Over here S Cross still available in 4WD with 180mm ground clearance I believe. Just bought a new Vitara S that has marginally more ground clearance and initial off road experience has been good although just wet, muddy and slippery not the H/D stuff you guys are doing in Aus and NZ. Really like the way it goes and handles on the road too.
Stalking / Hunting Vehicles
- Thread starter tac29136
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Essex stalker
Well-Known Member
As an Essex boy who does a lot of his stalking in Scotland we needed a vehicle that is comfortable on a long drive but also has reasonable off road capability, knew a number of people who had the old vitara and they seemed to go anywhere. Based on that we purchased a new Vitara, when we first got it I thought the fact it had new electronic 4 wheel drive and the old separate 4 wheel box was no longer, I thought it simply wasn't going to be as good but after having it for a year I'm really impressed, it's been back and forward to Scotland at least a dozen times and has never let me down whilst off road, admittedly mainly forest tracks and wet muddy fields but that's all I really need
Well it goes against the grain to agree but I am afraid he is right. Land cruisers were taking over in Botswana back in the '60s.
David.
David.
That's a shame, you'd think maybe there'd be enough interest in the Suzuki AWD to keep it going. But then again, Aussies like larger vehicles in general, eh.
I had a think back to that little Suzuki SX4 I came across in Dargo and I clearly remember it had a 2.4L motor. I looked it up and see factory motors were limited to 2.0L. I also remember it had a locking centre diff which I think was standard, but it had an electric aftermarket rear diff lock as well. No rear seat, there was a custom bench and rack for all his gear and he'd take it on the beach for all night fishing trips. It was seriously lifted with oversize ATs and some panel work to get them to fit on full lock. The owner was a character, he had an impressive motorhome with all sorts of custom improvements, and a little racing car box trailer for the Suzuki. And he loved his little car. So I'm guessing he must have done an engine swap with a Vitara motor at some point. Great way to spend your retirement, tooling around Aus like that. I'm gonna do it, I'm quite sure of that. Expect visitors in about 2035.
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Expect visitors in about 2035.
It wont be dodgyknees it will be dodgydick in 2035 ha ha
It wont be dodgyknees it will be dodgydick in 2035 ha ha
You never know John it might be the only part of me that still works. But way I'm falling apart at the seams since middle age came on with a vengeance, I'll be surprised if I make 2035. The Grim Reaper has already had one bloody good go at taking me on a long-term road trip!
Can you publish the stats for 30 or 40 year old Japs then please?. Particularly for countries that salt the roads?
scrumbag
Well-Known Member
Can you publish the stats for 30 or 40 year old Japs then please?. Particularly for countries that salt the roads?
No because frankly, who cares! And given a toyota is now the best selling pick-up in the USA I think we can discern that Defenders are a hobby/ labour of love / joke / Brummie employment scheme propped up by the army that thank fully has been culled after being allowed to rumble on for too long...
Essex stalker
Well-Known Member
L
only 20 years old, that's not going to go wrong is it, that's one of those new fangled modern land rovers!!
She's a beaut...likes nothing better than towing Toyotas when they get stuck
Yeah, they do a really really good job of stretching the tow rope with those awesomely powerful motors of theirs! Wow, take a look at those 200TDI, 300TDI and TD5 motors, stellar output! Wait, what’s that you say, a Ford Transit engine? Cor!
For a country that has designed amazing engines for racing cars, fighter jets, world land speed records, nuclear submarines and who knows what else, why then do we have the (in)famous Land Rover being perhaps the most common “engine swap” vehicle on the planet?
Just what is it about the Land Rover that requires their engines to be swapped the whole time?
Well, maybe the Australians had the right idea, they decided to use the clever LR 4WD systems but built theirs from scrath with an Isuzu engine!
Sorry... can’t resist having a dig at Land Rover. Such an easy target. Will wind my neck in forthwith...
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Too easy to press your buttons Dodgy
Oh stop it, stop I said, leave me alone... LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!! You’re online bullying me! I’m gonna report you you know, you should be banned!
Now, where did I put those painkillers & Prozac...
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
I really do have a soft spot for old LR`s,the winching episode truck was just the best in its day for me at least. Series 1/11 and 111 have all been stabled at my joint and I made money out of them all on resale...unheard of today eh what!
And always ran 'bar tread' tyres too,I don't know what you call them in the UK but they were ladder lugged,its an army pattern and by Jove they were excellent in the mud and schit.
Terrible on slippery bitumen of course.
