All the right gear, including Top Gear

Photographer Simeon Patience poses the Land Cruiser 200 VX Limited for a feature in the August issue of Top Gear New Zealand. It's about a day with the big fella in the Jeep Woodhill 4WD Adventure Park. He captured some pretty good action shots to go with the words.

Life after the low box

Volkswagen couldn't have chosen a better, or worse depending on your point of view, to introduce its new eight-speed auto Amarok double cab ute. After days of heavy rain, the farm south of Auckland was really heavy and its creek the highest 4wdNewz has ever seen it. Nevertheless, and as we've now come to expect, modern electronics saved the day and did a creditable job of traction-controlling the trucks around on their street tyres.

But this was more than just another new ute. The eight speed Amarok has full-time 4WD but now low range. Instead, the first two gears of the ZF automatic are quite low, sort-of mimicking the kid of ratios you get from a conventional box in low range. Based on some steep downhills (with traction) on the farm, low first appears to be similar to that of a typical automatic 4WD with transfer case. That, of course, is not very good compared to a manual. Standard hill descent control (HDC) should bring the ute down the hills slowly and under full control in any gear but was malfunctioning on the ute 4wdNewz drove, and on one other.

There's every possibility that the no low-box off roader with "crawler" ratios will become popular in the quest for lighter vehicle weight and better fuel economy and the Amarok suggests that it might be quite viable, coupled with today's electronics. It's also a no-fuss way to drive off-road, particularly on routes that require frequent swapping between high and low range.  On the other hand, it'll take a lot of refining before it'll be a satisfactory low-box replacement for the kind of off-roading many 4wdNewz readers enjoy.

The optional recovery device wasn't needed.

This guy needs to either improve his bow-wave technique, or get a snorkel.

Beyond the low box

Seikel snorkel is a factory option. This Amarok also had Mickey Thompson mud tyres, giving it a big edge over the others on street rubber.

Volkswagen couldn't have chosen a better – or worse depending on your point of view – day to introduce its new eight-speed auto Amarok double cab ute. After days of heavy rain, the farm south of Auckland was really slippery and its creek the highest 4wdNewz has ever seen it. Nevertheless, and as we've now come to expect, modern electronics saved the day and did a creditable job of traction-controlling the trucks around on their street tyres.

But this was more than just another new ute with electronics. The eight speed Amarok has full-time 4WD but no low range. Instead, the first two gears of the ZF automatic are really low, mimicking the kid of ratios you get from a conventional box in low range. Based on some steep downhills (with traction) on the farm, first appears to be similar to that of a typical automatic 4WD with transfer case in low range. That, of course, is not very good compared to a manual. Standard hill descent control (HDC) should bring the ute down the hills slowly and under full control in any gear but was malfunctioning on the ute 4wdNewz drove, and on one other.

Digging into the specs, the Amarok's first gear is in fact nowhere near as low as a typical automatic 4WD. It's 4.714 which, when multiplied by the 3.7 final drive ratio, gives overall low gearing of 17.44. The ubiquitous Hilux has a first gear ratio of 2.804, but its overall low works out as 26.8. Manuals do much better: a decent 4WD will have an overall low of around 45:1. The current Defender manual (and Wrangler Rubicon automatic) can top 60:1

However, there's every possibility that the no low-box off roader with "crawler" ratios will become popular in the quest for lighter vehicle weight and better fuel economy. The Amarok suggests that this might be quite viable, coupled with today's electronics. It's also a no-fuss way to drive off-road, particularly on routes that require frequent swapping between high and low range. On the other hand, it'll take a lot of refining and even lower ratios before the configuration will be a satisfactory low-box replacement for the kind of off-roading many 4wdNewz readers enjoy.

The optional recovery device wasn't needed on the day.

This guy needs to either improve his bow-wave technique, or get a snorkel.

So how many gears goes your ute have?

It had to happen sooner or later … a ute with an eight speed automatic. That's what Volkswagen's offering when it launches an upgraded Amarok in a couple of weeks. The new automotive website Autospy has the story here.

