I only watch Annabel Langbein's show for the Jeep

"Wish that sheila would
get out of the way
so I could see the Jeep better."

I happened to be listening to National Radio the other day, not  even vulgar talkback, and caught a critic cheerfully admitting that a highlight for him of Annabel Langbein's The Free Range Cook on TV One was looking at her backside in tight jeans. I hadn't noticed this highlight myself because I watch the show only for the recipes … well, no, that's not true. I watch it for the appearances in the titles and in most episodes of the yellow Jeep ute which would have been one of the batch assembled (as well as being converted from LHD) in Auckland by Nissan at its Stoddard Road, Mt Roskill, factory.

I emailed Annabel for more information but the ensuing silence suggests that some blog on 4WDs does not rate as a priority on her to-do list; maybe she's too busy driving the Jeep gathering fresh ingredients for the next episode of the show, which airs on Saturday evenings. (UPDATE: The series has now ended.) However, a bit of research shows it to be a 1980 model Jeep J-Series, a J9M46YC to be precise, that has been around the clock more than once.

Here's an interesting snippet on the big Jeep that appears on the Australian Jeep  Offroad forum:

In 1981, the Jeep Australia plant began full assembly of the SJ Cherokee wagons and J20 trucks from AMC-supplied CKD kits. This meant the Aussie management could offer fresher, and better-built, stock to the dealers. But the locally-assembled vehicles were still far from perfect. At a dealer meeting, a GM /Jeep dealer stunned two visiting AMC senior executives by standing up and asking, ‘When will Jeep begin supplying life-jackets with every vehicle?’ The execs didn’t know what he was talking about. Then the dealer told them that the Jeeps had so many water leaks, his staff was worried that some of their customers would drown! At the time, some Jeep dealers reckoned JEEP stood for Just Expect Every Problem.

Water leaking through the door and tailgate seals was one of the more-common customer complaints. While the service people at the dealerships conducted frustrating searches for crinkled and/or poorly-fitted seals, the hidden culprit was the poorly-stamped body panels. Time heals everything but body-stamping dies; they just wear down. When Jeep released the full-sized wagon back in 1962, no-one would have predicted that it would stay in production for 28 years. But the declining demand over time meant that it was never economic to consider spending the millions required to make new dies. And it meant that the longer production continued, the worse the sealing problem became. AMC decided to give the old bus the flick once the XJ was released 1984.

Another shot, "borrowed" from her website

Call a technician, not a towie

If you need further proof about how complicated modern 4WDs have become take a look at this posting on Ovalnews that describes what has to happen before your 2011 Range Rover can be towed!

'With this beauty, you could winch all the way to China …'

A recent advertisement by our Superwinch importer, Traxion Distribution, has caught my eye – as a good ad should. It warned of the perceived perils of buying a lemon of a winch. Maybe they mean their American rivals, but I'm wondering whether some of the acid might be intended for Chinese brands that have suddenly become serious players in our market. There may be some good products among the Chinese hordes that are threatening the comfortable market domination by Superwinch and Warn, the Big Two. But I also have sympathy for what Traxion might be trying to say. Superwinch, Warn and Ramsey have been around for decades, their strengths and weaknesses well known. Parts and knowledgeable service are easily found.

I have seen, and had pitches made, for various Chinese brands whose pricing, specifications and physical appearance look really good – almost too good to be true in the odd instance. Several brands are having both their mettle and metal tested in winch challenges and other hard four-wheel-driving where some will stand up well, while others may not. But working well now is one thing. Will these products be backed over the long term by service and parts infrastructure as good as the big American brands, through either official or unofficial channels? How will they treat warranty claims? How will they perform after years of hard use in local conditions? I don't know and neither does anyone else.

Recently, I spoke to an engineer who has had a number of Chinese winches apart. From his observations, and from what he's picked up from colleagues, some (but not all) are almost identical in design and he suggests may be products of  badge engineering – built in the same factory with minor cosmetic and name differences. Not that that's an issue, General Motors to name but one, has been doing it with cars for many decades.

