Topic: i have had enough (Read 7245 times)

lambert · « **on:** November 02, 2012, 17:31:36 »

Of this wretched green oval heap of over priced under engineered garbage.

What can I buy that will tow well, be economical to run,quite compact, new enough to only really need servicing, is comfy and can green lane.

Thank you.

Landyman · « **Reply #1 on:** November 02, 2012, 18:25:55 »

I'm a recent convert to the Discovery 3 it can and has done all of the above. Fuel economy is the only down side but it still returns 25 to 30 to the gallon which is as good if not better than my TD5 Defender. I Took it greenlaning in Wales a couple of weeks ago in totaly standard form and all terrain tyres and it never missed a beat or struggled with any of the terrain.
Great car and they are now fetching as little as £7500 and getting cheaper by the month.

lambert · « **Reply #2 on:** November 02, 2012, 19:00:05 »

Not really compact enough. Oh and I have pretty much no patience left with land rover.

Saffy · « **Reply #3 on:** November 02, 2012, 20:09:46 »

but its your dads

lambert · « **Reply #4 on:** November 02, 2012, 20:15:44 »

It is his opinion it is not worth the gallon of petrol and th box of matches. Up till now I have been protecting it as I like the principal of ownership, pity the the reality does not match.

LandRoger · « **Reply #5 on:** November 02, 2012, 20:59:13 »

:evil:Extend your patience! nothing else out there that fits your criteria except the afore mentioned D3,

lambert · « **Reply #6 on:** November 02, 2012, 21:30:31 »

That's fine but in the space of a month it has had / will need well over a grand of repairs with absolutely no guarantee that it will be fixed for another month. Every time we have touched it there has been a knock on effect costing yet more money. Ok it may all be coincidence but since when has a service resulted in a new head gasket and a new turbo? It has got to the point of needing a rebuild and I don't know if I can handle the emotional investment that needs, never mind the financial cost.

LandRoger · « **Reply #7 on:** November 03, 2012, 20:02:57 »

As you will know there is not a lot that will stand up to the rigors of farm work the Defender is the perfect truck for it one only has to look at the condition of Jap pickups after a couple of years,iwould reckon that a good 80% + of farms in the UK use a Defender in some shape or form as the workhorse , :cool:so why not get a betterone ?.

lambert · « **Reply #8 on:** November 03, 2012, 20:21:26 »

Tbh dads jinmy does most of the day to day work, the defender is really just a road going tractor for the bigger trailers. Most of its time is spent sat about waiting which is why it is deeply infuriating when it objects to doing the little work it has to do. All the above being said there has been mention of putting a brand new international in it or an irb developments rebuild. Neither are cheap and both will doubtless test the nerve of the gearbox but where does one stop now one has started.

It all comes back to the dodgy health check; if they had spotted the head as well as the disks I would probably be in a puma by now but hey ho never mind.

lambert · « **Reply #9 on:** November 03, 2012, 21:04:22 »

or i could consider a 2007 2.8crd cherry auto, similar mpg, only looses about 200kg on tow capacity to the land rover, more seats, more reliability though that may be a function of rarity in the uk, cheap parts even imported from USA, comfy, totally capable off road and being an auto less stressfull to drive long distance. ok i cant put sheep in the back but i have trailers for that and every other eventuality. best of all for the same money i have tied up in the defender i can get a car that is 9 whole years newer and the better part of 100000 less miles if i look hard for the right one.

Bishops Finger · « **Reply #10 on:** November 04, 2012, 00:22:46 »

They are good.....just check for ball joint recalls..

lambert · « **Reply #11 on:** November 04, 2012, 07:02:03 »

That and odd little electrical gremlins, but I can fix those myself. We will see what is said on Monday.

lambert · « **Reply #12 on:** November 05, 2012, 14:20:43 »

So it seems I'm a donkey and the 90 is my carroty stick to both entice and beat me with. Only problem donkeys tend to kick and bite if they don't like what is being done to them. Be careful daddy old boy I can kick harder than you.

lambert · « **Reply #13 on:** November 05, 2012, 18:06:19 »

Ok all is good again for now anyway. Wednesday it is off in for the kind of in-depth,meaningful and generally thorough engine exam it was meant to have last month, compression,coolant pressure, road test etc etc. If that is not an epic fail then a top end rebuild and seal kit goes on and a new sh turbo. If no, bye bye. I hope it makes it as the alternate ending I like not so much.

