Texting on a horse!

[Bicycle]

My '90' is 20 odd years old, in the last 10 years its never been on the road. It works 365 days a year, Harrow s my fields, pulls my logging trailers, winches timber up from a valley after cutting etc. etc. Never misses a beat. Id love to see the state your piece of ' japcrap ' would be in after such a life. Not to mention the running costs that would have been incurred.

Like I said there is only one 4x4

Ooops! I thought that comment might get a bite.

I drove Defenders for many years when posted overseas. Crossing mountains on unmade roads in snow, I'd take nothing else. There is no comparison, which is largely why BMW bought Rover Group.

L/Rs also push-start nose-to-nose without damage, you can roll them and just replace the bent panels and glass...

They are Tonka made by God.

However, a modern L/C is jolly good if you have 250 km to do on roads after your off-roading... and an old 40-series would still be chugging along as your 90 is.

But sorry for the wind-up. I was trolling. I should be ashamed. :troll:

 

[lukesdad]

You're both right! Stop fighting.

I travel all over Africa for work, and the two vehicles that are used day in day out, for off-road use in the most difficult conditions, decades old and with many hundreds of thoudsands miles on the clock are the Landy and the Landy Serengeti safari companies do not use any other vehicles than these two. Both eminently repairable, and the running costs comparable.

Are you a mechanic ? As for fighting, you wanna have a look at the global warming thread ! They re talking lawsuits there.... oh sorry! I see you already have

 

[Norm]

I've got a 110 truck cab, we need the open back as it's used for carrying stuff. If I wanted a station wagon, I'd happily switch to a Land Cruiser.

The G Wagen is stunningly capable, I had one for a while about a million years ago and I don't think they've changed much since. The only downside is that even old ones are a bit pricey for the sort of treatment that we give our Landy.

But sorry for the wind-up. I was trolling. I should be ashamed. :troll:

Not every wind up is trolling, IMO, and I was when I saw what you did.

 

[lukesdad]

I've got a 110 truck cab, we need the open back as it's used for carrying stuff. If I wanted a station wagon, I'd happily switch to a Land Cruiser.

The G Wagen is stunningly capable, I had one for a while about a million years ago and I don't think they've changed much since. The only downside is that even old ones are a bit pricey for the sort of treatment that we give our Landy.


Not every wind up is trolling, IMO, and I was when I saw what you did.

Can t you just get a trailer Norm ?

 

[Norm]

Yes, but a friend was selling it 4 years ago and it fit our needs. If we were buying on the open market, we'd probably be looking at an SWB (90" or a 40-series) and a trailer.

 

[Linford]

My '90' is 20 odd years old, in the last 10 years its never been on the road. It works 365 days a year, Harrow s my fields, pulls my logging trailers, winches timber up from a valley after cutting etc. etc. Never misses a beat. Id love to see the state your piece of ' japcrap ' would be in after such a life. Not to mention the running costs that would have been incurred.

Like I said there is only one 4x4

Every Defender owner I've ever spoken to has always said they love them, but they are money pits, and they are continually spannering them - you don't find this a problem ?

I guess any part of a vehicle will fail if it is subjected to enough abuse, and the sheer mass of the cars will wear out parts of it very quickly just because there is just so much weight on the stressed bits.
I just had to replace the auto box in my Shogun after I burnt out the overdrive clutch over 30k miles of towing a 2 tonne trailer up the big hills where I live.

 

[lukesdad]

I like trailers.

 

[VamP]

Are you a mechanic ? As for fighting, you wanna have a look at the global warming thread ! They re talking lawsuits there.... oh sorry! I see you already have

Oh Crikey! I am in trouble now.

I am not a mechanic. I did my MBA thesis on the business plan of a safari company in Tanzania. Vehicle running costs were crucial in the analysis, and I did spend a lot of time interviewing mechanics and drivers of both types of Landy, as well as reviewing costs of operation and repair.

 

[Linford]

I've got a 110 truck cab, we need the open back as it's used for carrying stuff. If I wanted a station wagon, I'd happily switch to a Land Cruiser.

The G Wagen is stunningly capable, I had one for a while about a million years ago and I don't think they've changed much since. The only downside is that even old ones are a bit pricey for the sort of treatment that we give our Landy.


Not every wind up is trolling, IMO, and I was when I saw what you did.

Morning Norm, long time no speak !

 

[lukesdad]

Every Defender owner I've ever spoken to has always said they love them, but they are money pits, and they are continually spannering them - you don't find this a problem ?

I guess any part of a vehicle will fail if it is subjected to enough abuse, and the sheer mass of the cars will wear out parts of it very quickly just because there is just so much weight on the stressed bits.
I just had to replace the auto box in my Shogun after I burnt out the overdrive clutch over 30k miles of towing a 2 tonne trailer up the big hills where I live.

They have their faults but they are so easy to work on and parts are as cheap as chips. So no I don t find it a problem. I have full workshop facilities mind but you can as easily work on them in a field.

 

[lukesdad]

Oh Crikey! I am in trouble now.

I am not a mechanic. I did my MBA thesis on the business plan of a safari company in Tanzania. Vehicle running costs were crucial in the analysis, and I did spend a lot of time interviewing mechanics and drivers of both types of Landy, as well as reviewing costs of operation and repair.

While this maybe true in Africa, price of parts I mean. We are talking about the UK here.

 

[VamP]

True. A lot of parts in Africa are repaired rather than replaced by new. A lot of replacements that cannot be repaired are sourced by cannibalization. New parts are prohibitively expensive there, for Land Rovers and for Toyota.

In Europe the situation is further skewed because Japanese companies keep margins on vehicle sales very low, and make all their profit on parts sales.

 

[lukesdad]

True. A lot of parts in Africa are repaired rather than replaced by new. A lot of replacements that cannot be repaired are sourced by cannibalization. New parts are prohibitively expensive there, for Land Rovers and for Toyota.

In Europe the situation is further skewed because Japanese companies keep margins on vehicle sales very low, and make all their profit on parts sales.

Also the quantity of pattern parts for Land rovers available is staggering.

 

[Linford]

They have their faults but they are so easy to work on and parts are as cheap as chips. So no I don t find it a problem. I have full workshop facilities mind but you can as easily work on them in a field.

I had to swap out the lower ball joints for the MOT a few months ago, and I'm sad to say that I had to hand it to the garage in the end as I didn't have the kit to unload the suspension on the front end so I could split the joints (Big long torsion bars). The autobox and attached transfer box weighed a ton, and was a 3 man job to lift out. It couldn't be done without a car lift extended to full height and an engine lift as well to position it to get it all to line up. I'd still say that it is fairly agricultural though when you get down to the nitty gritty of it, but all just so big and heavy to push and pull around.

I don't have any problem getting pattern bits for my Shogun BTW. That has all been sorted now in the UK, and they aren't stupid money either.

 

[brokenflipflop]

I drive my Audi Q7 4.2 DTI Quattro S-Line down the road to the Coop nearly every day and it runs like a dream and never misses a beat. It's a bonus that those stupid speed humps don't slow it down like it does on the poor people's cars and when I took it off-road (the backings opposite to avoid a traffic jam) it was equally as impressive.