I think I was around 15 or 16 in the late ’90s when for some reason I got the bug and wanted the family to get a 4×4, kit it out with family camping gear and other necessities and go on regular trips duing the holidays or weekends.
Having grown up in Southern Africa, 4×4’s are a common sight even on city roads, I think it was a marketing exhibition one day in the atrium of a large shopping mall where various 4×4 manufacturers were exhibiting their cars, where I got the bug.
Nevertheless, more than 10 years later after moving overseas, my first car was a 4×4, or so I thought … The Honda CRV is technically four wheel drive but the process is all automatic, you cannot select 4WD as the computer senses the loss of tracTion in the wheels before it then engages 4WD. So, not what I really had in mind but that’s a story that ended years ago.
I got the bug again recently, we were driving behind an ’18 perhaps ’19 Suzuki Jimney and my wife thought it looked nice (although her perspective is more on looks and perhaps some slight 4WD capability, driving over camping feilds etc. but not for full 4WD with all the gear and jazz).
Above, we both have slightly different ideas on what we want …
Long story short, I made the effort online in Classified sections, marketplaces such as Auto Trader and am now a proud owner of a Stock Suzuki Grand Vitara 4×4!
Stock meaning, factory specifications with regular tyres which don’t perform as well off the road as one would like, low suspension etc.
So we can all look forward to some future Off Roading Adventures and Green Laning trips across the UK in the coming months and years as well as updates on the various modifications I will undertake to make the car more capable.
Oh, for the Greta Thunbergs out there, I bought a lower emission Petrol version and not Diesel … so take that!
With this car which is not a commuter, myself and family after being car-less for more than a decade will be able to go out and explore the wilderness, go on camping trips and spend our time in nature away from Wifi and ”devices”, hopefully this will give my kids a better life growing up and make them appreciate the natural world more.
Keep an eye out!
Cheers, Bushman
Bushman AllOutDoors 