Simons 4WD page

Back in the Netherlands I was driving on mainly flat, sealed roads. So when I was in the process of migrating to Australia I promised myself to buy a four-wheel-drive (4WD) to explore the wilderness and to be able to go bush for the weekend.

Already in the first week Lisa and I went out to look at used car lots. A lot of decisions had to be made such a the size of the car, open- or hardtopped and the age. But within a few hours we saw just what we wanted and few days later (allowing for a cheque etc.) I was the proud owner of a Suzuki JLX hardtop. The car is from 1989 but is in a very good condition. It has only done a 145.000 kilometres so far.

We've had a few minor problems with it so far. The most hilarious one was with the immobiliser. We build in one of those as it is a good safety precaution, but also as you get 10% extra discount on your insurance (and of course it is cool to have remote control on the central locking !). On the first night we took it out, Lisa had to move her car from the carport when we returned. So I gave her the housekeys (thus switching off the engine) but didn't not get out of the car. After 30 seconds the car immobilised, but the doors were still open. So I couldn't really use the 'normal' way of de-mobilising and it took us the better part of 10 minutes to go through all the various ignition-options in combination with the buttons on the remote (but we did get it working in the end !).

Imagine my frustration when a few days later I couldn't get the car to start again, even though I did try the same tricks we learned -the hard way- the first time. This time it turned out the car won't start if the transmission is in Park, something I didn't know as I wasn't used to automatics. And again a few days later the car refused to start, not even after checking everything we done before. Finally we called in the RAC and it turned out the earthwire of the immobiliser had come undone (good job from the guys at the garage !).

Since then it has been running fine, until early 1999, of all days on the one my Neon was in the garage, it didn't want to start. Again the RAC had to come out to find that the starter engine had gone. They managed to get it going so without turning the engine off (even though I had to fill up on petrol) I drove it to a garage.

As said I bought this car to experience the wilderness of Australia or even more specific to take it on the beach (as that is virtually impossible in the Netherlands). I first got that idea when visiting Lisa's sister in Binningup over Easter (1997) and as soon as we could arrange it we went down there for the weekend so I could fulfil that dream.

I have done some 4WDriving in the army where I was a Landrover-driver, but I had never driven on sand before. Also (as said before) I'm not used to an automatic transmission, so I kept it in 'Drive' most of the time instead of putting it in 'Low' or '2' to give it more power. But who cares, I had fun !!

On a weekend in December ('97) we went to visit a friend who lives in Northam, which is about an hour-and-a-half from Perth, up in the wheatbelt. There we took the Suzuki bush-bashing.

It was mostly following a red-sand track with lots of stones (rocks), pudholes and some climbs and hills. It has taken me ages to get the sand of the car (for that new-car shine).

Bush bashen
The Vitara in a paddock at Nortam with Lisa & Kathy (Dec 1997)

Since then we have done 4WD occasionally. We went to a bush-block of a friend to cut some wood and visited a farm. We also went back to Binningup and again took the Suzuki on the beach. Compared to most 4WD's around here it is smaller and in particular hasn't got as much ground clearing. So following the tracks in the sand, the bottom scraped over it, finally digging itself in. There we were, with a car up to the axels in the sand and no shovel or anything. With the help of some passers-by (who did have the proper equipment) we dug the car out and reversed back on the track. As the tracks were still deep, I reversed the car over the beach for a couple of hundred meters before being able to turn it. Since then I have lost some of the urge to drive on the beach !