What’s new?
A general buffing-up for this Jurassic-era off-roader. In addition to a new look, it gets a heavily reworked interior, a slightly more powerful engine and better standard equipment.
What’s it like?
Pretty much as we remember the old one being. Uprated suspension gives slightly less roll-prone on-road performance, but it still feels very old-fashioned on tarmac. And although refinement has improved slightly, proceedings are still dominated by the industrial din that comes from stirring some kind of performance from that vast four-pot engine.
Get into the real wilderness, though, and the Shogun comes into its own, effortlessly conquering the sort of off-road terrain that would stop anything this side of a Land Rover or Toyota Land Cruiser.
It's still very much the real deal, but the extra equipment (including a neat hard-disc navigation-and-audio system on range-toppers) can't disguise the gulf between it and the soft-roaders that now dominate the segment.
Should I buy one?
If you're a farmer looking to combine a selection of creature comforts with the ability to get to the bottom of that muddy field, then possibly. But for anyone who doesn't need all-out back-to-nature performance, the Shogun is rather stuck in a rut.
Mike Duff
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