Arctic Trucks AT35 is a beast which will make everybody get out of the way
It's as close to a monster truck as you will get and even if the Arctic Trucks behemoth is oversized it is a lot of fun
WHY do we love getting things we don’t need?
Tomorrow, countless households will be ponder this over useless presents.
I have a Black & Decker drill set I paid £200 for.
In two years, I have used it to put up a few pictures and dismantle an Ikea bed. I still love it, though. That is the power of cool things.
Gaze upon the Isuzu D-Max Arctic Trucks AT35, a pickup so big the cast of Ice Road Truckers would think twice before climbing in.
Underneath it is the standard D-Max but it has been pimped out and put in the gym by Icelandic truck builders Arctic.
The ride height has been lifted 55mm and it sits on tyres the size of tractor wheels, making it 125mm higher than the regular D-Max.
The suspension is upgraded and it is powered by a 2.5litre diesel lump producing 164bhp.
But more than anything else, it’s cool.
No one in the UK would genuinely need one but that doesn’t matter.
Otherwise, Isuzu wouldn’t offer it to our market.
We know pickup trucks are more “lifestyle vehicles” (a horrible term) than utility wagons.
That is why they now come with aircon, Bluetooth and heated leather heated seats.
Those hardy few who legitimately need a pickup bought them even when they were rattly battle wagons.
But in the past ten years, sales have soared as a new breed of buyer has emerged. Even SsangYong does one.
Just as you buy a Porsche Cayman to outdo a mate with an Audi TT, the AT35 is the pickup to end all arguments.
Got a Ford Ranger?
Cute. Look at my beast.
Toyota Hilux? Excuse me while I drive over it with my 35in tyres.
My missus kept calling it “the monster truck”.And she is right — monstrous is the word.
The Truxedo package adds a giant roll bar, skid plates and a few other extras you might need next time you pop to the top of Mount Everest.
I was surprised at how quickly I got used to driving it.
Its sheer size is intimidating but once moving, it is as easy to manoeuvre as any SUV.
And everyone gets out of your way when they see you lumbering down the road towards them.
Parking becomes a high-stakes game of dare, especially with the shops as busy as they are at this time of year.
As you would expect, performance is sluggish and the engine clattery.
But if you are in the market for one of these, that won’t be a concern.
The fact it can swallow more than a tonne of gear in the back and tow 750kg is much more relevant.
A family of five are more than comfortable in the double cab, with all the mod-cons of any other car.
If I was buying a pickup — you know, to carry my laptop and spare notepad — I would seriously consider the AT35 because it is such a cool thing.
I enjoyed driving it in the same way a weak kid enjoys being accepted by a bully.
I felt hard by association.
The defining moment of my week with it came when an achingly middle-class family man got out of his Volvo XC60 at the Knutsford M6 services, wearing a Christmas jumper without a hint of joy on his face and suddenly beamed, saying: “I love your truck.”
I know exactly what he will be asking Santa to drop off tonight.
ISUZU D-MAX ARCTIC TRUCKS AT35
Key Facts
Price: £45,535
Engine: 2.5 litre diesel
Economy: 40.4mpg
0-62mph: 15 seconds
Top speed: 112mph
Tyre size: 35in
Length: 5.3 metres
Tow capacity: 750kg
Max load weight: 1 tonne
Dash cam comes to the rescue
PANIC! You’ve only got today to nip out and pick up a last-minute present.
If you are in the same boat as me, you could do a lot worse than grabbing a Philips GoSure dash cam.
The use of dash cam footage in the investigation of accidents has risen by 285 per cent in the past couple of years and I can’t recommend getting one highly enough.
It will speed up the process of an insurance claim and gives irrefutable proof when you are not in the wrong.
Sit a Philips GoSure ADR620 on top of your dashboard, and in the event of an accident it will capture footage with a 120 degree angle, with the time and date.
It also comes with driver-fatigue warning.
The ADR820 gives you wifi that links to the Philips app, a 140 degree camera and the option of a rear-view camera.
They cost between £80 and £120, which is not a lot for the security of knowing you won’t come a cropper in an insurance dispute.
Both the Philips GoSure ADR620 and ADR820 are a doddle to use. Simply plug them in and away you go.
You can also get a GPS-activated suction mount to secure it to the windscreen. The mount records GPS co-ordinates for precise location information in the event of an accident.
These days, a lot of insurance companies offer discounts for drivers who fit a dash cam.
This is partly why we are starting to see them built into cars, such as the Citroen C3.
That said, they are illegal in some countries. If you are driving in Portugal or Luxembourg, you could be pulled over if cops spot one.
And – not a lot of people know this – you are technically required by UK law to tell any passengers if you have a dash cam running in your vehicle.
