Sunday, February 12, 2012

Jeeping in Oz - Camp Coffs 2012 Easter

CAMP COFFS 2012 INFORMATION:
This Jeep event is held by Jeep Action Magazine and supported by the Coffs Coast Jeepers club. Camp Coffs is located at Coffs Harbour on the beautiful Mid North Coast of NSW. Camp Coffs is located within the Coffs Harbour showground on the Pacific Highway.

Camping is available on-site, with plenty of room for tents through to caravans. Some powered sites are available, first in has preference and extra charges will apply for power. Hot showers and flushing toilets on-site. Morning and evening catering will be available for purchase.

Walking distance to service stations and food outlets. Close to shopping complexes. There is a large hall used for recreational gathering, vendors and trip allocation meetings. Camp Coffs officially opens on Thursday morning the 5th of April. This will allow you to beat the traffic, arrive Thursday, settle in and have a look around the local area.

If you arrive earlier, the camping can be accessed from 1PM Wednesday 4th April and definitely NO earlier. There will be a charge of $10 per Jeep for Wednesday. Please remember that setting up of the camp area may still be taking place so please be co-operative.

Guided trips are run Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Group activity or trips will be arranged for Monday if required.

GRADED TRIPS ARE AS FOLLOWS
Placid/Discovery - Suitable for all Jeeps, bitumen and forestry roads that may lead to some light four-wheel driving.
Moderate - Suitable for all Jeeps, lower tyre pressures recommended. Four-wheel drive/ low range will be used.
Moderate Plus - Suitable for Jeeps with All-Terrain or Mud tyres and suspension lift. Traction aids will be an advantage.
Hard - Suitable for Jeeps with All-Terrain or Mud tyres and suspension lift. Traction aids are a must.

If uncertain, trip grades can be discussed with trip leaders when you arrive at camp. All trips are day activities so take necessary food, water, sun block, hat and clothing with you. Your Jeep needs to be fuelled prior and ready to go when you arrive at the trip departure points. You will need a UHF radio in car or hand held for the trips.

Snatch Strap and appropriate rated shackles to suit your vehicle required for all off-road trips.

Save China's Jeep beer for the end of the trail

Modern advertising has conditioned us to associate a wide array of strange images with beer in a can. The Rocky Mountains, silver bullets, Clydesdale horses and blue ribbons all do their best to peddle cheap brew, but Chinese drinkers now have a new mascot for their favorite cold one.


Hubei Jeep Brewery Corporation has turned out a new light beer featuring everyone's favorite off road machine. The logo even features a Jeep Wrangler silhouette, complete with the brand's iconic/trademarked seven-slat grille. What does Jeep Beer taste like? Fresh mountain streams? Muddy hill sides? Licking a Chrysler interior? No one is saying for certain.

Hubei Jeep Brewery Corporation has completely adopted the Jeep brand as an emblem of rugged manliness, and the company even went so far as to giveaway a Jeep Compass to the highest-selling distributor. The winner managed to move 60,000 liters of suds to take home the prize.

Don't get us wrong. Beer and vehicles go together about as well as fenders and telephone poles, but we're just curious enough about the notion of Jeep Beer to want a bottle or three. Besides, you can't argue with a tag line like, "JUST FOR MAN."

www.ausjeepoffroad.com

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

2012 Mopar Jeep Compass True North points... north?

Mopar didn't leave Jeep out of the customized fun here at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show. Based on the Compass, the 2012 Mopar True North boasts a two-inch suspension lift from Rocky Road Suspensions and 16-inch matte black wheels wrapped in BF Goodrich All Terrain tires. Other exterior tidbits include a matte black grille surround and lower body cladding.


There aren't any changes to the standard Compass drivetrain that we know of, but the interior is fitted with a custom center console that features pitch and roll inclinometer gauges. Finishing it off is an audio system sourced from Kicker that Jeep says "transform [it] into a rolling high-end sound studio," which would appear to be completely unrelated to its intended purpose.

Like all Trail Rated® Jeep models, the Jeep Compass is a capable off-road machine. With the Mopar Jeep Compass "True North" model, Mopar further improves its off-road form and function.

