October 2019 Issue
This issue was about two things, the launch of the new Land Rover Defender and our bakkie shootout in Dullstroom. Don’t get me wrong: there were plenty of other amazing stories in this issue – as usual – but at the end of the day, it will be Defenders and bakkies that will make this issue sell.
The new Land Rover Defender is certainly a thing of beauty, almost as beautiful as our mammoth bakkie feature which saw us take eight of South Africa’s finest limited-edition bakkies on as many dirt roads as we could fit into a two-day stint. We had two Toyotas, an Isuzu, a Nissan, a Merc, a Mahindra a Ford and a Volksie. At the end, we rated them and can now reveal that our favourite is definitely the… nah, just kidding. You think we just give this info away? You’ll have to read up to find out which one we rate the best.
With the bakkie piece taking up so much attention, you may be tempted to skip over our other features but that would be a mistake as we have a few gems this month. First up is our look at the testing of the new Mars Rover. We travel to Iceland to have a closer look.
Closer to home, we look at camping in Southern Africa and explore the Tour de Tuli. Never heard of it. Pfft. Call yourself a lover of all things ‘wheels’. Well, this one is less engines and more … grunt. That’s because it’s a bicycle event. Editor Reuben van Niekerk got into shape to show us some amazing scenery from the ‘comfort’ of his saddle.
For tests, we looked at the Audi Q8 and the Mahindra XUV300 while all of our usuals are present: Gear, Photo Focus, Campsite review and Retro. In Gear we showed our readers camping light options they may not have known about and some motorhomes they will never own. They don’t come cheap. Our campsite this month is De Bakke Santos while our retro vehicle is the Ferves Ranger, the Fiat 500X’s grandaddy.
