Thread: Your Land Rover, why?

I love my landys because I can't spell Geap, Pootrol or Lancruza

Cheers Nino, my story goes like this
My first taste of Land Rovers came when I was about 6, my Dad owned a Series 3 and I was asleep in the back one minute and lying in the road on a roundabout the next, the door had popped open cos I was leaning against it and I popped out, long before the days of seatbelts!
Didn't have much to do with Land Rovers until I joined the British Army in 1988 as a mechanic, mostly series 3's then but I did work a bit on a series 2 Ambulance we had at my first unit, the 110's and 90's were just being introduced then and we saw a few before we left for the first Gulf War. What really impressed out there was how the Land Rovers could go anywhere you pointed them, this really upset the Yanks in the Hummers as they were constantly getting stuck (plus their Abrams tanks were overheating). Next taste of how good the Landies were was a tour of the Balkans, stuck in an snow and ice outstation in the mountains we regularly checked the route to see it was all clear to find cars stuck which we had to tow out. One night we came across a 4 tonne curtain sided truck in a ditch, we towed her out with our little 90, the driver was really grateful as it was hitting -30, he opened up the back and the truck was rammed with refugees, mostly women and children, one gave us a turnip for our trouble!
Most of my career was at wheeled units so I've been working on (proper ) Land Rovers for 25 years. I bought a 90 Defender in the UK after having a back operation and not being able to ride (ridden bikes since I was 16 and a misdiagnosis in the Army left me with nerve damage in my back so had to find a new hobby) Thought the 90 would give me something to do and get the family involved. When we decided the UK was done for and we needed to emigrate the 90 was first on the list to come with us (followed shortly by the kids )
Done loads to her (a 2004 TD5 90 XS) since getting here (to meet Australian conditions apparently ) We've just bought a camper trailer to go on the back as well so we can explore more of this awesome country

Loved series Landrovers when I was a kid. Dad had one he was fixing up when I was very young. Loved watching the Leyland Brothers every Sunday night. When the Discovery came out I wanted one. In 95 my parent bouth a 93 V8 Discovery which just made me want one even more. In 99 I changed jobs and got a large increase in pay so bought a brand new TD5 Discovery. Loved it for 3 years, but then it cost me $12,000 over the next 4 years to keep it on the road. Half the cost was the dealer ripping me off as once I started taking it to a small independent mechanic I had no more problems.

In 2007 it was written off in an accident. I was not game enough to go with a Land Rover again because of the repair and maintenance cost so I bought 2004 V8 Landcruiser. Toyota's are bullet proof reliable so should be good, right. No. It cost me $22,000 in repairs and a replacement engine, So I got rid of that and my wife bought a Jeep. Yeah she bought a Jeep!

Anyway I told her if she gets to drive what she wants I get to drive what I want. So she has a $60,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee (great car and will go further offroad than the cruiser would, even though the cruiser had a 2" lift and 33" muddies) and I have a $15,000 Defender 130 Crew Cab HCPU. I love the Jeep but I LOVE the Defender.

Always loved the landies, all of them just something about the old ones! and even now, the defenders especially, the newer ones have kept some of the charm of their predecessors. Just the history behind them all too!
my disco 2 is my first offical one ive had myself. but my sister is onto her 2nd freelander, and we grew up with a rangerover. the family then almost had a disco after that but we ended up downsizing as was around the time gst came in and fuel prices soared! thre is just something that resonates inside when drive my landie cant explain it. never got it with any of the other 4wds ive had. always wanted my own landrover. I thought i would never love a car as much as i lvoe my panelvan, but the landrover is under my skin, part of me, just like the pano is. i will never part with either i dont think. unless i one day got a newer discovery. but i am attached to mine, i do not think any 2 landrovers are the same. and the people who own them are all just wonderful! such a pleasant, close community. no other 4wd brand has the same affection and friendly interaction with one another. i certainly never found it with toyota, or nissan, or holden (i had a rodeo for a while). (the panelvan scene however is full of wonderful people as well!) i think the nature of the owners/drivers tells a lot about the landrovers. which makes me like them even more!
like someone said, they are just in the DNA!

Great thread Nino! Similar story here... Thanks to the old 'Local Garage' which had a Landy nut, I found myself going to AWDC trials in the UK at 15.. Addicted, I had to have one. So, my 16th birthday present was a 1964 Ser 2 diesel missing a front axle and in need of resto! 4 yrs later, V8 and Td engine swaps and lots of fun miles saw me selling it to buy my first coiler. A chocolate brown 1985 factory V8 90. Loved this thing. It looked hideous, handled well and went well too! I then stumbled across my first 101... The 90 had to go! The 101 and me became a local celebrity, well it did end up bright red, and sounded like a loaded B double! Went well too! Loved that truck. Finally, that had to go, so I ran Dad's Series 1 88" (which also had the V8 and then TD treatment) while I built my next oddity... a SWB Ser 2 with a VW 2.4 6 cylinder TD. It was made out of an ex military LWB chassis, Stage 1 front, Defender bulkhead, truck cab, and rear tub, with the sides modified to look like series! Painted a deep red, that sounded really nice. Sold that to help fund the Australia migration, and swore I'd never buy another..... Yeah, about that! Well, I now have the 130, and SWIMBO has the Ser 2 shorty! Threshed has another forum members 90 and 110 in it too! Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I built my off roader... 2 Range Rover half chassis welded back to back, four wheel steer with a roll cage and rear mounted V8 with auto! Long live the Land Rovers!!!! and this forum!!!

