Off Road Cars

The Mercedes G-Class is arguably one of the best off-roaders to have graced our planet. Over the years, the company has equipped it with a premium interior and an exorbitant price tag, but it is still regarded as a hardcore off-roader and has a strong footing in the segment despite heavy competition. To further cement this perception, Mercedes created a hardcore version of the already-competent G-Class called the G-Class 4x4. The previous model’s production ended in 2017, but it looks like the monster is back.

The new G-Class 4x4 was spied undergoing high-altitude testing in the Alps and it looked a lot bulkier and monstrous than its normal self – especially the wheel arches – thus reigniting the news of the 4x4 making a comeback. Are we excited? Hell yeah!

News about the Ford Bronco Raptor has been heading in the right chronology until now. We first heard hushed talks about sparked the news, then some leaks here and there with a few spec details, then an “error” by a Ford engineer on Linkedin, and finally some confirmation on what to expect from the Bronco Raptor. But, it looks like there’s a twist in the story.

Ford recently filed a trademark application for the ‘Warthog’ moniker, and netizens believe it is going to replace the Bronco ‘Raptor’ badge. The application doesn’t anything of that sort; so, are we reading too much between the lines?

Customers in the U.S. have been craving the Ranger Raptor since it was announced for other markets. Ford has denied giving the pleasure so far, but there is news of the Ranger Raptor finally heading Stateside when the 2022 Ranger arrives. Since that is still some time away, the Blue Oval has decided to give us a taste of what to expect by introducing the Tremor off-road package for the mid-size pickup truck. While it is no Raptor, it is a lot more capable than the existing FX4 off-road package. Ford has priced the package at $4,290, but the catch is that is won’t be available on all the trims.

In all honesty, the 2021 Ford Bronco has ticked all the boxes and it shows how much Ford has worked to make it a purposeful and near-flawless product. However, one thing creating a vacuum is the missing V-8 under the hood. Ford has offered a four-cylinder and a V-6 engine on the Bronco, but not a V-8. Now, the company has answered the question once and for all, and the truth is that there is no V-8 Bronco in the works.

Speaking with Muscle Cars and Trucks, Ford has indirectly laid the final nail in the coffin by saying that a V-8 Bronco is unlikely to happen, thanks to the emission regulations.

At the 1981 Chicago Auto Show, Ford unveiled a rather unusual concept called the Montana Lobo. It seemed too radical for its time and felt as though it was taken straight out of a sci-fi movie. It broke all the perceptions associated with a rugged off-roader like the Bronco. The company came up with this unusual concept to get in the flow with the growing popularity of smaller pickup trucks and SUVs. Although it didn’t make it to production and none of the ideas or design elements were incorporated in the future models, the Bronco Montana Lobo goes down in the history books as one of the most interesting concepts Ford has ever built.

Before the SUV received its moniker, the Land Rover Defender was simply called Land Rover 90 or 110, based on the model’s wheelbase. It was almost a decade after its launch that Land Rover decided to call it the Defender. So, on sale here is a 1990 Land Rover 110 that has been all around the globe. It was first exported from the U.K. to Italy and then overhauled bycThe Landrovers in the Netherlands five years back. In 2016, it finally reached U.S. shores and it has been here ever since. Now the current owner has put this three-decade-old model on Bring-a-Trailer.

At the time of writing, the current bid stands at $45,000 and there’s a week left before the auction closes. Has this piqued your interest?

When Ford Bronco was finally unveiled a couple of months back, it looked quite complete and had ticked almost all the boxes. Almost. The one unticked box that kept the off-roader enthusiasts wanting more was the super-rugged Raptor version of this competent off-roader.

It didn’t take long for the news to start pouring in which more or less confirmed that the Bronco Raptor is arriving soon. If that wasn’t enough, the LinkedIn profile of a Ford engineer came to light where he mentioned that he was working on the 2023 Ford Bronco Raptor.

Even though Ford hasn’t officially announced the Bronco Raptor yet, there are quite a few things already known. Now, Ford Authority has reported them again, which confirms the things we already knew.

The Jeep Wrangler is one of the most sought-after vehicles for tuners and aftermarket companies, thanks to its mod-friendly nature. While Mopar and Jeep Performance Parts offer hundreds of accessories for this off-roader, there are a lot of aftermarket companies that customize it in their unique ways as well.

One such unique, impressive build comes courtesy of none other than Afzal Kahn of the Chelsea Truck Company. Although the SUV is right up there in terms of ruggedness, what makes this different is how luxurious it is on the inside, something that’s uncommon on the Wrangler.

Jeep took the wraps off the Wrangler 4xe and it seems like an environment-friendly off-roader. Although there were some apprehensions about this new hybrid version of the off-roader, the automaker has made big claims. While the company has hyped the Wrangler 4xe in general, there was one claim that said “New Level of Benchmark Jeep Off-road Capability”. From what we knew before the launch, the 4xe was going to be a hybrid version of the standard Wrangler that would be more efficient and a little more torquey. Now that it has been unveiled, does it offer a new level of off-road capability?

