Any other Land Rover owners / enthusiasts?

[robsea]

Disco 2 TD5 for me

 

[Ste Manns]

Hold on. Fracster is actually pretty well on the money with his assessment of the Defender. It is cramped and uncomfortable. It is badly made and lacking in modern conveniences - like wipers and a heater that actually do what they're supposed to do. Oh, and it's way over-priced too. It's only saving grace is that it's (probably) the best out-of-the-box off-road vehicle of it's type.

And before you hop on that high horse again there's nothing in the paragraph above that I haven't said to members of several Land Rover clubs and the PR team at Land Rover on more than one ocassion.

In fairness I did not say fracster was incorrect. This thread was started by a Landrover enthusiast who obviously likes the marque, as a lot of other people do and his comment seemed to me to be insensitive and downright rude, which was my point. His flippant response was further proof of his lack of respect.

That said, he and you are wrong, at least in my opinion. I have had many Landrovers over the years, I grew up around them and I have also had other 4x4's so any comparisons I make are qualified. I also work for an engineering company (unrelated to vehicles but what I am intimating is that I have mechanical engineering knowledge).

The fact is, when you speak of Landrovers like Fracster (and you) has, you are making the fundamental mistake of thinking a Landrover is a car - it is not, it never has been and it never will be (I am speaking of Series and Defenders, not Range Rovers, Discoveries or Freelanders etc). It has been designed and built for a specific purpose and further developed over many years doing what it was meant to do. It does what it is supposed to do very well, and for what it was designed to do there is no other vehicle on the planet to match it overall. I personally am very comfortable in Landrovers, I fit with adequate room (I'm 6' tall, hardly small) and of all the vehicles I've owned the Landrover is the most reliable one I've ever had. It isn't supposed to have all the mod cons - those things break easily and don't stand up to the punishment that Landrovers can take in the field. They also add weight and cost, both of which aren't wanted. When things do break they are designed to be easily repaired unlike anything else out there.

If what you said were true I doubt very much 70% of ALL Landrovers ever built would still be on the road (many of which are working). You cannot say that about the competition.

And before you hop on your high horse again, please realise you might not know all the facts and someone else probably does. I'm currently restoring a Landrover that's nearly fifty years old and I know every nut and bolt. I doubt there will be many working examples of modern 'softroaders' about in fifty years.

Anyway, as I said before my point was not about the comfort, reliability or ability of Landrovers, I was suggesting a bit of respect for another man's interests might not go amiss.

 

[Bobiw]

Gotta love the Landy's
I had a '67 S2a, my everyday car for just over 2 years, AKA 'The green laning greenhouse' she had big fat MT tyres, huge Roo bars on the front (none of that mamby pamby bull bar nonsense) a pair of recaro seats from an MG metro turbo with harnesses so no bouncing of the roof or door (although it did jiggle the internal organs some what) and I carpeted every bare metal surface inside, put really chunky door seals on and the heater was like a furnace, I could go playing off road in january and be wareing shorts and t-shirt, hence it got the nickname and in the summer just undo 17 bolts and leave the roof and door tops at home

In the time I had her I can honestly say she only broke down once! and that was my fault for not gageing how deep a water filled trench was, after 10mins of drying off the electrics and shunt bump start away she went again

 

[Ste Manns]

I have a friend who, on his way back to Gib he was driving through Northern Africa in his S3 2 1/4 diesel. He ran out of fuel and the locals gave him something he described as 'akin to naptha' (god only knows what it really was). He did another 100 km before the engine made a nasty noise and he came to a grinding halt - on checking he found a hole in the crankcase. He patched it up with some liquid metal and carried on his way to the ferry terminal.

Now I know this couldn't possibly be true but then again I wouldn't put it past him! Due to circumstances I once had to run my old diesel for a month on three cylinders and although down on power it got me to work and back every day. Turned out the pre-combustion chamber on number 4 had come loose and dropped onto the piston, stamping a neat half circle into the block before it disintegrated itself and the piston on that cylinder. The engine was goosed but once I had the money (£50 to be exact) I bought another engine and dropped that in in two hours and was back on the road that night.

