Maybe Peterson's 4wheel and Offroad isn't "that" bad.

[BumbleV-X]

My husband often makes fun of me that I have all the 4wheel drive magazines dog eared before they ever reach the kitchen table. After reading all the letters to the editor about Vehicross's or lack thereof, I was ready to send in pictures that I have of offroading adventures and what a VX can really do offroad. Today I read another letter to the editor that mentioned this site in the June issue (nice by the way).
Curious as to what was coming up in the next issue I visited 4wheeloffroad.com and came up with an interesting picture and nice words from 4 wheel and offroad.
http://4wheeloffroad.com/eventcovera..._0602_svclean/
Andy/Swordy spends a lot of time volunteering in the local mountains for the forestry service, and doing trail clean ups. I hear Stoddard Valley looks a lot better now.

It's not the cover, but it's a start.

Deby
(passenger of one of the 27)

[Triathlete]

This very well might be the only modified Vehicross we'll ever see in real life

Apparently they haven't made it out to ZuZoo or just have their heads stuck way up their ....

Congrats on making the "mainstream"! The VX is looking good. And good work on the cleanup!

[Heraclid]

Yeah, but what's with that crap they tossed in there about lukewarm interest from the public?

[Triathlete]

I guess when you cater to vehicles that are built by the millions its hard to grasp the concept of "limited production"!

[Y33TREKker]

Yeah, but what's with that crap they tossed in there about lukewarm interest from the public?

Obviously not the case, because I seem to get a LOT of interest (read;rubbernecking) even when I just go to the store for a gallon of milk.

[newthings]

Deby the yellow Proton looks like a whole different generation of vehicle when you look at the group of pix at one time.
It's nice to look out of place by being so much better.
Roy

[Heraclid]

Always have to take these things with a grain of salt...

Four Wheeler magazine made a rather dubious choice for their 2000 pick for Four Wheeler of the Year. The field in contention was as follows: Chevrolet Tahoe Z71, Nissan X-Terra, GMC Yukon, Ford Excursion, Isuzu VehiCross, and Mitsubishi Montero Sport. That ought to already have you wondering.

For the most part, they said some really nice things about the VX. However, the fact remains that the VX only got first runner-up when it clearly smoked the competition.

The VX won their mechanical section, "barely edging out the Tahoe".

They said it easily "won our Highway category easily with a tight steering setup and slingshot-like passing power."

The VX won their Trail Performance section "by a good margin". And they throw in this:

"And that score, combined with the traction of the Borg-Warner Torque-On-Demand transfer case, with 2.48:1 low range and one of the tightest rear limited slips on the market, changed its nickname from space buggy to rock buggy."

Now how many mags have I read that said rock crawling was not where the VX excelled? Can someone make up their mind?

They said that "Vehicross is probably the best-handling SUV made, save for the nearly $70,000 Mercedes ML 55 AMG."

It also had the best gas mileage of the bunch. They said it "ramped a best-of-the-bunch 561, which is a record for an IFS-equipped 4x4." The VX also had the best turning diameter. Best braking. Best acceleration. Best gas mileage. Second most affordable.

And get this:

"At Four Wheeler, as you may suspect, we focus on the off-road capabilities of a sport/ute's personality. However, even though 30 percent of our scoring is done off-pavement, the remaining 70 percent is done on-pavement. To win our award, a sport/utility has to do everything well. This year, no vehicle better exemplified this balance of powers than the Chevrolet Tahoe Z71, our Four Wheeler of the Year 2000."

Huh? In one sentence they say they focus on off-road performance. In the very next sentence, they declare that they weight the testing 70/30 in favor of on-road testing! Now I think off-road performance should factor more highly in naming a 4X4 of the year, but regardless of that, just remember - the VX won Trail Performance, won Highway, won Mechanical. Doesn't seem like it mattered how they weighed the results - the VX should have had this thing in the bag. This begs the question - what did the VX not do well? They don't seem to know the answer. All they really say is the rear vis kinda sucks and the styling wasn't their cup of tea.

Tahoe Z71 had greater ground clearance, but did not win the Trail Performance category (and I submit that the shorter wheelbase and better articulation of the VX goes a long way toward making up for what it gives up in ground clearance). They said Tahoe had impressive articulation, but also said the VX had far better (Tahoe was third here). The best it did was place second in the Highway category, which they themselves said the VX won "easily", and Tahoe won second over Yukon by only two-tenths of a point. Oh yeah, well it did place second in mechanical too, and I reiterate that it lost that one to the VX too. Tahoe didn't win anything.

They didn't like the VX interior but did like the Tahoe's, which they said was the same as Yukon's. This is but one facet of the testing, and I think we can all agree who was cleaning everyone else's clocks in the overall testing. But wait - the VX rear door had no grab handle according to them too. But the article actually shows a pic of the tester using it!

They do not even once state that the Tahoe won any one of their categories. Ok, so it's payload was second-best. It's articulation was third-best. They pay it some compliments, sure. But what made it so special? What made it a winner?

For each vehicle they list good points and bad points to summarize...

For Tahoe's good point:

"Towhooks, ladies and gentlemen, are where it's at. Both the Yukon and the Tahoe had them, and they worked as advertised all day long."

That's it folks. Now wait a minute, that's the best thing you can throw out there in high praise of the Tahoe? And the VX doesn't have them? And it makes me wonder - if they worked all day long for the Tahoe, just why were they having to use them? Hmmm? Doesn't seem they needed the VX's towhooks now does it?

I'm not knocking the Tahoe here. I test drove one once and it was pretty decent. All I'm saying is that sometimes these magazine articles aren't worth the paper they are printed on many times. The article makes a good case for the VX being the best, but picks another, while making no clear good case for the winner.

Read the whole article here and then tell me I'm wrong...

http://www.fourwheeler.com/roadtests/5034/index.html

[Ldub]

Hmmmmm...wonder who $pends more on adverti$ing & how many other$, who al$o adverti$e in $aid magazine, $ell part$ for $aid "winner".

It'$ the money...$o $ad.

[Chopper]

Right or wrong, it's a 6 year old argument. ARE there any Tahoe fan clubs??? That thing is purely a mommobile isn't it??? Big mushy ride, big mushy interior, vauge,overboosted steering. Where does the big Porche come in according to this recoculus contest? This is a stupid comparo.

[Heraclid]

Agreed. That's the first thing about it - the field of trucks in the competition, which is so dissimilar and really doesn't seem set to find the best off-roader to begin with. Just boils down to the fact that I wish the press would half try to get its facts right. They are mostly airheads.