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Why do landrovers break down all the time ?? Is it an urban myth ?
Hey..
I'm not really into 4x4 and I really am not interested in a LR Vs Toyota thread highjacking... I am a keen mechanic and looking for something practical and something fun to play for when the bikes just aren't practical. This was brought about by someone trying to flog me a Discovery for £500 lol. Anyway, I've been looking at a few older landies but going from this section of the hubb, it seems i'd be lucky to get a landrover out of the country before it expoded into a ball of flames and thats only if the petrol tank hadn't fallen off on my drive way !! Whats the deal with landies then ??? Is their reputation solely based on advertising ?? Are they the BMW's of the 4x4 world ?? All hype and no go ?? I know about Toyatas being the reliable choice but landrovers do seem to chug on forever too ???? |
Ted, you really, really need to get out and go for a ride.
Please remit: $0.02 Mark |
Teddy
Im with Mark. Remit my $0.02 too + un pancho y una coca...:D Saludos |
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Don't worry though, i'll be back on Monday to whittle away my free time !! Saving really sucks doesn't it !!! Quote:
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I've had a few Landies, not a single problem - ever!
Up here in the Lakes they are pretty much the vehicle of choice for most people, and there are 30 and 40 year old examples all over the place. If the farmers like them (and they aren't known for thier ability to spend cash, see 30 to 40 year old examples) then there must be something in it. Maybe it's just the hotter climes that they struggle ? |
Ted - if you are a keen mechanic and like getting your hands dirty, a Landrover's the vehicle for you!
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Of course
Of course some vehicles are good some are bad. I have never owned a Toyota, so can't comment, but .....
We bought a 17 year old land rover ( 110 200tdi) and had it properly serviced. We then drove 20k miles and the only problem we had was we had to change the horn fuse (drive in Iranian cities and you will know why). It started with 180k miles on the clock and now has (obviously) over 200k. Nothing ever feels like going wrong and he started first time, with no prior preparation, after 6 weeks in a container. He is now our run around as we start a new life in Sydney. The conclusion than I have drawn is that certainly these old 200tdi's go on for ever if looked after, and if you can find one, ignore the miles on the clock and pay attention to the history. We will now never sell ours, as memories cost a lot more than the price we would get back. We did travel with a friend, on and off, with a new BMW GS, and he is now constantly in and out of mechanics, so I would refute that (old) land rovers are the BMW of cars ..... loudly! |
Hi Ted, I have had some right duffer landrovers s badly abused ex military things, high mileage loads of unscrupulous owners etc - they end up costing arms and legs as well as heads - and like a lot of things I am sure that a lack of proper maintenance along with silly improvements by over enthusiastic owners pushes the original format into the unreliable zone along with abuse and overstressing beyond reason. People do buy old abused examples and expect them to perform without fault. I currently run a bog standard (as it came out of the factory) 300tdi county its 15 years old has been serviced as Land rover dictated by a Land rover specialist (its a work landrover so I aint getting my hands too dirty doing the work) and the only thing to fail has been the Alternator ( replaced - with a good one not a cheap aftermarket copy) Obviously tyres/battery/brake pipes etc - service items have been done but basically its fine - would I use it to overland - probably if its what floated my boat but its not - I prefer the bike. As a run around vehicle I used for work and pleasure its fine does between 28 /34 mpg with an average of 31mpg. Land rover could make them a lot better and they have lots of failings in build quality - chassis rusting etc but hey this is made in England - what do you expect Quality ?. Keep its bits well oiled and greased , cover the underside and voids in Waxoyl and drive it with a bit of sympathy and it should keep going OK.
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Ollie - glad to hear you're still alive. When are you going to update your website?
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Mark
Soon Mark - soon! Currently the laptop is being rebuilt and then the software reloaded. Then I need to find some time to do it. Too much to do and so little time!!!
Back on topic - just been out in the landie and the pleasure that the simple roar of the engine gives me is wonderful..... and that is probably something to consider, if you aren't going to get that pleasure, a landie might not be the vehicle for you :) |
I had a Series 111 lightweight for about 15 years and the only thing that needed proper fixing was after I drove through water that came up over the bonnet. It still ran perfectly fine, so I drove home from near Reading (peters Pit I think its called?) to Essex on M25 with gritty water not oil in the air filter. It didn't do as much as it could have, just wore the bores rather than bend anything. That was a daily driver for the best part of 80k.
A 200tdi 90 that was partner at the times daily driver stopped dead cos the clutch release lever had worn through at the pivot point. Its a flat ish piece of metal, with a recess pressed out for the pivot to rest in, so where its being worn is the thinnest bit! Genius! So about 140k+ in both and one issue? Not bad I reckon! |
I think that the most fun I have ever had on 4 wheels is driving my old Landies .If you're an XT600 or an Enfield Bullet addict ,you'll get a kick out of Series I II and III Land Rovers .
Early Range Rovers are good as well . Generally speaking , the older the Landie , the better . |
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to us the only thing to beat a landys roar is a mercedes benz 911 4x4. its noisy whether youre sitting at the traffic lights or driving down the road but we love our big nessie. but still have great memories of our little nessie defender.
mark hows things:D Home |
Sounds great !!
