Which Land Rover?

[fast but dim]

over the past couple years i've had the following:

defender 90 tdi, suzuki samurai, disco 3, landcruiser 120, mitsubishi pajero swb. i have a cheap 4x4 for offroading, and a nice 4x4 for towing / touring.

the defender was the most charismatic, never let me down but was cramped, noisy and leaked ( it was a county off alan wood) and it was my intro to 4x4's. looking back i'd have been better off with a disco, there's more room, more comfort and they're almost as good off road.

but: don't fall into the trap of thinking that landrovers are the only good 4x4's for off road. imo any jap 4x4 on balance will be nearly as good off road, as good or better on it, and should have better reliability, less corrosion, better build quality and be cheaper. i know that's a generalisation.

in summary:

defender: cool
disco: practcal
jap: reliable

if you're set on lr, like has been said, get a disco and put some good all terrains on it, you'll go antwhere you need to.

bear in mind for under 3k you'll get a good shogun, fully loaded with rear axle difflock. i paid under a grand for my swb pajero. it'll go most places, with aircon, superb spec.

so would this, but it was't comfy

noisy, leaky,rusty, lovely

 

[Dogoak]

Having had quite a few makes of 4x4 and driven most of the other makes over 28 years I wouldn't buy a Land Rover, iv'e had them, and loved them, but never again. I have come to be a Jap Crap driver, the reason being, not so crap!
Among the ones I've had, the Nissan Patrols have been extremely reliable and very, very capable off road. I bought my first with 140K on the clock and put over a 100K on before I sold it, apart from consumables the only item I had to replace was a wiper motor and the last 3 MOT'S it had cost £150 IN TOTAL!
Personally, I would never buy a brand new car again, too, much depreciation etc, etc, and also the build quality with older models seems to me, to be greater.
At present I own a 21 year old Toyota Land Cruiser 80 series, I would be extremely hard pushed to find a Landy of that age in as good condition, everything works as it should, no rot (couple of surface scabs) in fact the chassis would put some 3 year old vehicles to shame. Having 3 difflocks is a real bonus, but to be honest I've only ever had to use them once and I have been into some tricky places, best truck I've ever owned, wish I'd got one years ago.

A good alternative for a Defender could be......................http://www.santana-motor.es/SantanaMotor/porta.htm

 

[fast but dim]

I wouldn't buy a Land Rover, iv'e had them, and loved them, but never again. I have come to be a Jap Crap driver, the reason being, not so crap!
]

+1, well put.

 

[bojit]

Hi Chris , after seeing your land cruiser at comrie croft in november i would have to agree that it is a beauty , for a 21 year old motor and not being
a jap import . you would be very hard pushed to find another as good .
Are you sure you don't want to sell it

Craig............

 

[Dogoak]

The trouble is I do like Landys, good style and with the older ones, the functionality to be able to fix easily enough. The trouble is the regularity with which they require time with the spanners, I know not all are like that, but they seem to be the rarity rather than the norm.
For me the driver comfort is important, Iv'e never found them comfy for medium let alone long distances and the latest Defenders are a little bit cramped to say the least and why build a vehicle for rough terrain and adventures that leaks from new? I,ve never figured that one out. Shame really, as I say, I do like them.

Best non uk or japanese 4x4 iv'e owned, 4.0 Wrangler, no space but what a hoot, plenty of grunt with no doors and roof and the windscreen down

Sorry Craig, not selling the truck, if I hear of one I'll let you know

 

[_scorpio_]

there are some old defenders that are lovely out of the factory, i have known only one so far, it never had anything except tires and service etc. then one day, boom, new engine...
you can make a landrover into something really nice, but you can probably buy something foreign which will work straight away.
but i physically cannot bring myself to type anything else to do with other cars being better than a good old british, rusty, leaky, rattly, noisy, slow, unreliable Land Rover...

for gods sake dont buy a new one, why, seriously, would you, when you can get a second hand one which will work the same and probably still go wrong the same amount of times?

and to demonstrate how land rovers are less than perfect. the disco 3 has a jaguar engine, and dads one has a belt gone. not a problem in a jaguar, but because of the shape of the disco you can only get to the belt if you have toothpicks for arms. it says in the book that it should be expected to take 0.9 hours. 5 hours into trying to change it and he hasnt been able to touch the belt yet...
so the quality control guy isnt exactly observant, this is why all land rovers are different.
make sure when buying second hand you get the car properly checked over by a land rover specialist before you buy it. you would be amazed how many people turn up with a car which they got checked by a volvo dealer which needs like 5 grands worth of work!

