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Author Topic: Land Rover Defender 110  (Read 36124 times)

Smoothjazz

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #100 on: January 18, 2015, 03:39:55 pm »

I love the look of these refurbished Land Rovers- so rustic and inviting. It also appeals so much because it gives me the sense of getting out there- into the wild, exploring, etc. I will probably be in the market for an off-road vehicle, or a mini-RV, but when I consider it carefully, the fact is that I would only be using it at most about 10 times in a year. I wonder if there is a way to rent a high-end off road vehicle for sort excursions.

P.S.- I really liked the Thor conversion of the Mercedes Sprinter van- seems to have all the comforts.
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Colorado David

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #101 on: January 18, 2015, 05:26:40 pm »

Rentals depend on where you are.  I rented a fully equipped Defender 110 in Capetown and drove to Namibia.

Shalimar Beekman

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #102 on: January 22, 2015, 11:46:12 pm »

A late 70's Land Cruiser FJ40 is only way to go. Insanely reliable, easy to find parts and repair. You can't go wrong. Just get it from the south where it hasn't been exposed to snow and salt (i.e. Chicago).
« Last Edit: February 28, 2015, 11:38:28 am by Shalimar Beekman »
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sailronin

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #103 on: January 25, 2015, 01:31:09 pm »

I love the look of Defenders, but prefer to get home via the same vehicle I left in, so I bought a Jeep Rubicon Unlimited. Great offroad and more comfortable on highway than the Series 3 and Defenders I've driven. With locking front and rear diffs and a true low range it goes anywhere I'm dumb enough to ask it. And the four door Unlimited versions have enough room for camping and photo gear for a two week trip.
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pluton

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #104 on: January 29, 2015, 04:57:10 am »

It is quite difficult to justify the Diesel proposition now.
I got a Diesel engine in the summer but with the gas prices down the differential between gas and diesel is huge.
In the summer the diesel was roughly 10 cents more expensive than premium, now it's 30-40% more! Now that's kind of ridiculous. Not to mention the regular gas is even cheaper.
Low gas(petrol) prices are temporary.  The real argument against Diesel is that it is significantly dirtier than gas....even with all the new "clean" Diesel technologies.
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Tony Jay

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #105 on: January 29, 2015, 05:17:21 am »

Low gas(petrol) prices are temporary.  The real argument against Diesel is that it is significantly dirtier than gas....even with all the new "clean" Diesel technologies.
This argument against Diesel only holds if you are on the tarmac.
Offroad the massive increase in fuel consumption with Petrol-driven 4X4's far outweighs the apparent greater emissions with Diesel.
If you are not going offroad then one doesn't need a 4X4...

Just saying

Tony Jay
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mbaginy

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #106 on: January 29, 2015, 05:32:44 am »

The real argument against Diesel is that it is significantly dirtier than gas....even with all the new "clean" Diesel technologies.
The fuel itself?  There are a number for filters in a vehicles fuel system to filter out contaminants.  Or do you mean the exhaust?  The comtaminants differ between gasoline and diesel.  Modern heavy diesel vehicles use SCR (urea) systems to cleanse exhaust.  Many more private vehicles are also being equipped with SCR systems as well.

I hate to use the term "gas" since there's also CNG (Compressed Natural Gas).  I've been working in automotive fuel systems for some 20 years and there's often misunderstandings between Europeans and Americans (engineers) when discussing "gas".  I prefer the English term petrol - less ambiguous.

I've been driving diesel cars for the past 15 years and enjoy the high mileage my cars achieve - I drove my former Alfa Romeo (5 cyclinder diesel) over 280,000km before my dealer made me an offer I couldn't pass up. My current Alfa Romeo diesel (similar engine) has run over 350,000km without any problems.  I'm sold on diesel engine torque, fuel efficiency and longevity.  Sad, that changing taxes are constantly changing fuel prices, road tax, insurance premiums, etc. (at least here in Germany).
« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 07:55:13 am by Mike D. B. »
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armand

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #107 on: January 29, 2015, 08:43:21 am »

Europe has a huge proportion of diesel cars vs the U.S. where they are still niche. Paradoxically they might gain more traction with the introduction of diesel light trucks from Chevy and Dodge.

mbaginy

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #108 on: January 29, 2015, 09:15:42 am »

Europe has a huge proportion of diesel cars vs the U.S. where they are still niche.
Yeah, very true.  That's mostly due to taxing of gasoline and diesel.  Some 15 years ago European governments thought diesel to be the best fuel available and lowered taxes, srtificially making diesel fuel cheaper than gasoline.  In recent years the price difference is no longer than great.  It's all part of silly (and high) taxation in Europe!  French government wants to ban diesel engines by 2020.  It's a bit like nuclear power - depending who you ask, it's either god's gift to humanity or a dangerous power supply with waste which can't be disposed of.  (My view is the latter.)