Although I probably wouldn't buy a Chinese winch, I'm not arguing that you shouldn't, just be careful, especially if you're looking to use it for years and years. The other thing is that the prices of some of the Chinese winches are so keen that the American brands will have to keep their pencils very sharp.

Off the beach

Peter Vahry, of the NZFWD Association and Auckland 4WD Club, reports the combined clubs and regional council cleanup of Muriwai beach netted another decent pile of other people's rubbish, but the tally was quite a bit down on last year – just one 16 cubic-metre bin. The 4WD fleet combed the beach from end to end over three hours so it could be that users are finally taking a little more care of this prized west coast area near Auckland.

The total take was down this year.

The bottle had been used for target practice. Great stuff for bare feet.

One of the most interesting parts of the day was seeing the variety of stuff that gets thrown away.

 See also this post.

We (still) don't know how lucky we are … for now

Toyota had a couple of interesting things to say about petrol and diesel at its Highlander SUV launch today. One was that, despite the recent tax and GST increase at the pumps, we still have one of the cheapest petrol prices. Check out the graph above (click to make it bigger) that shows, in New Zealand currency, we're the fourth cheapest place for petrol. The blue bit shows the tax portion in NZ cents, the green is the pre-tax price. So be glad you're not in Norway or Turkey, then.

The lower chart from Toyota tracks the rise of diesel (red line) over the last eight years, and the decline of petrol (blue line). But wait, It also shows petrol's levelled out, poised – suggests Toyota – to make something of a comeback. As a recent purchaser of a petrol vehicle, this is music to my ears. Several reasons for the comeback: it's still "cheap", there have been huge improvements in the efficiency of petrol engines, and some now offer torque characteristics not dissimilar to a diesel's.

But a word of warning about both items: Toyota CEO Alistair Davis  noted, “we are using fossil fuels faster than the planet can replenish, and as China gets richer the pressure gets worse.” Oil was expected to remain as the main vehicle fuel for the foreseeable future, but as demand kept rising, supply would ultimately reach a peak and this would lead to a growing gap between supply and demand, he said. What this means: it won't be all that long before we're reminiscing about the good old days of $2 or even $3 a litre petrol.

'Illogical' perhaps, but SUV sales are doing well

Toyota's chart shows how SUV market share is improving mainly at the expense of large cars and wagons.

Seems illogical given rising fuel prices and the state of the economy, but the SUV market is growing, says Toyota New Zealand’s CEO Alistair Davis. "Overall, the new vehicle market fell almost 30 per cent during the global financial crisis, with a five per cent growth projected for next year," he said at the launch of the revised Highlander. SUVs showed the strongest growth amongst Toyota’s product mix, a trend reflected in several other manufacturers' lines.

"Vehicle buyers are going for the best option they can afford in a tough economic environment, choosing the archetypical go anywhere wagon. An SUV provides the ideal mix of space, comfort, safety, style and performance,” he said. In Toyota's world, that means RAV4 sales are up 47 per cent for the first eight months of the year, the Highlander 110 per cent. Among "real" 4WDs, the Prado is up 177 per cent tro 546, the marketplace obviously not having listened to 4wdNewz; and the Land Cruiser 200 by 39 per cent to 128.

Meanwhile, used imports have bounced back, following a longer-term decline due to Japanese supply factors, currency, emission regulations and the state of the economy. “This year they are up almost a third on the low point in 2009, which is due in part to the support the Japanese new vehicle industry received during the recession helping the supply of used vehicles," said the Toyota boss. "We see that growth continuing in 2011, albeit at a slightly reduced rate.”

'Whadda you mean, beach cleanup?'

While several Auckland-area 4WD clubs were enjoying themselves today helping the regional council with an annual Muriwai Beach cleanup, the Handbrake had me working on another kind of far more important cleanup – weeds in the garden. It's amazing how much you can stuff in the back of a 2-door JK Wrangler to take to the War on Weeds bin.