Thread: What's a good daily driver?

Originally Posted by Tusker

Dunno..

Reading up on a few sites, the travel is still intended to be limited by the shocks. Longer travel is apparently possible than with ordinary coils.

I'm hopeful I can duplicate the current setup.

Regards
max P

Airbags are really interesting in terms of setup. The spring rate in the airbags is always progressive and the progressive nature is determined by the volume in the airbag. This is affected by a few things like diameter and length, but also the shape of the plunger bit inside of it. I think different manufacturers produce different plunger bit shapes to try and set the rates as required when at various heights. The other thing that seems to happen with them is that the spring rate increases with load which is great for touring, but also spring rate and the progressive action increases as the ride height is adjusted upwards. ie if you take a standard ride height airbag and jack it up 2" then you'll end up with stiffer suspension, but if you space the airbag by 2" or run a 2" lifted airbag then you'll have the same spring rates. All of this said, air isn't common on comp rigs and reading on Outerlimits I think Sam Overton (I hope Im not putting words into his mouth)was saying that this is due to the progressive nature of them, but there are a few full sized rigs that are running them successfully, with the 2 that come to mind being Wooders with his mega lifted Jeep and also the mammoth PGS LandCruiser in Tuff Truck. But! Heres where it gets interesting. Via airshox that are nitrogen springs, they have exactly the same properties and just about all, if not all competitors in WeRock are now using them over the more traditional coilover setups, but the trick with making them work seems to be to have a lower base ride height. The reason why full size truck are not on Airshox though, is because the Airshox cant support that much weight, although the manufacturers are now selling 2.5" over 2" and so they're making way, but still not of the load carrying capacity of an airbag!

Thats enough of my ramblings.

Max, here is some information from Hardy who has a tricked up P38. These airbags are RR spec, but are 2" longer at the front and 3.5" longer at the rear. If the bag is too short you can also space them with solid spacers to give the correct height/rate.

http://www.arnottindustries.com/part...id4_pid21.html

also Hardy in QLD
http://www.hardrange.com/index_files/Page533.htm

I'm also not sure who does controllers/compressors to suit, though I'm pretty sure Wooders has a system that he uses/sells with full spring control.

Originally Posted by Tusker

Tusker won't fit underneath the building we're about to move into. No Defender will. Stuffed if I know what to do, any suggestions?

1. Could sell Tusker as is, & setup say a D3. Don't want to, big $$$ to buy & fitout.
2. Keep Tusker for weekends & hols. Then need a daily driver.
3. Never had anything Japanese, not starting now. I'd rather get the train..
4. Current Freelanders, even if sorted out, would depreciate too much methinks.
5. Could wait for a Freelander2, not keen on being the first to buy.
6. Mini would be fun. New model almost here.
7. Could go the Falcon/Commondoor route. Boring.
8. Magnas/380 are an underrated car in my book. Just needs to be the right price.
9. What else.. the Jag S type with the 2.7L diesel would be a nice setup. Too $$$ just to go to & from work though. BMWs aren't anything to rave about. Smaller Mercedes are too $$$ for what they are. Current Audis are not bad, but I'd rather get the equivalent VW.
10. Something classic has an appeal, but this new one has to be reliable. Anything 20 or 30 yrs old regrettably is out. Swapping the good bits from Tusker to say a classic Rangie is out for the same reason.

Any thoughts anyone?
Regards
Max P

You could always drive the defender into the building repeatedly. It won't hurt the defender and the building will eventually give in and let you through.

Getting back to topic, as a daily driver, if economy is the aim (also fun to drive) then a VW Jetta TDI would be my call, or if performance in a 'sleeper' sedan then I would go the VW Jetta FSI Turbo!!! For mine they are the best two options and having driven many of their current competitors I would rate them highly. By the same token if you only need 2 doors then the Polo GTI would be my pick...
Best of luck, but DON'T get rid of the Defender, you wil kick yourself a new Ar*#e if you do...!!!

Johnsy

If it's just to get to work then just buy any little *****&# for $1500 and save yourself heaps. If it craps itself, buy another and another...put what you would have spent on any of the above suggestions or house,beer, shares or fender.
simply...a cheap A to B....
I just bought a cheap $2500 one owner(auntie) 97 Deawoo Espero for the missus..same running gear as Vectra....good on fuel.

Ok, I'll shut up now...

cheers
paul

Originally Posted by Slunnie

Airbags are really interesting in terms of setup. The spring rate in the airbags is always progressive and the progressive nature is determined by the volume in the airbag. This is affected by a few things like diameter and length, but also the shape of the plunger bit inside of it. I think different manufacturers produce different plunger bit shapes to try and set the rates as required when at various heights. The other thing that seems to happen with them is that the spring rate increases with load which is great for touring, but also spring rate and the progressive action increases as the ride height is adjusted upwards. ie if you take a standard ride height airbag and jack it up 2" then you'll end up with stiffer suspension, but if you space the airbag by 2" or run a 2" lifted airbag then you'll have the same spring rates. All of this said, air isn't common on comp rigs and reading on Outerlimits I think Sam Overton (I hope Im not putting words into his mouth)was saying that this is due to the progressive nature of them, but there are a few full sized rigs that are running them successfully, with the 2 that come to mind being Wooders with his mega lifted Jeep and also the mammoth PGS LandCruiser in Tuff Truck. But! Heres where it gets interesting. Via airshox that are nitrogen springs, they have exactly the same properties and just about all, if not all competitors in WeRock are now using them over the more traditional coilover setups, but the trick with making them work seems to be to have a lower base ride height. The reason why full size truck are not on Airshox though, is because the Airshox cant support that much weight, although the manufacturers are now selling 2.5" over 2" and so they're making way, but still not of the load carrying capacity of an airbag!

Thats enough of my ramblings.

With Slunnies Airshox suggestion, most of the Monster trucks run these, admittedly custom made shocks but they run them in series. 2x each corner (similar setup to that on a 130 crewcab) perhaps this could be an option, not a cheap one (at close to a grand a corner) but still an option. It would lower Tusker but setup right you may actually gain wheel travel, surely Tusker would weigh less than the average monster truck.

Originally Posted by OLR-067

If it's just to get to work then just buy any little *****&# for $1500 and save yourself heaps. If it craps itself, buy another and another...put what you would have spent on any of the above suggestions or house,beer, shares or fender.
simply...a cheap A to B....
I just bought a cheap $2500 one owner(auntie) 97 Deawoo Espero for the missus..same running gear as Vectra....good on fuel.

Ok, I'll shut up now...

cheers
paul

X2

Originally Posted by dobbo

Apart from the running costs, nah if you have an Aston you wouldn't care about tedious things like that.

Would restoring the Aston increase the value of make it depreciate?

err Dobbo, not sure what you mean..

The AM isn't an option to drive every day. Its 10mpg around town, & the bits are too expensive for a daily driver. Its cheaper to get stuff like alternators from Rolls Royce than through Astons.

Reliant Robin? Haven't seen one in 20 years. Any in the country? Now theres a collectors item.

Prefer new or near new for reliability reasons. Haven't though about the tax side of things yet.

Don't know much about Renaults. Can't get in a Pug 205 GTi. The BMW 130 didn't do too well on Top Gear a few weeks ago, or was that a different model?

Regards
Max P