'Checks Wallet....'

[I like Skol]

I built these.....

None of which I managed to roll over on the tarmac despite fitting the 4x4's with taller, softer springs and removing the ARBs from the jeep (something prophesised to lead to instant death if you read any of the US jeep forums!) and plenty of enthusiastic driving. It's called knowing how to drive!

However, I digress and perhaps surprisingly, considering my affliction for liking 4x4s as a weekend toy I loathe and detest 95% of the 4x4's on the road because they are purely bought as status symbols, fashion accessories or comfort blankets. I have no problem with them as working vehicles or enthusiast toys but if I ruled the country I would legislate to ban the purchase of Range Rovers by office workers and stock brokers. As over the hill has already said, if a large luxury vehicle is needed then a Merc E or S class does the job perfectly (I like Mercs as well as 4x4's ).

Am I being hypocritical? I don't think so. I owned, and probably will own again, 4x4's as hobby vehicles for use on private off-road sites (and the roads there and back). I also own a mountain bike for exactly the same reason, off-road fun, but I still think that someone who owns a full-suss MTB for an urban commute is a tosser!

 

[swee'pea99]

As Alexei Sayle used to rant, "4 wheel drive is so important when you're popping down to Sainsbury's"

 

[Over The Hill]

I built these.....

None of which I managed to roll over on the tarmac despite fitting the 4x4's with taller, softer springs and removing the ARBs from the jeep (something prophesised to lead to instant death if you read any of the US jeep forums!) and plenty of enthusiastic driving. It's called knowing how to drive!

However, I digress and perhaps surprisingly, considering my affliction for liking 4x4s as a weekend toy I loathe and detest 95% of the 4x4's on the road because they are purely bought as status symbols, fashion accessories or comfort blankets. I have no problem with them as working vehicles or enthusiast toys but if I ruled the country I would legislate to ban the purchase of Range Rovers by office workers and stock brokers. As over the hill has already said, if a large luxury vehicle is needed then a Merc E or S class does the job perfectly (I like Mercs as well as 4x4's ).

Am I being hypocritical? I don't think so. I owned, and probably will own again, 4x4's as hobby vehicles for use on private off-road sites (and the roads there and back). I also own a mountain bike for exactly the same reason, off-road fun, but I still think that someone who owns a full-suss MTB for an urban commute is a tosser!

Spot on.

It is the difference between this

and this

But there seems to be many many people who spend a huge amount of money to drive around looking like plonkers in a car that is not really made for what they want a car to actually do.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Blimey, I think I opened the metaphorical

I'm not sure if I ought to reveal that I'd also love to won a TVR Griffith, or something like a 1970 Dodge Challenger 'Hemi'


The initial basis of my post was that a British Icon was coming up for sale, & would (quite possibly) go out of the country (to the States??), as the Auction has been completed, & it was sold for £115,000 (would have cost circa £1900 when new)

And, don't forget, through the 70's/80's, & early 90's, Land Rover was the only part of BL to make a profit, however, the vast majority got eaten up to help the rest of the company.


As far as I know, the (original shape) Range Rover is still the only car to have been exhibited in the Louvre Gallery

The great motoring writer, Phil Llewellyn, referred to it not as a 'SUV', but, a 'SPLUX' (Sports Luxury Vehicle)

Like it or not (& the rest of the 'wannabes' - I'm discounting the true working vehicles; Defender/Hi-Lux, etc...), the RR is still the top of the tree, that others want to emulate
70 years of history helps

Yes, I know about JEEP, & how the first prototypes LRs were built on JEEP chassis, & used some of their mechanical parts

Porch produced a few desert-racing derivatives of the 959, but didn't produce a vehicle in this class, until the Cayenn(spelling??)
Mercedes-Benz had the G-Wagon, a wonderful beastie in its original 70s/80's form, but nowadays AMG'd
Even Bentley have produced some very special 4x4 'shooting brakes' for their middle-eastern customers


The Discovery was first created in the mid-80's as a response to the Japanese manufacturers, such as Mitsubishi (Shogun), who were undercutting the Range Rover, & taking sales from it
Admittedly, it was a 'bitsa', with the underpinnings (barring the Tdi engine) being taken from the Range Rover -however, that was certainly no loss!!!

Even with a parts-bin mentality (or cost-cutting/design-time/saving on tooling) of using Marina door handles, Maestro van rear lights, Montego instruments, etc......., it was a runaway success for the company

 

[brand]

[QUOTE 3262045, member: 45"]He meant almost every police force in the UK.

US police wouldn't use anything so stable, refined and efficient.[/QUOTE]
Minimal useage by UK police and to say there stable relative to anything lower to the ground is moronic. Ever see the forces using something similar. If anyone would they would. Pathetic conspicuous consumption nothing to do with practically.

