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| lrmaniac Member Since: 04 Feb 2010 Location: Lisboa Posts: 762   
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Washed it ... For the second time ... since I bought it in April 2010!!
Needed since that event in Spain last week ...  Click image to enlarge Btw, don't know where this last discussion started, but I know I would not trade my LR for any other car ... Had a Citroen Dyane (very fun car to drive!) when I got my driver's licence...swaped for Austin Metro (aarrghhh!) and two years after (once I got the money) bought my first LR ... a 1966 SIIA - daily drive everywhere! ... then in 99 a new Defender 90Td5 and last year my 110DC ... Love them all! I cried  when I sold my SIIA and my 90 ... Hope to have a Defender for life! It's worth every cent spent on it !
Hate it when I have to take my wife's Astra anywhere !  and boooooooooriiiiingggzzzzzzzzzzzz....... Regards
Joao '10 Land Rover Defender 110 CC '08 BMW F800GS '64 SIIA Forward Control '69 SIIA 109 ZA CKD _____________________________________________ You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you. |
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28th Sep 2011 4:48pm |
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| 22900013A Member Since: 23 Dec 2010 Location: Oxfordshire Posts: 3150  
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I thought you still had a IIA? 2011 110 USW
1973 Series III 1-Ton 1972 Series III 1-Ton Cherrypicker 1969 IIA 1-Ton 1966 IIA 88" |
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28th Sep 2011 5:28pm |
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| Zagato Site Supporter Member Since: 08 Jan 2011 Location: Billingshurst West Sussex Posts: 5013
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28th Sep 2011 5:48pm |
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| Matt Member Since: 28 Feb 2011 Location: Aylesbury, Bucks Posts: 180 
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Waved goodbye to an old friend, the Td5
Click image to enlarge But managed to get a photo of the two together before it went 15 plate 2.2SW XS |
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28th Sep 2011 8:24pm |
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| LandRoverAnorak Member Since: 17 Jul 2011 Location: Surrey Posts: 11324
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What an excellent bit of writing  So good that I've just read it out loud to my wife, as she also appreciates the appeal. Darren
110 USW BUILD THREAD - EXPEDITION TRAILER - 200tdi 90 BUILD THREAD - SANKEY TRAILER - IG@landroveranorak "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" - Princess Leia |
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28th Sep 2011 9:06pm |
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| Bobble Member Since: 21 Aug 2011 Location: Hampshire Posts: 223
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I get the appeal, I really do, I get the whole Land Rover "thing" but look at it this way. I've flown in a WW2 vintage Dakota, and it was bloody brilliant. It stank of fuel, rattled, creaked, bounced and wobbled it's way along the runway, and then rippled and flexed alarmingly in flight.....all the things a Land Rover does but with wings on.
Now, would I want to fly off on holiday in one? Not a chance. And that's where I'm at with the Defender. It's great for what it's designed for, but in the modern world, where cost and time (in terms of both travelling and maintaining) are becoming increasingly crucial factors, it's getting harder and harder to justify when the best defence is "But it's a Land Rover". Thinking longer term I suspect Land Rovers will go, ultimately, the way of the horse.....a once-common and relatively affordable working beast, superceded by technology and relegated as a result to the rank of rich man's play thing. |
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28th Sep 2011 9:45pm |
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| landy andy Member Since: 15 Feb 2009 Location: Ware, Herts Posts: 5791 
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Maybe that is where the difference is,
"I've flown in a WW2 vintage Dakota, and it was bloody brilliant. It stank of fuel, rattled, creaked, bounced and wobbled it's way along the runway, and then rippled and flexed alarmingly in flight.....all the things a Land Rover does but with wings on. Now, would I want to fly off on holiday in one?" Yes please, any thing that is not boring, normal, safe, predictable............ That's Landy life, it's different to normal. Andy |
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28th Sep 2011 10:01pm |
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| JSG Member Since: 12 Jul 2007 Location: Berkshire Posts: 2412 
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I took the rear step off mine today - I need to swap between a standard 50mm ball and a NATO hitch so the step needs to go. John
http://www.hampshire4x4response.co.uk 2011 Tdci 110 CSW XS |
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28th Sep 2011 10:04pm |
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| nosnibod Member Since: 15 Aug 2007 Location: West Midlands Posts: 370 
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My 110 doesn't rattle, creak, stink of fuel or do any other such anti-social activity. I would cheerfully take it on holiday and drive thousands of miles - in fact I have, many times. I've driven mine, on average, 24,000 miles a year.
