I wouldn't argue with that experience. I wouldn't ever go on a single vehicle, self-drive wilderness expedition in a Land Rover that I did not personally prepare, and even then I would not be so foolhardy to think I'm not taking a risk. Yes, I would probably be more confident in a well-maintained Toyota, or anything, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Kia.


The idiomatic way I've heard it described is like this. If you want to go on a Safari and have the purpose of the Safari your central focus, take a Land Cruiser and it will not even be a noticeable feature. On the other hand, if you take a Land Rover, it will be some significant portion of the Safari, for better or worse.


If I were operating any sort of business, save for Safari movie making, I would never buy Land Rovers, and then only for props. I mean, to be fair, I'd not want to run a business on any 10 to 20 year old vehicle. I'd want vehicles that were late model and at least under US tax law, I'd want to lease them to avoid double taxation. So they'd probably be within a few years of mint. I have no particular fondness for them, but here in the US, the Ford Super Duty fits the bill for most commercial users. I think it even outsells all the other options for light work trucks combined. It won't work for rock crawling on the kind of trails I drive, but it would work great for Safari or other extended overland travel. It has enough payload capacity to haul the people and the gear, and it has solid axles, 4 wheel drive and can fit large enough tires and a winch to avoid being stuck or to self recover. It also has a nice diesel engine. I realize outside the US a smaller bakkie is more likely to be the choice, but I think the fullsize is better and there really aren't many drawbacks to it but that it won't fit narrow tracks or do difficult climbs, which aren't necessarily required outside the realm of what is practically recreational exploring and "weekend" offroading.

 

You are of course correct - I heard it was some new motor giant way out east.

In one of the 13 African languages in South Africa the word tata means "good-bye" and in another it means "father"

 

well maintained land rover > unmaintained land cruiser. when it comes down to it, thats what that matters. in the northeast US, toyota frames rot to dust well before the "lifetime drivetrain reliability" kicks in. my buddy bought a 94 toyota pickup with a great running 22RE and smooth shifting manual trans with ~150k on it for real cheap, but it was 100% undriveable as pretty much everything past the transfer case was no longer attached to the frame. my disco on the other hand is pretty close in age and mileage, but the frame is solid.

 

To answer the question well, I believe it depends heavily on where you are, where you are going, and how much preventative maintenance you have done to the vehicle. Like most things in life the answer falls into a grey area in between the two extremes.

I love the simplicity of my truck. I have very little experience wrenching on cars, but through forums like this, good documentation (RAVE and the other manuals), and some curiosity, I've been able to keep my 17 year old car on the road. And at this point, since I can work on it myself, the cost of operating the vehicle (labor+fuel+fluids+parts) is very affordable (I don't drive all that much...about 6-7k /yr.). Fortunately I've owned it since new and have maintained it well throughout.

I appreciate the truck more and more each year and hope it lasts another 5-6 years for my son to drive it.

 

Mm3846 in the northeast everything rots to dust lol

Including dads avalanche, my brothers zr2, trans am, my buddies dodge ram brake lines etc.

Without the aluminum skin discovery would be bad too, they just rott where you can't see

Love my rovers but I barely trust em to drive from n.j. to va. And back and I keep everything up plus horrible on gas

 

I'd drive mine to California right now. I could understand if something repeatedly lets you down that you wouldn't trust it, but if these things were truly 100% pieces of junk we wouldn't be on a forum talking about them. Sure, they suck on gas but so does every truck from this time period.

 

Yeah I just used my dodge ram diesel last 2 trips better fuel

So some Asian company now owns rover?

 

Tata Motors. Indian.

 

An India-based company: Tata

 

Oh my, so what now hand made parts cheap on eBay

I just hope they don't make it worse