RE: jeep = gay
 

the problem is that with the price of rovers, most people cant afford to buy one with the intent of beating it up...

RE: jeep = gay
 

True; if it weren't for the Willys and Ford GPs of the 1940s and the guys that drove them helping to liberate Fortress Europe, we'd all be talking about collecting our durable Land Rover Kubelwagons. But those Jeeps have little in common with the ones today- in fact, the irony that a German company now makes the venerable "American" Jeep makes a Land Rover seem a bit more patriotic in that light, if you stop and think about it.

RE: jeep = gay
 

i still love ford and i'll always bleed for Blue, but there is a lot of land rover green in me also. otherwise, i wouldn't be on these boards

RE: jeep = gay
 

I know this is an ANCIENT thread, but I just replaced my '93 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a '01 Disco II. Both are awesome pullers (we tow whitewater rafts in the summer, and a trailer full of water, bikes and fake fur to Burning Man in the fall). Both handle the "off-roading" we do easily. Both are 4.0l. However, my Jeep has a whopping 219,000 on the original EVERYTING (Engine, all driveline components, etc) and still passes emissions like it was a Prius while getting 24mpg on the highway, 18 in town. It burns no oil, but makes up for that by leaking a ton ;) Easy to work on , and has the benefit of having an ample supply of cheap, easy to find parts. And you can replace the plug wires without taking off the entier intake!

In contrast, my Disco is much much much more comfortable, leaks nothing (yet!!!!) sucks much more gas, is much harder to work on with parts that are much more expensive and much harder to find. In the fourms, I'm hard-pressed to hear about anyone having over 200k on any Disco.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Disco; it's great. 65k, in great shape. I've been chipping away at DiscoMike's 60k list, and loving it, despite my girlfriend chuckling while I change the PS fluid, put ATF in the crankcase, and get estimates for rebuilding a front prop shaft that isn't broken yet :P

There is just something about the individiual personality of these things; once you have one you understand. I've been travelling for 2 weeks, and am DYING to get back to work on flushing the brake fluid and swapping fluid in the xfer case, diffs,and tranny!

But I can't help but coming back to the supermodel analogy; despite how diligient I care for her, I just have a feeling she'll leave me before I leave her, ya know?

Just my two cents.

RE: jeep = gay
 

That's interesting that very few people have a lot of miles on these things. I'm getting there though with 75k miles. But I know what you mean now that I've owned one. Even though I've had to put about $5,000 in it since I don't know how to work on it myself yet, I still love it and don't ever want to get rid of it. Yeah parts are more expensive, but honestly that's just part of owning one of these. It's bending over and grabbing the ankles at the dealership that hurts. :eek:

So I'm going to be taking the plunge soon and attempt to do a one of the maintenance items that's left - replace all 4 rotors and bads and brake lines. Hopefully it goes well! Just gotta get the pads now, got the DBA rotors based on recommendations from experts like Mike and now have the Rave CD from eBay. It's like anything else I guess - if its worth driving, it's worth fixing.

One thing interesting that I came across was an article in 4 Wheel Offroad (I think - I'll double check with the guy at work that showed it to me) that described the various weaknesses of Discos and called out quite a few nice upgrades to make it even more off-road worthy. Once I get the article, I'll post some of the recommended upgrades. In the end though, Jeeps, Land Rovers, Hummers, Toyotas, etc all have their inherent weaknesses from the factory. And what you don't like you can improve anyway, if you really like the vehicle. Yeah sure a Rubicon may be great off-road but are you going to be hauling a boat and gear and a family around in it like you can in an LR3? No. Does it look nearly as good as an LR3? Hell no. IMHO, nothing matches a Land Rover. They just need a little more love than the others....

RE: jeep = gay
 

Hmm... dunno... y'all have this fascination with petrol (gasoline) in the USA and since we bought that flawed old Buick V8 to fit into all Rovers over here we've kind of gotten used to the fact that they've got the longevity of a chocolate fireguard.

Maybe that's why we like diesels for our Land Rovers so much over here... get this: The 2.5 litre 4 cyl turbo diesel (Tdi 200 series) in my Defender 90 gets, circa 32 to 35 mpg overall combined cycle, it makes about 10hp less than a 3.5 V8 petrol and approx 50% more torque at 1,800 rpm. Granted the petrol V8 is a lot quieter and smoother to drive, it's also a little faster on acceleration and on top speed - but in a Defender a 3.5 V8 will be lucky to make 16mpg at a steady 50mph, more like 12mpg at a steady 60mph and a lot closer to 8mpg at at steady 65mph - got to love aerodynamics eh? (Defenders have the same aerodynamics as two housebricks mating)

Couple this with being able to run a Tdi on a 50/50 mix of pump diesel and waste vegetable oil, which most restaurants and fast food outlets will give you for nothing. (Process needs 2 days settling, 1 day filtering, 1 days heating to drive off water per 250litres/55 gallons before adding to fuel tank) Hey... now I'm getting twice the mpg out of my pump diesel for free! :D

Ok - now I'll get my coat :eek:

RE: jeep = gay
 

If all you got was gassers and no Diesels (Land Rover are you getting this?) its hard to get any mpgs or Overland with out
gas stops or more gas cans than I can count.

I have a diesel VW TDI and love the diesel motor.

I would not buy a LR3 but I would buy a D-90 or 110 diesel,
the LR3 just does not fit my needs, to much fluff.

And to add to this North America does not get the Defenders.

We do get the Toyota FJ, I wonder why they sell more car and
trucks than anyone else? Sell what people want?

Ok Ok I'm done, I want diesel Defender a 2007 would be fine or
a 2008 ok now I'm done.

RE: jeep = gay
 

I've heard this said about the Buick V8 before. Exactly what is the history of this engine, and how has it faired in Rovers? What are it's weaknesses exactly?

RE: jeep = gay
 

Weaknesses when compared with it's strengths are minimal to be honest - my reply was somewhat tongue in cheek. If you compare chalk with cheese in comparing the cast iron Tdi diesel engines with the alloy V8 engines then they do appear fragile. A Tdi, well cared for should be capable of 300,000 miles before a teardown is required - in fact someone on another forum recently took the cylinder head off theirs at 170,000 miles to replace a head gasket only to find the original honing marks still in the bores, so little was the bore wear.

The main weakness isn't really with the V8 engine, but with the owners of them in the main. They're sensitive to lack of servicing and seemingly small or insignificant problems can escalate very quick due to the alloy construction. Not using a corrosion inhibitor, or more frequently, not using the right quantity of corrosion inhibitor in the engine coolant is a good example. Not stopping and getting the car recovered when a small problem arises, driving with too little coolant or a leaky head gasket is a great way to destroy the block, would be another good example.

Essentially - look after it properly and don't drive it while you know there is a fault, however minor, with the engine and you're unlikely to have a horror story on your hands. Ignore the minor servicing (by which I mean checking fluid levels on a regular, some would say anally retentive, basis) and you're asking for trouble.

Cheers,

RE: jeep = gay
 

I like my V8 more if I had a larger fuel tank,
more miles with outstopping.