I tried my fit in a series truck about three years ago and I realised that I am a bit chunkier than I was in my army days. The longer journeys sometimes gave my knees some grief, and that was about 35 years ago. I found the Defender felt a lot more comfortable and then did the bulkhead removal to make it better, and putting the seat risers in have made it even better still. I am just under 6'4" so the alteration makes a big difference.

I would agree with the V8, but something in me makes me like the diesel (though I loved the roar of my range rover 3.9, which often suffered with a noisy exhaust).
 
Dr Strangeglove said:
I tried my fit in a series truck about three years ago and I realised that I am a bit chunkier than I was in my army days. The longer journeys sometimes gave my knees some grief, and that was about 35 years ago. I found the Defender felt a lot more comfortable and then did the bulkhead removal to make it better, and putting the seat risers in have made it even better still. I am just under 6'4" so the alteration makes a big difference.

I would agree with the V8, but something in me makes me like the diesel (though I loved the roar of my range rover 3.9, which often suffered with a noisy exhaust).
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Good thing you weren't on LZ ten years ago. You would have been torn apart for using the term "truck", which many long time Land Rover owners find offensive! ;):)

I rarely drive Land Rovers now, as I have a very bad back. I was quite surprised that my body made it round a 70 mile charity run in a Series last year, but it did.

Defenders are going to struggle with this stuff, for the simple reason that they were all made with diesel engines.

For occasional use, there is always the option of paying the charge, London ULEZ is £12.50 a day, which on a once or twice a year basis isn't going to break anyone.
The main thing is to swerve LEZ, the charge for that is hundreds!
 
Turboman said:
Good thing you weren't on LZ ten years ago. You would have been torn apart for using the term "truck", which many long time Land Rover owners find offensive! ;):)

I rarely drive Land Rovers now, as I have a very bad back. I was quite surprised that my body made it round a 70 mile charity run in a Series last year, but it did.

Defenders are going to struggle with this stuff, for the simple reason that they were all made with diesel engines.

For occasional use, there is always the option of paying the charge, London ULEZ is £12.50 a day, which on a once or twice a year basis isn't going to break anyone.
The main thing is to swerve LEZ, the charge for that is hundreds!
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It can be odd what some people call offensive. I am not sure what people would want me to call it - car, suv, ute, truck?

Looking at the zone for greater Manchester, it shows the motorways as exempt so that is good news. I will have to travel a couple of miles in the wrong direction to get onto it, but at least I have that option as I am about 100m outside the charging area.
 
Dr Strangeglove said:
It can be odd what some people call offensive. I am not sure what people would want me to call it - car, suv, ute, truck?

Looking at the zone for greater Manchester, it shows the motorways as exempt so that is good news. I will have to travel a couple of miles in the wrong direction to get onto it, but at least I have that option as I am about 100m outside the charging area.
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Land Rover, Four Wheel Drive,or 4x4, were the terms that were considered acceptable.
"Truck", "Ute" and similar terms have vulgar connotations to do with our Colonial cousins. In the UK, a truck is a Scammell, Scania, or even a Dennis dustcart. SUV is a term that I had never heard until about 10 years ago, and I think is also of American origin.

That is very generous of them as regards motorways, the motorways inside the M25 are covered by the London LEZ.
 
Turboman said:
Land Rover, Four Wheel Drive,or 4x4, were the terms that were considered acceptable.
"In the UK, a truck is a Scammell, Scania, or even a Dennis dustcart.
Click to expand...

It's funny but I refer to it as a truck because of its strength and durability - I personally consider that as complimentary to the vehicle. But then the trucks I drove in the army were also 4x4 so I suppose I think of them more like that than a bin wagon.

I think if they charged for the motorways through the greater Manchester area it would be like adding another toll road without an alternative.

I find it frustrating when you hear of public transport abroad being so much more affordable. With our prices, especially on trains, it does not encourage people to use it. Perhaps this increased tax on the little people will subsidise it in the future?
 
Dr Strangeglove said:
It's funny but I refer to it as a truck because of its strength and durability - I personally consider that as complimentary to the vehicle. But then the trucks I drove in the army were also 4x4 so I suppose I think of them more like that than a bin wagon.

I think if they charged for the motorways through the greater Manchester area it would be like adding another toll road without an alternative.

I find it frustrating when you hear of public transport abroad being so much more affordable. With our prices, especially on trains, it does not encourage people to use it. Perhaps this increased tax on the little people will subsidise it in the future?
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It isn't something that particularly bothers me, was just reminiscing about the old days on LZ.

Were the military trucks Bedfords? I have worked on TKs and MKs occasionally, although the MKs were past their service days by the time I worked on them.

Public Transport in and around London is excellent value. I don't think the provinces have caught up yet, but hope they will get there sooner or later.
 
Turboman said:
It isn't something that particularly bothers me, was just reminiscing about the old days on LZ.

Were the military trucks Bedfords? I have worked on TKs and MKs occasionally, although the MKs were past their service days by the time I worked on them.

