Comfortable travelling ????

[petelewis]

Hi,
I have a Landy 110 lwb County Station wagon (5 door etc). I'm looking to do a trip to West Africa next year - the question is how many people do I invite to go with me ? I know the 'official' capacity is 12, but think that may just be a few too many for that distance - what do you think ? Has anyone experienced long-distance travel in a 110 ?, How many people did you travel with ?
Pete

[Chris Scott]

Even with as few as four you could all start getting cranky - I've watched it happen - not nice. Depends much on the attitude, dynamics and expectations

CS

[Yves]

Hi Pete,
the optimum for a 110 is 2 pax according to my experience.

It would be possible to travel with 4 persons (2 front, 2 rear), but with all the gear, fuel, water etc. the car will be packed up to the brim. Packing and unpacking would require a lot of time every day.

The comfort of the 2 front seats is aceptable.
Unfortunaely the rear seat bench is narrow, uncomfortable, has no headreast and 3 point harness and there is only few leg room.
Also, the pax are sitting quite high and even people 1.80m tall will not have a good view. For upt to 3 childs it is ok.

In October I traveled with 3 passengers down to Algeriea where 2 of them swaped for the 4x4 of my guide. The 2-3 days were just acceptable for them.

My conclusion after this trip is: 2 pax for good comfort, max 3.

For your own judgemnt: make a test drive some days long fully equiped.

Bye, Yves

[Luke]

It's difficult to do when packing, but it's worth trying to leave space in case you need the services of a guide. I recall one who must have eaten something particularly suspect previously, all windows open and it was still a testing experience.
I suppose GPS reduces the need, takes up less space; but it can't spot the soft bits before you sink in
L

[ctc]

If you are a single vehicle and cannot rely upon another vehicle to carry some joint expedition equipment and spares etc then four has to be max.

Ideal would be two (with room for a guide) three can work well if you all are good friends and four although possible will be crowded.

Think also of your Landrovers well-being, if you are taking four people and associated equipment, water and fuel, you will operating at the performance limit of a Landrover.

Having said all this for a mid-size trip (4-8 week?) down to West Africa only you will know what you can put up with.

Selecting the right people will be key to how much you all get out of the trip. You dont want to end up taking the wrong person /people, as it can cast a shadow over the whole trip.

If you have a lot of mates who want to do the trip persuade them to buy a left hand drive in France and accompany you in that. They can then sell it and fly back.

[LandRoverNomad]

Driver and two pax can cause problems, esp if one passenger doesnt agree with / like the other! (Speaking as the driver I wanted to dump the both of them at Gibraltar! *grin*)

Mine's a hardtop with a single bench seat in the back and four plus kit (kit for, say, a 6 week trip) is cosy (kit on the roof too but nothing over-heavy)- three is more like it. With a CSW you'd have less room for kit I think because of all the seats...?

Landys are roomy - four is do-able, I wouldnt like to try 4 in a Cherokee or similar.

Take a test run to the highlands or Spain or something and see how the group gels - maybe some offroad practice, see how everyone gets on.

[Sam Rutherford]

London to Sydney, 7 months, 2 110s, 8 people.

No worries!

www.LSOEXPED.com


Sam.