Thread: Touring 4wd, what would you buy?

Originally Posted by sclarke

Electronics is far better than it used to be... YES.... but the failure is not the Hardware.... is the Software.....

But if its software issues then taking along a good diagnostic/ software reset program and associated hardware as part of your toolkit solves the problem. And you get all the benefit of the computer controls ...

Willem

Originally Posted by willem

What you can or can't do with a D3 in 50 years time is totally irrelevant to the question. If I'm still around in 50 years I'll be 106 and pulling D3s out of sheds will likely be low on my list of priorities! But I reckon you might just be surprised!

I'm interested in what I can tour with now. D3s are brilliant tourers and are demonstrating their reliability consistently. There are of course, breakdowns, like any other car. But I know of no D3 that has been abandoned in the Simpson desert because of the fabled catastrophic electronic failure we hear so much about. Yes I've heard of the one that drowned its computers and couldn't proceed, but at the depth it was in not much else would have survived either - not even a Nissan Patrol.

Really, we don't have any option. Cars are going more electronic. The LC 200 shows that even Toyota has had to go down that path, and Nissan is going that way too. Land Rover has a 15 year jump on them! And as all cars go electronic, either we are going to adapt and learn the new skills required, or we are going to get stuck in some time warp nursing along some great but aging Rangie/ Series Landie/ County/ Defender/ Disco. That might suit you and that's fine, but for a tourer for the general population it just doesn't work.

A good example of this is the forum I was on a few years ago when there were rumours that the new Rangie would have independent suspension. There were many posts bemoaning the lack of off road ability this would cause. People said they would never consider a 4WD without beam axles. But when the new Rangie came out with independent suspension it had far better offroad ability than the car it superseded.

So it is with electronics. Fears of 'catastrophic failures', usually based on the experience of early electronic cars, abound. But as time goes and systems settle down and issues get sorted the electronics get more reliable and they can do things that non electronic systems can't, and they become accepted as part of the norm, with the occasional breakdown seen as just another breakdown problem to be resolved.

The future is electronic. Get used to it or you will be stuck in a time warp nursing along an aging relic.

Willem

...but, I LIKE my aging relic

JC