Taxi drivers are supposed to give you the option of requesting it is turned off before starting a journey.
But police generally welcome them.
In North Wales you can submit dash cam or helmet cam footage as part of Operation Snap if you think it shows someone driving dangerously.
Of course, it’s not all serious and stern. You can use a dash cam to record a road trip, which can be played back later.
This might make more interesting viewing than the Queen’s speech.
Fire breathing Jaguar with plenty of bite
IT’S fair to say 2018 is going to be a huge year for Jaguar Land Rover.
The E-Pace and the I-Pace will hit the showrooms.
The new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport line-up – including a hybrid – will turn up.
And it will be pushing hard in the Formula E Championship with recently signed driver Nelson Piquet Jnr.
But the Solihull brand has delivered a few stone-cold stunners this year, too.
One of my memorable at-the-wheel highlights of 2017 was getting a play with the Jaguar XJR575, on the corkscrew mountain passes of Portugal.
Normally a serene place, the tranquil hills were alive with the monstrous thunder of a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 – a sound that would make the devil himself stand to attention and ask permission to cry with a wobbly bottom lip.
This is a car that announces its arrival ten minutes before it turns up, which is just as well because when it does, things get rowdy.
Just a gentle poke of the right pedal lights up the 567bhp engine (up from 542), the rear wheels start spinning and all hell breaks loose.
The back end snakes sexily before grip digs in and the 0-62mph gallop begins, which is over in just 4.4 seconds.
The most remarkable thing about that isn’t just the face-melting pace, but the fact the XJR is a two-tonne, five-seat bruiser that looks and feels as if it is carved from granite by Michelangelo himself.
That said, its heft is what prohibits it from doubling as a track toy at the weekend – it’s not as agile as rivals from BMW and Mercedes.
But that doesn’t matter, not to me anyway.
Where it matters more is the interior.
If you sit in the Mercedes S 63 before climbing into the XJR you could be forgiven for thinking the Jag is ten years older.
But then the Merc is more than £120,000, while the Jag comes in under £94,000.
In a world where horsepower has become a dirty word, it is refreshing to see Jag has not given up on fire breathers just yet.
Jaguar XJR575
Key Facts
Price: £93,710
Engine: 5-litre supercharged V8 petrol
Economy: 25.5mpg
0-62mph: 4.4 seconds
Top speed: 186mph
Length: 5.1 metres
CO2: 264g/km
DETAILS are dripping through about the 2018 Ford Focus.
It will boast more leg room in the back and be around 50kg lighter.
Three versions of Ford’s 1-litre, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine are available – with 99, 123 and 138bhp – as well as a 1.5-litre petrol and 2-litre petrol. The 2-litre will be fitted to the ST model and tuned to a hefty 275bhp.
There will also be the option of a 1.5-litre diesel.
A Focus Active version is expected, riding higher than the standard model.
SPANISH motorbike maker Bultaco dominated the trials scene in the Sixties and Seventies – and now it is back with a fresh tech twist.
Brinco was its first fully off-road machine when it debuted in 2014, introducing the moto-bike – an electrified bicycle operated with regular pedals, a grip throttle (like a motorcycle) or both.
Now Bultaco is moving into clean, green urban travel and its latest, the Albero, is a clever, city-friendly play on the Brinco.
It looks a bit like a full-suspension mountain bike, with chunky bars, upside-down forks at the front and an adjustable monoshock at the back.
But look closely and you will see a 2kW motor embedded in the back wheel and a chunky 1.3kWh battery pack under the frame.
At first, nothing appears much different from the e-bikes in decent bike shops.
But a few minutes on the machine reveal a different story.
Tap the clever wristband on the handlebar-mounted computer and the machine jumps into life.
A gentle twist of the throttle kicks the rear motor into action and the Albero zips away.
Once moving, the rider can choose to pedal and assist the motor or unleash full power via the grip and blast through traffic.
With an official top speed of 28mph, it is surprisingly fast.
A clever gearing system in the front cog lets riders pedal along to go even faster. It is possible to tickle 35mph at full-pedal pace.
According to Bultaco, you can get upwards of 62 miles from the battery pack, which charges from a standard wall socket in around three hours.
But there are a couple of things to consider before dashing out to buy one.
It costs £4,695 and the 2kW model will need the correct licence and CBT training, insurance and registering for the road.
It is also unclear if you can use it in bike lanes and without a motorcycle helmet.
A 250W model limited to 15mph is not affected by the above requirements.
MOST READ IN MOTORS
With many of Europe’s big cities moving towards an emissions-free future, this nippy and practical form of transport could be a vision of what is to come.
How do we go about replacing “Boris bikes” with these?
For more bikes, see or search Bike World on YouTube.