Am I Too Sensitive?

The next slogan might be, 'Hybrid and proud'.

I have about 290,000 km (180,000 miles) on my 2005 petro 4.6L V8 LR3 and so far I have not had to walk. I guess that makes it reliable, but that is not quite the same as maintenance free.

The long and short of it, if that if I was buying a fleet, here I would purchase either Ford or GM pickups. One can probably run a US pickup for 600,000 km and spend significantly less on maintenance than I have on mine at the near 300 mark. As far as off road is concerned, where I live mud and snow are the problem.

I regard the 3 as a sand vehicle; the wheel wells are too small for snow to turn to ice and mud to freeze within, plus if the air suspension every failed, one would have a 6,000 pound anchor to drag out of the bush.

Here the 3 is more of a gentleman's 4x4; fast, comfortable, and agile.

It does what I bought it for, - to stay on the road - going off here is too easy in the winter, and to get me back from wherever regardless of the weather. It has a good heater - well two of them; good suspension; a radio that is like bringing the orchestra along, and good visibility - important, when about half the vehicles on the road up here are pickups - the four door variety, as they have replaced sedans for most people.

I am not so certain the replacement for the LR3/4 does the above. It is now called a Discovery however.

As to the new Defender, my view is Land Rover already had it - just put the Defender name on the bonnet of the LR3/4 units plus coil springs - done deal. Somehow, I think not, and that the Ranger is what will be renamed, as in Double Cab Stationwagon.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

The next slogan might be, 'Hybrid and proud'.

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It would attract the green buyer, but might also repel others in the 4WD fraternity.

Defender Green would certainly improve the image of what most people see as a big fuel guzzling military machine (even though Defenders are amongst the most economical large 4x4's).

My BIL was saying proudly that he'd had his 80 retuned and was now getting 16 l/100ks when towing his new camper, giving a range of 550ks, till I mentioned our Defender only uses 11 for a 1000k range when towing our camper. He changed the topic then.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

My BIL was saying proudly that he'd had his 80 retuned and was now getting 16 l/100ks when towing his new camper, giving a range of 550ks, till I mentioned our Defender only uses 11 for a 1000k range when towing our camper. He changed the topic then.

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I had a new Fortuner for work today..

At 120 it was drinking 12.7l/100km

My D4, loaded with extras doesn’t drink that much at 160!!

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Originally Posted by Tombie

I had a new Fortuner for work today..

At 120 it was drinking 12.7l/100km

My D4, loaded with extras doesn’t drink that much at 160!!

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That's not much less than my D4 V8!!!! (12.7 @ 110-115)

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Originally Posted by bln

In the last Pat Callinans 4x4 magazine (issue 028) there was a great letter to the editor "Land Rover Loyal". Basically the letter was about a bloke who has been very happy with the many land rovers that he has had in the past. The editor (Scott) responded with something like "its great to hear from a Land Rover Tragic (most of them involving mechanical repairs)...." . Well that's like a red rag to a bull for me. Ive owned 5 land rovers now over the years and I have never had any sort of reliability issues. The odd repairs required from time to time but no more than you'd expect from any other type of 4x4.
Are the 4x4 mags perpetuating an untruth and misrepresenting Land Rover? On what grounds do they claim LR to be unreliable - where is the evidence?. As far as know, and from my experience they are solid reliable 4x4s that excell at there intended use.
I own a small business and I had 3 hiluxs and 2 prados - we had continual problems with them - oil leaks, gearbox overheating, tail shaft faults, recalls as wel l as faulty injectors. These are well known faults so why aren't journalists critical of Toyotas? We have since moved to colorados and our running costs have significantly dropped. I personally traded in my prado for a D4 and the difference is like chalk and cheese.
So my question is - should we be tolerating false journalism or am I just too sensitive? Should Land Rover be tolerating false statements.
I could go on rambling but i look forward to reading what others think.
cheers

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In this day and age of shrinking advertising revenue, they are scared of insulting the big spenders. Look what VW did to Fairfax after they refused to let any VW product enter into car of the year! Most are afraid of losing massive ad revenue across all their publications, not just one. So insult Toyota in your 4x4 mag and you also loose the millions in ads from your other mags/papers.

Hence the value of the little poison dwarf John Cadogan, who calls it as he sees it (rightly or wrongly depending on your viewpoint). I don't think he is on any car manufacturers Christmas list though.....

It makes sense that magazines would not slag those that supply the bread, but what also seems to be true is that owners of Toyota vehicles are very hesitant to cry anything less than total perfection.

It seems that there is a code that inhibits any criticism of their machines. Owners will rarely acknowledge that their "perfection" is sitting in the shop waiting for parts and that they hope it is fixed this time - there just seems to be some understanding that this is just not done.

I still think the Ranger Raptor is the new Defender, but as a station wagon.

I would anticipate that some of you will recognize the location of the video - perhaps your back yard?

Ford Ranger Raptor 2018 - The Ultimate Performance Truck | Ford Australia

Because T faults aren't widely published (but known in the trade, on some on line forums etc) most owners think that they are unlucky to get one with issues. So once again marketing (or in Ts case lack of marketing) triumphs.