 

[brand]

". I also own a mountain bike for exactly the same reason, off-road fun, but I still think that someone who owns a full-suss MTB for an urban commute is a tosser! "

Fact I have watched professional mountain bike racing,. Never ever seen a single rider using suspension front or rear EVER. The only user are down hill racers (as time trial). Anyone using full suspension bike is a sheep merely following a fashion. Bought one once to try, going up a hill with lots of loose gravel and knowing where the rear wheel would spin and I would have sit to down. It started loosing grip well before it would normally do and sitting down made little difference. First time ever I had to push bike up the hill. Baa baa I just saw a full suspension cyclist!

 

[brand]

[QUOTE 3263319, member: 45"]I thought you'd see the sarcasm in my post.

Range Rovers were staple for traffic police. 4x4s still are on the motorways, though now more with the Highways Agency.[/QUOTE]
Sorry missed it. Hangover was drinking my own cider last night. New season nearly upon us. Need to finish last years. Have 10 gallons left. Struggling!!

 

[brand]

I know quiet a few people who live of road down dirt track very potholed tracks, they drive ordinary vehicles. And one person said to me he needed a 4x4 for bad weather despite living on an A road the only roads round here that ever get gritted. How he managed to convince himself he needed one is beyond me. Another bloke was telling me about "disagreement" he had with a range rover driver. He wanted the range rover driver to go on the grass verge on a narrow rural road he refused as he had just had his Range rover cleaned.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

[QUOTE 3261748, member: 259"]It's actually quite modern looking when you see it was built in 1969.[/QUOTE]

What, it looks like a brick on wheels??

Yes, just like most 4x4s then!!

 

[snorri]

[QUOTE 3261748, member: 259"]It's actually quite modern looking when you see it was built in 1969.[/QUOTE]
Hey! 1969 wasn't that long ago.

 

[vernon]

Blimey, I think I opened the metaphorical
View attachment 55212
Even with a parts-bin mentality (or cost-cutting/design-time/saving on tooling) of using Marina door handles, Maestro van rear lights, Montego instruments, etc......., it was a runaway success for the company

That's no different from Aston Martin who used Jaguar, Mazda and Ford parts, all rebranded as Aston Martin, in their DB7. My kid brother saved a fortune repairing a pranged DB7 that he bought as an insurance write off.

 

[jazzkat]

I have never quite understood the appeal. People seem to say they are "capable" but as far as I can see they do nothing better than a decent car on the road and lots of things off road (if you changed the tyres) that you really don't need to do. Bit like Clarkson saying how good a Bugatti is because he can do 200 mph in it. Utterly pointless.
I drive a Merc E Class estate. Can anyone tell me what a Range Rover can do better on the road than my car. I can probably give you 10 things my car does better.

Capable in the sense that it's a car that can do this:

and this:

Yet still drives like a normal car, if you feel the need use it to go the supermarket.

I must admit, I'm with you in that I don't see a point for the chelsea tractor (modern, luxury SUV) and as much as I'd love another series landy (I had a SIII airportable) I can't justify the 17mpg!!
As an aside, I had a colleague at work who had a V8 range rover (I think it was a second generation). He said on the motorway at 70mph you could actually see the fuel guage needle moving down

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Here's very interesting article here, about why the Police took to them so much

I had a count up of the Forces that used them in a book I have about Police Range Rovers (up to the time of it being printed), & 53 forces nationwide used them!

http://www.policecaruk.com/40YearsOfGMPRangeRovers/40YearsOfGMPRangeRovers.html

Quote;
What made these vehicles so special and suited to Motorway patrol work? A Range Rover is a large vehicle and, certainly in police trim, has a presence on the road few other vehicles can match. It can carry a large amount of kit and, the police being the police, it was usually loaded right up to it’s maximum permitted weight.

The elevated driving position allowed the crew to look over the central crash barrier and observe what was happening on the opposite carriageway.
In GMP, officers were expected to spend their full tour of duty (apart from refreshment breaks) on the motorway and complete most of their paperwork within the car, so it doubled up as a mobile office. It was also a very comfortable place to spend a tour of duty.
And then there’s that 3.5 litre V8 petrol engine! On paper it could propel the car to a top speed of 96mph, many motorway cars could easily exceed 100mph and there was no special tuning or tweaking of the engine. The more miles put on a car, the looser the engine became and a ‘tongue in cheek’ suggestion was once made to Land Rover asking they take the old engines out of the cars being sold and drop them in the engine bays of the new cars.

In the days when the emphasis was on keeping the carriageway clear and the traffic mobbing, the Range Rover was unbeatable and, if used properly, had the ability to tow a 38 tonne HGV, providing the brakes weren’t locked on. Accident damaged cars were physically dragged onto the hard shoulder (even if burnt out, & sitting on the floor-pan! - my addition)
Unquote


And, that's on gravel

 

[vernon]

That's it. I'm selling my Yaris and buying a Defender just in case I come across a broken down truck that needs towing somewhere. I see it as my public duty to sacrifice fuel economy and my capital for the greater good of the HGV community.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

That's it. I'm selling my Yaris and buying a Defender just in case I come across a broken down truck that needs towing somewhere. I see it as my public duty to sacrifice fuel economy and my capital for the greater good of the HGV community.

Glad to hear it!!!!!!