Jeep has provided some information on the Wrangler 4xe’s models and specs, but there’s still a lot that’s not known. So, for the sake of comparison, we’ll be pitting the Rubicon trims of the standard Wrangler and the Wrangler 4xe, and here’s how they measure:

While the new Bronco has been in the news ever since its launch and the majority of people seemed to have liked it, the old Bronco still enjoys a healthy demand. Any first-gen Bronco that hits the pre-worshipped market has people going gaga over it.

Here is one such 1969 example that arrived on Bring-a-Trailer a few days back and already has people lined up ready to get lay their hands on it. This SUV already has 22 bids and the highest bid stands at $43,500 at the time of writing.

At one point, it looked like Jeep will be one of the last automakers to adopt electrification, but the company has started taking steps towards it. Jeep unveiled the Wrangler 4xe, its third hybrid vehicle that joins the Renegade 4xe and Compass 4xe. Since this is a hybrid addition, it features a lot of changes under the hood, but things are pretty much the same on the inside and the outside. With the addition of two motors that bring in extra horses and torque, will the 2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe perform better than its pure internal-combustion engined avatar?

The Jeep Wrangler is legendary for its rugged design and impressive capability on the unbeaten path. And that’s mostly why the idea of an electrified Wrangler seemed ridiculous until recently. But Jeep is slowly electrifying its lineup and, somewhat surprisingly, it picked the Wrangler as the first nameplate to benefit from a full-fledged hybrid setup. And the result is the fastest and most powerful Wrangler developed so far!

Jeep added a new version to its Wrangler lineup: called Wrangler 4xe - the new model has been described as the most capable, technically advanced and eco-friendly Wrangler ever. The car is also the third hybrid car in Jeep’s lineup next to the Renegade 4xe and Compass 4xe models.

With the Bronco out of the bag, perhaps Dodge should think seriously about coming up with a proper rival for FoMoCo’s SUV. That rival could be a revival model of the Ramcharger, and given the recent rumors saying a Raptorized Bronco is coming in the near future, why not make it a Dodge Ramcharger TRX? Dodge obviously has the firepower and a potential platform, courtesy of the Ram 1500 TRX.

Some might say that building, buying, and hooning a Safari 911 is a blasphemy. We digress. Porsche has such a solid connection with the world of rally racing (including Dakar and Monte Carlo back in the day) that a Safari-style Neunelfer feels as natural as breathing.

And while a lot of entities have been performing this sort of conversions on vintage 911s, we didn’t expect one such contraption to come from suspension specialist H&R. But it did, and it’s awesome.

Alright, we get it – anything that carries a Ford badge and can go off-road be offered in extreme Raptor trim. You can’t knock the brand- it’s no worse than dodge cramming a Hellcat V-8 into almost anything FCA sells (we’re still waiting on that Pacifica Hellcat, though). So, naturally, before the 2021 Bronco even made its debut, the world was expecting a Raptor version to cross the intersection at one point or another. Obviously, it wasn’t going to happen right away, but new evidence has come to light that says that a Ford Bronco Raptor will launch for the 2023 model year – that means we could see it as soon as mid-2022!

We all know that the Cybertruck launch came with a bit of a surprise, we’ll-throw-this-in-for-your-entertainment moment when Elon Musk presented Tesla’s first pickup truck and the Cyberquad.

The Cybertruck has been getting all sorts of attention online ever since, yet the Cyberquad remained a mystery. Some claimed it was, in fact, just a dressed up Yamaha Raptor 700, but at the same time Yamaha denied working with Tesla. That said, one youtuber did get some ‘help’ from Yamaha in building his own Cyberquad replica.

Much like the Jeep Wrangler, the 2021 Ford Bronco is designed with customization in mind. The company is even offering more than 200 accessories for the Bronco when it hits showrooms, but powertrain upgrades might not be possible via aftermarket means. According to Ford, the ECU is very complicated, and, essentially, nobody should be playing around with ECU calibration. That means aftermarket companies might find the new Bronco to be untunable.

The return of the Ford Bronco isn’t your typical automotive comeback. The SUV isn’t just making a comeback as a nameplate; it’s become its own sub-brand under Ford. More to that, the Bronco has captured the attention of the SUV world in ways few of its kind have been able to do in the past. That’s especially true when you look at all the renderings that have come out, specifically those of the “Woody” variety. Woody Broncos are all over Instagram, including this piece of work from artist Timothy Adry Emmanuel, who goes by the IG handle “adry53customs.” Emmanuel has an impressive catalog of car renderings on his Instagram page, ranging from Volkswagens to RAM pickup trucks. But his work on the Bronco is something else, at least if you’re a fan of the “woodie” car style that was all the rage in the previous century. We don’t see woodie’s these days anymore, but Emmanuel’s rendering is a perfect call back, not only to the Bronco but to the woodie car style as well. Put those two elements together, and the result is nothing short of impressive.

It’s been three years since Ford re-released the F-150 Raptor (after a three-year hiatus), and we’ve been waiting for a strong challenger to come in with an uppercut. The Rebel’s distant cousin, the Jeep Gladiator, is okay and all, but Ram just proved that good things come to those who wait. This, folks, is the Ram Rebel TRX, and I’m going to explain to you how Ram made it so capable and why it just became the most capable truck in the world.