The wagon torque league tables: how average can you get?

The Wagon Torque League table a few items below has created a fair amount of traffic, at least by 4wdNewz standards, so here's even more. The average torque of all vehicles listed in the table is 444Nm, which makes the Land Rover Discovery 4 TDV6 2.7 the most average torquer in the country, at 440Nm. Among diesels, the Jeep Wrangler's 460Nm is closest to the average of 486Nm. Average torque for petrols is 472Nm and the closest to it is the V8 Discovery 4.

There's less of a gap than expected between the petrols and the diesels, just 14Nm. The petrol vehicles got some heavy duty help from the Mercedes-Benz AMG G Class G55 and its 700Nm, the Range Rover Vogue V8's 625Nm and the Grand Cherokee SRT-8's 624Nm.

Hilux gumboot stamps on Ranger as new-vehicle sales boom

Fieldays did their usual bit in boosting new-vehicle sales last month, according to the latest statistics, just out. The event iced the cake on the best June since 2005. New car sales of 7142 were 33 per cent ahead of the same month last year. Year to date, new car sales are ahead of 2011 by 6854 units, or 22 per cent. New commercials were up 29 per cent at 2959  compared to June 2011, but year to date, they're up by a modest by nine per cent.

But here's the item: the supposedly "outmoded" Hilux trampled the new, competent and technology-rich Ford Ranger, 676 units compared to 440. Ranger supply would likely be part of the reason, bit it might also add weight to reports 4wdNewz has been hearing lately that buyers, particularly rural buyers, just want a good basic truck.

You learn something every day ...

Like this evaluation of the Jeep Wrangler in the automotive section of Stuff.co.nz:

"While amateur off-roaders might find the smooth, revvy Pentastar more than adequate for their gravel-road travels and occasional riverbed forays from fishing hole to picnic spot, serious rock-hopping is definitely the domain of the lusty diesel."

But then: "Suffice to say, the [petrol] Wrangler feels as if it would walk up the side of a house, but I was impressed with the way it dug itself out of coarse riverbed berms after I had dug it in there, right up to the running rails." 

What I don't understand is why, if the petrol engined vehicle feels as if it would walk up a wall, would you need the diesel; and also why is rock hopping the domain of the diesel? I always thought some petrol engined 4WDs, including the Pentastar Jeeps, were very good at rock hopping, and even other quite serious off-road work. Guess I was just plain wrong.

The wagon torque league tables

Some time ago, 4wdNewz published torque figures for all 4WD utes on the local market. You'll find it here. So it seemed a good idea to now do the same thing for all 4WD wagons with standard low range gearing. It's interesting that the two first-equal champs get there by different routes, the Range Rover via a turbocharged V8 diesel, the AMG G Class via a supercharged V8 petrol.  Our top guns have more than six times the torque of the low achiever, Suzuki's Jimny. The Mercedes ML63 AMG, Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg do not have low range as standard, but for the record their top torquers put out 630Nm, 700Nm and 550Nm respectively. And as an aside, the Hummer H1 beats the lot with 705Nm rolling lazily from its 6.6 litre GM V8 diesel.