But fuel efficiency of diesel engines is far better than gasoline - especially off road but also during regular (road) driving.  Especially in city driving!  While in the Army (70s), our Motor Sergeant always wanted a diesel engine for the jeeps - it never happened (mogas only).  Today's diesels can be very quiet and comfortable to drive.
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armand

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #109 on: January 29, 2015, 09:36:02 am »

I have a Grand Cherokee diesel, gets ~ 24 mpg on average, the main reason for buying the diesel. And it's a very heavy car, a lighter one could get even better.

dwswager

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #110 on: January 29, 2015, 10:38:55 am »

Europe has a huge proportion of diesel cars vs the U.S. where they are still niche. Paradoxically they might gain more traction with the introduction of diesel light trucks from Chevy and Dodge.

Diesel will never catch in the U.S. for 2 simple reasons:  lack of fuel availability versus gasoline and cost of diesel fuel (which I assume is being taxed out the ying yang since it is about 25% more expensive than gasoline per gallon).
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armand

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #111 on: January 29, 2015, 11:14:22 am »

lack of fuel availability versus gasoline

This is not such a big problem, even less with the increased autonomy of diesel cars. Most gas stations in my area have diesel.
"Lack of availability" is much more real with electric cars.

Petrus

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #112 on: January 29, 2015, 04:11:07 pm »

Our family is practically diesel only, stronger longer lasting engines, better milage, better low rpm torque.

There is plenty of diesel available in the states, but maybe only at truck stops sometimes.
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Harold Clark

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #113 on: January 29, 2015, 05:13:25 pm »

Our family is practically diesel only, stronger longer lasting engines, better milage, better low rpm torque.

There is plenty of diesel available in the states, but maybe only at truck stops sometimes.

I have had a VW golf diesel wagon for over 2 years. It has been a great vehicle in every respect, summer fuel economy about 5.2l/100km, a bit higher consumption in winter. VW sells a lot of diesels here in Canada, the Touareg has a take rate of over 90% I believe.

Modern diesel cars are very clean, however the emission control systems now employed add a lot to the complexity and potential expense of maintaining them long term. It remains to be seen whether they will prove to be the good investments long term that their predecessors have been.
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Misirlou

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #114 on: January 29, 2015, 06:39:29 pm »

I have had a VW golf diesel wagon for over 2 years. It has been a great vehicle in every respect, summer fuel economy about 5.2l/100km, a bit higher consumption in winter. VW sells a lot of diesels here in Canada, the Touareg has a take rate of over 90% I believe.

Modern diesel cars are very clean, however the emission control systems now employed add a lot to the complexity and potential expense of maintaining them long term. It remains to be seen whether they will prove to be the good investments long term that their predecessors have been.

We looked at buying one of those (Jetta wagon) new last month. When I calculated the costs per mile though, the 5 cylinder gasoline engine version was actually much cheaper over our expected life cycle.

But, as always, the assumptions are where the calculations can be misled. I had to use current fuel prices, and nobody knows where those will go in the future. As of today, gasoline is $1.56 per gallon here, and diesel is $2.69. The better gas mileage of the diesel can't offset that disparity for us. Also, I found a lot of evidence that mechanics who are well-trained in VW diesel tech can keep those cars going reliably. But, if you are unfortunate to live where no such expertise exists, you can get into expensive trouble. So I didn't figure in maintenance costs at all.

In the end, we decided to just keep paying for repairs on our 14 year old BMW wagon.

To get back to the topic at hand, I love the look of classic LRs, but never actually got a chance to drive one. My dad has always had one form or another of Jeep since 1970. Right now, he has, I believe, a '47 Willys. Great off road. But, the controls are so heavy, and the brakes so primitive, that I don't really enjoy mixing it up with modern traffic. I had an early Jeep Liberty for a long time. It seemed to strike a good balance between on and off road abilities. The car magazines tended to hate it because it wasn't car-like enough, and the off-road crowd hated it because they though it was too "cute." Worked very well for me though, especially in deep snow. I would not have hesitated to take it way into back country. Yet it was still comfortable to drive in regular road traffic, any time of the year.

Jeep actually built a diesel Liberty, for one year only. If one could find a nice used for a good price...
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Justinr

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #115 on: January 29, 2015, 07:15:27 pm »

Our family is practically diesel only, stronger longer lasting engines, better milage, better low rpm torque.

There is plenty of diesel available in the states, but maybe only at truck stops sometimes.

That was how it was in the UK up to the 70's, if you wanted diesel then you had to to the truck pumps, it all changed in about 3 years, as quick as that, suddenly every garage had a diesel pump.

