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JAPANESE vehicles have made major inroads in the luxury side of the four-wheel-drive market, but at the more rugged "agricultural" end, Land Rover has consistently held pride of place for 35 years.
It is towards the latter sector that the Portuguese-built UMM Trans-Cat is aimed. It has a competitive price tag, durable build specification and good off-road performance.
Uniao Metalo-Mecanica of Lisbon has been building UMM 4x4 models in various forms for 14 years, but for the UK market the range is restricted to pick-ups, hard-tops and 10/12seat station wagons.
Unladen, all three Trans-Cat models each weigh in at 1,550kg in standard form. They have a 2mm (0.08in) steel plate body welded on a 4mm (0.161n) tubular steel chassis frame.
UMM 4x4 vehicles are used by some NATO forces and this type certainly has a desert corps look about it with removable top and hinge-down windscreen. Our pickup test vehicle was spoilt by the canvas canopy's rear flap that would not secure down when rolled up.
Power for all three models is supplied by Peugeot's XD2P4.94 50kW (67hp) 2.3-litre diesel engine. For the type of mainly off-road work that this pickup is designed for, UMM specifies either ZF or Borg Warner transmission.
The test vehicle had a fourspeed direct top synchromesh gearbox and high-low ratio transfer box, both units of ZF manufacture. Front and rear aXles, both built by Dana, had final drive ratios of 5.38 to 1 with a Trac-lok limited slip differential on the rear and manual lock up on the freewheeling front hubs.
Fully laden with its 1.05tonne payload, it demonstrated remarkable off-road traction around CM's course.
The Trans-Cat, with the 3.73 to 1 bottom gear engaged in low ratio, felt invincible on muddy, shale-strewn gradients of between 1 in 2 and 1 in 3. Over woodland tracks, heavy with axle-deep mud and water, the UMM 4x4 clawed its way along in second gear and made good use of its 48 and 40 degree approach and departure angles.
Servo-assisted drum brakes all round provided adequate stopping power in most conditions, but the pedal seemed to me heavy and "lifeless".
Over rough terrain, the Gemmer worm and nut steering box performed well, but the vehicle had pronounced understeer on and off the road. The turning circle was a useful 10.52m (34.5ft). Its excellent stability is aided by having the engine mounted well behind the front axle, which gives it a good centre of gravity, but herein lies the root cause of a number of problems.
Using the near-inaccessible engine oil dipstick means that the driver wipes the mud with his clothes unless he is very tall. Changing the oil filter or working on the rearmost fuel injectors means the removal of interior panels. These have crudely cut underlay and carpet panels stuck to them, two of which fell off during the test.
Interior sound levels are high with 79/80 d(B)A at 40mph rising to 87/88 between 65 and 70mph. Even the castanet-like indicator switch adds 2 to 3 d(B)A to the noises.
Both the heavy clutch pedal and the accelerator with its strong return spring are tiring on long journeys, while the three gear levers all lean away from the UK driver, having been made originally for left hand-drive vehicles. Finding reverse means lifting and pushing the lever away.
Long-legged drivers of UMM pickups will find little clearance between knee and brake pedal because the steel backwall allows no rearward seat adjust ment. Steering locks in UK are fitted underneath the dash behind the hand throttle, out of sight, and have to be felt for.
The windscreen wipers are hopelessly inadequate. A dash
mounted rocker switch has to be jiggled incessantly to ensure that both washer and wiper operate sufficiently as both will
not work together. The small blades leave large areas of the windscreen unswept and in muddy conditions visibility can be seriously affected.
An unsightly and inefficient, plastic ducting arrangement is mounted on the engine cover to transfer hot or cold air onto the screen and downwards to the footwell. Neither was is it successful. Only on a clattering, full blow did the hot air filter upwards onto the screen, demisting two adjacent semicircles of glass only. Directed downwards, it reached only my left knee.
Farmers will curse interior door handles that trap unwary fingers, fuses that are inside a glove box that will collect rain when the window is left open and having to change hub seals when the conventional axle breathers block up. But they will appreciate its off-road ability and its fuel efficiency every bit as much as its very sharp price tag.
• by Bryan Jarvis