My 110 is just as relevant as any other vehicle on the road and in most cases much more so. It does everything I ask of it and the cost of running it is quite reasonable in overall terms. Colleagues at work spend comparable amounts using a variety of vehicles at similar mileages per year whether they lease or buy their chosen model. I commute 75 miles day in it, tow the caravan, carry the bikes (and tandem!) securely inside, do the shopping/diy/trips to the tip and even do an occasional bit of off-roading in perfect comfort and could wish for no more. It's an adjunct to our life that just works and even better, we quite like it too
I've owned and driven a host of other vehicles in the past, ranging from various Audis and Mercedes, BMW 3s and 5s, an Impreza Turbo and even (sorry) a Jeep Grand Cherokee, doing similar mileages per year. They've all cost similar amounts or more and ultimately been more disappointing to drive and own, than the Defender. As I've said before, I'm no luddite and keep an open mind, but nothing else works like a Defender for us. I certainly don't class the Defender as some form of quaint relic - it is absolutely fit for purpose. Dave Green Goddess - 1998 Defender 110 300tdi |
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28th Sep 2011 10:10pm |
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| MrFlips Member Since: 27 May 2009 Location: Cardiff Posts: 682  
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My view, if you fancy something else, then buy something else. You don't need to justify it to anyone - life's too short to drive something that doesn't agree with you. If you come back to Land Rovers after a while then fantastic, if you don't then you're happy and that's all that counts - Land Rovers aren't for everyone (not in the long term at least). Moving on, my new jerry can arrived today (I don't yet trust my eighty-inch's fuel gauge yet) - it's the first brand new one I've had (previous ones have been liberated from the army), and it's beautiful. Simple things please simple people... Peter
2008 SWB Truck Cab 1952 80" Soft top |
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28th Sep 2011 10:19pm |
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| leeds Member Since: 28 Dec 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 8582
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Must admit it annoys me when people say that Defenders are unreliable, not fit to use as an every day vehicle, cost a fortune to maintain etc etc.
In general terms it is the owners/drivers who are unreliable! Not the vehicle! People abuse their Land Rovers, then park them up for month or more and then complain when things are stiff, rusty, stuck etc. Have used Defenders as everyday vehicles for last 15 years and that is for everything to nipping out to the shops, towing trailers, green laning, RTV and the odd overland trip  Yes they are reliable vehicles.
Tomorrow will do a 100+ mile trip towing in a 15 year odd Defender, then swop to a 2 year old one as we are going 'posh' in the evening. Friday about 250 miles towing in 96 Defender. Weekend off with caravan. Behind one of the 110's 96 plate 110 overrun it's MOT this year  Presented for it's MOT with no preparation and passed with flying colours!
Simple solution to a reliable Defender? Maintain it properly! If you can not maintain it yourself get a trustworthy mechanic to do it for you. Brendan |
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28th Sep 2011 10:27pm |
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| Bobble Member Since: 21 Aug 2011 Location: Hampshire Posts: 223
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Well I guess questioning the wisdom of running a Defender, on a Land Rover forum was always gonna be interesting.
Mine is well maintained and not some abused rust bucket, and it failed the MOT on non-serviced items, so to me, that argument is void. It's just old and tired but the maintenance is hindered by shockingly bad build quality, like the tails of two adjacent bolts touching one another so as to trap the nuts on the threads, so to remove one nut and bolt, you have to remove the others at the same time. And as economical to run as any other car? Please, get the rose tinted specs off. The latest batch of offerings from zee Germans offer upwards of 60mpg cruising at 80mph, against something that struggles to break 30mpg in reaching 60? Do come along. Like I said, I don't hate the Defender, but it's become something of a whimsical folly. And they all rattle, creak and stink of fuel in the end. All of them. Just accept it. |
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28th Sep 2011 11:27pm |
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| MrFlips Member Since: 27 May 2009 Location: Cardiff Posts: 682
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I'll be interested to see a vehicle in the same class as a Defender that can do that. Peter 2008 SWB Truck Cab 1952 80" Soft top |
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28th Sep 2011 11:39pm |
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| Bobble Member Since: 21 Aug 2011 Location: Hampshire Posts: 223
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OK, let's call this class "cars" and see how we get on. Anyway, the original suggestion was that a Defender costs no more than any other car, so there's no point adding get-out clauses after the numbers are filled in. If the goalposts are arranged with sufficient cunning of course a Land Rover can come out on top with ease. Level the playing field though, and it just stops making quite so much sense. They're indulgence cars on the whole so my line of advance might now be to get something dull for dull journies and put the Defender aside for weekends only, but that in itself can be a costly route to go down. |
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29th Sep 2011 2:34am |
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