They don’t make ‘em like they used to.

This reminds me of a couple of my voyages: one, my first Euro Road trip in 1955 86" Land-Rover (didn’t end well) and then a drive from UK to southern Spain in Suzuki SJ 410 - valiant little thing with a 1 litre engine and only 4 gears, but an 80" wheelbase and leaf springs meant it too was blown around by big trucks.

I feel your pain David, right now my Defender has some sort of inconsistent turbo related problem and won’t do much over 40-45-50ish.

Yes good, getting there.

Aha Mr Ballaban, so you admit you do need to prove something to someone.

It is indeed to avoid dust, less of it on top of the windscreen than down at door handle level..

“Trump isn’t working oput for Russia”

If it’s just rough roads then maybe a full on off-roader isn’t necessary even a good tough Isuzu (apparently the best no nonsense Jap P.U.) might be more than you need? Or a tough soft roader/crossover? I found older model Berlingo/Partners to be pretty peasant friendly - millions of French and Spanish farmers can’t…

If I were you I’d just look for a cheap Tdi Discovery and make extra sure/repair the body isn’t rusted out and live with the RHD abroad aspect. Cheap, practical and very well designed. (Series 1 Disco’s the body rusted, Series 2 the chassis rusted! Tdi engines are dead reliable and tough but the electronics 5 cyl in…

Yes. No. Maybe. Sometimes.

You mean the new “Defender”? Mmm, don’t hold your breath mate.

Oh yes seen that one, that’s Sith Efrika btw not Oz. But he knows his stuff and I agree with him 100%.

The Wrangler has better articulation than the Defender (did)? Tbh I hadn’t heard that before. The Defender (and indeed the Series L-Rs before it) was always known for it’s excellent axle stretch and I thought it was pretty much unparalleled in it’s class.

Depends what you mean by “overlander” and “rock crawler”.

Ladder frame chassis and long travel live axles are the basis of a good off roader, I’m sure that with clever electronics independent suspension vehicles on a car platform can be good, just not as durable, versatile and long lived as truck style designs.

Yeah well don’t hold expect Landrover’s “defender” to be a good truck, it’ll basically be a car with some butch styling cues.

New “Defender” won’t be a Defender. It’ll be the same platform as this with a bodywork styled to to be reminiscent of Landrover’s glory days - think BMW “mini”, Toyota FJ cruiser etc. It will be designed for the leisure market, for surf boardy types and the vehicle will be a ‘fun’ vehicle not a utility.

Thank you! Came here to say this.

I figured something was wrong with the union situation over there after experiencing the employment situation, and my fellow workers clued me in some. Probably a byproduct of Franco’s long rule, it didn’t help the Left in Spain, merely made it more naive it seemed to me.

Vagabundos del Campo!