Hi Vette, agree about the power. 110 for us - power-wise really not up to much especially when towing - much harder work. Have to say we were gob-smacked when a tiny little Renault taxi came and towed our caravan with considerable ease and with great speed to a campsite after we'd been lumbering along the motorway in LR and then broke down. Kind of put things into perspective a bit. Uphill was a big struggle for us in a 110 with a heavy load behind. We did some research when we got back and found our 12 seconds average up hill was beaten by the split seconds of other vehicles (incl. lorries that passed us - became a daily challenge for us to try to keep up!).
Link to downloadable PDF - caravan and towcar data - provides an indication of speed, tow data across varying vehicles might be useful to some:
http://www.caravansa.co.za/caravan_data/[/URL]
But then the decision came down to - do we want to trade for more power, speed, ecomony - for us, the answer was no.
Matt, we did have mechanical training and were equipped with spares, tools etc. but this issue along with the fuel pump were much bigger than us (Id imagine even many of the most die-hard experienced would not be able to deal with a timing belt by the roadside). Had to be left for the professionals to resolve as we could never have achieved a fix for this nor the subsequent legacy issues it left behind. It was really unfortunate for us but we had the sun, beach, 50+ days freedom, friends & family to meet part of the route, sites to visit plus happy kids so not all bad.
Agree with you re: caravan we love it but it is a pain - especially uphill as thats where the strain really starts to occur. Also parking and the rest of it (costs, fuel impacts). Looked at alternatives but more cost v less time v trade off so were sticking with as provides largely the living/sleeping combo were after. We d prefer all-in-one solution but maybe another time now.
Reliability again agreed luck of the draw as well as prep to a great degree.
Outside the emotion practicality pointed us to the 110 because of how tangible the vehicle is cannot diagnose an LC/other etc, without computerised diagnostics or attempt to repair. No mechanical expertise as all technician based these days. And the expense of parts and fixes as you said. Even if you get the parts in the particular country you are visiting - i.e. they may have a Jap build but not necessarily the skill or expertise for the given UK spec. We followed the drive-to-oz.com team who had an LC they had to ship back at considerable cost after several attempts to repair, import parts etc. and ended up flying onward and hiring another vehicle eventually to complete their trip. Country (Thailand not equipped to deal with specific vehicle spec.). On the other hand Jolliefollies.com - following currently have a very old LR prepared via the same overlanding company with no issues to report. They are in India currently. We reckon availability of worldwide LR community is good (as we found out ourselves first hand this year) with ease of parts availability/skill dont hear of many LRs ever being shipped back or repaired unsuccessfully locally none in fact.
Obviously, we're still learning (but that will be forever) but something in what you say must be true But still I look around and all these Overlanding companies advertise with Land Rovers !! Can it be all down to emotion ???
A resounding NO would be our response. Parts & skill avail (even DIY temporary bodge to next garage in some cases), ability to train/skill yourself, vehicle flex & layout, value and overall reliability to name a few.
Happy decision-making.
thats why I made that point.
