After almost 30 years of several overland travels to anywhere south of the Congo in three types of vehicles (Mitsubishi Colt, Land Cruiser and 4.0-litre Fortuner), I have experienced every type of terrain and nature imaginable. I have been deep and I have been steep, and, apart from very few shortcomings as far as far as the vehicles are concerned, I (and all of my seasoned travelling companions) have never required changes to the stock-standard suspensions.
In my opinion, it is presumptuous to suggest that a vehicle manufacturer’s product is inferior to “the best” if such an original vehicle product has not been subjected to independent researchers – and certainly not by manufacturers of a similar product. Have you ever heard of a claim against any motor manufacturer regarding an accident or situation blamed on the suspension system? Have you ever heard of thousands of vehicles being recalled to have the suspension replaced?
Christmas-tree-motor junkies will be found all over the continent. We see them in every shopping-mall parking lot. Fitting extra wide rims and scary-looking bonnets, and fitting six spot lights and yellow coloured shocks and red-painted suspension, does not make an overlander or true off-roader. It may make a wannabe tough guy out of a desk-sitter. It makes true adventurers smile when we find a seasoned family with their Marie-biscuit wheels and plain shocks somewhere in the bundu, far from the fitment shops where people try to tell you that your world-famous offroad vehicle is a piece of useless junk because 250mm of ground clearance is hopelessly too little… not realising that you can increase your diff height only by increasing the size of the tyre.