Overlander 4x4 Magazine

7 October 2022

Half a century ago, in the days before the phrase ‘green laning’ had been invented, a bunch of suave young chaps-about-town borrowed an Austin Champ and put it on the Motorail train to Devon for a weekend of japes and wheezes. With their King’s Road haircuts and Sgt Pepper clobber, they must have looked quite a sight as they explored the countryside, and they certainly got noticed… and reported to the local police a couple of times. Their story survives today because they told it in, would you believe, an early issue of Custom Car magazine. And it’s being told again now because the publishers of 4x4 have just bought Custom Car, giving us the chance to unearth what has, over time, become a really valuable historical document. Notably, while their laning was as anarchic as you’d expect, by the end of the weekend they had learned some of the lessons that have become everyday wisdom today. Bringing things right up to date, we’ve been laning ourselves – aboard an all-electric Skoda Enyaq iV. Those 4x4-haters who’re always moaning about fumes and noise will really be confounded by this one… Talking of laning, this month’s roadbook is a monster. One of the longest we’ve ever published, covering a series of magnificent lanes in the mountains and forests west of Llandrindod Wells – and while it’s already epic on its own, it’s also the first half of a two-parter containing another huge route next month. Something for the weekend, sir? We’ve been high in the Himalayas, too, heading for the highest road in the world aboard a Suzuki SJ10 whose power output was, in theory, less than zero at such high altitudes. And from the mountains of India to the swamps of Carolina, we’re looking at a Land Rover Defender 90 transformed from a farmer’s wreck into Project Congaree – an heirloom off-roader of the very highest standard. If that’s not enough, we’ve been under the skin of Audi’s new RS Q e-tron racer – which, in a few months’ time, will be going all-out for victory in the Dakar Rally. And this, like our Enyaq iV, is another example of all-electric off-roading. The guys from Custom Car would not have approved…