Loaded down and flogged just don't look at fuel economy and you'll be happy haha. Also I'm a believer that these do better the harder you are on them...that said every time I look at the white one I'm finding more things wrong but that's mainly neglect and wear parts finally wearing out..

 

I just stopped looking at what each tank cost and kept track of the economy on the UG and such as I bet I spent $1k in fuel. Kinda dumb. For reference, when we lived in the people’s republik, I used to tow a 3k lb pop up with the Jeep from the Bay Area to Death Valley (same profile as the roof) and including the climbs in and out of DV, I’d get 14-17 mpg. It’s much of the reason why I said for a good long while that roof top tents were dumb because I could get the same economy towing the pop up, which had WAY more comfort and utility.



When we got the Class A, I decided for space and storage purposes, the RTT was fine, and it was, but above statement on economy was very accurate. While in the people’s Republik, another consideration is that you are limited to 55mph when towing no exceptions. This is why I’ve been doing the hitch carrier with the little bike trips for a number of years.

One thing on this latest trip I was really impressed with on the Disco were the brakes. Going down the passes in and out of DV as well as some of the other passes (by the way, I literally went from 11k feet to sea level a couple times over the course of that week) the brakes did better than any other Disco I’ve had. There was no fade and power was better than I expected, and I’ve not bled them yet or put new ones on the front. I’ve long complained and thought the brakes in the Disco were not very good, but between this trip and pulling the horse trailer a bit, I’m realizing it has just taken a bit more effort, but the power is perfectly acceptable. My barometer is probably a scoshe off based on having put big brakes on the Jeep, the L320 has those monster brakes on it, and the S4 of course has some gnarly 6 piston deals.

Ah well. I rewarded the Alveston with a wash yesterday after getting it unpacked. It desperately needs a good detail, but we are pretty crazy busy as you might expect…

 

So what’s the one thing I’ve been complaining about since getting the Alveston? Well, the day finally arrived!



It all fit in the front “yard” but based on the mud, couldn’t be brought down to where the foundation is waiting.



If you notice in the first pic a lot of mud on our road. I had the Jeep out the night before when the snow storm came in and of course was rallying like an idiot for fun about going into a ditch a few times. I didn’t drive the Disco because it’s still pretty clean from the wash I gave it and the Jeep now so muddy just from a couple miles of snow covered dirt roads, that you can barely tell what color it is.

For reference, this is how the day started. It’s the middle of April…



Sorry for no Disco content, but I’ll FINALLY have a shop to come home to when we get back from Europe!

Oh yeah, one of the horses had a baby too. No, we are not bored these days…

If anyone wants to see, I’ll put a couple pics of the baby up. Very cute.

 

Just because he is so cute…



The Disco will bounce back and forth as the DD for the next couple of months starting this week as the S4 will be delivered for it’s slow boat to Euroville.

As we think about things, I’m mildly thinking about a very small scale deal of buying cool cars there and sending them back, so if there are any orders….

 

So I’ve just been stupid busy with the move prep, and the Disco is still being put to use as we clean up the property for the renters.

This is load one of probably 3 or so I’ll need to do to the slash pit.



That’s the good news. Well, I’ve been too positive lately and the Disco had to remind me it is a Disco. I’ve been pretty lucky and one of the very few common issues I’ve not experienced was a leaky sunroof. Well, add me to the club.

We not only had a really rough winter, but we may as well live in the Pacific Northwest it’s been raining and humid so much. So now I have a soggy passenger floor. I removed the rack so it would fit in the garage the last couple days with the doors and windows open to help dry things out. I’ve a desiccant deal coming to help as well, but if the squishy doesn’t stop in the next day or so, I’ll have to pull the carpet up to finish off drying things out.

The bummer is, I’m only a couple weeks out from heading out and I just don’t have the time to pull the headliner and do the real fix. Since it’s going to be stored indoors, I’m not worried while I’m gone, but I need to get it dried out before I leave.

Next step is to get mothballs in addition to the desiccant. Also, I’ll be putting some Stabil in the tank and fill it all the way up for storage. The tires are on their last legs, so if they flat spot, meh.

Any other advice for the long nap it will be getting?

 

Are you going to disconnect the battery or put it on a tender? Probably disconnect given how long you'll be gone.

