Welcome to a special edition of 4WD Magazine. No, we are not going soft on the off-road stuff, so don't worry! What we wanted to do in addition to the regular 4WD content is feature the ever-growing truck segment.

A recent survey I saw on the top-10 producing car dealerships in central British Columbia was the fact almost all of them said their number-one selling new product was a truck. Not an SUV, but a Silverado or a F-150. Then consider the fact the average new truck buyer spends $4,000-$5,000 on accessories for their trucks in the first year of ownership.

Trucks have moved well out of a strictly utility vehicle role to become an everyday family vehicle. This is evident in the ever-growing cab sizes and the number of four-door trucks on the road. They offer more than what a SUV can - add a cap and you have everything a SUV can offer with the added ability to load a yard of dirt in the back for the garden, or haul a trailer or fifth-wheel down the road, or a load of rain-soaked camping gear back home without destroying the interior.

Our plan for 2008 is to give all of our readers a great bonus - four extra issues covering all there is to cover on trucks. The new name is Just Trucks by 4WD. Features will include new truck reviews, classic builds, lift kits, performance items, towing features and more on the truck lifestyle. Heck, many of us drive something other than our dedicated trail rig around the street anyway - and if you don't, you probably want to! I also see more and more off-roaders towing their junk to the trail and for good reason.

Once upon a time everyone had a streetable 4x4 - that was just how you wheeled - you drove to and from the trail all the time. Today, many off-road trucks are more a jungle gym of tubing than anything resembling a Toyota or Suzuki or Jeep except for a few body panels.

So in this issue you will find a blend of the two with the focus on the new trucks available from the dealers, some popular upgrade options for newer vehicles, and a bit of off-road thrown in for good measure.

What you will now get (as long as the stars and moon line up right) for the same 20-buck subscription price is 12 issues per year! Eight off-road versions with all the new truck stuff filtered out, and four issues (one for each season), dedicated to pickups, lifts, accessories and more.

So you'll get two editions - one great price!

Enough self promotion - let's touch on the winners of our 'Subscribe-and-Win' contest. We have three very happy guys this month that will be hanging some great new gear on their rigs.

Rick Logan from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia picked himself a set of 35-inch Mickey Thompson MTZ tires! Rick runs a pair of International Scouts.

Ronald Milne, who hails from Clinton, Alberta picked a BDS suspension for his Jeep J truck

Steve Fontaine from Lethbridge, Alberta gets to beef up his Ford Ranger with a new driveshaft and Super Seal U-joints from the Gear Centre Group.

Congrats to all of you and I want to thank our generous advertisers for again stepping up for our third subscribe-and-win promotion - we couldn't do it without your support!

Everyone have a great holiday season and let's all wish for a Canadian dollar at par well into the new year!

Albert Vandervelde
Editor, 4WD Magazine