunauli border post. The end was in sight, and for us it felt like we were about to arrive home. We were in a great mood, just smiling and enjoying the ride as we got closer and closer to the border.

But then we reached a check post and an officer signalled for us to stop. ‘Maoists have burned two motorcycles ahead. The roads are closed, and so is the border. You cannot go much further.’

What now? Would the border open today or not? Would our British Jeep attract the troublemakers and end up in ashes? Were we facing more days of waiting just to be able to carry on? We kept driving, almost convinced that India was now out of reach.

Our plan was to keep going until we reached the area where the police had actually closed the road, and stay as close by as we could. Our mood, just now so buoyant, was close to one of despair.

Silently, we kept driving.

Then a car ahead of us signalled for us to stop. ‘Oh God. Let them not be the Maoists,’ we whispered. Two guys got out and approached us. After all these thousands of miles, had it come to this?

‘The border is closed. You cannot go much further. But we can tell you another border from where you can go to India.’

That was a huge relief. We explained what we were doing, and they wanted to help us. And this is what we had come to love so much about our trip. In a second, everything could change: dynamics, moods, routes, plans, conversations. We were at once the masters of our destiny, and at the mercy of the road.

Cop couple

We headed for this other border called Maheshpur and were met at the Nepalese

Left: Nyalam, a small town near the border with Nepal, is a place where a British-registered Jeep doesn’t seem to arouse any unusual interest. The bars in the window of the shop in the background say much about what progress and civilisation have brought to Tibet Centre: Overnighting in southern Tibet, Pooja (we think it’s Pooja in there) displays the contented demeanour of someone who no longer needs an oxygen mask Right: On the way into Nepal, the landscape becomes more lush and the level of urbanisation becomes more familiar. After the bleakness of Tibet, Kathmandu’s noise, fumes and traffic actually came as a relief 52

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Left: The border post at Sunauli looks like the most chaotic in the world. Hard to believe it was closed just a few hours prior to this as Maoists in Nepal did their best to run amok.

Either way, though, for Tushar and Pooja it meant they were home – and into the last stretch of their mammoth trip Inset below: Most expeditions end with a whimper, when you arrive back home and there’s no-one there to meet you. Not here, though – the 51-day marathon definitely sparked local interest in Delhi, and there were waiting crowds of onlookers and media there to welcome the Jeep and its crew

side by a couple of cops. And they were indeed a couple – husband and wife guarding their country together!

But there was a problem. The senior inspector told us that this border crossing doesn’t have a customs office, meaning we wouldn’t be able to cross into India. When we insisted that we needed to go today, he said we can cross to the Indian side and try for ourselves.

Knowing that our home was only a few hundred yards away, how could we not give it a try? Both of us were like little kids, not wanting to accept the truth. So we drove towards the Indian border at Maheshpur.

Bad news. The Indian border guards told us we could go at our own risk, but they couldn’t sign our Jeep into the country – which would make it extremely difficult to ship her back to Britain afterwards. Down went our spirits again: we took a U-turn

and headed back into Nepal – where the news awaited us that the border at Sunauli had been reopened.

And now our spirits bounded back upwards – and kept going. ‘Welcome to India’ said a huge sign at the border post.

We were home!

We headed to Kanpur via Lucknow in a sea of truly appalling traffic. It took some time to get used to the oncoming vehicles on our side of the road, and the endless trucks crawling along in the fast lane, but after an hour or so we got used to the mayhem and started enjoying the drive.

And then, almost before we knew it, we were in Delhi. After 1500 litres of petrol, 51 days, 15 countries and nine time zones, we pulled up at Qutub Minar and turned off our Jeep’s engine.

It’s difficult to express our feelings at that time. The car we set off in from

London was here with us in Delhi. It was surreal. Lots of people and reporters had gathered to welcome us – amid all the excitement and euphoria, it took us a while to realise that we had arrived in Delhi in one piece.

