Leisure Wheels Magazine - January 2017

In this issue

As you’ll notice from our cover this month, we look at the 2017 Dakar, which promises to be extremely exciting. Will Peugeot’s dream team let the it retain the title, or will it be Toyota’s year? And what about Ford and Mini. It’s going to be brutal… Our second big feature this month is our Kalahari Tough Test, which pitted twelve 4x4s (and one 4x2) against the rough and tough Kalahari. Who was tough enough to survive the trial? Our road test this month is the BMW X5 xDrive40e, which is one of South Africa’s very first plug-in hybrid SUVs. How does this two-litre vehicle with its electric motor perform? You’ll be surprised just how eager it is. What sort of luxury SUV can you buy on the second-hand market for R500? We answer this question in our January issue, and Chris du Plooy of RFS Auto tells you what to look out for when buying a used Land Rover Defender. On the technical side, we look at what exactly happens when you apply ABS brakes in an off-road environment. We also have a new feature that looks at common 4x4 disasters, and how to prevent them. Lastly, we have a special report on Artav – makers of stainless steel vehicle accessories – and we speak to a legend in the guided self-drive safari game.