When we think of car enthusiasts, we often think of those with a thirst for power, speed, grip and loud engines. But the reality is quite different than that, because car enthusiasts come in all shapes and forms.

Delve deeper into the topic and you will realise there are different types of enthusiasts. Some like drag racing with thousand horsepower monsters. Others like lightweight karts, and some like winged cars creating unimaginable downforce, all in the pursuit of posting the fastest lap time. That is of course, oversimplifying it.

But there is one group of enthusiasts that this writer met recently that opened my eyes to a whole new world of automotive passions – the 4X4 lovers, or sometimes known as the off-roaders, or “off-road kaki”.

For context, this writer grew up loving 4X4’s, those gigantic machines with large tyres that could dig themselves out of a trench, a winch dangling at the front and heavy metal bumpers that threaten to rip the radiators or taillights out of regular cars on the road.

In fact, I had a poster of one of the scenes from Camel Trophy on my bedroom wall. Staring into that adventure poster as a boy and fantasising about the adventures that awaited in some far away land was how I escaped from the mundanity of school life.

Little did I know that I would have the chance to experience something similar years later.

I recently returned from the 2024 edition of the Borneo Safari, and it was one of the greatest adventures I have ever experienced. Days spend pulling cars out of the mud and nights spent sleeping under the stars with the daily baths taken in the cool rivers reminded me of that very poster on my wall.

The Borneo Safari has been running for 32 consecutive years, and out of that, 16 have been officially sponsored by Isuzu Malaysia.

Taking place in and around the rainforest of Sabah, Borneo Safari is considered to be one of the most difficult 4X4 races in the world. I was told that it is among the 40 most difficult races in the world. And after what I witnessed, I don’t doubt that at all.

The 2024 edition of Borneo Safari attracted a record breaking 620 registered vehicles with over 1900 participants. The participants are divided into two categories – the Competition Category and the Expedition Category.

The Competition Category is made up of teams that tackle challenges and special stages as quickly as possible. The fastest team with the most accumulated points at the end of the eight-day competition is crowned champion.

Those that compete in this category do so in highly specialised offroad vehicles that share nothing in common with the road going cars they are based on. They are powered by big capacity V8 diesel or petrol engines, feature long travel suspension and tyres that look like they were built for the surface of Mars. Their winches cost as much as a Perodua Alza and they even have all-wheel-steering, to make it easier to manoeuvre around obstacles. And as brutish as they may look, these cars typically cost between RM250,000 to RM400,000.

The Expedition Category on the other hand is also known as “Tag Ons”. This category too requires highly modified offroad vehicles to tackle the challenges of the jungles of Sabah but they are mostly road-going cars with jacked up suspension, mud tyres and winches that can pull up to five tons. But unlike the competitors, they do not take part in the special stage and there is no winner in this category.

The tag ons are made up of people with a knack for adventure, and includes the media team as well, which includes us as well as journalists from other countries.

This group also includes individuals who pay to experience the Borneo Safari, which means that even you can participate in the Borneo Safari for a price just to experience the wilderness of Sabah as well as the challenges of driving offroad.

I attended the 2024 of Borneo Safari as a guest of Isuzu Malaysia. As transport, my team and other guests were provided with the latest-generation Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain, which was modified for the specific purpose of surviving the Borneo Safari.

The modification list includes uprated suspension that also gave the car higher ground clearance, mud tyres, metal bumpers, side bars to protect the car from impact, a snorkel so that the engine can breathe if the car were to be submerged, and even some electronic upgrades as well.

The terrain was unforgiving, but I was told this year was relatively okay since it did not rain that much. But still there was more mud that you can possibly imagine, enough to stop a car dead in its track and leave it there if it wasn’t for the rescue vehicles that tag along as well.

Before you think that the Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain was incapable of tackling the challenges because it needed a rescue team, let me just clarify that all cars had a rescue team. It is impossible for one car to manage everything alone and a rescue team is a must. Even for the competitors and their specialised cars.

The Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain is already a very capable pick-up truck. With a virtually indestructible 3.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged powertrain, the truck puts out 190PS and 450Nm of torque, transferred to the wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission.

While the powertrain is tried and tested, the latest-generation X-Terrain features a technology that seemingly no other pick-up truck has. Called the Rough Terrain Mode, this new system is designed to allow the car to pull itself out of a tough situation.

It works by sending power to individual wheels that have traction. That is the beauty of this system. While most 4X4 machines transfer power from the front or rear axle, the Rough Terrain Mode is unique since it is able to send power to a single wheel, and that is why the X-Terrain is so perfectly adapted to the great outdoors.

In total, I spent eight days in the jungle, completely disconnected from the world but yet perfectly happy at the same time. There was a chuck wagon that tagged along and acted as a moving cafeteria, providing three meals a day with multiple snacks and limitless coffee, tea and drinks. The food was beyond good.

There was also a Camping Team whose focus was to look for locations that were suitable to set up camp for about 50 people. They did a stellar job, the group slept on riverbanks, under the canopy of the trees and even when I thought there was no place for a camp to be set up, they simply got their machetes out and levelled the ground for camp. Of course, that also meant our camp site was paradise for alien like critters such as a centipede as long as one’s forearm.

Despite all the challenges, the Isuzu’s clawed, powered and heaved their way out of everything in their path. The line-up included the new X-Terrain, the previous generation X-Terrain and even the single cab model. And if there is anything that I learnt from this, it is that the Isuzu powertrain remains as one of the most dependable in the business, even if there are a lot more electronics in it than ever before.

The Borneo Safari is an event that deserves more recognition than it has now. I particularly salute the fact that they have a team dedicated to ensuring that no rubbish is left behind, and that environmental impact is minimised. The team even had to ask for permission before setting up camp in some places, just to ensure that the trees and shrubs were not damaged.

The event does not only bring together like-minded individuals from near and far, but is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit when facing a seemingly impossible situation. The drivers that were tasked with taking the group around were professionals with unique skills honed over years of surviving in the jungles, and that made my trip all the better as there was always a sense of being in control, even though it sometimes seems as if mother nature was winning.

Borneo Safari is an international event that takes place every year around October and November, and judging from the sheer number of people that take part every year and Isuzu Malaysia’s dedication to the event, it is set to keep growing.

Specifications:
Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain
Engine: 3.0-litre, 4-cylinder, turbocharged
Power: 190PS @ 3600rpm
Torque: 450Nm @ 1600rpm
Suspension: Independent double wishbones, coil springs, stabilisers with gas shock absorbers (front) / semi-elliptical leaf spring with gas shock absorbers
Price: RM157,938.40

We like: Tough powertrain, comfortable interior, safety systems
We don’t like: After driving it in Borneo Safari, we have nothing but respect for it