 

I’m going to pull the batteries out of all the machines. I also got some moth ***** and desiccants to keep things good.

Ironically I’ve liked driving it without the rack a bit more. I think it will stay off and will end up going back on the Giverny.

 

Well, this will be the last installment on my Disco for a good while as me and the entire family are now in Euroville. As I get cool pics of Disco or cool Rover content, I’ll continue to post them here until our return.

In getting everything done on the property, the Alveston did its job as a tow pig quite well. This was the last load in moving the horse trailer to where it will be stored. The trailer is canted up a good bit because the movers packed all my hitches and this is just one I was able to borrow quickly to get the job done. Both Discos, the G Wagen, the Jeep, and one of the motorcycles are all now tucked away in a barn with Stabil, mothballs under the hood and interior, and desiccant devices in each of the interiors. The batteries will be removed by the great guy letting me use the space.

I didn’t give an update to the barn (and why the vehicles are not stored in it). Adding to the stress of the move and such, during our last day of our last US adventure to Disney, we got word the skeleton was put up. Yay! And then 20 minutes later a micro burst came through and destroyed it. A year and a half of waiting for materials destroyed in minutes. The GC is working with his insurance company to sort it out. Normally I’d be upset beyond measure, but the silver lining is that we’ll now get a custom building from the GC, who is an absolute wizard. It’s a bummer we won’t get to see it until we get back, but at least we can be assured of the quality. Plus, he will have zero time pressure and can take his time and do it right.



And after we get back, I think the rack will stay off as I was getting over 16 mpg pretty consistently without it. So as we initially thought, the boss might replace her RRS SC with a nice sedan or wagon in lieu of a new Cayenne or RRS SC (also on the list) and take over the Alveston as her tow pig/SUV. I’m just about there on it, so she would be happy and knows the D2 drill. Then I’d start headlong into the Giverny to make my main winter machine and toy.

The Giverny will be a fun adventure as it has a good bit more work to be done and the direction for it would be a bit more hard core focused as the front bumper is toast and it already has a hidden winch mount. Prior to leaving I acquired a compressor and spacers to convert the rear back to airbags, so I can get that done easily. I also got a fender, which aside from the hood and top needing a respray, should take care of aesthetics (in addition to the bumper). But I’ve got a few years to plan for that one, and it will probably almost constitute it’s own thread, but I’ll keep it in the family…

In any event, stay tuned as I hope to see some cool stuff while here. Thus far it’s just been high end German (and of course all tiny) but I’m sure as we get settled and out and about there will be some neat machines to see (like a Wolf G Wagen already, and the Land Cruiser variety we don’t get in the States).

 

Safe travels. Best of luck in Europe!

 

So not much to report other than we are settling in to life in Germany and such. Well, as it turns out, the house the boss found to rent was pretty urban (quite the adjustment from the space and life in CO), which means that we actually could have made use of the Disco pretty well, as we don’t need the performance of the 2 cars we chose to bring. Oh well.

On the cool/happy/surprising front, the boss’ L320 arrived today. I had to post this in this thread as well as just in the D2 realm in general as it is absolutely hilarious. Her car passed the inspection on the first run! This is beyond amazing! I mention it because in importing a vehicle to Germany they do a full inspection that is pretty ridiculous focusing on many aspects of a vehicle (and one of the reasons I didn’t bring the Disco was because leaks are something they put a lot of emphasis on) and frankly, it’s a bit of a sham, way to gouge ‘Mericans, and just enjoying having a fiefdom. I also mention it because her car turned 145k miles on it as we picked it up from the customs office after being delivered and drove it straight to inspection and registration. Who says old Land Rovers are unreliable! For reference, my purchased new and completely bone stock 2019 S4 didn’t pass on the first run.

I’ll leave you with a cool shot of a Defender truck that I think was brought in from the UK (right had drive) that is one of the very few cool Rovers I’ve seen thus far. And I’ve made the decision that the toy I’ll bring back from this tour will be a 911 SC. It will cost an absolute mint, but it’s been a dream of mine for a couple decades, so I’ll be on the hunt for one in the coming year. Think of how cool it will be to buy a vintage Euro spec (they call it rest of world) 911 and drive it around here a little and then bring it home to do a full restoration. Ah well, that’s for another forum…