13th Edition of "Best 4x4" Romania

The “Best 4x4” Romania competition wants to award the automobiles with the best results in both off-road and on-road. It is interesting to mention that all the participating automobiles have the same equipment levels as those found in the showrooms.

At the start of the 13th edition of the competition there were four automobile categories: Pickup, Off-road, SUV Premium and SUV. The on-road stages took place on the National Road 73A, between the Mateias mausoleum and the Holcim factory. The off-road stages took place on two mountain tracks set up around the Leresti county.

In order to be eligible for this competition, all the models must have been on sale in Romania in the first half of the year 2013. All the models in the competition had only factory equipment, homologated by the automakers for normal road use. No improvements or modifications of the drive train, body, transmission or engine were allowed. The tires were those mentioned as being the official equipment of each car.

The Best 4x4 Pickup category was won by the new Ford Ranger. The Ford Ranger managed to defeat other experienced models in the segment like the Nissan Navara, the Mitsubishi L200 and the Isuzu D-MAX. The Ford Ranger impressed the jury with its off-road qualities, its extremely safe driving behavior as well as the decent fuel consumption. It is important to mention that the downhill assistance system worked very nicely, despite the manual transmission on the Ford Ranger.

The Best 4x4 Off-road category was dominated by the new generation Range Rover, which also won the award. The British SUV convinced the members of the jury with its exquisite qualities, both on tarmac and on the off-road tracks, where the Range Rover combines the comfort offered to the passengers with the remarkable easiness in going over any obstacle. The Range Rover clearly beat its contenders at the off-road category, the Suzuki Jimny and the Volkswagen Touareg.

The Best 4x4 Premium SUV award was won by the Audi Q3 thanks to its out of the factory high quality, dynamic behavior and polyvalence in exploitation. The Audi Q3 managed to defeat the Land Rover Freelander 2 and the Audi Q5.

The most important award, the Best 4x4 SUV was won by the Mitsubishi Outlander. The Japanese SUV had important competition, including the Nissan X-Trail, the Kia Sorento, the Hyundai Santa Fe, the Honda CR-V, the Ford Kuga and the Dacia Duster. The members of the jury appreciated the mix between the on-road qualities of the Mitsubishi Outlander and the off-road abilities.