My parents had a then-new Series IIA wagon when I was born; used it to explore all over QLD in the very early 70's before trading it on a P-76 (non-conformists). I've only seen the pictures but maybe it had something to do with it because for a long time I was a died-in-the-wool Toyota fan.

Growing up in QLD and working in mines reinforced the notion that Toyota's were the standard and I couldn't see the attraction in a noisy and stiff riding old truck (Series Landies) with interior appointments that made an M-113 seem luxurious.

Joining the Army meant I was exposed the 110's but didn't drive them often (in Armoured Corps). Still, I did get to experience their magic soft ride over terrible terrain. I also had the benefits/necessity of regular preventative maintenance drilled into me.

When I needed an escape vehicle to explore SE Oz the soft ride of the Army 110's was what I wanted as I wouldn't be doing many family trips if the family hated it. I also needed an auto as the missus wont drive a manual. A bit of looking around led to a 1990 Rangie (very first 3.9 series, auto, no sways, red) in completely original, fully maintained condition. Ruby didn't cost much but she's been brilliant and I'm now a fully committed Landie fan. All my friends who rode in it were amazed that you could be so comfortable while reliably traversing any terrain with ease. It looks brilliant and the V8 sounds cool.

I've also got a D2a Td5 SE (found it a few years back with only 64k) that reliably goes everywhere and is ACE on the road too (only real criticism of the Rangie). I'd buy an L322 in a heartbeat but there's not enough room or seats in them for what I want - probably jump to the latest version in a few years time.

So what is it about Landies? I like, as someone else said, that they're the real deal and they've put effort into the details too, like the driving position - I even like Defender's driving position. As far as i can tell, LR have done all the innovating in the 4wd world, apart from making the first one. And ironically, they've done the most to make a truly capable 4wd more livable around town. 'Uncompromising'' could be a good word.

I guess Landie owners enjoy the journey and exploration with character, whatever that is; they look great too. And if they do preventative maintenance, their vehicles are very reliable too. For all the internet-amplified noise about LR unreliability and hate from the haters (why do they bother?), there are many people out there just enjoying them.

Four of my friends now have Landies too - D3's, Freelander and another D2a. Went to Sydney the other week; Rangies and Discos everywhere - seems to be catching

Can't claim a love since year dot or any particular deep seated urge. One of my younger brothers owned a Series IIa for a while in the late 90's, and I could never see the attraction of them - I still can't tbh.

A friend who worked as a ranger at Uluru had a 300Tdi Defender that was pretty well kitted out and was a pretty reasonably vehicle. I only ever graced the second row seats in that on a few trips bumping around the back tracks at Uluru. The experience didn't really make me want to run out and buy one.

I've been into birdwatching (of the feathered variety) since I met my partner about 8 years ago, and after attending an easter trip to Murray Sunset, we got pretty interested in getting into areas that were essentially 4wd access only. I had a peugeot 405 which got used on progressively rougher tracks until I dropped a wheel into a washout on a track near Heathcote and punched a hole in the sump. Fortunately I saw the dash lights come on, and switched off before any serious damage was done, but that made me realise I really needed a vehicle that was designed for use off the bitumen.

As a stop gap we rented a few 4wd's and AWD's - mainly Prado's and X-Trails but found that these were too limiting, and after one episode which involved a 54km walk to get help recover a bogged Prado (that had we discovered had no jack or wheel brace - I guess you were meant to call roadside assist or something?) we decided that renting wasn't really particularly sensible.

About 3 years ago my Dad bought a 1996 D1 V8 with 140K via a friend of an Aunt, which we borrowed for a week for a camping trip up to north central Victoria. I was pretty impressed by the way the D1 drove and how comfortable it was on long trips. The downsides were the hideous fuel consumption, the whiny transfer case and a nasty squeal that seemed to come from the top of the engine when it was warmed up. The rear cargo area also seemed a bit too small and we had to put the back seats down to make enough room. So basically that narrowed the choice down to either a 300Tdi or a TD5. After a first drive of chipped Td5 Disco there was no going back and after looking for 2-3 weeks I became a Land Rover owner for the first time.

I've completely fallen in love with the D2 and I can't really imagine selling it anytime soon. It's just clocked over 240K km and we are working on the basis that we'll be keeping it until it's done at least 500K km.

cheers
Paul

My introduction to Land Rover came in 2000 when Dad picked up our new V8 D2.
The last diesel they had caused some rather painful issues, so Dad went with the V8.
Which was a bummer as I can remember thinking the Td5 logo was really cool, except to my young mind diesel = pinnacle of evil
Mid teens I got to experience the joys of the Perenties on school cadet camps.
Last year I got my D2, now I just need to find the next one!
But you look at the cover of 4WDA or whatever, and every week is exactly the same.
Different owner, same GU or 80 series.
Land Rovers are capable and a bit different, as are their owners.
They're just cool