The exterior features a matte black finish on the roof, wheel flares, lower fascia, door cladding and black grille with body color inserts. Other exterior touches include black-headlamp and fog-lamp surrounds, rear fog lights, custom front and rear brush bars and custom rock rails. Matte black 16-inch alloy wheels with BF Goodrich All Terrain tires and a 2-inch lift kit from Rocky Road Suspensions add some additional off-road go.

The interior received lots of attention from Mopar and renowned audio component manufacturer Kicker. The entire audio system, including front and rear speakers, amplifier, sub-woofer and lift gate speakers are provided by Kicker, and transform Jeep Compass into a rolling high-end sound studio. A custom center stack gauge pod that houses pitch and roll inclinometer gauges, add to the vehicle's off-road credentials. A Mopar bright pedal kit, door-sill guards, rear-cargo tray, shift knob and neoprene seats complement each other while enhancing the quality feel of the cabin.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Stealthy Jeep Grand Cherokee concept headed for production

Jeep is using the 2012 Houston Auto Show and 2012 Washington D.C. Auto Show to unveil a new production-intent concept. Based on the Grand Cherokee Laredo X model, what we have here is a mostly blacked-out version of Jeep's flagship product, with a few highlights in a finish Jeep calls Platinum Chrome.


Included in the blackout are the front grille (with Platinum Chrome mesh inserts), headlamp bezels and liftgate light bar. Platinum Chrome is also used on the lower front fascia. Unique to this model are 20-inch gloss black aluminum wheels in a split five-spoke design. This new Grand Cherokee concept will be shown in both Brilliant Black and Deep Cherry Red.

Curious why it's only known as the "Grand Cherokee Production-Intent Concept"? That's because there will be an online contest to help determine its official moniker. Will it be the Stealth, Noir, Dirty Dirty or the Back-in-Black edition? How about our personal favorite, the Grand Cherokee Emo Edition? That's for voters to decide. The winner "will have a chance to win a new 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee," says Jeep in the official press release after the break.

www.ausjeepoffroad.com

Alonso and Massa get a pair of Ferrari-red Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8s

There's no end to the perks of being a Formula One racing driver, especially if you happen to drive for Scuderia Ferrari. As if piloting one of the fastest F1 cars on the grid weren't enough, Ferrari has gifted each of its gifted drivers his own 458 Italia, Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari and Maserati GranCabrio, to name just a few. And something tells us that if either Fernando Alonso or Felipe Massa wanted anything else from the expansive Fiat-Chrysler product range – say, a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, for example – that would hardly pose a problem.


That's exactly what the talented duo got the other day at the Fiorano test track at Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, where the first two examples of the new SRT8 in Europe were delivered to the pair of stars. Certainly, the Grand Cherokee SRT8 has plenty to love, what with its 6.4-liter Hemi V8 and 5-second dash to 62 mph, but Fernando And Felipe got more than that.

These two unique examples were decked out in Rosso Corso , with matte black front grille, a black offset racing stripe, black roof, carbon fiber trim and white accents. Ride height was lowered by 1.5 inches on unique forged and painted 20-inch alloys, and the interior has similarly been decked out in red leather accents and top-stitching and even yellow dials on the instruments.

Nice work if you can get it. All you have to do is convince the most victorious team in motorsport that you've got what it takes to be world champion, and you can have one too.

Domestics picked up market share in California last year

Most days, California must seem like Kazakhstan for the Big Three. Domestic products aren't so popular out West, where Toyota and Honda have long stood atop the sales charts. But not in 2011.

Visit us at http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com




According to a report in Automotive News, both General Motors and Ford managed to bump Honda from its silver medal position in 2011, though Toyota still holds a commanding market share lead. In a storyline we've heard before, the twin natural disasters in Asia curbed Japanese production, causing a 4.5 point loss of market share. Toyota's market share dropped from 22.8 to 19.2 percent, while GM and Ford tied at 12.6 percent – ahead of Honda at 12.1.

Booming sales in the Golden State helped the domestics to their 1.8 point gain. New vehicle registrations in California were up 9.9 percent, according to the report. The biggest sales gains last year were made by Kia and Jeep, which were up 53 and 49 percent, respectively.