It's silly stories like this that make those that do love their Landrovers.

 

[Tonks4x4]

Land Rovers have been my life and livelihood for the past 12-15 years....

Daily runners are 110 DC just sold, full rebuilt 90, full rebuilt 130 DCHC. And bobtail Rangy.

 

[fracster]

It's a luxury tractor loved by enthusiasts and something a Toyota or Nissan will never be, iconic.

That is very ,very true, Landys do have a great following across the world and,yes, they are iconic.

Quite why,i`m not to sure, bit like Moggy Minors ............:shrug:

 

[fracster]

The fact is, when you speak of Landrovers like Fracster (and you) has, you are making the fundamental mistake of thinking a Landrover is a car - it is not, it never has been and it never will be .

You are quite wrong in your assumptions, in fact, you are very wrong.i have spent enough time in, underneath, hiding behind and mending Land Rovers in many differing climates, to make the statement I did.

Not once have I said they are an incapable 4x4, they are not, any idiot knows, or should know that. They are very uncomfortable,i`m sure most owners will agree, the vehicles in my experience were made during the halcyon days of the British car industry, as such, the build quality was not great.

Please get off your horse and accept simple facts. You may like them, but they are not the pinnacle of automotive excellence.

 

[crofter]

That is very ,very true, Landys do have a great following across the world and,yes, they are iconic.

Quite why,i`m not to sure, bit like Moggy Minors ............:shrug:

It's all to do with nuts and bolts, you can completely dismantle either with a few spanners, no ******** electronic *******s that needs a computer tech to sort problems out.

 

[Bristolian]

In fairness I did not say fracster was incorrect. This thread was started by a Landrover enthusiast who obviously likes the marque, as a lot of other people do and his comment seemed to me to be insensitive and downright rude, which was my point. His flippant response was further proof of his lack of respect.

Being an enthusiast (as am I) doesn't mean you should close your ears to criticism. I don't see anything in what he wrote to be insensitive, rude or disrespectful ... unless you have a very low self-esteem.

That said, he and you are wrong, at least in my opinion. I have had many Landrovers over the years, I grew up around them and I have also had other 4x4's so any comparisons I make are qualified. I also work for an engineering company (unrelated to vehicles but what I am intimating is that I have mechanical engineering knowledge).

Well, you'll be pleased to hear that my opinions are also based on personal experience too. Growing up in a small farming village where Series vehicles were de rigeur and then spending 29 years driving and maintaining them and Defenders, Forward Controls and the experimental Llama means I too have mechanical engineering knowledge. During that time I have also driven and worked on just about every other marque on the planet and in almost every climate on the planet - so I feel qualified to express my opinion too.

The fact is, when you speak of Landrovers like Fracster (and you) has, you are making the fundamental mistake of thinking a Landrover is a car - it is not, it never has been and it never will be (I am speaking of Series and Defenders, not Range Rovers, Discoveries or Freelanders etc).

I do not (and never have) thought of Land Rovers (it's two words btw) as a "car" although the planned Defender replacement will put an end to that.

It has been designed and built for a specific purpose and further developed over many years doing what it was meant to do.

The only purpose Maurice Wilkes had in mind when he came up with the idea of the Land Rover was how to continue making cars that didn't require the use of steel bodies because steel was rationed after WW2.

It does what it is supposed to do very well, and for what it was designed to do there is no other vehicle on the planet to match it overall.

That may have been true once but certainly isn't today. Even Land Rover's staunchest supporter - the MOD - are turning their backs on the marque in favour of the Pinzgauer. Civillian companies in Africa, Australia, the Middle East and other regions are replacing the Land Rover with Land Cruisers which not only have the creature comforts that people expect these days but are more reliable too.

If what you said were true I doubt very much 70% of ALL Landrovers ever built would still be on the road (many of which are working). You cannot say that about the competition.

No, you can't say that about the competition any more than you can (truthfully) about Land Rovers either. This was marketing myth espoused back in the seventies (before advertising standards were tightened up) and was normally followed by the sentence "the other 30% have actually made it home"

And before you hop on your high horse again, please realise you might not know all the facts and someone else probably does. I'm currently restoring a Landrover that's nearly fifty years old and I know every nut and bolt. I doubt there will be many working examples of modern 'softroaders' about in fifty years.