Not so sure that the characteristics are so noticeable between petrol and diesel engines nowadays though. Electronic engine management has pretty much seen to it that you'd hardly know one from the other on your less exotic cars. Having said that, power density was always greater with petrol, and still at the extremes, so it still rules for sports cars and bikes.
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Justinr

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #116 on: January 29, 2015, 07:24:32 pm »

Yeah, very true.  That's mostly due to taxing of gasoline and diesel.  Some 15 years ago European governments thought diesel to be the best fuel available and lowered taxes, srtificially making diesel fuel cheaper than gasoline.  In recent years the price difference is no longer than great.  It's all part of silly (and high) taxation in Europe!  French government wants to ban diesel engines by 2020.  It's a bit like nuclear power - depending who you ask, it's either god's gift to humanity or a dangerous power supply with waste which can't be disposed of.  (My view is the latter.)

But fuel efficiency of diesel engines is far better than gasoline - especially off road but also during regular (road) driving.  Especially in city driving!  While in the Army (70s), our Motor Sergeant always wanted a diesel engine for the jeeps - it never happened (mogas only).  Today's diesels can be very quiet and comfortable to drive.

That's the first I've heard of France wanting to do that, does it apply to the whole of the country or just city centres? I assume you mean cars rather than diesel engines generally, as just about everything else (other than bikes) runs on diesel.
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mbaginy

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #117 on: January 30, 2015, 03:02:50 am »

That's the first I've heard of France wanting to do that, does it apply to the whole of the country or just city centres? I assume you mean cars rather than diesel engines generally, as just about everything else (other than bikes) runs on diesel.
I just reread those recent articles; let me clarify.  It's the current mayor of Paris who wants to ban diesel cars from the city.  That should go hand-in-hand with other changes such as turning the inner city into a large pedestrian area with only limited access to electric-powered vehicles.

Don't know if she will see her plans blossom into reality.  In my view, a great amount of diesel vehicles simply need to be properly maintained and serviced for air quality to immediately improve.  I see so many diesel and vehicles (trucks, vans, cabs) which leave a smoke screen behind them when accelerating.  Ever increasing prices are making the proper servicing of vehicles a luxury.  I plan to live car-free from June 2020, when I retire, only renting one for vacations.  And then I can stroll through the great pedestrian areas of downtown Paris!  :D
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Harold Clark

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #118 on: January 30, 2015, 09:16:41 am »

We looked at buying one of those (Jetta wagon) new last month. When I calculated the costs per mile though, the 5 cylinder gasoline engine version was actually much cheaper over our expected life cycle.

But, as always, the assumptions are where the calculations can be misled. I had to use current fuel prices, and nobody knows where those will go in the future. As of today, gasoline is $1.56 per gallon here, and diesel is $2.69. The better gas mileage of the diesel can't offset that disparity for us. Also, I found a lot of evidence that mechanics who are well-trained in VW diesel tech can keep those cars going reliably. But, if you are unfortunate to live where no such expertise exists, you can get into expensive trouble. So I didn't figure in maintenance costs at all.

In the end, we decided to just keep paying for repairs on our 14 year old BMW wagon.

To get back to the topic at hand, I love the look of classic LRs, but never actually got a chance to drive one. My dad has always had one form or another of Jeep since 1970. Right now, he has, I believe, a '47 Willys. Great off road. But, the controls are so heavy, and the brakes so primitive, that I don't really enjoy mixing it up with modern traffic. I had an early Jeep Liberty for a long time. It seemed to strike a good balance between on and off road abilities. The car magazines tended to hate it because it wasn't car-like enough, and the off-road crowd hated it because they though it was too "cute." Worked very well for me though, especially in deep snow. I would not have hesitated to take it way into back country. Yet it was still comfortable to drive in regular road traffic, any time of the year.

Jeep actually built a diesel Liberty, for one year only. If one could find a nice used for a good price...

Fuel prices are a big factor, the price spread in the USA is exceptionally large. In Canada diesel is more in winter, less in summer, so it averages the same as regular unleaded, maybe a touch less.

I had a Jeep Liberty diesel for 3 years. It was a very good vehicle, not too large. I drove it out to NFLD from Ontario twice.

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armand

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Re: Land Rover Defender 110
« Reply #119 on: January 30, 2015, 11:01:29 am »

I think that right now not enough diesel is produced in US so in the winter it's competing with the heating fuel which makes it more expensive. I still think it's artificially too much of a difference though. In the summer the diesel was ~ 10c/gall more than premium gas.

Right now with my Jeep diesel it would be probably as cheap or cheaper to drive the V8; I did get the diesel mostly for eco reasons but it is somehow frustrating.
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