Public Transport in and around London is excellent value. I don't think the provinces have caught up yet, but hope they will get there sooner or later.
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Yes it was the MKs we used. It was to support our tanks as I was in an armoured engineer regiment. I thought they were relatively capable for a what they were. I once had to turn around where all our tanks had parked up, and they make deep mud. I think it must have been in the region of half a meter deep. I was dreading getting stuck because of the ribbing I would get, but 4wd low range, I powered it around without stopping and it performed well.
 
Dr Strangeglove said:
Yes it was the MKs we used. It was to support our tanks as I was in an armoured engineer regiment. I thought they were relatively capable for a what they were. I once had to turn around where all our tanks had parked up, and they make deep mud. I think it must have been in the region of half a meter deep. I was dreading getting stuck because of the ribbing I would get, but 4wd low range, I powered it around without stopping and it performed well.
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Not bad for that age of vehicle. Bedford 4 cylinder engine, and big wheels and 4wd, lots of traction.
My mate had one, he just used it for rallies and moving heavy stuff.
It was good, but the steering was very heavy. It also had ether start, which is probably great if you are invading Russia, but a bit over the top in Oxfordshire.
 
Turboman said:
Not bad for that age of vehicle. Bedford 4 cylinder engine, and big wheels and 4wd, lots of traction.
My mate had one, he just used it for rallies and moving heavy stuff.
It was good, but the steering was very heavy. It also had ether start, which is probably great if you are invading Russia, but a bit over the top in Oxfordshire.
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To be fair I enjoyed driving them. They were uncomfortable to sleep in due to the levers between the seats and the cab not being big enough to lay down in - but better than making a bivi out of a poncho!

We were waiting to be invaded by Russia at the time. We were still using Centurians so I was quite happy they didn't come knocking. The Cents were OK tanks but showing their age - though they were petrol so may be OK to drive through Manchester!!
 
Birmingham zone doesn't bother me.
Manchester's includes where SWMBO's brother lives so that's out in the landy.
London's no longer bothers me, the national dinghy exhibition has just moved out to Farnborough.

Even with my bad back the 110 suits me, however my left knee is giving problems so a clutch booster is being thought of.
 
Turboman said:
Not yet. The CAZ is like the London LEZ, mainly about commercials. It appears to be a bit more generous than London on historic vehicles, in that over 20 years old are exempt.

I would guess that a Manchester ULEZ will follow in a few years time, as you say, Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesels only.
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I think I’ve worked this one out. It must be to do with the new tax rates that came into play in 2001 for 4x4s I think. All defenders snd other pickups registered before this seem to be coming up as classed as cars on clean air charge system.
After 2001 they are coming up as vans. Not a 20 year age exemption, but specifically a registration date change from March 2001.
 
solmog said:
I think I’ve worked this one out. It must be to do with the new tax rates that came into play in 2001 for 4x4s I think. All defenders snd other pickups registered before this seem to be coming up as classed as cars on clean air charge system.
After 2001 they are coming up as vans. Not a 20 year age exemption, but specifically a registration date change from March 2001.
Click to expand...
No idea, to be honest.

The councils seem to have a wide scope to introduce clean air legislation in the way they see fit.
Although it is in response to pressure from Central Government to limit emissions in built up areas.
I mostly know about the situation in London, because it impacts on my activities.
What I know about the CAZ is entirely from reading the comments, and looking at the links, that have been posted about the subject on LZ.

However, common sense suggests to me that the other cities will follow London in tightening and broadening the restrictions over time.
Which is why I always suggest keeping an eye on the ongoing situation where you are, or need to go.
 
Turboman said:
However, common sense suggests to me that the other cities will follow London in tightening and broadening the restrictions over time.
Which is why I always suggest keeping an eye on the ongoing situation where you are, or need to go.
Click to expand...

I think you are right in that the government want us to pay to drive vehicles in these areas rather than provide viable alternatives. However the area I am on the edge of, Greater Manchester, is huge and includes some quite rural areas. We also don't get paid sothern/London wages. Any government will have to be aware that some of these charges will potentially lose votes at times where they may be critical to their reelection.

Yet we still ignore the elephant in the room, our ever expanding population. Until that is addressed we will never suitably address the climate situation.
 
Dr Strangeglove said:
I think you are right in that the government want us to pay to drive vehicles in these areas rather than provide viable alternatives. However the area I am on the edge of, Greater Manchester, is huge and includes some quite rural areas. We also don't get paid sothern/London wages. Any government will have to be aware that some of these charges will potentially lose votes at times where they may be critical to their reelection.

Yet we still ignore the elephant in the room, our ever expanding population. Until that is addressed we will never suitably address the climate situation.
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Most of that is probably true. But as I can't really change the situation, I try and concentrate on dealing with what is actually happening, and minimising inconvenience to me which may result from the legislation.

We do have to go into London. Five years ago we had a diesel Mondeo and a Td5 Defender.
We now have a petrol 1.8 Mondeo estate, a 1.1 petrol Clio, and a petrol Series 2a.
The annual costs of running all three are about the same as running the previous two, no loss of carrying capacity, and they can all go into Town.
 
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