by Budd Stanley
This would be the cry my wife would hear almost on a nightly basis just before going to bed not so long ago. If you read the last issue of 4WDrive Magazine, you’ll know that I grew our little family by one more member, introducing a slightly worn Suzuki Samurai to the driveway. However, during the long hard search for our new off-road toy, I would spend nearly every night searching the interwebs for either a Samurai or an old Land Cruiser 40-Series. I love the 40, just as much as the Sammi, but half the time I found one on Kijiji or Craigslist, they were raped of their Toyota heart, replace with a 350 small block.
Yes, I’m one of those people, I celebrate the sanctity of automotive branding, keeping Toyota engines in Toyota’s, Land Rover engines in Land Rovers, Ford engines in… well, maybe there are exceptions. All joking aside, if an engine swap is needed, I have always believed that the name on the valve cover should be the same as that on the tailgate.
Likewise, if you read the last issue you’ll also know that I’m a cheapskate. It’s not so much that I want to pay the absolute minimum amount for everything I buy; I am just very picky about what I spend my money on. I’d rather go without buying many things in order to pay a little extra for something built well and built to last.
In addition, nothing eats away at me more than fuel prices. The thought of shoveling out ever increasing sums of money to oil companies for the same product that gets me the same distance down the road every time, is maddening.
This Spring, like every Spring, the cost of fuel has spiked as the driving season is well and truly underway, this year a little more dramatically than normal. Despite purchasing one of the most fuel-efficient 4WD’s to have ever been sold in Canada, I want to do better. I can do better, but this will require a conflict in my thinking, for a VW 1.6L turbo diesel has been known to do wonderful things for the little Samurai.
And so, I’ve found myself in the middle of a paradox. My goal is to build the most fuel-efficient 4WD one could ever dream of, however this means I must break my own cardinal rule of “keeping it in the family” and shun the Suzuki purists. The Zuk Nation like many 4WD enthusiasts, are passionate about their brand. A Samurai is supposed to have a small displacement, high revving Suzuki engine that should bounced off the rev limiter when ever possible. Its what they do, and I agree. However…
In the end, my hatred of oil companies has overpowered my love of a pure automobile, as an Axis VW conversion kit is currently being shipped. I won’t have any updates of the Sammi in this issue, however we do have some big plans for this little rig that will soon start to find their way into the magazine. Do I feel guilty for stepping over my own boundaries? Yes a little bit, but it’s for the greater good.