Truck Thursday – Slush Busters

Range Rover - Land Cruiser - Lada Niva. Pick Your Slushbuster.

Let’s pose the hypothetical question that you still have some last-minute Christmas shopping to do. Let’s also suggest that instead of a nice, slow, Hollywood-style snowfall, the weather is annoyingly slushy and slippery – which means you just have to hop into your classic 4WD truck and get over to picking a suitable Black&Decker power tool for your mother-in-law this year, pronto.

Which one of these classic hoon-wheel-drive vehicles will it be?

First off is the Lada Niva. A classic Soviet-era vehicle that has been built since 1977, you can still buy a new one today if you’re in the right country. This Niva is relatively new, I’d say less than five years old, and looks to be in good nick.

Power to the four wheels comes from a 1.7-litre OHC four, with fuel injection (shock!). It’s the same engine that’s used in the latest 2107 1700i Ladas, which are still churned out in Kazakhstan.

Like the Lada wagon posted yesterday, the Niva is a robust simpleton but looks attractive with its round headlights and unfussy detailing. It’s a go-anywhere car for cheap, and while the cost-effectiveness shows, it also means you needn’t pamper it too much. And whenever anything breaks, spares are affordable (at least in countries close to Russia).

This one I saw even has a bike rack, in case your Christmas shopping list includes a bike for Junior. The dark blue/green colour is handsome, and it’s not one of the colours that show rust too well, unlike appliance white. Rear lights are just Lada sedan lights turned 90 degrees.

Moving on:

This Toyota Land Cruiser 80-Series diesel is a handsome old bruiser. The blue paint reminds me of the one I tried once in the military, and was surprised of the effortlessness with which it picked up speed. Behind the wheel wasn’t a bad place to be, with hard-wearing, well-designed controls and fittings everywhere, and space for absolutely everything. I’d happily have one as a daily driver, as there’s no practical application that it doesn’t handle with ease.

It hasn’t even rusted anywhere, which is rare for anything used and Japanese that’s driven year-round in the thickly salted country of ours. The engine is most likely to be the non-turbo 4.2-litre straight-six 1HZ with 129 horses, which is all right. Of course, a 4.0 or 4.5-litre gasoline engine wouldn’t hurt, except of course your wallet – those suckers would gladly drink your Christmas bonuses and leave you with nothing but a membership to the Jelly of the Month Club. Right?

On to the last one:

And the last one is a 1989 Range Rover Vogue SE, with the 3.5-litre Buick-derived V8 – 1989 was the last year before the engine was bored out to 3.9 litres. It’s the right colour with large enough aux lights and large enough rubber under it, so it looks unbeatable by anything other than weird electrical mishaps. I’ve always liked the classic Range Rover more than the newer ones, but I’ve never driven one.

I’m sure the driver’s handbook says a pair of rubber boots and an anorak are mandatory in the car at all times.

The only one here with an opening rear window, it would make throwing brittle little porcelain gifts into the trunk so easy.

The Range is probably a German import. It has a couple of German stickers on it, but topped off with a Finnish Rover club sticker to bring it closer to home. It’s dirty enough, and looks like it’s getting daily use as I see it on the town hall parking lot every day – and today it happened to sit in the same traffic lights, so it certifiably moves swiftly under its own power. Downside with this example: the window tints are at least as unsightly as on the W123 300TD I posted earlier.

Tell me, which one of these three is the one you’d use as Santa’s Sled this Christmas?

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1. Truck Thursday – Toyota Land Cruiser 70-Series
2. Truck Thursday – Cruisin’ n Patrollin’



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4. V.I.S.I.T. Truck Thursday Edition: Convertible Range Rover
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