THE venerable Mitsubishi Shogun was Land Rover's main rival for many yearsand found a wide range of devotees from all walks of life.

Farmers and country folk loved its excellent off-road ability and lasting qualities while others liked the high driving position and reputation for very good reliability.

I've been lucky enough to put it through some seriously challenging country off-road and it's pretty well unstoppable.

The tough old Shogun took deep water, steep slippery grass slopes, mud and ruts in its stride and felt as though it could happily do worse.

Despite many up-dates the most recent model was launched in 2007 and lasted through until 2018.

That means it's a little agricultural compared to most of the later competition, with the only engine choice being a 3.2 litre four cylinder diesel that's pretty gruff.

Both short wheelbase three door and long wheelbase five door models were available and while some three doors came with a five speed manual gearbox, many of them and all of the five doors have a five speed automatic.

This really suits the Shogun's laid back feel and makes it very easy to drive in all situations.

Drive is permanently to all four wheels and in normal road use, about two thirds of that power goes to the rear. This changes automatically off-road when it begins to lose rear wheel traction, and more power is transferred to the front.

Being a serious off-roader, it also has a low ratio transfer gearbox for use in very tough conditions off-road plus a lockable rear differential that will only ever be needed as a last resort to get you out of a very sticky situation.

The engine produces 187 bhp and gives enough urge for the LWB models to get to 60 miles an hour from rest in around 11 seconds.

Top speed is 112mph so is quite capable of keeping up with the traffic flow on the motorway, and best economy is likely to be about 30mpg on a run, or just 20 around town.

On the downside, they are fairly crude to drive on the road compared to later offerings, with at best adequate refinement.

They weave over lumpy surfaces and there is a lot of bump-thump from the large wheels and tyres. But the ride generally is more than acceptable once you get used to it.

There is a fair amount of lean in the corners, but it's much less than in earlier Shoguns. That said it can be pretty roly-poly taken fast over undulating surfaces.

Despite its bulk, it is reasonably easy to manoeuvre thanks to good power steering, but this does not give much feel at speed.

The high driving position gives an excellent view all round, and of course, it's a top towcar, able to pull the biggest caravan or horse trailer.

The LWB models come with two extra folding seats in the vast boot and all models have an alarm, traction control, plenty of airbags, climate control, alloy wheels and heated mirrors.

Mid-range SG3 adds audio remote control, sat nav, parking sensors, electric heated leather seats, DVD player, cruise control and a sunroof.

Pay about £17,400 for a '15 15-reg SG3 LWB, or £28,400 for an '18 18-reg SG5.