A momentary lapse of reason ?

[makeitfit]

Today has been a strange day
I drove a landrover
I really had no idea just how agricultural they are.
My best mate lent me his as my trol is undergoing serious mods at the mo
First off I had to use the mechanical backup handles as the electric window buttons had fallen off I guess.
This ofcourse was to effect safe steering
Apparently these quaint defenders did come with brakes from the factory but seem to be at a loss as to what they should do with 35" tyres
Gearbox, hmmm, well yes it does have one though I don't think any of the gears in there have a clue what their neighbor is about to do
Apparently pressing the clutch more than once and increasing the revs is required to go down the gears
So imagine my confusion when going down a bit of a hill with ineffective brakes and the need to change down for some engine braking Right foot on the brakes dip clutch heel to throttle , er throttle, er clutch again, where's that bloody throttle ? Argh more standing on the middle peddle then .................ah well forget toe and heel, I'll have 2nd erm eventually
Sheesh, I only did a few miles before I had to get out and have a stretch
The seats must be from a noddy car
Any road up it did the job and I'm home to tell the tail
Oh and ofcourse to stump up me dues and love everything NISSAN PATROL
Oh the luxury

[solarman216]

Welcome back Pete, never driven one and from your post do not want to, my daughter had a discovery, I only towed my car trailer once with, felt sea sick and had a job to keep it in a straight line, never again, Rick

[makeitfit]

I forgot the steering
It has power steering but is known as "hedge road hedge road" keeps your bingo wings trim though

[stinka]

Might leave my anti roll bars off then , was feeling a bit boaty and uncivilised of late, but now I hear what the landy drivers put up with its probably pretty civilised !

[96terrano]

Originally Posted by makeitfit

Today has been a strange day
I drove a landrover
I really had no idea just how agricultural they are.
My best mate lent me his as my trol is undergoing serious mods at the mo
First off I had to use the mechanical backup handles as the electric window buttons had fallen off I guess.
This ofcourse was to effect safe steering
Apparently these quaint defenders did come with brakes from the factory but seem to be at a loss as to what they should do with 35" tyres
Gearbox, hmmm, well yes it does have one though I don't think any of the gears in there have a clue what their neighbor is about to do
Apparently pressing the clutch more than once and increasing the revs is required to go down the gears
So imagine my confusion when going down a bit of a hill with ineffective brakes and the need to change down for some engine braking Right foot on the brakes dip clutch heel to throttle , er throttle, er clutch again, where's that bloody throttle ? Argh more standing on the middle peddle then .................ah well forget toe and heel, I'll have 2nd erm eventually
Sheesh, I only did a few miles before I had to get out and have a stretch
The seats must be from a noddy car
Any road up it did the job and I'm home to tell the tail
Oh and ofcourse to stump up me dues and love everything NISSAN PATROL
Oh the luxury

Very accurately described review their Pete

[rustic]

I learnt to drive in a Land Rover, a series IIa 2 1/4 litre petrol swb.
Leaf springs all round, it drove very well indeed, never broke down, easy and simple to work on.

So why are the later ones not as good?

[spiderpig37]

Had a 2aswb truck cab cracking little truck used to take the cab off in summer and bomb around
Shot a trolly jack out of passenger side door once when taking a right turn a bit sharpish the door catch let go and trolly jack shot out and set off like a torpedo
I used to find the knack to driving it was once you reached top speed dont let owt stop you

[firebobby]

Had a 2a and series 3's, nice to potter around in but not a long distance vehicle, they keep the drive well oiled though

[trophymick]

I've drove a new 90 Defender, a farmer neighbour has one.
It is actually very nice to drive, and the engine just seems to keep on pulling with that six speed gearbox.
He needs to pull a 3.5 tonne stock trailer, his Mitsubishi L200 was only up to 2.8 tonne, it means he gets another beast to auction with the Landy.

But..........it's so basic and quite cramped (I'm 6'1") and for twenty odd grand you'd at least expect a feckin radio, but it's an extra!
Bare aluminium in the back, a rubber mat was extra................

Elbow room is appalling.



Mick

[Deano400]

I've owned almost every model of Landy from a 1950 series one through forward control and nearly new defender with electric windows and remote central locking etc. Not to mention built off roaders from the chassis up, but my Y60 is like Nissan took the basic concept of a defender and made everything that's wrong with one right, or just plain better.

Getting older and after smashing my left ankle up a few years ago, there's no way I could live with a defender now anyway even if I wanted to.

[melissachels]

i must say our rangie is the very opposite very comfy to the point u'd fall asleep could be done very easy with cruise control on & heated seats

don't like the disco 1 tho it wabbles too much & never drive a defender

[Fez_uk]

you soon get used to it. Drives like a tractor, can be fixed like one too.

[quixote]

My last car was a Freelander 1 & I was seriously impressed with how it drove on, and off, road.........seriously, I had that wee wagon in places 99.9% of them will never see & it really was impressive for what it is!

However! I've also driven the brand new Defenders as OH works for Stratstone Landrover. They may well be seriously good offroad, but I reckon that's where they need to stay. They're appalling to drive on tarmac.

Going back to the Freelander though, despite the fact it is a seriously under-rated performer there are a lot of things that let it down.........cable-driven electric windows, for a start. Just getting one to fully-lower, then fully-raise again without a cable snapping shouldn't be cause for celebration now, should it? I mean, opening windows is something we all need to do now & again, but with the Freebie it seems to be in the lap of the Gods. And don't even let me get started on the tailgate! Why would you want the window to drop in order to clear a seal that doesn't even fecking keep water out of the boot is a mystery to me. Shutting the tailgate on my Terrano is how it should be.............you just shut it. Simples!

And why should you need to hang upside down in the engine bay just to get to the air filter cover screws? And why are they 5mm Allen heads that you can't even see? Why should you have to dismantle half of the vehicle just to get to the sump plug? Why is the 4WD designed to self-destruct if you don't spend £600 on new components every 70k miles?

I could go on, and on...........and on, but I won't. I used to think Landrover were the ultimate offroad vehicles, and I used to have pride that they were British. Nowadays though, they've been whored out to be built in India by Tata. And they're shite

[firebobby]

Originally Posted by quixote

And why should you need to hang upside down in the engine bay just to get to the air filter cover screws?

I was just going to say about the oil filter on the 2.7, but noticed you have the 3.0l, much easier to change

[baker1988]

And all the newish ones run ford engines alot of money for something that runs a ford lump new discos anyhow not sure on defender