In its good and bad moments Africa can put 4×4 vehicles severely to the test. Besides its roads and topography, in its southern parts landmines still litter large stretches of arable land and in other regions low-intensity wars are being fought. Alwyn Viljoen finds that a former bread van has become Africa’s best 4×4.

South Africans like to boast that they live in 4×4-paradise. They base their claim on having the widest choice of unspoilt terrain; the largest selection of four-wheel drive vehicles and, finally, the strongest and cheapest beer.

To be the best 4×4 in this paradise, a vehicle must be able to handle deserts, snowy peaks and, when required, even landmines such as those still lurking in the fertile areas of Angola and Mozambique. Keeping the peace in parts of Africa also has its own set of strictures when it comes to go-anywhere vehicles.

The Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho has over the years provided another stage on which to show off the more technical challenges of offroad driving in the form of steep dirt tracks that snake their way through mountains some 2 600 metres above sea level. Lesotho annually hosts the Roof of Africa 4×4 challenge, but heavy rains in December 2007 sent wheel-sized boulders crashing down steep paths, which led to fewer than half the entrants finishing the race. And to date only one vehicle has met all the possible requirements of mobility: the RG32M “panzerwagen” (armoured vehicle) built by BAE in Johannesburg.

The RG32M was born on the steep, red dunes of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia, where sand grains shaped like ball bearings challenge any chassis. Driving over the Kalahari sand dunes is often likened to planing a boat: tyres have to be deflated to about 1 bar and the turbo-diesel under the hood should send enough power to the wheels to keep the tyres floating over – as opposed to sinking into – the sand.

Further north in Mozambique’s Tet province, the threat of landmines adds a certain zest to driving to the new copper mines in the otherwise dull floodplain.

Military types acknowledge the RG32M to be the best vehicle with which to conquer such terrain – including the landmines. And this panzerwagen is British … on paper, at least. BAE Systems bought the main shareholding from Alvis Vickers PLC in 2004, which in turn had bought into the former South African defence supplier’s proven mine-protection expertise in the mid-90s.

The BAE factory now sells a range of ballistic- repellent vehicles to various police and defence forces from the United States to Europe and the Middle East, but the RG32M is the pick of the bunch.

It provides a £152 000 (about R2.1-million) “entry-level” vehicle for the lucrative market of peacekeeping forces, whose members even blog their praise for this six-tonne, landmine-proof panzerwagen with its straight-six Steyr engine on Unimog axles.

While king of the off-road and a budget buy in military terms, the RG32M’s price remains a tad expensive for the private buyer in South Africa, who until now has had to shake about in ancient Unimogs for go-anywhere 4×4 ability.

Enter the Iglhaut-Allrad permanent fourwheel- drive off-road conversion of the Mercedes- Benz 315 CDI Sprinter panel van. The Sprinter started life as a bread-delivery van but, being German, one suspects it was always capable of putting on lederhosen (leather shorts or trousers) and scaling Everest during its afternoon off.

In its truly off-road conversion, Iglhaut-Allrad placed three electronic differential locks into the drive shaft, changed and strengthened the suspension, and lifted the ground clearance to 26 centimetres underneath the rear axle. Final touches include a snorkel exhaust that enables wading depths of up to 70 centimetres, while rock sliders underneath the length of the panel van and a bush bar upfront provide protection against Africa’s bush.

The result is a bread van that will drive anywhere, stepping with care only near a landmine. Anywhere else, we found the Sprinter 4×4 to be as unstoppable as the legendary Unimog truck. What’s more, it has impressed South Africa’s two leading 4×4 fundis, Sarel van der Merwe and Francois Rossouw.

Former rally champion Van der Merwe drove the Sprinter in the Kalahari on the annual Mitsubishi Spirit of Africa challenge. With 300 Nm delivered from just over idling speed, the Sprinter always had enough power to crest the steepest dunes without digging in, and now Van der Merwe has his heart set on getting himself one.

Rossouw, again, used deep mud to illustrate the Sprinter’s perfect marriage between Newtons, kilowatts and diff-locks. While on the first magazine test of the 4×4 Sprinter, Iglhaut-Allrad’s designers ordered the former bread van to be driven straight into a mud pit after they had spent most of the day crawling over rocks.

As the thick, black mud slowly closed over the Sprinter’s “Big Foot” 315/75R16 wheels, Rossouw decided to use a tactic better suited to front-wheel drive, high-revving hatches.

On paper, centrifugal forces will fling the mud off spinning tyres, giving the thread fresh grip with each revolution. Stuck in deep mud, however, the theory translates into chasing the revs to just over 2 000, popping the clutch to spin the wheels and then gunning the engine like a drag racer to keep the revs in the power band.

Most diesel engines linked to 4×4 drivetrains cannot generate their power at high enough kilowatts to spin the wheels fast enough, but Rossouw reckoned the Sprinter's peak power should do the trick …

He raced the engine, popped the clutch and with a cloud of mud instantly blackening the sides, the Sprinter slowly inched forward in the deep mud. Keeping the wheels in line to reduce lateral vectors to a minimum and the revs on the boil just below 3 600 r/min, Rossouw got the Sprinter to continue climbing slowly amid twin bow waves of mud. As soon as the front wheels crested the pit, the Sprinter felt as if it had hauled itself out of the mud.

No other heavily laden 4×4 bakkie – the South African pick-up – can emulate this stunt, despite the region currently offering more 4×4 models than any other country.

Now, as word of the 4×4 Sprinter’s ability, space and fuel economy spreads, these manufacturers are looking at a former bread van to use as a support vehicle for their 4×4 safaris ... and, as a bonus, the Sprinter can still deliver the all-important cargo of cold beer and a few bread rolls to their destinations.

Permanent four-wheeler packs a punch
When Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles identified a need in the southern African market for an all-terrain vehicle to meet the demands of their customers, the natural fit as supplier was Iglhaut GmbH The Sprinter 4×4 is based on a standard Mercedes-Benz Sprinter panel van and/or chassis cab, which is converted to customer specifications by Iglhaut-Allrad SA. The basic drivetrain used is the same as the standard Sprinter’s; however, the front axle has been converted into a driving axle together with three diff-locks and the transfer gearbox, which includes low range (i = 2,5). The vehicle is fitted with tyres ranging from 265 to 285 to 315 × 16 inch wheels, dependent on the application and usage of the vehicle. The Sprinter 4×4 has a five-speed manual gearbox with permanent four-wheel drive.