I don't know all the facts but you clearly don't either. Having co-written a book on the history of Land Rover - you see I really am an enthusiast - I do feel moderately qualified to express my views though. Restoring a vehicle doesn't make you an expert on the marque in general - just on that vehicle and you might be surprised to know that you're not the only one that's ever restored an old Land Rover. Join the club ... you're member number ??????????

Now, we're in danger of taking over this thread so if you don't mind let's just agree to disagree and let it go at that

 

[antonroland]

Goodness gracious me but there have been some heated comments here!

To each his own I so so sorry if this thread caused some friction...

Love them, hate them, you adapt to a Landy, they do not adapt to you!

I bought mine partly as a second vehicle and partly as a toy. Primarily it was actually to get to landscape locations where a VW Polol will not go.

She checked all of those blocks, has oodles of space and runs on 10-12 km to a litre of diesel...bargain I say.

I promise to put up some piccies before this thread disappears into the dark corners of TP Towers!

Cheers all

 

[wack61]

What I like about my 90 is the infinite modifications I can do to it with a socket set and a rivet gun, no welding required

Mind you it's cost me a bloody fortune, every time I see something underpriced on eBay I haven't got I have to buy it

 

[MisterE]

Disco II 02 V8 auto - money pit

And another one here. But in fairness, reliability hasn't been too bad over the 6 years that I've had it.

I saw a good ad whilst in Australia a while ago:

"If you want to go in to the outback, drive a Land Rover. If you want to come back out, drive a Toyota". It made me smile.

 

[*gold*]

I would love a landy, trouble is i need a 7 seater and in my opinion the discos that i could afford look so dated
Hence, here is what i have, my second one, manual this time and no, i don't mind if it gets filthy, i just need places to go to do it, very capable apparently, very robust and reliable and in my opinion timeless design

Paj tint by Cliff 'O', on Flickr

Happy motoring whatever you drive
Atb
Cliff

 

[wack61]

I would love a landy, trouble is i need a 7 seater and in my opinion the discos that i could afford look so dated

Shame on you for soiling the thread with that picture

If you want a proper Landy buy a 90 county station wagon

They have 7 seats, just

 

[lawrenceots]

Shame on you for soiling the thread with that picture

If you want a proper Landy buy a 90 county station wagon

They have 7 seats, just

Discovery 2 - 2002 - 2004 would be a better option surely - million times comfort and safer and more practical?

 

[TCR4x4]

Or 1998-2004.
Mine is 7 seats on a 2000 plate. Cost £3500. Although I've probably spent another £1000 on repairs and work.

 

[lawrenceots]

yea, is 1998 when they started [utting the seats forward facing? The rear ones were hopeless!

 

[Ste Manns]

Right, first off I'd just like to say my beef wasn't with anyones assessment of land rovers (yes I know its two words but I'm using my mobile, anyone who knows small android keyboards will understand punctuation and so on is hard work) it just seemed rude to me and insulting to genuine enthusiasts, I'm obviously incorrect nobody else cared. I realise I'm in a minority of one and not a member of the clique/fracster fan club so I'm out of here. I did not intend to cause any argument or upset. My own assessment of land rovers was as I said, my opinion not 'fact'.

 

[TCR4x4]

yea, is 1998 when they started [utting the seats forward facing? The rear ones were hopeless!

Yeah 1998 is the series 2 version with air suspension, 7 forward facing seats and the TD5 engine

 

[trencheel303]

I would love a landy, trouble is i need a 7 seater and in my opinion the discos that i could afford look so dated
Hence, here is what i have, my second one, manual this time and no, i don't mind if it gets filthy, i just need places to go to do it, very capable apparently, very robust and reliable and in my opinion timeless design

Paj tint by Cliff 'O', on Flickr

Happy motoring whatever you drive
Atb
Cliff

Kind of unfortunate (imo) that you have the 2.5 though, especially as it's the LWB version of that vehicle...

 

[*gold*]

and why would that be ? Because the thirsty 2.8 is chain driven ?

Atb
Cliff