Max torque (Nm)	Vehicle	Engine  (litres, type)
700	Range Rover Vogue	4.4 V8 diesel
700	AMG G Class G55	5.5 V8 supercharged petrol
650	Toyota Land Cruiser 200	4.5 V8 diesel
625	Range Rover Vogue	5.0 V8 petrol
625	Range Rover Sport	5.0 V8 supercharged petrol
624	Grand Cherokee SRT8	6.4 V8 petrol
600	Range Rover Sport	3.0 V6 diesel
600	Land Rover Discovery 4	3.0 V6 diesel
550	Jeep Grand Cherokee	3.0 V6 diesel
540	Mercedes-Benz G Class	3.5 V6 diesel
530	Lexus LX570	5.7 V8 petrol
520	Jeep Grand Cherokee	5.7 V8 petrol
510	Range Rover Sport	5.0 V8 petrol
510	Land Rover Discovery 4	5.0 V8 petrol
460	Jeep Wrangler	2.8 four cyl diesel
450	Nissan Pathfinder	2.5 four cyl diesel
440	Land Rover Discovery 4	2.7 V6 diesel
430	Toyota Land Cruiser 70 LX	4.5 V8 diesel
410	Toyota Prado	3.0 four cyl diesel
402	SsangYong Rexton	2.7 four cyl diesel
400	Mitsubishi Challenger	2.5 four cyl diesel
400	Mitsubishi Pajero	3.2 four cyl diesel
381	Toyota Prado	4.0 V6 petrol
380	Nissan Patrol	3.0 four cyl diesel
380	Toyota FJ Cruiser	4.0 V6 petrol
360	Land Rover Defender	2.2 four cyl diesel
347	Jeep Wrangler	3.6 V6 petrol
347	Jeep Grand Cherokee	3.6 V6 petrol
329	Mitsubishi Pajero	3.8 V6 petrol
314	Jeep Cherokee	3.7 V6 petrol
225	Suzuki Grand Vitara	2.4 four cyl petrol
110	Suzuki Jimny	1.3 four cyl petrol

Hint of the week

How to carry your extra gear, inspired by a trip to Auckland's MoTaT. Might be best to keep to wider tracks, though.

Jeep Wrangler's appaling fuel consumption

Thank heaven for the recent fuel price decreases. After several days of driving just around town, my 3.8 litre V6 Wrangler Rubicon two-door is stilling on 21.1 litres per 100km fuel consumption. That's worse than 20.5 I got recently on similar duties from the V8 petrol Lexus LX570! And yes, the engine is in tune!

KK Cherokee put out of its misery

The lacklustre Jeep Cherokee KK will go out of production in August and the factory closed for changeover to the replacement, due next year. There's some interesting background here, on the well regarded Ausjeep Offroad forum.

Toyota Hilux: watch this space

Toyota says there will be a "major improvement" to the Hilux before an all-new model is released in about two years. A senior spokesman gave no further details but did not disagree that the improvement could be a new or revised engine. The current 2982cc turbo produces 126kW and 343Nm of torque, figures that have fallen behind its major rivals, particularly the torque. Despite that, the evergreen truck continues to outsell its competitors. The 598 sales in May were third best in its history, topped by 621 in July 2008 and 610 in May 2006. Agreeing that the ute lacks some of the equipment and features of newer models, the spokesman said, "but Hilux seems to have the things our customers want".

In praise of the Land Cruiser 200

The Land Cruiser 200 poses for a picture. The big Toyota so capable that this is barely a bump for it.

I've been spending time with the updated Toyota Land Cruiser 200 and am full of admiration, except for two things, its price and its size. As far as price goes, you either have it or you don't but at $147,500 for the VX Limited I rather suspect that most of us don't. Can't do much about its size, which is only a nuisance off-road on tight tracks but I do fantasise about a version that's 20 per cent smaller – and 50 per cent cheaper! The 200 has so much going for it, from the 4.5 litre twin turbo V8 diesel (195kW and 650Nm between 1600rpm and 2600rpm) to some of the best off-road electronics on earth. The new model gets a useful feature called Offroad Turn Assist that in low range, in conjunction with Crawl Control (more or less a cruise control for off-road), judiciously applies brakes to tighten the turning circle. It was a wonderful aid for getting around some of the tight spots in the Jeep Woodhill 4WD Adventure Park. The traction control finds and works with the slightest bit of grip and I was impressed by how well it tackled slippery mud on its 285/60 x 18 street Yokohama Geolanders, their tread completely clogged. Meanwhile, the Cruiser now has Multi-Terrain Select, a knob that allows the user to optimise the engine, transmission and suspension for different types of terrain. A nice touch, I guess, but I'm not sure how much difference it really makes. Several times I deliberately chose the wrong setting for the terrain and got through just fine.