We had driven across deserts and over mountains, endured searing heat and bitter cold and seen things we would never had thought existed. We had experienced fear and elation, despair, euphoria and panic, and we had conquered it all from behind the wheel. London to Delhi by road: we did it. And through it all, we did it with our faithful four-wheeled friend.

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ROADBOOK

NORTH HAMPSHIRE

An ever-changing landscape of sweeping views and sleepy woodland USING OUR ROADBOOKS Our roadbooks guide you through the countryside on a mixture of surfaced and unsurfaced roads. The tracks we use are public rights of way, either Byways Open to All Traffic or Unclassified County Roads, all commonly referred to as green lanes.

NAVIGATION We’ve deliberately made it as easy as possible to follow the route, using a mixture of instructions, tulip diagrams and grid references. We normally only include junctions at which you have to make a turning or don’t have right of way, so stay on the main road or continue straight ahead unless we tell you otherwise.

You’ll find a guide to using grid references on the legend of any OS map. Our aim is for you to be able to do the route without maps, whether paper or online, but you should certainly take a set with you.

SAFETY The notes on thee pages advise you of how suitable the route is for your vehicle. These are just guidelines, however. We’ll warn you of any hazards or difficult sections, but the nature of any green lane can change quickly. Wet weather can make a huge difference to the conditions underfoot, and what’s wide open in winter can be tightly enclosed and scratchy in summer. The responsibility is yours!

Our roadbooks are designed to be safe to drive in a solo vehicle. We do recommend travelling in tandem wherever possible, however. The risk of getting stuck can be greater than it appears – and even the most capable of vehicles can break down miles from anywhere.

RESPONSIBILITY Irresponsible driving is a big and serious issue on green lanes. In particular, you must always stay on the right of way. Never drive off it to ‘play’ on the verges or surrounding land, even if you can see that someone else has; doing so is illegal and can be tremendously damaging.

This kind of illegal off-roading is a key reason why green lanes get closed. If you see others doing this, they are NOT your friends. They’re criminals, and you are their victim. If it’s safe to do so, film them in the act and pass it to the police.

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Elsewhere, let common sense and courtesy prevail. Keep your speed down, be ready to pull over for others and show the world that we are decent people just like them.

ANTIS Anti-4x4 bigotry does exist, but it’s less common than you’d think. By and large, it’s limited to organisations which just want to get the countryside all to themselves.

These organisations are beyond being reasoned with, but it’s rare to encounter real hostility even from their rank-and-file members. If you’re friendly towards the people with whom you share the countryside, the vast majority will respond in kind. There are always bad apples, but no more so than anywhere else.

Likewise, most local residents will accept your presence if you’re driving sensibly. What suspicion you do encounter is likely to be from farmers worried that you’re there to steal from them, so be ready to offer a word of reassurance. Once satisfied that you’re not after their quad bikes, their mood will lighten.

DO… • Keep your speed right down • Pull over to let walkers, bikers and horse riders pass • Leave gates as you found them • Scrupulously obey all closure and voluntary restraint notices • Ensure you have a right to be there. We research the routes on our roadbooks very carefully, but the status of any route can change without notice • Be prepared to turn back if the route is blocked, even illegally • If you find an illegal obstruction, notify the local authority • Stick scrupulously to the right of way • Always remember that you are an ambassador for all 4x4 drivers

DON’T…

• Go in large convoys: instead, split into smaller groups • Drop litter. Why not carry a bin bag pick up other people’s instead?

• Go back to drive the fun bits, such as mud or fords, again • Cause a noise nuisance, particularly after dark • Get riled up if someone challenges you. Be firm but polite, stay calm and don’t let them turn it into a fight

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ROADBOOK This roadbook reflects the enormous variety of the landscape in which it’s based. Hampshire is a county where farms which look little changed in centuries rub shoulders with expensive new executive homes – and tight local networks of scratchy, sunken lanes give way to scenic byways striding across rolling hills into the distance. Your paintwork will take a battering: if you can cope with that, however, your reward will be a series of views that seem to go on forever

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ROUTE GUIDE

is it suitable?

