Well Gents....

I've just about finished clearing all the Rover parts out of my garage. I've thrown away so many parts that took me years to acquire. I mean 4 huge cans full of spares and parts that no one wanted. Plus so many body panels. Bumpers, driveshafts, axels, you name it. Kinda sad really. After the last RRC I owned...I just had enough. I got tired of fixing them on the weekends and not actually getting to use them for what I was building. I will always love the heritage and history of the brand. I will love the capability of these machines. I will love the uniqueness of it's looks and it's driving position. I will miss the soul of these trucks most of all.

A year and a half ago I bought a new to me 2012 Xterra Pro4x to take the place of the Rovers. The worst attributes are it's lack of soul, emotionless design, and it's empty heritage. Maybe it's lack of axel droop in there too. It took me a long time to like this truck. Truth is I was in an abusive one way relationship before. Now I've seen the light.

So far I've racked up 27k miles on this thing since I've taken ownership. I've driven this thing way way more than I drove my last 10 Rovers combined. All while getting decent MPG and not so much as a hiccup. I recently put on 800+ miles driving through Escalante Utah. Zero. Issues. I can't stress that point enough. I spent zero time stressing about temps. About noises. Grunts. Groans. Zero times lifting the hood. This sort of trust and security did not instantly happen. It took time. I'm completely impressed about it's abilities. I've never been in a situation where I couldn't get out. Its been extremely capable on and off the road. 85 on the highway with plenty of power. No more being scared to merge. No more slow lane going up Utah grades.

Having these improvements made me realize what I was missing. I know now that if I ever own another Rover it will have an LS swapped in. Even a 4.8 turd with 150k will be a drastic improvement over the Buick V8. I'll take my time building it right to combine reliability and power with the rest of the truck. The way it should have been built to begin with.

For now I say good bye gents. Every one on here who helped me out. Gave me advice. Bought or sold me stuff. Thanks for the laughs guys. Its been fun. I wish you well. I'll be out on the trail if you guys can get yours out of the garage. HA!

 

Take care man, and safe travels

 

We'll keep a light on for ya! lol

 

Can't say I blame you, I've spent years and thousands of pounds building and fixing my Discovery and it seems that it spends most of it's time broken or being welded up.

Was at a seriously low ebb a few weeks back and contemplated the scrap yard for it as I want my driveway back and my life that's not spent with a spanner or a welding torch in my hand.

Take care man, that Nissan looks very tasty!

 

Kind of wondered where you were off too. Thought things weren't going well with your last rover, then you went silent. Anyhow, good luck in the future. Happy trails! Nice looking rig, too.

Brian.

P.S. l get what you mean about other vehicles lacking "souls". I thought long and hard about getting into something else, after my second Dll failed to work out. But, after looking at other brands, years and such...a 110 is now waiting for my attention.

 

Oh and just for the record Shifty there are more than a few folks around that don’t have rovers. Community is what it is

 

You’ll be back. It’s in your blood. It will be a good laugh when your name pops up down the road with a pic of your new LR.

 

I came so close to buying an LR3...Deal fell through and an LR4 was out of my price range. That would have kept me around. The Xterra was half the price of the LR4 I kept finding. Had to do it the way it made the most sense.

 

LR3 was the right choice

 

I still regret it. The seller really was terrible. At the time I couldn't find a good one in my range. Only a V6 in a color I hated was available in my range. So I kept looking. I love how they look. And they seem capable as hell.