Thread: County V8 Ownership Experience

I love Defenders, I have a TD5 and a new TDCi, they are fantastic, but I dearly miss my V8 Range Rovers. So I'm looking at a rather nice 1984 County V8, with a Discovery 3.9 + Automatic gearbox. It's obviously been well looked after and has fairly low k's (<180,000). Apart from the gearbox/engine - it's not been mucked around with - which is what I am looking for.

So for those of you with a County V8

1 - How do they drive compared to a td5 110? I'm guessing the driving experience will be very similar to the Td5, ie steering feel and noise etc. Is a County as nice to drive?
2 - It's a nine seater - How do you go with kids in the rear most seats - they are side facing - but do have lap belts. Are they usable for kids (>7 so no need for boosters or child seats)
3 - Are there any common problems with counties that I need to look for? (I know about rust - and luckily there is very little on this one.
4 - Ideally I'd like to use this for towing a horse float - (Automatic) - It's already a 6 pinion front diff, etc. Are there any other mods I need to consider?

Anything else I should know before jumping on this county?

It would be worth checking the laws about the centre facing seats. I've been told (although I didn't bother to check as by that time it was irrelevant to me) that you have to have every other seat occupied before you can put any passengers in the centre facing seats.

Sometimes I miss my '85 county. It was a 3.5L v8 that had done 290,000k. It was grossly underpowered for towing. The ongoing cost of repairs and fuel (25L/100km on country roads, higher around the city - PULP) were high enough to pay for a Puma.