Knowledge nerd named

Congratulations to Dennis Bartlett who won 4WDNewz's first Knowledge Nerd contest, for which the prize is, well, the satisfaction of having won! The Rocsta was a civilian derivative of a Korean army light 4WD and achieved reasonable export sales in the 1990s. A few came to New Zealand and the one featured here was on a rather elaborate and sometimes elevated off-road course at a car show at Auckland's Greenlane showgrounds, back in 1996 (see the photo below left). 

One year later, the Rocsta was discontinued, so it's probably a good job that thousands of kiwis didn't queue to buy it. Available in both petrol and diesel, using Mazda engines, one of the New Zealand Rocstas was modified as a trials machine. Does anyone know what happened to it, or any of the others?

The forgotten Land Cruiser

 Land Cruiser 70 is one of the best wagons around for river work.

Talk about Land Cruisers and many people conjure up a vision of the big wagon, now selling as the 200 series, or even the Prado. But there’s another Land Cruiser and it’s easily the pick for those wanting a wagon with serious off-road ability. That would be the 70 Series Wagon LX, aka the “forgotten” Land Cruiser, the one you'll never see on the school run. The 70 traces its lineage back to the original Prado, which never came to New Zealand except as a used import and on the face of it, little has changed. It still has the same general lines, a similar interior (although the dash has been recently revised, not necessarily for the better) and retains the core values of strength and simplicity that make it ready to tangle with our toughest track conditions.

The highlight is its 4461cc V8 diesel, a remarkable unit also used, with a second turbo, in the 200 series. The motor produces 151kW and 430Nm of torque at 1200rpm which, with the well-chosen five-speed manual ratios, provides the exceptional flexibility that makes the wagon a joy to drive on and off the road. It will also return around 12-13 litres per 100km overall, which I rank as good for a relatively heavy V8 vehicle with the aerodynamics of an only slightly rounded brick outhouse.

It’s off-road ready right down to a standard snorkel and, to order, can be bought with factory cross-axle mechanical diff-locks that are still preferable to any of electronic traction control systems. There are, however, several things wrong with the wagon. The first is that, if you specify the lockers – as you should – its price will have crept over $80,000 so one can only hope the anecdotes about Toyota’s discounting are true. The second is that while it has now gained airbags it lacks ABS, which even off-road Luddites generally agree is worth having these days. The third is that it labours on with leaf-spring rear suspension which, although simple, cheap and capable of bearing a good load, lacks the articulation, handling and ride characteristics of a coil setup. The fourth thing is that it lacks an automatic gearbox. True, real men drive manuals but some of us pansies prefer an automatic both on and off the road. Two more niggles: The gearing is a bit low for highway driving and there’s  low frequency drumming from tyres on metal roads  that becomes tiring.

Everything else about the 70 wagon is superb if actual off-roading is your thing, rather than just thinking about it. The truck is bulletproof and reliable, which is why so many high country farmers in the South Island swear by the ute versions. Increased front track of the most recent version means there’s now little chance of a grease nipple spearing a sidewall on full right lock, one of the little things you had to be a bit careful about.

Here's an earlier post on the Land Cruiser 200 and latest Prado.

Fleeting fame and recovery hooks

The Motortech guys get on with fitting my hooks, oblivious to the BNT marketing machine.

Over the years, I've had a bit to do with BNT Automotive, a supplier to our aftermarket for more than 60 years. A lot of the company's brands are applicable to 4WDs and Autolign Suspension, which handles Bilstein, Monroe and Rancho, is a sister company. My connection, other than as a consumer of their products, has been writing the occasional article on things they've been doing. So yesterday I was at Motortech 4x4 in Glenfield, on Auckland's North Shore, having a pair of overpriced but battleship-strength Mopar recovery hooks fitted to the front of my Wrangler Rubicon when all of a sudden a bunch of BNT people arrived with camera, tripod and lights. They were doing some publicity photography and Motortech had volunteered the workshop, so maybe the Jeep will be world famous in BNT advertising.

A note to Wrangler owners: On the face of it, fitting these Mopar hooks should be a piece of you-know-what. Pull the grille, remove the bumper, remove the standard towing loop, fit the hooks which even have captive bolts, then refit the bumper and grille. But I had a suspicion that there was more to this for a carport mechanic than met the eye, so figured buying a couple of hours of competent labour might be money well spent. As it turned out to be. The instructions weren't quite right and I'd never have been able to get the tow loop off with the equipment at my disposal. It would have been a godawful job for someone who didn't know what he was doing, and wasn't much better for the mechanic who drew the short straw. There's a related post here.