 

[Barn Owl]

Hi Chris , after seeing your land cruiser at comrie croft in november i would have to agree that it is a beauty , for a 21 year old motor and not being
a jap import . you would be very hard pushed to find another as good .
Are you sure you don't want to sell it

Craig............

Get to the end of the queue Craig..

 

[Barn Owl]

Anyone looking for a mitsi 2.8 td lwb?

I like mine but ache for a Landy.

 

[bojit]

Get to the end of the queue Craig..

And i was ment to know there was a queue ....

Craig...........

 

[bojit]

Anyone looking for a mitsi 2.8 td lwb?

Hey Tam , how does £200 and a bottle of malt sound ?

Craig............

 

[swagman]

The only reason i can think of for people saying jap crap is you have never been in or used a landcruiser .
They rearly are very good on and of road veicles i would love to go head to head in my 105 cruiser against a defender.
But this would be hard in a country where your life depends on a reliable vehicle so you dont see landrovers now there is a reliable
alternative.

 

[garethw]

Hi
There is a site by an English chap Andrew St.Pierre White who has a 4x4 website based in South Africa.. Now there they really need offroad capability... here's a couple of videos he's doen about Land Rover's and Land Cruisers.
http://www.youtube.com/user/4xforum?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/41/t2Xd66KGjUg
http://www.youtube.com/user/4xforum?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/30/PMhOhT5nwZk
http://www.youtube.com/user/4xforum?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/31/ptiE501ZdwM
cheers
Gareth

 

[swagman]

It says it all realy he now drives a Toyota.

 

[Hoggy]

Oops posted twice

 

[Hoggy]

i wouldn't buy one new as they are now made in india and the quality is questionable

None of the Land Rovers are built in India, I should know I have to walk through the Defender & Range Rover production line every day! The guys that drive them a lot say the Disco is better off road than the Defender and is their choice between the two. The new Disco 4 has a new wiring loom due to the increase in electric gizmo's over the Disco 3 .

I won't make any comment's on reliability etc, trying to keep within the forum rules!

 

[Hazmat]

Forget land rover, try this:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EK-vQHXPLg

 

[Hoggy]

t

and to demonstrate how land rovers are less than perfect. the disco 3 has a jaguar engine, and dads one has a belt gone. not a problem in a jaguar, but because of the shape of the disco you can only get to the belt if you have toothpicks for arms. it says in the book that it should be expected to take 0.9 hours. 5 hours into trying to change it and he hasnt been able to touch the belt yet...
so the quality control guy isnt exactly observant, this is why all land rovers are different.
make sure when buying second hand you get the car properly checked over by a land rover specialist before you buy it. you would be amazed how many people turn up with a car which they got checked by a volvo dealer which needs like 5 grands worth of work!

The engines in the Disco 3's was derived from a joint venture with PSA and Ford, so the engine is also in some top end citreon's and pug's. Ford took it and made changes and put it in the Disco 3 and the s-type, early XF's and the old XJ, it was the one in which JC took from France to Blackpool on one tank of Gas on top gear. In the Disco 4 and XF and New XJ the engine is based on this one they increased the piston throw and changed the Turbo's. The new defender has the engine out of the ford Transit, the bonnet having to have that new bump to fit in. All the engines are built at Ford's plant in Bridgend.

 

[Manacles]

I'm a Wrangler Jeep fan myself, a good mix between the driveability on road of the Defender and the toughness of a Series 3 Landie. Can be a bit thirsty and some Jeep dealerships in my experience left a bit to be desired.

For more off than on road I'd choose a Series 3 Landie, easy to repair at home with minimal tools. Not the vehicle for a 200 mile motorway trip though...........

 

[MartiniDave]

Have you seen how the prices are soaring up for a decent Series landy these days?

Dave

 

[pastymuncher]

. The new defender has the engine out of the ford Transit, the bonnet having to have that new bump to fit in. All the engines are built at Ford's plant in Bridgend.

And there is the main reason for not buying a new land rover.

The best thing about land rover was the ability to fix them cheaply (they needed to be cheap to fix), unfortunately with the development of all the electronic junk this is no longer the case.
I'm a fan of older landies they are fun to go out and beat up and then fix for peanuts. For a modern multi purpose vehicle I think Jap or Yank would be preferable.

For out and out off road then eastern block vehicles win hands down.