Back in 1993 I sat in a meeting room in Croydon being interviewed for a staff job on a magazine called Off Road and 4 Wheel Drive.The other candidates must have all got stuck on the same train or something, because a few weeks later there I was starting a new career as a car hack on Britain’s best 4x4 mag. Before long, it was my ambition one day to be editor of that magazine.And now, a mere 24 years later, here I am.
In the meantime the old publishers changed the name of the mag to 4x4. If you’ve got a very long memory, you’ll remember that there used to be another magazine with that same name, but it was long gone by then.
A year or two later, I waded back in as launch editor of Total Off Road.That was in 2002. Our aim was to do the same thing but with a bit more of a real-world edge - ‘International Off-Roader done properly’ was the phrase I used to use about what I was aiming at with it, which might once again have some meaning if you have a long enough memory.
Now, anyway, after a decade and a half of rivalry, TOR and 4x4 have merged. I’m not going to be all smug and say we won the war, but TOR’s owner,Assignment Media, has taken over 4x4 and rolled them into one.And this is the first issue of that one.
What can you expect from the new-look 4x4 incorporating Total Off-Road?Well, in each case I’d like to say more of the same only better. Not everyone is interested in every part of the overall 4x4 scene, and I have to confess that I’d like it a lot more if every new vehicle I got to test drive was a proper off-road machine the way they were back in 1993, but we’re aiming to cover the whole subject as fully as possible.
That means everything from the grassroots club and playday scene to full-house overland travel and coverage of the shiny 4x4s competing to be your next school runner or tow truck.
Don’t fret, though - two-wheel drive fake-by-fours that look the part but can’t even make it up a raised kerb have no place here. Not all the vehicles we cover will be serious mug-pluggers, but they must at least have four-wheel drive and some sort of off-road intent in their DNA.
Under its previous owners, I’ve seen articles in 4x4 about things like the Subaru WRX and Honda Prelude. Rest assured I’m taking my responsibility towards off-roading more seriously than that.
I’m also very aware of this magazine’s heritage. So let me pay tribute to its founders Brian Hartley, Mike Hallett and David Bowyer. If your memory is really long, that was in the 1980s and the mag was at the time called Overlander.
The subject has changed beyond all recognition since then. New 4x4s no longer have low box and live axles as standard, and the sort of money you can spend on one has gone up by about 1000%. For off-road enthusiasts, the variety of tyres, suspension options and so on you can get has gone ballistic. Even a staple like Plasma rope was unheard of back then.
Amid it all, for most people off-roading still means a gentle time exploring green lanes or having a laugh at playdays.And for those who dare to dream, 4x4 heaven still means setting off to see the world aboard an expedition truck.
You could choose to see all this as a sign that the 4x4 scene is disjointed. I prefer to see it as a sign that it’s richly varied, with something in it for everyone.Which, I hope, will describe this magazine very well too.

Alan Kidd Editor