Buy my Hilux!

You know you want it! I'm selling my wife's Toyota Hilux Surf 4x4. J-reg, 84,500 miles on the clock, MoT'd and taxed - check it out on eBay here.

Driving in the river

Today I have been driving in a river. The occasion was the press launch of Toyota's new Land Cruiser, held at EJ Churchill Shooting Ground at High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. It's a remarkable vehicle - taking quite terrifying muddy slopes in its stride.

Like a lot of modern 4x4s it's all a bit fly-by-wire, giving the impression of floating through the countryside on a magic sofa. And like all modern cars, it comes with more letters than a can of alphabet spaghetti: KDSS, AWD, MTS, MTM, HAC, DAC, A-TRC, ABS, VSC, AVS, ABD. This one is a 3-litre 4-cylinder diesel with 5-speed automatic transmission, top speed of 109mph and 0-62 in 11.7 seconds (but not in a river).

All in all, a remarkably competent and comfortable vehicle with heaps of room for guns, dogs and what-have-you - and it cruises comfortably, if a bit noisily, on the motorway too. Sadly, at £44,795 on the road, I can't see the boss replacing my current antiquated BMW with one of these!

End of the road for Charlie's landy

Ouch! This old Series 3 Land Rover belonged to Sporting Shooter contributor Charlie Jacoby and a couple of friends. They kept it at Inverness near the airport - a brilliant scheme that allowed them to nip up on the plane and head off for a weekend's fishing, shooting, etc, and then be back for work on Monday morning. Here's a picture of it parked beside the lodge at Gaick, while Charlie was off stalking.



Sadly the landy broke down the other day and, while the driver waited for the AA to arrive, the red car pictured below slammed into the back of it - pushing it along the road until the wing caught in the crash barrier, causing terminal damage to both vehicles.


Fortunately no-one was seriously hurt, and Charlie's keeping his fingers crossed that the insurance will cough up enough to replace the landy.