START FINISH HOW LONG? TERRAIN HAZARDS

TYRES

OS MAPS

Charter Alley (SU 594 577) Burghclere (SU 435 601) 46 miles / 4-5 hours Rolling hills and wooded farmland Scratching; Occasional ruts, at times deep; One dangerous side slope; Other users; Road traffic – some hazardous junctions Landranger 174 (Newbury & Wantage) Landranger 185 (Winchester & Basingstoke)

Step

SU 596 576

1

0.0

Start outside the village store in Charter Alley. Having first gone in to stock up with snacks (always shop local when you’re laning), zero your trip with the store to your left then almost immediately turn left at the cross roads. It’s very narrow between the gardens along here, so go slowly and quietly

WEATHER LOW BOX SOFT-ROADERS SCRATCHING DRIVING DAMAGE

Step

4

1.4

Step

Step

0.05

1.7

Step

Step

0.5

2.0

Step 4: After leaving the road, swing round to the right of the silos then left along the hedge line

Step

5

2

6

3

7

All-terrains and tall profiles best for safety, especially when wet Avoid when icy or very wet You can get by without it Will struggle with ruts in times Severe and inevitable Care required for safety in places both on and off-tarmac The scratches could turn to dents

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Turn on to the track dead ahead then swing round to the right of the barn and silos and on to the grass. Instead of taking the big track through the gate dead ahead, swing left ahead between the hedge lines – this lane is very scratchy right from the start

Take the bigger track – the fork to the right is gated

Continue across a bigger track, which may or may not be there for good – at the time of writing, it seems to be serving some sort of building or groundwork project to the right of the junction. After this, anyway, the going becomes a bit less scratchy

Caution – this is a fast stretch on a major road

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Step

14

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This junction will look familiar, too, only this time you’re taking the track on the right

1.8 Step

Step 9: When you reach the road, turn straight back off on to the track to the left. You’ll reach it a second time at Step 14; this time, take the lane seen to the right here

15 2.7

Step

Step

2.5

3.4

8

Step

9

16 Take the track on the left then follow the ruts ahead between the hedges

2.4 Step

10

Step

17

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Carry on ahead on White Lane

4.4 Step

ZERO TRIP

18 4.9

3.4 Step

11 0.4 Step

12

Newbury A339

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Pull into the lay-by on the left then turn left on the surfaced track. If it looks familiar, there’s a reason for that…

1.2 Step

13 1.5

While you’re on this lane, you might be challenged by someone asking why you’re driving it again so soon. It’s a fair question. The (also fair) answer is that you wouldn’t normally but, since the road (Hook Lane) at Steps 9 and 14 is closed to through traffic, the only way to enjoy the full set of byways is to loop round and do this one twice

A lot of the tracks in this roadbook are tight and, at times, very scratchy. This is between Steps 15 and 16; it’s mainly soft, summery undergrowth in this case, but you certainly wouldn’t want to take a shiny down here

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Step

19 5.2 Step

20

Caution – the trees are out to get you. Take it very carefully through the woods

5.3 Step

Step

6.0

8.2

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Step

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24 Deane

8.3

Whitchurch B3400

7

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Step

Step

33

25 8.4

2.2

Oakley

Step

Step

34

26 9.0 Step

27

Dummer Dummer

2.35

33

28 29 30

The track on the right will probably have a locked gate across it, but it looks like the bigger one as you approach

31

CHURCH ROAD

Step

36

After a field entrance on the right, the track ahead becomes much more enclosed

3.3 It starts getting more rutted and scratchy as the lane continues

Step

37

Dog-leg right as you cross another right of way that has seasonal restrictions in both directions

