If you have enough imagination, the (seemingly) proper vehicle, and a bunch of enthusiast friends, the world turns into your playground. Case in point, these SUV aficionados from Russia, who gathered up on the snowy countryside to attack hills, rocks, snow... and just about anything in between.
We have no idea if this qualifies as a proper motorsport display – as far as we could understand from the poorly translated closed captioning, they’re gathered there because they’re friends, they love being outdoors no matter the weather conditions, and they want to put their SUVs and off-roaders to the test.
The bunch is as eclectic as it gets, showcasing a proper use of the word diversity. We saw just about every vehicle that qualifies as an SUV or more – from the unassuming Renault (Dacia) Duster and Toyota RAV4 to the ubiquitous Lada Niva, as well as many European, Japanese, and even American representatives.
There’s no shortage of interesting vehicles, but they spring into action from the get-go (around the 3:30 mark) with a Mercedes-Benz G Class attacking the first hill... and failing. The video comes from a proud Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150 owner, so we’re going to see it and its siblings – both old and new – aplenty from now on.
And yes, we have a feeling the video opens up with the failed attempts of the G-Klasse in a bid to showcase why it’s so important for the driver behind the steering wheel to be just as experienced as the vehicle itself... Even the first Prado (6:30) fails to go up the very steep and muddy hill at its first attempt.
Just when one would think it’s too much even for such mighty vehicles, there’s a Range Rover Evoque that ultimately makes the climb (7:25), followed by another Prado succeeding in just one go... See, we told you it was also a matter of skill, not just having the latest technology or a legendary off-roader at your disposal.
The case is settled over the course of more than one hour of footage, where we see that Russian Niva display its off-road skills with ease when proper tires have been chosen, the Mercedes G-Class do some shenanigans (to compensate the lack of hill climb skills, probably), or the Range Rover Evoque and Prado attempt (43:40) a one-on-one battle... with the steep hill easily taking the win.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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