Ovik Crossway
Having been impressed by some of the
extreme vehicles on show at ExCeL, we were delighted to get our hands on a new
armoured model destined for the UK - the Ovik Crossway - which will be pressed
into service at Britain's nuclear power stations.
This formidable 4x4 takes its name from
the small village near Dorchester, in Dorset, where it's built by Ovik - the
company run by Jez Hermer MBE and his brother Duncan.
Intended for civil defence, the Ovik
Crossway is heavier and tougher all round than the Defender. It stands on a
beefy, square-section welded steel frame, with coil-sprung solid axles and a
197 bhp Ford 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbodiesel engine. Plus, a six-speed
automatic box drives all four wheels. It seats nine and weighs 4,050 kg, with a
5.4-tonne gross weight.
The whole vehicle is built from scratch
in-house by Ovik's team of 26 experts. It can be customised, too, in four
different wheelbases, four or six-wheel-drive, as a chassis cab or pickup or a
soft-skinned, aluminium-bodied civilian version. The cabin is accessed via
heavy doors and is full of sharp metal. The seats are comfortable, but the
driving position feels too high - this is specified by the client.
The engine rumbles through the cabin and
gear selection is via a floor lever with a Tiptronic-style manual override. It
pulls away smartly, but requires a hefty shove on the throttle to get up to
cruising speed.
Once on the move, the steering is light
and precise and the ride is good. The Crossway is a big, top-heavy vehicle, but
it doesn't drive like one. Body roll is well controlled and it doesn't pitch or
squat under acceleration of braking - the all-round disc brakes prove more than
up to the job.
All the same, the Crossway is the ideal
purpose-built vehicle to protect law-enforcement officers when the air is
filled with bullets and bad intentions.
