Thread: 4WD Ambulance

Who decided that small wheels,leaf springs and an inadequate 4WD transmission [Mercedes Sprinter] - as long as it has air bags, makes for a safer ambulance than something with large wheels (less rolling resistence to obstacles), coil springs (better ride & articulation) and superior constant 4WD capability (traction & control) - but without air bags [Land Rover Defender].

They trialled the Sprinter 4WD ambulance at work (manual transmission), but it looks like they'll wait for an auto. It was supposed to come with the semi-auto (clutchless manual box) soon, but that is a very dangerous gearbox. We had it on the first batch of ambulances. It has very jerky automatic gear changes; It won't go down gears until it reaches a certain rev range, so you can manually go down a gear, then a minute later decide to go down another, and all of a sudden the box drops you down 2 gears and just about stalls the car in the middle of a manuevre. Being a computer controlled box, it sometimes requires the ignition off for 60sec to reset itself, great for an ambulance that may be parked in the middle of an incident and requires to be shifted immediately - not.

Land Rover SV used to make 130 Defender ambulances with walk through, 2 stretcher pods (or buit to spec). In fact I think they made 13 Ambulance variants (110 & 130). But since Land Rover Special Vehicles no longer have their own website, I can't tell you what's currently available.

I think there is a company here that builds a few ambulances, probably the only bunch that do it. Shouldn't be too hard though. Might even be the same lot that made the stretched defender that they use on the abt railway.