Big or small, size doesn’t really matter when it comes to buying a 4WD. You only need to look at the class winners and overall victor of this year’s NZ4WD Magazine 4WD of the Year awards to see that.
It’s true! Turn up at any gathering of those inclined to what marketers call a ‘4WD lifestyle’ (that would be you and I) and there will be every size, shape, age, stage and style of off-road vehicles present from Suzuki’s original SJ410 Jimny to huge towering 80-Series Toyota Land Cruisers and similar but much later model Nissan Patrol ‘station wagons.’
Car of The Year awards, of course, are about celebrating new rather than the older modded ‘trucks’ most Kiwi ‘four-Wheelers’ are into.
Still, the size issue raises its head. Last year, for instance, we awarded our Compact 4WD class win, as well as our top overall ‘gong’ for the Year to Suzuki for their all-new, fourth- generation Jimny, a vehicle for which the term ‘small but perfectly formed’ could well have been coined.
In previous years, Ford’s Range utility had established a dynastic-like run by winning both the Ute of the Year and the overall 4WD of the Year.
We still rate the Ranger highly, however, this time around we found a 4x4 utility vehicle we liked better!
That was the plus-size RAM 1500, a 4x4 which couldn’t be more different to Suzuki’s comparatively tiny Jimny if it tried. Yet – incredible as it may seem, when you are sitting behind the steering wheel of either, they do a very similar job off as well as on-road.
2020 will be remembered more for the disruptive force of the Covid-19 Pandemic than anything else of course. Yet here at NZ4WD Towers we still got to drive most of the new 4WD metal released by the key distributors.
Unfortunately for some – Isuzu and Mazda come to mind – their new D-Max/BT50 ute model missed the 2020 cut by days.
As for what might to some – particularly the marque faithful amongst you – seem like glaring or even inexplicable omissions, all I can say is that ‘it’s complicated.’
As well as being the Editor of NZ4WD magazine, I am also the magazine’s main ‘tester.’ While I am paid no more to do this I see it as both an honour and a privilege and take the role of driving and writing about new 4x4 offered to me seriously.
One new 4x4 vehicle released this year – apparently – in plenty of time to be considered for a 2020 award, was Land Rover’s all-new Defender.
I say ‘apparently’ because despite my contact tel numbers and email address being printed on the mag’s masthead (page. 4 opposite my monthly From the Editor’ column) I was not invited to the Defender launch, and have yet to even be offered a vehicle to ‘test.
My colleague – Land Rover aficionado and long-time mag contributor Ashley Lucas – did receive an invite to the media launch. As did fellow Land Rover-owning contributor Kevin Isemonger and his wife to a VIP soiree at the same venue later the same day.
While I was happy to run Ashley’s report from the launch in the October issue of the mag, because I have yet to drive a new Defender myself, I couldn’t in all conscience consider it for a 2020 award.
In saying that one 4x4 l would have loved to give an award to was Chinese manufacturer Haval’s Prado-size H9.
Robust, roomy and an excellent tow rig it was my ‘wow, I didn’t see THAT coming’ pick of the year’.
On, however, to who actually won what in 2020?
Compact 4WD SUV of the Year 2020
Suzuki Vitara Turbo
Back on top in the ‘Compact 4WD SUV’ sector after it’s small-but-perfectly-formed stable-mate, the then new fourth-generation Suzuki Jimny swept all before it – including the best overall gong for 2019 – last year, Suzuki’s Vitara 4WD Turbo gets our top vote again this year because it is such a dynamic and involving drive. Keen pricing also means that it continues to offer impressive VFM (Value For Money).
Medium 4WD SUV of the Year 2020
Toyota RAV4 Ltd Hybrid
No Prius jokes please! Indeed, from the minute we got to drive one of the new all-wheel-drive 2.5 litre petrol/electric hybrids on the official launch last year we knew it was going to be a game changer. New E-Four drive system is worth an award of its own. As we said about Mitsubishi and its PHEV Hybrid Outlander last year, while other car makers promise a bright electric-only future Mitsubishi and Toyota have been quietly and efficiently converting previous petrolheads with Hybrids for years.
Large 4WD SUV of the Year 2020
Ford Everest Sport
This came as a nice surprise, a second, Ranger-based Everest 4WD SUV, shorn of some of the line-topping Titanium model’s excesses (like the all-singing, all-dancing sunroof for instance) but retaining the good bits – the Raptor’s twin-turbo two-litre engine and 10-speed auto trans, a coil-sprung/disc-brake rear axle and 3,100kg braked towing capacity – for a saving of around $5,000. Tough, rugged, reliable and comfortable, what’s not to like about Ford’s Everest Sport!
4WD Ute of the Year 2020
RAM 1500
Big is definitely beautiful this year as RAM importer Ateco Group Ltd takes on the might of the turbo-diesel/double-cab 4WD Utility sector with an ever-expanding range of larger-than life 1500-line 4WD petrol V8s. As entertaining to drive as they are practical (once you get acclimatised to the sheer size of the things) and as comfortable as they are accommodating, a 1500 model can – literally – be all things to all people. It can be a mobile office, it can tow a digger for work and a – very big – caravan or boat for play... all without raising a sweat, or costing an extra arm and leg when the time comes to fill the petrol tank.
Overall 4WD of the Year 2020
Ford Everest Sport
A tough call this year after Ford’s still very good Ranger dominated both the 4WD utility and Overall awards landscape for so long. In the new Everest Sport, however, Ford has shown that it is more than a two-model (Ranger and Mustang) motor company. In fact, if you don’t need the open tray carrying capacity of a utility but still need the family-friendly size, comfort and ride of an SUV, go-anywhere ruggedness and 3000+kg towing chops of a separate chassis Ranger XLT or Wildtrak, then a tough, dual-range 4WD station wagon like Ford’s Everest Sport could well be the right buy in 2021 for you, and you, and you!
