Thread: Suffering significant Withdrawal!!

Originally Posted by jonesfam

This morning, in between running around the Roadhouse, I put a large deposit on the above linked 2003 D2 TD5!

A BIG Thank- you goes to V8Ian who very kindly went and had a look at the car, test drove it & then phoned me to advise that it was as advertised & a good car as far as he could tell.
This site has Awesome folks on it.
Ian also offered to swap his for mine - "I don't think so!"

So. I have joined the ranks of the TD5 drivers (or will be when I get down to Brisbane to get it) & my first drive will be the 2593km from Brisbane to Doomadgee, should be a reasonable test drive?
Oh, and just to annoy me it started raining today.
Thanks to all for you input & advise, & Ian, I can't thank you enough - when I come down to get the car (early January if it goes to plan) I will try to catch up for a cuppa or something mixed.

Jonesfam

Let's not get carried away Jonesy, it wasn't onerous, in fact who wouldn't enjoy sticky-beaking Landrovers.
I hope you get many years of enjoyment from it and it's everything it appears to be.

Originally Posted by jonesfam

This morning, in between running around the Roadhouse, I put a large deposit on the above linked 2003 D2 TD5!

A BIG Thank- you goes to V8Ian who very kindly went and had a look at the car, test drove it & then phoned me to advise that it was as advertised & a good car as far as he could tell.
This site has Awesome folks on it.
Ian also offered to swap his for mine - "I don't think so!"

So. I have joined the ranks of the TD5 drivers (or will be when I get down to Brisbane to get it) & my first drive will be the 2593km from Brisbane to Doomadgee, should be a reasonable test drive?
Oh, and just to annoy me it started raining today.
Thanks to all for you input & advise, & Ian, I can't thank you enough - when I come down to get the car (early January if it goes to plan) I will try to catch up for a cuppa or something mixed.

Jonesfam

Up the coast or via Longreach?

Jonesy's coming to town 3-4 Jan.

Originally Posted by Bohica

Up the coast or via Longreach?

The inland route.
Less traffic, less idiots, less Highway Patrol & less towns. It is also shorter by quite a bit & I'm worried that if it rains seriously I may not get back. I don't want to leave the car in Isa & fly so quickest is best.

Also I can stay at a friends house in Morven the first night & stop in Toowoomba & say Gooday to some of my relies who see me about once every 15 years.

So West & up the guts. Mind you, might take me a week to find my way out of Brisbane??

Jonesfam

So I've finally managed to arrange getting my fine butt to Brisbane.
I,m flying down after work (OK, I'll take a couple of hours off) on Tuesday & arriving after 9:00pm.
My work has been very busy.

The bloke I have bought the car off is flying to Sydney first thing Wednesday so we are arranging for me to pick up the car Tuesday night. Not my preferred option, I would rather daylight for my first sight, but beggars can't be choosers & this is the only week it is convenient for me to have off work for ages.

SWMBO has decided since I will have the car Wednesday & have already booked a Motel I can do some shopping for her. Nice of her I don't think. Anyway, the shopping will have to be close to the Motel or I'm sure I will get bloody lost!


Then for the Test Drive, 2600km more or less should do it.

I also have to find a place to buy some oil, trans fluid etc just in case.

Hey! I'm very nearly a Land Rover driver again.

Jonesfam

Nice one mate. Yep great site and Ian is a gentleman.

Cheers

Are you home yet?
Can anyone between Brisbane and Doomadgee keep an eye open for a very tidy silver D2a, on the side of the road.

So, I'm booked to fly out to Mt Isa last Tuesday & catch a connecting flight to Brisbane to collect the D2 at 10:30 that night.
Plane into Doomadgee is an hour late & I miss the connecting flight! GREAT!
Arrive Mt Isa with no one at the airline desk so I can't even vent my spleen at anybody, get a taxi into Mt Isa to a motel, spend an hour booking another flight for the morning, not happy Jan!
I ring the bloke with the car who is flying to Sydney at 5 the next morning & arrange for him to leave the car at the motel I'm staying at in Brisbane, nice helpful bloke who must feel very mucked about.
About 10:30 V8Ian phones to ask if I'm in Brisbane yet, I explain the situation & Ian offers to pick us (one of my boys with me) from the airport.
We duly arrive Brisbane about 11:00 & Ian arrives in a white D2 to pick us up, we drive for ages to the motel (Brisbane is big) & parked there is a very nice looking Silver D2a.
Ian, the young fella & I drive the newish D2 to have lunch, then back to the motel where we spend the rest of the day yarning, very nice it was to.