Range Rover Blues · « **Reply #14 on:** November 11, 2012, 15:14:34 »

If you are after something that can tow then remember that a LR is limited to 3,500kg by law rather than performance, the original RRC for example could tow 4 tonnes with coupled brakes, or 6 tonnes in emergency. The Defender is also rated at 4 tonnes with coupled brakes IIRC.

So if you hang your nose over something rated at below 3,500kg, how much worse might it actually be?

All cars break down, sad fact of life. I'm sticking with our TDi because it's starting to become the most reliable and cheap to run car we've had in recent years. Same MPG as a MX5 for example

yes, they are that bad, or only slightly worse than a 2.0 Mondeo. It's actually still worth what we paid for it and a new cyclinder head costs the same as one month's finance on a new microbox. Insewerance isn't that bad either, less than a micra for example.

lambert · « **Reply #15 on:** November 11, 2012, 21:28:57 »

I think what most of daddy's and to a greater extent my problem with the car is , is not that it has gone wrong this or any other time but that we paid over the odds for what we got. At 5k it would be ok to chuck money at it as it would have been a cheap enough car to warrant the expenditure but at 8k we kinda thought much of what we have fixed might have been done already. Ok so no one can tell it is going to eat Matt of its own air filter and lunch the turbo and yes things do wear out but a steering box that only lasts a year before leaking, fuel pump timing being way off after an alleged new belt, a head gasket that leaks and so on and such forth. Maybe we expect too much or more likely sellers get away with too little.

Any way its going in and its no longer my problem to fix, I just want to come back from Ireland to find it fixed, properly to a high standard. Is that too much to ask?

LandRoger · « **Reply #16 on:** November 11, 2012, 22:10:36 »

I think a lot of what you say and expect relies on the quality of the garage that you use for your serviceing,have an inkling that the Landy is not entirely to blame

lambert · « **Reply #17 on:** November 12, 2012, 05:07:43 »

There is truth in that. It does seem to be increasingly difficult to find a trustworthy garage especially one that knows land rovers and is not greedy. It is currently booked in at yet another making 6 so far. These lot may be the one but experience is not allowing me much faith just now.

Saffy · « **Reply #18 on:** November 12, 2012, 08:14:11 »

Enthusiast garage, one that has old landrovers in the yard - doesn't have the lastest gear in the workshop - where the mechanics do not have the latest custom colour scheme snap-on tool chest but do have dirty finger nails. Where there are always random return customers popping in for a cup of tea to discuss next repair job on their vehicle.

lambert · « **Reply #19 on:** November 12, 2012, 14:56:00 »

Sounds ideal, where are they located?

Saffy · « **Reply #20 on:** November 12, 2012, 19:40:33 »

We had one here called West Wiltshire Landrovers run by a guy called Richard, he closed up and moved to more exclusive bespoke undertakings. On the look out for another.

FBF · « **Reply #21 on:** November 12, 2012, 23:44:44 »

Fourtrak...

littlepow · « **Reply #22 on:** November 17, 2012, 18:06:00 »

Charles Bennisons in Osmotherley is very good - been looking after mine for years and I have never had any problems with his work.

lambert · « **Reply #23 on:** November 17, 2012, 20:18:50 »

Oh I don't doubt they are out there it just seems they take some finding.

On another note the lot it is booked in at have not inspired daddy when he dropped it off. No one working at half 4, really? Oh well we'll see if it is ready and waiting when I get home.

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AuthorTopic: i have had enough (Read 7245 times)

littlepow