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History
In October 2004 the WA 4WD Association (WA4WDA), with the support of Instructors and advisors from the Association’s Driver Training Programme (DTP), held an open day at Gnangara for people with “Compact 4WD’s”, or “Soft-roaders” as they were referred to back then.Â
Sixty vehicles attended the day and while one of the Association’s aims was to show people the capabilities of their vehicle, the main purpose was to get enough interest to start a club that catered for and would run trips within the capabilities of the Compact 4WD.
The Association received a considerable amount of interest from people who wanted to be in this new club and a couple of people wanted to take this to the next stage and undertook the task of forming the club. Unfortunately this proved to be too large a task for someone new to 4wdriving to accomplish and the project failed to make any further progress.Â
A decision was made in April 2005 to restart the Compact 4WD club project and, with the assistance of the WA 4WD Association, people that had expressed interest in being part of this new club were again contacted and the club’s first trip was organised and run through Gnangara on the 19th of June.Â
Since then the response has been fantastic, with people formalising the committee positions on July 10 - a day where the Subaru 4WD club assisted the “compacts” along the power-line track – much to the surprise of drivers of larger 4WDs, a recce trip through some interesting tracks in the Dwellingup area – July 17, organising a meeting date and location and having the affiliation application accepted by the WA 4WD Association on the18th of July 2005.
Meetings
The club holds it’s monthly meetings, the 1st Monday of every month, at the East Victoria Park Family and Community Centre on the cnr of Kent and Gloucester Sts, East Victoria Park, which is centrally located to suit members from the metropolitan area, the meetings start at 7.30pm. It is hoped that the membership will increase to the point that the club can be split into two branches, with one based north and the other south of the river, although the membership will not be limited to people in the Perth area and the club would be happy to hear from people in country areas who wish to be a part of this group.
Purpose
The purpose for this club is so people can learn the capabilities of their vehicles and to show they are very capable of doing most things that a normal 4wd does, in standard configuration, without the need to spend huge amounts of money on their vehicles.
The club was started with the above goals in mind, we (Sally & Wayne) are both senior 4wd instructors with a combined 16years of experience behind us and pass on our knowledge to club members, teaching the correct way to do something and why and also the safest way for both member and vehicle. We teach how not to get stuck and promote passive recovery in the event a vehicle does get stuck. We do not promote or use snatch strap recoveries within the club.
What is a Compact 4WD
A compact 4wd vehicle has 3 of the following 4 criteria....
1. A vehicle without low range gearing
2. A vehicle with limited wheel travel
3. A vehicle with limited ground clearance
4. A vehicle that is small to medium in size
The club is for Compact 4WD vehicles and all trips are planned and run for those vehicles but we do allow small 4wd vehicles such as Subaru and Suzuki to join.
A Compact 4WD is a vehicle that has been designed and built around a passenger vehicle base and has limited 4wd or AWD capacity included. These vehicles are also refered to as Compact Crossover 4WD Vehicles meaning they are built to the manufacturers specific compact platform.
A short list of some compact vehicles the club has already or would accept:
Honda CRV
Nissan X-Trail
Toyota Rav4
Kia Sorento
Kia Sportage
Mitsubishi Outlander
Mazda Tribute
Subaru Forester
Hyundai Tucson
Toyota Kluger
Suzuki Grand Vitara
Suzuki Vitara
Volvo XC90
BMW X5
Daihatsu Terios
Lada Niva
Suzuki Sierra
If your vehicle is not on this list and you feel it qualifies for membership, please contact us and ask the question.
This list is by no means complete and will be added to as different vehicles join or are brought to our attention.
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