The report they wouldn't let me write …

Well, not quite. Back in July I went to Adelaide for the long-lead launch of the Mitsubishi ASX. This was for the benefit of  Australasian magazines with deadlines that don't lend themselves to quick reporting, like newspapers or websites. I was there for Top Gear NZ. However, there has been an embargo on the event until now, so I wasn't able to report on what I found out about yet another crossover vehicle. 4WDNewz is not really about soft off-roaders and my original intention was not to bother; however  …

The ASX is a cracker of a vehicle and all things considered, including pricing, would probably be the one I'd have if I wanted an all-round vehicle capable of exploring the odd track and trail that wouldn't challenge its low ground clearance. Offered in both two- and four-wheel-drive and based on the Lancer-Outlander platform, it's roomy for its dimensions, nicely fitted out, and has excellent ride and handling. These last two attributes are of a much higher level than you'd expect in a car costing in the high $30,000s. I had a great time pushing the thing quickly but safely along rain-dampened clay roads leading from the Adelaide Hills to the Barossa Valley. (The 'but safely" bit was due to an excellent chassis and the ESP, not my skill.) Its 1998cc petrol motor, similar to Lancer’s, produces 112kW in ASX-tune and 200Nm of torque at 4200rpm. An optional 1798cc diesel – a newly developed engine – has the same power output as the petrol but offers 305Nm of torque between 2000rpm and 3000rpm. It’s being introduced with a six-speed manual, but Mitsubishi has a twin-clutch automatic coming in about a year. All versions of the petrol engine use a CVT automatic. If I were buying, I'd wait for the auto diesel.

Say what?: Anyway, I was expecting Mitsubishi's TV commercial to show the ASX racing along the beach at the tideline, or bouncing up some hilly track; it would be good for those sorts of things. But no, it shows an Aussie couple going for a feed in a back-lane pizza joint. Jeez Bazza that's an odd choice, they could do that in an old Starlet and it wouldn't matter if some wanker keyed it while they were inside getting their feed.

MID-SEPTEMBER UPDATE: I've been driving a couple of ASX models on New Zealand roads and have concluded that its abilities are a bit wasted around town. Out on a winding, unsealed rural road its suspension really comes alive and enthusiasts will be pleased by the way its electronic safety police let the driver get the tail out a bit before intervening. Around town, it's fine but you're only getting half the car, the dull half.

Goodyear treads outside the block

One of the challenges for 4WD tyre designers has been to develop a mud pattern that drives, rides and handles like a street tyre, yet does the deed in the muck. Goodyear has advanced the game with a fascinating new version of its Wrangler MT/R mud tyre. Its engineers and scientists showed a flash of brilliance by using an asymmetric tread design that incorporates aspects of both a mud tyre and an all terrain. An asymmetric tyre is one whose tread pattern does not form in-line symmetry with its central line. It lets designers take into account the kinds of work done by the shoulders, sidewalls and different parts of the crown. Michelin, a pioneer in asymmetric street tyres, once noted:  “Just like a person’s foot is asymmetrical, the inside and outside of a tyre work differently to give the car good balance and sure handling.”
So starting at the inner side, the Goodyear “foot” has a row of chunky lugs to help dig through the mud, then a strip of highway-friendly tread followed by a strip of typical mud terrain tread, capped by an outer strip of bold lugs, with an open tread pattern spilling down the sidewalls for useful side traction. This last feature was similar to the previous Goodyear MT/R design and several other manufacturers use variations. Each shoulder block is stepped “in” and “out” to help give continuous biting edges as the tyre turns through mud, although that feature’s by no means unique to Goodyear.
I was given access to the results of some in-house Goodyear testing that showed the asymmetric outperformed its predecessor in mud, sand, rock crawling and off-road handling and “significantly” outperformed it in sidewall traction. It also significantly outperformed its predecessor in wet stopping, wet start-up traction, wet and dry handling – all the good things you need on-road – and in all areas of sidewall toughness, thanks to Kevlar reinforcement.
The design is inspired. I’m willing to lay a modest wager that the MT/R may become a blueprint for the generic mud tyre of the future. I’m running a set of 17s on my Wrangler Rubicon (yes, I did pay for them) and will report back from time to time. Initial impressions are really positive.

Update: A number of people have doubted that the tyres are any good in the mud because the "all terrain" bit won't self-clean well. That may be, but take a look at those side lugs; they're big, bold and self-clean like crazy. My experience so far is that in mud they're at least equal to the BFG Mud Terrain, with which I'm particularly familiar. But if you're a competition or super-tough-truck guy, no, they won't mud-plug like your Centipedes.