I'll be buying an old sub £2000 Landie when I return from Africa in the new year !! :D |
Hi Ted, ive had lots of landies, my last 90 i had for 10yrs only fault was clutch fork had worn through as said above, though not bad after 152,000 miles £15 fix and 4hrs on my drive to do however I snapped the chassis at 160K but i had used(abused) it seriously for 10yrs.
best buy was a 94' 200 tdi disco with 8months mot for £400 9 previous owners, I had to replace the rear floor - easy job parts cost £50 & my son is a metal sticker by trade. I drove it 5K around morroco then another year as a my main car doing 200miles+ a week and it always returned low 30's mpg. the center diff in the gearbox went pop @149K, I was offered another gearbox for £80 but sold the car on Ebay for £270 so can't complain. A disco makes a great overlander more space than a 90 & alot more comfortable also very good offroad and boy are they cheap. regards all Gren |
Ive onwned series 1, 2, 3's Defenders + Discoveries in the last 25 + years, theres plenty to like and not like.
If they have not been serviced properly and looked after then your are bound to get problems. Likewise, I sometimes pull (whats left of) my hair out, at some of the poorly designed and shoddily built components LR use and the way they are 'cobbled' together in Solihull. The series vehicles are great fun and if you dont have to do long distances in them, then good ones can be had, my first Rover was a 1954 S1 86 inch, which is one of my favorites,great fun and if you find one with a later 2.25petrol engine in good order, very practical. Ive bought 1 Rover from new - my 95 Defender 90 - 15 years, 175,000 + miles, its been all over Europe in Trials competitions, UK Warn Challenge series, in water up to nearly its roof, towed my old 2.5 ton + Bedford J series Abulance around to classic car shows all over Southern England, ( Now sold and used on the TV show 'The Royal') towed 5 ton trailers around on a farm, been across the Sahara twice, so far Ive changed: 1 alternator (under warranty) 1 fuel tank (dented and leaked) 3 timing belts (scheduled) 2 sets of injectors (scheduled) 1 set of bushes (scheduled) 1 new Rad (clogged with mud and corroded) 4 new wheel bearings (preventative maintenance b4 sahara trip) 1 new exhaust system On the last trip to Ghana, 27,000 km round trip, the only thing that went wrong was the metal end of one windscreen wiper fell off in Mali - it was 43 degress C in the shade though. Its started first time, every time for 15 years and never let me down once. Can they be frustrating and cause alot of skin to be removed from your knuckles ? - Yes Would I like the design and build quality to be better ?- Yes Would I drive anything else ? - No Cheers Grif |
I owned a series 11 landrover once. called it the stranded rover and was never happier than the day I got rid of it for a good old holden HQ ute
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Great to read some positive experiences then.
So to answer the OP, treated right it is an urban myth, notwithstanding Grif's observations about design and BQ. I just heard from a bloke with a Discovery 200 auto still on the original box @180,000 miles. Not every Tojo can manage that! Ch |
never been with out
I love my disco 200 tdi, built in 1993 2door in white and the only thing I have replaced is the left side cv joint as it popped while wading through the floods in lockerbie last november and the water was at bonnet level while stopped.
the landie has never failed me and only leaks through the twin sunroofs.. build quality could be better:blushing::blushing: would I change her ? NO will I take her around the world ? A very big YES WITHOUT HESSITATING. NOW IN THE PROCESS OF prepping for the tour... 20,000,000 landie drivers around the world can't all be wrong.. can we. my stats on landie 200 tdi auto 250,000 on the clock original engine, gearbox, transfer box and axles and propshafts serviced every 5000 miles owned from jan 1994 so had this landie all its life ex demo may replace injectors and transfer box as still original...... never broken down well only when the cv joint popped but still drove home. fixed within the hour..... |
We hear you Crappy but dont let's have this thread go that way again - the LR bashing has all been done to death here.
Like the OP said... I really am not interested in a LR Vs Toyota thread highjacking... Ch Later.... Oh dear. Let's lock this one up and throw away the key. |
why have THE BRITISH ARMED FORCES USED THE LR FOR THE LAST 50 years and the Dutch army swears by land rover.... best war horse ever still see series 1 s on the road but dont see any 30 year old Jap 4x4s. lets keep this thead LAND ROVER..... sod it going for a drive and to do some green lanes..
ps... not even al quieda or the Taliban can stop them.... we repair and its back on the road......e SAS cant be wrong theirs are PINK(are you going to tell them its crap)for the desert and green camo over here ITS also the only 4x4 thats sold in 90 0/0 of the world and out sells jap crap... (may not be fact |
its interesting that seeing whats on the road, the utility companies (eon) seem to be going back to landrovers where as a few years ago they seemed to have moved to nissan i think.
i'm guessing the landys last longer and have better residual values so the economics work |
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The military use landrovers because of political expediencey. they were going to ditch them after the debacle of the early diesels, but the government stepped in and insisted they were used. Landrover then managed to consistently fail to deliver what they were supposed to deliver when they were supposed to deliver it.
MOD procurement wanted mercedes, a mix of G wagen (which, incidently is used by the dutch, the landy is only used in limited numbers) and the unimog. The landie is also being replaced in ops by more suitable vehicles, and not before time(and the SAS don't use them) travel around the world a bit and you will see that very definately 90% of the world does not use landrovers, they use toyotas. Having said that, I've got a landrover! why, because I can't get a toyota that does the same job as my landy, that doesn't have electrocics and has the parts availability of a landy TLC H60 Landy 130 crewcab Ford Ranger |
If you overload them, drive them to the extreme they will generally carry on regardless. So people do and get surprised when occaisionally fail. (Don't know about all the electronic stuff)
We have had Landy's (series and 109 and Defenders) in our family since 1958 and no serious problems. My Defender was bought in 1991 and only once didn't get us home. The fuel gauge got stuck on a quarter full ran out of fuel outside our neighbours house. |
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