Land Cruiser's twin-turbo V8 is one
of the world's best diesels in a 4WD

The engine (right), connected to a six-speed Tiptronic-type automatic, is superb and thanks to all that torque across a wide band never needs to be pushed hard. Not only that, I drove to Woodhill, had a day's worth of reasonably serious off-roading and drove home for 14.9 litres per 100km, way better than my V6 petrol Wrangler Rubicon could ever do. The official rating is 10.3 litres per 100km, overall.

All that and a fridge in the console between the front seats; what more could you want in a 4WD?

Colorado: Holden leaps into, if not ahead of, the ute fray

Still high on the technical prowess of the Ford Ranger, Mazda BT-50 and, to a lesser extent, the Navara ST-X 550, I could hardly wait to see how Holden has moved the ute sector forward with its new and much anticipated Colorado. After all, the global design and engineering resources of General Motors are still formidable and there must have been some impressive talent assembled at the corporation’s design centre in Sao Paulo, Brazil. That country, by the way, is the Colorado’s biggest market seeing that like its Ranger arch-rival it won’t be sold in North America.

What we got, however, is not a ute that will have Ford and the others cowering, but a thoroughly conventional vehicle, largely devoid of innovation and without things like trailer sway control, rear diff lock and hill descent control that appear as either standard or options on the Ford-Mazda products. Except for a couple of things, you might as well just buy a Hilux like everyone else does.

And Holden's claiming a one tonne payload for all Colorado models. Many "one tonne" trucks offer a capacity that falls short of the magic mark, a number of them well short. Some Colorado variants can take up to 1.4 tonnes. All have a 3100kg gross weight. The 3500kg braked towing rating of all 2.8 litre models is the best in the business, matched only by ute versions of the Land Rover Defender. Some rivals have cracked the 3000kg barrier, but Holden holds the bragging rights. The rating was achieved partly by fitting what Holden calls the “beefiest, brawniest towbar” the company has ever made”. All Colorados have an unbraked towing rating of 750kg, the same as their competitors. 

Other inducements to buy include wider availability of automatics, electronic stability control on all models and competitive engines. The 2.5- and 2.8-litre units developed for Colorado were designed by VM Motori of Italy (as known to Jeep owners) with significant input from the United States. Dubbed Duramax, the 2.5 produces 110kW and 350Nm of torque and the 2.8 has 132kW and 440Nm of torque for manual versions, 470Nm for automatics. The 2.8 litre engine, fitted to all but the base model, offers overall fuel consumption of around 8.5 litres per 100km, depending on the vehicle, and CO2 grams per kilometre emissions in the low 200s. Colorado is the first global model to use these engines, which share a similar architecture. The engines smooth, refined and compare well to their rivals. 

The ute has bold exterior styling and is better looking than photos suggest. Its interior is pleasant but unremarkable. Although rear legroom in double cabs is better than the previous model, the interior lacks some of the clever storage spaces of the Ranger and BT-50.

On-road, the Colorado performs competently and handles predictably. Its unladen ride can be harsh, but no worse than some rivals. Off-road during the launch programme in Queensland it acquitted itself well, but the route was doubtless set up to make sure any fool could drive it.

Colorados will be sold in New Zealand in four spec levels, starting with the $38,400 DX single cab-chassis. It’s well equipped for a starter model, including aircon, power windows, Bluetooth and electronic stability control. The LX wellside, from $49,900, moves up to such equipment as buckets and carpet, electric mirrors and cruise control. The LT, from $55,900, provides an automatic option, upgrades to 16 inch alloys and has foglights. The LTZ that starts at $58,400, is intended for lifestylers and has a full complement of stuff, including 17 inch alloys and the alloy sports bar bolted to the tray. 

Here's an earlier thought on Colorado's styling, some of which I now take back!

That snorkel's a factory option. The chrome sports bar is standard on the top LTZ version.

LX Space Cab cab chassis with an alloy tray could be an appealing combo.

Crew Cab LX cab chassis and the factory snorkel (also see the comments, below).

That's quite a nice bonnet protector.