Thursday up at 6, pack up chuck our bags in the D2 & spend half an hour working out the GPS so I have some hope of finding Toowoomba. Somewhere between Brisbane & Ipswich the GPS looses signal After some panic I remember my phone has GPS, that works, & straight away the GPS get signal again, 2 things telling me where to go.
Drive to Toowoomba, no problems except the Mud Tyres are noisy & why do people brake hard driving UP the Toowoomba range?
In Toowoomba we do shopping (the back of a D2 is a lot smaller than the back of a D3), visit relatives, sleep at relatives, a nice evening.

Up at 6 again & head off to Morven. Before we even get out of Toowoomba I get 3 bongs & the 3 Mexican Bandits! Pull up, restart & they disappear. Between Toowoomba & Oakey the come back, another re-start & we don't see them again all day. Get through Oakey & wind up to 110kph. Drive to Morven no problem except a clown pulls out of a driveway in some small town right in front of me. He looked slightly excited when he finally looked & saw a big bull bar headed towards him. Anyway, the D2 pulled up well & although there was only an inch or 2 in it we managed not to cream him.
Arrived Morven about 3:30pm, stayed at mates place. There is no Pub in Morven.

Up at 6, head North. About 20k out of Morven the 3 Mexicans are back, re-start, don't see them again all day. Sit on 110kph (to be explained) in 45-48 degree heat all day. No rain, boring country & a bloody long way to Cloncurry. The D2 does not miss a beat all day.

Get into Cloncurry about 7:00pm & I'm buggered but at least there is a couple of Pubs.

Up at 6:30, sleep in, do some grocery shopping then North to Doomadgee. Again the 3 Amigos show up after 15 minutes, re-start, don't see them again, weird?
At Burke & Wills Roadhouse I finally work out how to get my speed up on the GPS. I discover that my 110kph that I have been doing the last 3 days is actually 115kph due to the over size tyres. OK, remember that.

Get home at 2:30pm, unpack car go to bed.

Now, some observations about the car & some unfair comparisons to my old D3.
For some reason I found the D2 more comfortable than the D3. I usually have a sore neck after driving the D3 all day, no such problem in the D2.
The D2 must have a shorter wheel base by quite a bit, not bouncy just sort of different feel to rougher roads, could be the lack of air suspension of course.
Who designed the Cruise Control?? It took ages to work out I had to pull the button, not press. There seems to be no way of slowing down with the buttons & there is no dash light to tell you it's set.
In saying that it works fine on flat roads anyway.
The sound of a 5 cylinder motor is odd. Not bad, just odd. Sort of "Thrums."
Mud Tyres are noisy.
The engine is a lot noisier than a D3 but not unpleasant.
As far as I could tell despite the high ambient temps the car did not get overly hot.
The A/C works pretty well.
Performance was pretty good. This D2 has some sort of chip in it but I was surprised how well it went once wound up. The accelerator travel seems long but I was overtaking triples no problem & she pulled up the Toowoomba range very strongly.
Fuel usage is more than acceptable & she seems to have more range than the D3 though I didn't let the fuel get below 1/4.
The brakes are good, the lights are good (one lens has faded which I will try tooth paste on), it corners pretty well (does not have ACE) & I love the vision out of it.

One of my boys came out when we got home & the first thing he saw was the BF Goodrich tyres, the car is now known as the Big Friendly Giant. My idea of calling it Chucky did not get a look in.
SWMBO (who paid for it) is impressed. Keeps telling me it's nice to have a Land Rover back in the drive way. She likes the Sky Lights in the back, asked why the D3 didn't have them?
So, all in all I'm very happy & quite chuffed. There are a few minor trim issues to fix, a few minor additions to make & a very small amount of surface rust to sort out.
I have managed to get a D2 with 99% of the kit I wanted on it, which for the first 2680km ran almost without fault & was a pleasure to drive.

Thanks Ian for all your help & for the yarn, I found it a pleasurable day.

Back in the world of Land Rovers &, better again, Discoveries.

Jonesfam