Oh no...

Brian McIntosh · 06-01-09, 18:32

...I've just heard on the national news there's been a cold snap in England. What'll they do??? The country will grind to a standstill. Someone save us.

TFGtv.com · 06-01-09, 18:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian McIntosh

...I've just heard on the national news there's been a cold snap in England. What'll they do??? The country will grind to a standstill. Someone save us.

I have to say, all this whinging about a couple of inches of snow or a wee bit ice is completely and utterly PATHETIC. As for the prats who can't drive in it! Geeez... I saw one ass in a Freelander of all things drive straight into a hedge because he just stomped on the brakes like a complete donkey and let the car drift sideways...

Brian McIntosh · 06-01-09, 19:51

I drove from Laurencekirk (9 miles from the North Sea) to Inverness, over the Lecht, on the Tuesday between Xmas and New Year. It was 5 degrees when I left and at Grantown on Spey it was -15 degrees. A change of 20 degrees within 100 miles of each other. Inverness was a constant -5 all the time we were there. Made for some excellent photographs.

TFGtv.com · 06-01-09, 20:21

I'm quite jealous Brian. It's a positively tropical 2 degrees here just now and there's really not been much at all in the way of photogenic weather...

Brian McIntosh · 06-01-09, 20:49

Matt, the one thing I'm really looking forward to about moving oop North is the "better" winters. A landscape photographers dream. I'm looking around for a SWB Land Rover right now.

TFGtv.com · 06-01-09, 22:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian McIntosh

Matt, the one thing I'm really looking forward to about moving oop North is the "better" winters. A landscape photographers dream. I'm looking around for a SWB Land Rover right now.

Must admit I wouldn't mind heading more towards Perth or maybe even across into Stirlingshire. I kind of 'have' to be within striking distance of the central belt and northern Northumberland... But I could stand a little more northness....

That said I used to live in Coldstream and you get some decent weather down that way...

Landy... Hmmm....

Earlier in the year I WAS going to swap the Freelander for a bigger Landie with a proper low ratio box. I HAD went from a Range Rover Classic to a Freelander because the fuel issue was just getting ridiculous. The Freebie's OK for most jobs where you can recce and just carry what you'll need for a single location. But on a longer haul I've (minimally) a RedHead kit, a triple set of Interfit 3200's, case of birdies, full mic kit, field mixer, batteries, sticks... Plus the H&S gear... The stuff has to spill into the back seat which ain't good and of course if you're away for a week you've clothing etc...

I really NEED something that'll deal with motorway driving and haul people too as my 'pet' car is the old Porsche and I've no room for another... That isn't going to be a series or a 90 van. A CSW would probably have done. Or an older Disco. I've been TOTALLY put off the P38 thanks to the electronics. And I've heard a few horror stories about the post-2000 Defenders.

In six months of earnest searching all I seen was absolute junk! And a lot of it over-priced. And the odd thing was the newer cars were often MUCH worse than older ones! I've ran Land Rovers for over 20 years and certainly feel that across the entire range the build quality took a right tumble post 1998...

But you know I've taken that Freelander into some really stupid places where it really ought not to go and I've never got it stuck! It could do with a low ratio box on really heavy going such as badly churned up building sites. But it'll do everything you would want to do with a Landrover without getting into the 'extreme' off road scenario where you're routinely risking damaging the car...

I've put changing it off until the summer again. But might actually consider a Santana which has a modern engine coupled to the simpler (less likely to go wrong!) suspension of the Series. PLUS the advantage of selectable rather than full time 4WD....

Santana Worldwide

Brian McIntosh · 07-01-09, 08:36

I'd never considered the Santana. Unlike you Matt, all my gear fits in a rucksack so that's why I was considering a SWB Landie. I've not been looking for as long as you but I'm in the really fortunate position of having a friend who's a Land Rover fanatic and he's been looking with me and he's saved me no amount of grief. We've seen a few cars that have looked brilliant but after a wee poke about they have all been duds. I seem to remember a recent episode of Top Gear where they were testing Russian cars and a 4WD something was in amongst them but I can't remember the manufacturer. Was it a Lada maybe?

TFGtv.com · 07-01-09, 08:52

It would have been the old Lada Niva.... Quite capable as I recall but they've not imported them in about 15 years. I think they're still being made in some obscure corner. And they didn't last because despite being made of pretty thick steel it was very poor quality stuff which rusted through in no time.

MANY years ago I used to run a SIIa as my 'winter' car and a (then newish) Vogue as my main vehicle. If you're just travelling yourself you can get a HELLUVA lot in a, '88. And I had to carry a lot more lighting back then. But it's distance that's the problem with them. Defenders? There's probably a 'sweet spot' for them up to about '98....

The Santana IS basically a Land Rover. You often hear them referred to as the 'Series IV' and certainly a lot of (many) bits are interchangeable. There's one runs round here that the guy seems to have fitted the full Defender front to and apart from the badges you wouldn't know it wasn't a Solihull-built Landie 'till you looked a bit closer at the inside...

Certainly when I change back it'll be an early Defender or an RRC if I can find a decent one. MAYbe a Disco.. But if I need to start looking at newer stuff the Santana seems to be a bout the only game left in town.

Brian McIntosh · 07-01-09, 10:28

There's no way I could justify buying any new car. And even if I could afford it I wouldn't. It's not an everyday car I need. My wee Fiesta has got me this far but for getting to the more adventurous places I want to go 4WD is a must. Apart from seeing a wee bit of the A9 it'll not be near any motorways so a good reliable runner with a good service history is all I want. I just didn't think it would be this bloody difficult to find one.

TFGtv.com · 07-01-09, 11:39

Well I'm with you on that one Brian. As a dyed-in-the-wool 'petrol head' I'd never want to take the drop on a new car. In fact you're unlikely to find me even considering anything post 2000. Even so called 'prestige' cars beyond that date are built VERY poorly indeed and only have a service life of about 12 years.... The electronics are mostly un-repairable and not economic to replace. I've seen 12 year old P38s on sale, structurally sound and mechanically OK save for the failed electronics leading to a £2K+ parts bill and the fact you can't even install and reset this stuff yourself leading to a £3K repair bill just to get the thing back on the road...

It makes me laugh when I hear all the 'green car' crap. Thanks to the short service life today's cars will be among the most polluting ever made over their (SHORT!) lifetime!

4WD; well there's 4WD and there's 4WD... Be aware that actually LIVING with a series or a Defender as your main or even frequent transport CAN be a wearing experience... (been there! done that!). They're not 'cars' in the same way as (say) a Fiesta or even a Mercedes is. In fact even the little Freelander which IS built principally as a 'shopping trolley' drives quite differently from a 'car'. And I suspect the reason the idiot I spoke of who drove his straight into a bush was that he simply didn't know how to react to how the vehicle was handling and 'what it was trying to tell him'...

The more modern/mainstream/bigger 4X4s have lots of electronics that (as well as defeating the purpose of having a rugged car by making it more fragile) 'iron out' the foibles. To anyone used to driving a Range Rover Classic for instance the new L322 seems 'weird' and 'disconnected'... And if you actually KNOW how to drive a 4X4 more than a little worrying! I could see a few of them landing in ditches as people become over-confident with them...

For not- everyday but 'general purpose' use I, personally, would go for a Disco or an RRC... That or the CSW; probably the LWB 4-door version in my case. And a good option (if one can be found) is a Defender with the Santana selectable 4WD box. Permanent 4WD is, quite frankly, completely unnecessary. And you definitely want a 5-speed box!