Adventure

We pit the old Land Rover Defender 90 against the new one in an off-road battle! Has Land Rover 'ruined it' by going monocoque, or is the old 4x4 looked at with rose-tinted glasses?

Where does the Kia Tasman go from here? Is having a conventional diesel engine as the sole choice enough to run with the best-sellers? Should the Tasman follow the lead of the Ranger Raptor by going down the off-road performance path, to create a halo model for the rest of the range to bask beneath? Or is going hybrid the answer? The answer may shock you!

An off-road-focused Lexus, the Overtrail, has been introduced to the Aussie market as part of significant updates to the LX line-up. The LX500d Overtrail is seemingly well-suited to hardcore four-wheel driving as it has been kitted out with front and rear diff locks, Toyo Open Country all-terrain tyres and a comprehensive suite of off-road driving modes.

It’s widely regarded as a great way to exfoliate, detoxify and hydrate the skin, while some believe it can provide relief from muscle and joint pain. But the type of mud bath Ford Australia has been applying to its up-coming Ford Ranger Super Duty is far from a therapeutic beauty routine.

The GWM Cannon Alpha plug-in hybrid EV is part of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle revolution in Australia. This feature-packed Chinese-made ute has plenty going for it – it’s well-priced and, on paper at least, it's frugal on fuel and cheap to run – but the Alpha faces tough competition in the form of plug-in hybrids like the BYD Shark 6 and Ford Ranger.

The BYD Shark 6, the first plug-in hybrid electric ute to hit Australia's shores, is leading the charge of plug-in hybrid electric utes, followed closely by PHEV versions of the Ford Ranger and GWM Cannon Alpha.It's an innovative approach and has generated plenty of excitement, but is the Shark 6 - with no 4WD, no low-range gearing and no diff-locks - a novelty or a sign of things to come?

High-end off-roaders are few and far between in Australia, but China's answer to the Range Rover and Lexus LX could be headed Down Under soon. The Fangchengbao Leopard 8 - likely to be called Denza B8 internationally - could be a more affordable, plug-in hybrid alternative to the luxury 4WD set.

Land Rover has turned to the dark side.The British brand has released a blacked-out version of its V8-powered off-road monster, dubbed the Defender Octa Black.It combines a potent 467kW/750Nm 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 and mild hybrid assistance with muscular off-road performance and primo luxury kit.The man in charge of the Defender program, Mark Cameron, said the Defender Octa is the tallest and widest Defender, enabling it to tackle even more extreme terrain.“The introduction of Defender Octa Black takes things up a notch,” said Cameron. “We know our clients love giving their Defenders all-black finishes, so our designers have applied this principle to every possible surface – inside and out – to create the ultimate tough luxury Defender Octa,” he said.Gloss-black finishes cover nearly all surfaces, including the exhaust tips, Land Rover oval badge, 22-inch inch alloy wheels and even underbody elements.Inside there is black leather upholstery and black seat backs, armrests and dashboard.It also comes with a whopping big 700W 15-speaker Meridian stereo, 13.1-inch multimedia screen and what Land Rover calls Body and Soul Seats that pump the audio signals from the stereo through the seats so passengers can “feel the music".There is advanced air suspension, which Land Rover claims responds to any driving style and gives the driver greater control over any terrain. The air suspension allows for a 323mm ground clearance and approach and departure angles of more than 40 degrees, along with a ramp angle of 29 degrees and a wading depth of 1000mm.This is coupled with a special Octa driving mode for off-road, which has a special ABS calibration that is designed for driving on gravel roads.Its beefy V8 can propel it to 100km/h from a standstill in 4.0 seconds on the way to a top speed of 250km/h. Fuel of 13.1 litres per 100km isn’t great.The Octa Black is only available in the 110 body style and is priced from $313,800 (before on-road costs), or about the same as three Toyota LandCruiser 300s.

Most of the 2025 Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series line-up has undergone a recent comprehensive update - along with price increases to match - but while the third-from-top Sahara gets a $1119 price rise, it has received no updates this time around.Can the 300 Series stay viable in an increasingly competitive 4WD market? More importantly, is this Toyota 4WD wagon still an off-road champ?

A new Renault model, sold under the Dacia brand overseas, is coming to Australia with hybrid options, manual gearbox availability and pricing kicking off well below $40,000.The 2026 Renault Duster is now available to order starting from $31,990, before on-road costs, with first deliveries of the small SUV expected to start this month.There are 4x2 and 4x4 versions of the Duster, the latter being more expensive and coming with a mild-hybrid powertrain and manual gearbox. Renault says its “tall suspension and generous off-road clearance” means the Duster is more off-road capable than rivals.The entry-level variant of the Duster is the Evolution, starting from the aforementioned $31,990, before on-roads, with a 4x2 drivetrain layout. It utilises a 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.The 1.3-litre engine makes 113kW and 270Nm, driving only the front wheels.The Evolution can also be had in 4x4, with a turbocharged 1.2-litre three-cylinder mild-hybrid petrol engine that makes less power and torque: 96kW and 230Nm.It puts power to all four wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox, but is claimed to be more efficient (5.7L/100km versus the 4x2’s 6.5L).The 4x4 drivetrain costs a little more, $36,490, but comes with the same standard equipment including dual-zone air-conditioning, a 10.1-inch multimedia touchscreen and 7.0-inch driver display, wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless phone charger, USB-C charging ports and a 12-volt socket.Stepping up to the higher-spec Techno variant brings more kit, though its drivetrain options are the same as the Evolution. Pricing starts at $36,990 for the Techno 4x2 and bumps up slightly to $37,990 for the 4x4, though that version isn’t expected to land until December this year.The Techno adds features like more ‘premium’ cloth upholstery, tinted rear windows, auto proximity lock and unlock, auto high-beams and 18-inch wheels to replace the base variant’s 17s.It also adds some safety features not available on the Evolution like blind-spot monitoring, front parking sensors and surround-view parking cameras.Other standard safety features for both models include pedestrian and cyclist detection for AEB, a safe follow-distance warning, lane-keep and departure warning, driver attention monitoring, tyre pressure monitoring and an ADAS shortcut button for advanced driver assist settings.Renault Australia says the “Duster will initially arrive in limited numbers” due to demand overseas.Renault Australia General Manager Glen Sealey said, “Demand for this vehicle in Europe is very strong, so Australia will receive an initial allocation before shipments ramp up next year.“We ordered as many cars as we could this year, and we are now working closely with the factory to improve our allocation moving forward,” he said.