90

Land Rover – Bye 4×4

Landy for sale

It's been fun, but the Land Rover must go

Yes, my 1988 Land Rover 90 V8 County Station Wagon is for sale. Currently on Ebay and fast approaching the reserve price.

I’m glad I bought this Landy, but to be honest, I don’t have much reason to own it. On the road, it’s no great shakes – though clearly better than a Series Landy. Off-road, it’s brilliant, but despite managing two off-road trips in as many months, I don’t think I can keep that up with other stuff going on, which means that it’s an occasional-use toy. That’s not right for me – I like to own cars I’m always happy to jump into and drive pretty much anywhere in Europe.

So, she’s on Ebay and I’m trying to work out what on earth I end up with next…

Link >>> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270710424830

V8 Conundrum

If you’ve read my blogs, you’ll know that in December, I bought a Land Rover 90 V8. A childhood dream realised at last!

Yet there’s a feeling of ‘don’t meet your heroes’ that has crept in of late. Don’t get me wrong, I love V8s, and this is my second car equipped with Rover’s ex-Buick engine – the first being a Rover P6B. But I don’t think it’s the right engine for a Land Rover.

To me, Land Rovers are agricultural – trucks with just about enough comfort to make them realistic as road transport, albeit nowhere near as competent as an actual car. I love them for that. But you don’t get many trucks with a V8 engine do you?

No, they employ diesels both for economy and because when it comes to low down dirty grunt, a heavy oil burner has it by the bucket load. Yes, the V8 has a remarkable amount of torque for a petrol engine, but having twin carburettors and an ignition system, it doesn’t have that serene pull of a diesel at lower revs.

But then, if I wanted a diesel Land Rover, I’d find there’s quite a premium to pay – especially if I got my hands on the one I really want. That’s the TD5. It’s an engine with a rather poor reputation, yet my neighbour’s Discovery has clocked up 225,000 without significant fault. It’s a great sounding engine too – a hint of five-cylinder warble and the growl of an engine that knows how to do its business.

Oh well. Can’t afford one anytime soon, so I s’pose I’ll have to make do for now. Or sell it and buy something completely different…

Let’s off road!

I’ve already had the opportunity to put my Land Rover, only purchased just before Christmas, through its paces.

Testing my bog-standard Land Rover 90 V8

Testing my bog-standard Land Rover 90 V8

The Bala Off Road Centre proved an ideal place to test the limits of my 90 V8 County Station Wagon, even though it has no modifications and sits on pretty standard Mud and Snow tyres rather than chunky, off road rubber. It was good too! We only had to resort to locking the centre differential on a few occasions and while better tyres would certainly have been beneficial, we never once got irretrievably stuck. While some sections required one or two attempts, we clambered up rocks and through muddy forests with aplomb.

It was great fun and I’m looking forward to a green lane session in February now.