Thread: MOST DANGEROUS 4X4 EVER MADE!

Originally Posted by superquag

Whatever you do... don't drive a late model Pajero diesel or otherwise...

Friend of mine (Disco II tragic) loved his (from new) TD-5, but Wife got sick of the endless breakdowns on their round Oz trip, and ended up trading it for a new Paj diesel.

- Now he'll never go back to LR, more power towing their 'van, more SPACE inside and drives and rides as well as the Disco, so SWMBO reckons.

Best of all, NO reliability issues in the 15 months+ since SHE bought it !
(Unlike the Disco)

Yes, it IS an interesting view of other cars... looking UP at their headlights

It's hardly a fair comparison, a D2 to a new Paj. I'd wager that if you owned/drove in just about any car (within reason) from the D2's era and then rode in a new 'version', be it the same brand or otherwise, you'd come to the same conclusion.

The real comparison would be against a D4......there would be no comparison at all in power, towing capability and ride quality.

My neighbour has just bought a brand new Paj....and I mean brand new...with the uprated engine and some tricky electronics. Don’t get me wrong, it is a beautiful car, drives well and looks well finished…..but it lacks my D4 SE in all areas I’m aware of. My D4 is 18 months old and has never stopped…(touch-wood). It’ll be interesting to see how the hi-tech Paj’s fare in time.

Cheers,

Kev.

Just out of curiosity, I dropped into MR Automotive, and had a chat about the new [2010/11] defenders, and with them being one of the biggest independant L.R. dealers in Aus., asked them if they had any feedback on the defenders performance around Aus.. They replied they had no reports of any major problems, and they knew of a few doing the around Aus. trip with no problems to report. The Ford diesel was performing well, and the area where they thought there might be a problem, the 6 speed gearbox, nil bad reports.Looks like L..R. might have got it right on this one, barring any late mail. Bob

As far as all the electronics goes, NORMALLY I love it.

The problem with is the current RR is the electronics seems to be a major deficit, and I’m not just referring to my own RR. The yanks, with their love of PIMP MOBILES, are anything but impressed with the current Range Rover.

But all of this still does not answer how the steering could lock just because the power failed.

My wife told me the motor stalled while see was driving and not realising straightaway what was going on, see pushed the accelerator peddle to the floor to get the RR to try to keep going.

At the same time the steering got very heavy. This is normal once the motor stops.

When the RR came to a stand, my wife tried to start the motor but nothing happens and as she was on a steep hill, she started to roll back and was going roll off to the side off the road.

Problem was the RR would roll but the steering had locked so she could only roll backwards down the middle of the road.

With all the traffic and being as it was dark, the only thing she could do was jump out and try to wave traffic down to avoid an accident.

When I got there, I first thought that maybe she had locked the steering herself or the RR was so heavy she couldn’t turn the steering wheel.

I jumped in and the transmission was in Park but the ignition key was in the ON position and the steering was locked. I could not move the steering wheel.

As I couldn’t move the RR, all I could do was help wave traffic down to the RACQ arrived.

Even if my wife had been mistaken and had not realised she had turn the ignition off after she had put the RR in Park, the key could not have been turned back to the ON position which means she never turn the key to the OFF position.

So why was the steering able to lock with the key still in the ON position?

Originally Posted by Graeme

Why can't it be taken off-road?

Hi Graeme, I had an 02/3 RR and it was great off road, even with stock 18” road tyres.

The 07 RR pussbox only comes with 20” low profile tyres and mags, which that means you can deflate them below about 30 pounds or you risk damaging both the tyres and the mags.

When I bought the pussbox, I thought I was being smart. I know they only came with 20” mags but I had kept a set of 18” mags from my older RR and was going to swap them over when I wanted to go off road.

I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was. You can’t fit anything smaller that the 20” mags they come with because of the bloody ****** racing brakes.

So all the electronic off road assistance is a waste of time ( and money ) and why put it on a vehicle that can’t go off road.

Hi all
Sorry to hear about your dramas Drivesafe,to think I was worried going to the D2 from my D1,as others have said I thnk 'we've' gone overboard on automation and some of these features are a hinderance rather than a blessing!.Some times I think it's a case of the computer geeks saying ..."what can we do to pi## them off this time" .Also the term "built in redundancy"comes to mind,but the thing that worries me is people are not required to have common sense or some basic skills any more ,especially when it comes to driving.Glad to hear the "cook" did the right thing and no one got hurt!
Good luck with it all,Cheers Gregg

Originally Posted by drivesafe

I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was. You can’t fit anything smaller that the 20” mags they come with because of the bloody ****** racing brakes.

It sounds like my 3.0 D4 but I had a plan ...

I wondered if it was only the tyres or if there is some other reason. A German company is keen to see if the Llams kit fits the current RR, although not for its off-road height use but for its ability to lower (35 mm for Germans!).

So why was the steering able to lock with the key still in the ON position?

Maybe they are a solenoid type setup, ie with the power on the solenoid pulls out allowing steering to work, with the power off or no power present, the solenoid pops back in and stops it. Much like the "put your foot on the brake to put an auto into gear" type arrangement.

It certainly is a sad state of affairs when they feel that to keep their edge they must out-do each other in the electronic stakes, to the point where one computer controls everything on the car so a minor failure in one component means all systems fail.

Well that was an interesting 6 pages of reading. Sorry to hear of the RR's breakdown.

Wondering if my old '03 RR Vogue has the same design? At least the handbrake in it is a proper "Lever connected with cable" type of handbrake, and not one of those ridiculous electronic ones. Who ever thought they were a good idea? In an off-road vehicle?

Sounds like the older Range Rovers might be more "suited to purpose" than the newer ones.

Glad your wife got out of it safely.

Cheers
David