3.6 After the bridge, follow the tracks in the grass ahead along the right edge of the field

10.5 Step

SU 515 499

2.8

10.3 Step

13 6

35

10.2 Step

Newbury Kingsclere

Step

SU 567 490

9.9 Step

Turn right at the traffic lights in the middle of Overton

Step

38 4.45 Step 37: As you dog-leg right across another track, you’ll see that it’s closed in both directions from November to April. The ones you’re using, however, are good to go all year round

ZERO TRIP

11.4 Step

32 0.1

Whitchurch B3400

6

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Step 42: The turning here is sharp and hard to spot. It’s tight, too – though there’s precious little at this stage to warn you about the battering your paintwork is going to take (right) until the lane finally opens out into a glorious field road (below) Step

39

Step

ZERO TRIP

42

5.0

2.4

Step

Step

43

40 1.4

Overton

4

This is a sharp, tight turning as the road bends. Look for the hedge line as you approach. Talking of hedges, you’ll be running between two of them and it’s far, far tighter and scratchier than it looks to start with

Caution –this is a fast, busy road

3.2 Step

Step

44

41 1.5

SU 525 556

Hannington 1 34

4.5

Sydmonton 212 Old Burghclere 312

Sydmonton 212 Old Burghclere 312

60

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Step

48 9.4 Step

49

ZERO TRIP

9.6 Step

50 0.9 Step

Step

4.6

1.4

46

SU 469 581

This is in Old Burghclere

8.1 Step

47 8.8

WEST STREET

51

45 Step

SU 461 603

Step

52 1.8

There are various small junctions before this, so don’t turn too early.

What you’re looking for is a big, very obvious crossroads which appears just after you’ve started to go downhill

Step

53

Turn left, then immediately left again on the road for Burghclere and Highclere

2.2

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Step 66: This is one of the maddest junctions you’ll ever see. You need to pull into the lay-by on the A34 dual carriageway then look for a gap in the trees – clearly, immense caution is essential here Step

Step

54

58

3.1

SPRING LANE

Step

Step

59

55 3.6

Newtown

2

60

56 4.2

57 4.5

5.1 Step

Step

Step

4.8

HARTS LANE

5.4 Step

SU 473 618

61 OX DROVE

Step 69: When the main track swings left, continue ahead through the gate on to a set of tyre marks across the grass

ZERO TRIP

Join the A34 dual-carriageway

2.25 Step

62

Litchfield 1 Whitchurch 4

4.7

Dunley Woodcott

1 2

Step

63 5.2 62

Newbury (A34) Dunley Woodcott

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Step

Step

64 5.3 Step

65 5.45 Step

66 6.6 Step

67

69 Newbury A34

Step

SU 463 551

Step

Worth pausing for the marker stone on the left, which commemorates aviation pioneer Sir Geoffrey De Haviland’s first successful flight in September 1910

6.65 Step

68 7.1

7.65

Join the A34 again, this time heading north. You’re only on it for a mile or so, so don’t get your speed up and start overtaking.

Instead, keep your eyes open for a blue ‘P’ sign for a lay-by quarter of a mile ahead and take that as your cue to start indicating

Pull in to the lay-by with a blue ‘P’ sign, then turn left on to the track through the trees. This has the potential to be hugely hazardous as you slow down on the dual carriageway, especially if you’re in convoy and the lay-by is busy. We’re just telling you where the junction is – it’s up to you to do it safely!

Where the main track swings left, carry on ahead through the gate and follow the tyre tracks over the field ahead. When they start to become faint, just keep the fence to your left and you’ll soon pick them up again

70

Join a bigger farm track

8.2

71 9.5 Step

72

Turn right, then right again for Newbury on the A343

9.55 Caution as you climb through the woods. There’s a side slope on a surface of bare earth leading to a very long, steep drop on the right which could become very dodgy in the wet

Step

73

Arrive at the Highclere Red House pub and deli on the left for the end of the route. Once again, supporting local businesses by stopping in before you set off for home is always a good look for the green laning community

11.3

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