Romance or Madness (of The Long Distance Defender Owner)?

[Peter_t]

i think a lot of the time it is down to tires. most jap 4x4s are now covered in hideous chavy chrome bits and are fashionable? these have rubbish tires without heavy treads on and are driven by morons who when trying to drive off road have no clue.

also what makes me livid is that the police in my area have a 110 defender with ROAD TIRES on it!!! even a land rover will be useless off road with these! why they have a defender is beyond me because lets face it, almost any car can pull away from a defender.
good to see the police aren’t wasting out taxes ay?

i think people are short sighted when looking for 4x4s. if you actually need to go off road as part of your job why stop at land rover? there are others, a tree surgeon i work for has a steyr puch pinzgauer which is far better than a land rover and is reliable. also there is the volvo C303 or C202.


the pinzgauer like a defender isn't what you would call road freindly, it is very noisy, bad on fuel, slow and a bouncy ride but if your serious about off roading you should put up with this and stop moaning!


pete

 

[Intertidal]

I'm another that can't kick the Landy habit.
First car I owned was a 1977 Series 3 diesel 88".
Bought a 110 300TDi several years ago but SWMBO talked me into changing it for a 1998 Disco which she later rolled (don't ask !)
Now on another 300TDi 110 hardtop (wish I'd never PXed the first one).
All of these 300TDi engined landies have been totally reliable in that they've never broken down, but, its not cheap to keep on top of the maintenance to keep 'em running - but thats half the fun!
Noisy, uncomfortable, leaky, spider-ridden money pits.
And I love it!
Nick

 

[Laurentius]

Why stop at a Pinzgauer, why not go the whole hog and get a Unimog, or a New Holland Tractor, or a Caterpillar, all of which will outperform a Landie in the off road stakes.

Me I'll stick to my Mk1 Pajero for now while I can still get spares, you may not be able to take the body apart like a Meccano set, but you can still use duct tape to repair the wings and pass an MOT.

 

[Adze]

This made me laugh earlier and I think it sums up the situation nicely...

I drove to Booths, a northern supermarket best selection of bottled beer I've ever seen) and bought myself 16 x 500ml bottles of real ale for £16. As I was paying I noticed a bloke with a proper turbo mullet, muscle shirt and tracksuit bottoms barely containing his 45 year old paunch, gold medallion nestling in the chest wig, 2 bottles of schweppes lemonade and a bottle of cinzano rosso under his arm, on his way out of the store.

Have a guess what he was driving...

 

[Adze]

Why stop at a Pinzgauer, why not go the whole hog and get a Unimog, or a New Holland Tractor, or a Caterpillar, all of which will outperform a Landie in the off road stakes

Because they cost £60k? Secondhand...

...not to mention that they cost nearly as much to service as a plastic disposable Japanese thing.

 

[Intertidal]

I drove to Booths, a northern supermarket best selection of bottled beer I've ever seen) and bought myself 16 x 500ml bottles of real ale for £16.

Ah Booths!
Was in Booths Ulverston store last week before heading home to Cornwall. Loaded up with 3 crates of various ales at £1 per bottle. Brilliant store - wish we had one down here!
Nick

 

[Adze]

Next time you're there gimme a ring... I'm only 5 minutes from it.

This, BTW, was spotted at B&Q in Barrow-in-Furness earlier this year...

...Mmmm... tasteful

 

[Retired Member southey]

Just to guage interest, i have a load of spares from my last landy, 110csw 200tdi, there all britpart bits, would any body be interested, if so ill sort them out and do a proper list for a sales post, but it would probably be buyer collects,

 

[Adze]

Nice one southey... that's probably the funniest reply to this thread Kudos mate

 

[British Red]

Booths is the best supermarket in the UK - by far.

I speak as an ex senior manager of Tesco.

Red

 

[swagman]

Well i have been twice to Morroco in the 110 and no problems a return journey of 2,200miles each time , so i stick by my original thought of Jap crap!

Interesting i did a trip on the mainland last year in my landcruiser 16000 km checkmate.

Swagman

 

[johnboy]

Interesting i did a trip on the mainland last year in my landcruiser 16000 km checkmate.

The issue is in the UK Toyota AFAIK didn't / doesn't sell 70 series Landcruiser. I'm not sure if they even had 40 series or 60 or 80 series cruisers. If they had a lot of the 'Plastic Jap rubbish' comments probably wouldn't be made...

In Aussie and here in NZ the Landcruiser in all of it's variants along with the Hilux, 4 Runner / Surf and the Nissan Patrol etc pretty much are the best 4WD's.

70 series cruisers are pretty much bullet proof and the new V8 versions are very good indeed. Pretty much all 70 series are as tough as a Landrover as capable off road as a Landrover.

If I was back in the UK the pain of Landrover ownership is offset by lots of 'specialists' for servicing and repairs / parts.

Here in NZ that network is pretty much non existant. So it makes a lot more sense to have a vehicle that can get support. So it's Toyota, Nissan, Mitsi...

 

[Retired Member southey]

Nice one southey... that's probably the funniest reply to this thread Kudos mate

Cool, and i wasnt even trying, there all brand new, i think ll do it anyway,

 

[fast but dim]

i've had 2 lr's, a 300tdi 90 p reg (chassis starting to rust, leaked leaked like a sieve, rear door wouldn't lock, crap heater), and a disco 3, which was so unreliable i sold it after 3 mo. you could not own one out of warranty.

Subsequently i've gone over to jap 4x4's: a landcruiser 120, superbly built, and a 1992 pajero for offroading, cost under £1k, no leaks, aircon, no rust, 90% as good offroad. i've also had a suzuki samurai.

Landrovers (defenders) are iconic, and have a great image. that's about it. I love landrovers, but wouldn't buy another. i've had both.

If toyota imported the 70 series this argument would be over.

 

[Adze]

If toyota imported the 70 series this argument would be over.

Oh really? Why?

 

[TeeDee]

BBC News Article

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11465824

 

[Peter_t]

BBC News Article

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11465824

doesn't surprise me

i heard (only a roomer) that defenders don't meet EU safety standards anyway because the chassis is too ridged so absorbs very little impact when in a crash which is another reason why they may be scrapped.


but you should be able to buy a land rover (sort of). santana who used to make a 4x4 based on a series 2 design has been bought by iveco who have carried on making it.

looks ok to me and is made by iveco = VERY GOOD and its not japinese if that bothers you.
but at the moment it is unavailable in the uk because of the credit crunch or something...

pete

 

[Adze]

Everybody... "Postman Pat, postman Pat and his black and white caaaaaaaat..."

 

[johnboy]

Isn't that a picture of a scale model??

The real thing looks somewhat like a landrover from the side...

 

[Retired Member southey]

Im sure ive seen santanas looking exactly like defenders except for the dual head lights,