I expect you would agree Dave dodgy donger.
And always ran 'bar tread' tyres too,I don't know what you call them in the UK but they were ladder lugged,its an army pattern and by Jove they were excellent in the mud and schit.
Terrible on slippery bitumen of course.
I expect you would agree Dave dodgy donger.
I do agree. Wholeheartedly. Not just about the old cross ply tyres but the old Landies, to an extent. Mixed memories, to be honest. The only Land Rover we had in our family was a Series III single cab LWB with the 2.25L diesel and an open tray... this is in the earlyish 70s. That vehicle was used for a wide variety of farm activities, some of which were well beyond its capabilities and hence the reason it constantly broke down.
We used to shoot rabbits in that vehicle, a driver and a roof mounted lamp operator (me, when I was a young ‘un), two 12ga shooters in the back. The bloody electrics were always a problem I remember that. This was pre-Hungerford so we had semi-auto Franchis. We were required to pick up the bunnies and some nights the whole of the tray would be 3 deep and the shooters would struggle to stand.
That vehicle was still just about alive in the mid-80s because I graduated to 12ga duties in it, and clearly remember shooting a dirty great spray into the left front wing, this due to bad driving of course. Someone terminally broke it in the late 80s when I was away at college and thats when my Dad decided enough was enough as we got our first Hilux, a 2nd hand LN65 pickup 2.4L diesel that totally extinguished any lingering bad memories of trying to keep a Series III going.
And that was when the radio cassette mysteriously stopped playing Embarrassment, Funeral Pyre and Its The End Of The World As We Know It and would only play Turning Japanese, Start!, All Mod Cons and It Must Be Love!
We used to shoot rabbits in that vehicle, a driver and a roof mounted lamp operator (me, when I was a young ‘un), two 12ga shooters in the back. The bloody electrics were always a problem I remember that. This was pre-Hungerford so we had semi-auto Franchis. We were required to pick up the bunnies and some nights the whole of the tray would be 3 deep and the shooters would struggle to stand.
That vehicle was still just about alive in the mid-80s because I graduated to 12ga duties in it, and clearly remember shooting a dirty great spray into the left front wing, this due to bad driving of course. Someone terminally broke it in the late 80s when I was away at college and thats when my Dad decided enough was enough as we got our first Hilux, a 2nd hand LN65 pickup 2.4L diesel that totally extinguished any lingering bad memories of trying to keep a Series III going.
And that was when the radio cassette mysteriously stopped playing Embarrassment, Funeral Pyre and Its The End Of The World As We Know It and would only play Turning Japanese, Start!, All Mod Cons and It Must Be Love!
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John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Schitt Dave I didn't even have a radio in any of mine,my old `69 11 A didn't even have free wheeling hubs until I bought a 11A with them installed for wrecking and transplanted them. Mine had the lights inside the guards and my mate old Teddles took the lights from the wrecker and installed them in the guards,man I had a four headlight 1969 109" wheelbase Land Rover and didnt i pull my pudd over that one ha ha.
I loved the old girl sob sob,she was given a hole in the roof for a spotlight and there wasn't a fox that was safe for 40 miles around Lancefield in those days.
I don`t think even to today that there was a better FARM vehicle made.!
Btw I have had a few Robert Oatley 2014 Finisterre Cabernet Sauvignons this evening and I`m starting to sob..again.
That old LR was that long ago that the word digital only applied to rape and not cameras otherwise I would post a pic of her.There are a few in an old album (wtf is that) somewhere here.
Gotta add that the song is schitt ha ha
I loved the old girl sob sob,she was given a hole in the roof for a spotlight and there wasn't a fox that was safe for 40 miles around Lancefield in those days.
I don`t think even to today that there was a better FARM vehicle made.!
Btw I have had a few Robert Oatley 2014 Finisterre Cabernet Sauvignons this evening and I`m starting to sob..again.
That old LR was that long ago that the word digital only applied to rape and not cameras otherwise I would post a pic of her.There are a few in an old album (wtf is that) somewhere here.
Gotta add that the song is schitt ha ha
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Bought a brand new landrover stationwagon 90 with all the extras in 2015 (my retirement present). I believe I could almost get my money back if I sold it tomorrow,and I do use it for all my driving,motorway,off road etc.Just saying.
Ah, yes, the nostalgia effect potshot, overrides common sense! Will be interesting to see how values of the last couple of years Defender production hold up. We got a handful of 2015-16 Heritage models here and it seems almost all of them are for sale for ridiculous asking prices... and not selling.
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