Anything is a ***** if you're brave enough...

 

If you've never driven a properly sorted Classic, regardless of winter, spring, summer or fall, especially with T/C, you've not had the opportunity to drive a great 4x4 from that era, with ABS. There's a reason the ABS block for a Classic costs well over twice as much as the modulator in a Discovery. Again, the Discovery braking system was built to a price point. When it was introduced, the Classic was the first 4X4 in the world to have ABS. The difference between the Classic braking system and the Discovery system is night and day.

 

A RRC is on my list of cars to own in life. One day!

 

I've probably had well over two dozen registered and on the road from my first one back in 1993 to my last in 2008 or 2009. I've had an LWB new and agrey market 5 speeds that was carburetted. I've run the gamut. I've also had a dozen or more DI's and a few DII's over the years as well. They simply do not compare. My 1994 LWB, when new, listed at just over $51K. A 1994 DI was in the low $30K range. There's a very simple reason why there was the price differential. Everything from the quality of the sunroof assemblies, to the quality of the leather seats, to the quality of the ABS, to the traction control, EAS, ect., ect. The Range Rover was a rolling tour de force. The Discovery was targeted to an entirely different buyer. Back in 1994 the median income of a Range Rover owner was over $400K a year. That was not the demographic of the median Discovery owner, not by a long shot. Everything about the Discovery screams "price point" with choices driven by the need to keep prices down in an effort to reach a more broad market.

The only Rover from that era that compares and in some ways exceeds the Classic is the P38. However, while I have owned a couple, they scare the living daylights out of me. I am not a fan of all the electronics and much prefer the relative simplicity of the Classic.

 

Something tells me you'll never own a new car again. They scare me too.

 

$400,000 a year annual income for a $51,000 car? Hmmm...that may pencil-out, but where in the world did you obtain such data?

 

Well said Paul. I for one can attest to the braking system on my truck. 2 lines per caliper. Now that I have stainless hard lines it stops on a dime. Almost put me through the windshield the first time I drove it. I was expecting the Disco system.

I honestly love the Disco. I will most likely buy another one day. But I am am sold on the Classic all the way.

 

That was a statement that was incorporated into some of the Land Rover literature that was available at the time. Make sure you understand what the word median means.

 

I am fascinated by the capabilities of new cars and trucks. Everyday I hear about something new that has managed to trickle down from top range models into everyday runabouts. More has been accomplished in automotive technology in the last 20 years than in the previous 50. Nevertheless, for the shade tree mechanic, such as I am, so much of the care and maintenance has been taken out of our hands. I regret this for a number of reasons but accept it as the way technology goes.

We can't expect Rover to continue making a labor intensive product like the Defender for ever. Nor could be expect a new Triumph motorcycle to be anything like one built in the 1960's. It's the way things go. Perhaps there are still pilots that long for the days of the biplane but really, to what purpose. There was a lengthy discussion in the General section where someone thought that Land Rover had abandoned its roots and just makes over complicated junk that's not as good as a Defender or Series Rover.

We can long for the good old days but, in reality, I question how good they really were. Yes, we could work on our own vehicles. But, when they were new, newer or newish, most of us wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole, preferring to hand them over to qualified technicians. Now, ten, twenty or thirty years down the road there is enough information on the web to encourage people to get their hands dirty. Without the resources available on the web many would have never made the attempt.

Maybe, just maybe, ten years from now, what with apps on phones and more sophisticated diagnostic tools trickling down into the hands of the shade tree mechanic, LR3's, LR4's and RRS's will be just as easy to work on. I don't know what the future holds for newer vehicles and the relationships they will have with their owners. Maybe they will simply become disposable as we move in the direction of driverless cars. However, to deny that these vehicles and the ones coming after them are any less capable off road is nonsense.

Now, to answer your question directly, I doubt I will own a new car again. This is coming from someone who, while living a very different life than I do today, owned NEW, a VW Rabbit, BMW 320iS, BWM 325i, Honda CRX, Honda Prelude (grey market), Porsche 944, Porsche 911, VW GTI Calloway Turbo, VW 16V Scirocco and Nissan Pathfinder all between 1982 and 1988. I've owned new MB's as well as new Rovers. Now, I own two old Rovers, a 33 year old pickup and a 30 year old Jetta.
Unless, you're also counting tractors! I like working on things and feel like you never really "own" something you can't fix yourself. But, that's me.