The winners were announced a function at the National Ploughing Championships on Tuesday.

The Irish Farmers Journal machinery team tested 11 different 4x4 vehicles in early September in a combination of road and field tests. All 11 underwent the same gruelling testing programme, which included a 14km road section pulling a loaded Ifor Williams livestock trailer.

The Toyota Land Cruiser scored a total of 74 points out of a total of 80, edging ahead of the Mitsubishi Pajero at 72 points and the Land Rover Discovery achieved 70 points in the 4x4 business/commercial section. The five 4x4s testing in the Farmer’s 4x4 Awards included the Land Rover Defender, Land Rover Discovery, Mitsubishi Pajero, SsangYong Rexton and Toyota Land Cruiser. Between them, they account for over 85% of the commercial/business 4x4’s sold on the Irish market.

The Ford Ranger narrowly defeated the Toyota Hilux to win the Farmer’s 4x4 Pick-up Award 2016 with 86 points out of 100, just two points ahead of the Hilux. The Mitsubishi L200 pick-up was a close third at 83 points.

The six 4x4 pick-ups tested in the Journal Farmer’s 4x4 Award programme included the Ford Ranger, Great Wall Steed, Isuzu D-Max, Mitsubishi L200, Toyota Hilux and Volkswagen Amarok.