We collected our Land Rover Defender on Friday! The 25 mile drive home helped me get used to it, and on Friday evening Tracy drove it out to Dungeness to get some practice on quieter roads. While out there I thought it would be get a few photos...
There's quite a bit of space in the back, either for stuff or for people:
and if we run out of space there's always room for one more on the front:
I took it up to the wood yesterday, and found it drove very nicely there, even round the sharper bends inside the wood, and was easy to reverse, as the low-ratio gearbox lets you creep along and take your time. I didn't get any pictures up there as I was busy re-tuning my chainsaw, after dismantling and cleaning the carburettor - it hadn't been running too well, but rather than take it to the shop and pay them to fix it, I thought it would be better to spend the money on a workshop manual for it and a digital tachometer. Seems the decision was right, as it's running nicely again now!
Mike
Sunday, 9 August 2009
The Defender has arrived!
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Our new Land Rover Defender!
For some time we've been aware of the shortcomings of our VW Polo getting in and out of the woods, and we've finally found the answer: a Land Rover Defender!
It's an ex-military Defender 90, built in 1992 and in private use since 2007. I think it's probably been to Iraq, given the colour, but it looks like any bullet holes have been patched up! We're picking it up in a week, by which time it will have had windows fitted in the sides at the back, a tow pack added and side steps bolted on.
Being an ex-military vehicle, it's very basic, I guess to keep cost down and improve reliability. It doesn't have a turbo on the engine, just a 4-cylinder 2.5l diesel, there's no power steering, the windows slide along and the interior has no trim or carpet - just bare painted metal.
On the plus side, the previous owner has put in some nice seats in the front along with a locking box between them, and side-facing bench seats in the back These aren't particularly comfortable, but will do for carrying an additional four adults on short trips, such as from home to the wood. It also comes with the larger size wheels on it already, and tyres with a mud-capable tread on them, which will come in useful I expect...
The downside of course is that it will only do 28mpg at best, compared to our Polo doing 55mpg. But on the other hand, it's so noisy and hard to drive in comparison, I think we'll be using the train and our electric bikes a lot more, so maybe our fuel consumption will actually go down... That's our intention at least, just using the Defender for trips where we really need it.
Mike
