J

johnnyb70

Well-Known Member
As a p38 owner I'm constantly stunned by the prices for land rovers ( defenders) just looked at the simmonites site on the bay.
That market is beyond buoyant.its bloody hot air balloon. £9000 for a 4l v8 with nearly 100000 miles? 20,30,40 grand bs special editions. Wtf is that all about can anyone explain?
Jb
I also think series haven't been caught up in the madness being slow and uncomfortable.
Jb
 
The word you are looking for is greed & there's a lot of it about :mad:
Mostly brought about by the fact that Defenders are no longer considered by many to be working vehicles but fashion statements, supported by all the equally stupid prices for bling accessories on the market.
 
We have one called Jim hallams near us. Incredible prices pumas seem to be the daftest. Followed by td5s. Someone's making a right killing somewhere.
I'm actually thankful p38s are practically valueless! I curse the price of used parts these days as they seem out of step with the value esp with v8 s. Charles on the bay(cns4×4) has a full set of walnut for £500. Who will buy this?he's had it ages. He paid £500 for the whole motor I'll bet. I see mum's taking there kids to school in a posh 110 . I guess thats what makes em fashionable.
 
We use Defenders at work, most are around 7 years old. We work in the utility industry and we use these vehicles to tow generators around etc.

It is not unusual to complete 350 miles in a shift and I have to say they are really not ideal.

Great for gymkhanas, going to market, working on the farm/in the forest and popping into town. Who said winebars;)

Motorway bashing - no.

Offroad in the right hands pretty unbeatable and I've dragged many a generator out of fields with them but it has to be said they are about 20 years out of date and the rest of the world has moved on.

Moved on to airbags, crumple zones and seat belt pretensioners and having decent sized accommodation. I'm not tall but my knees are around 3cm from the dash and you have to sit in the passenger seat if you want to read a newspaper or do your paperwork. We have had guys who literally couldn't fit into them.

Anyway, I'm sure my comments will not be welcome by a large section of readers and I can fully understand their loyalty to the product but do these readers cover the daily miles and hours that we do (12 hr shifts) - ours are quite often double shifted and the vehicle will only "rest" for an hour or two a day.

Right, that's it, tin hat on, coat and taxi at the ready.

P.S. I feel pretty confident that the issues I have raised will/ has been addressed when the replacement machine eventually appears - but look out because Isuzu and Ford have uprated their towing capacity to 3.5 tonnes now. Which is what our lot are starting to get on fleet.
 
I would love a Landy but there just not versatile. They do the rough stuff but the thought of a long drive in one gives me backache just imagining it.
I curse the fact there so limited as apart from that I'd have one in a flash( and the price of course) I liken It to the xjs that's the same. Not really versatile.
 
From what little I've seen of them the Defender's front seat occupants seems to have even less leg room, for anyone larger than a jockey on a diet, since LR introduced that huge centre facia arrangement that reminds me of a 'seventies Amstrad audio system.
 
I drove enuf and every type of landrover/defender variant to know i never want to own one i will keep my p38 for as long as i possibly can. Local garage had a 10 year old range rover sport tdv6 on the forcourt the day it started snowing they put the price up by 2k greedy barstards.

I have bought stuff from charles cns4x4 fabs before i had dealings with him via the terrano owners club decent guy but some of his prices do seem a bit inflated.
 
I bought a 110 and sold it for more than I paid for it within a week, slow, noisy, uncomfortable and nothing much better than the LWB series 3 petrol that I already had.

People have bought into the idea that they are explorers and adventurers every time they start the engine, more fool them, I have a Discovery 1 200Tdi and like the comfort that it has, built straight off a Range Rover platform it does everything I need it to, the rough stuff and the motorway haul.

No way would I consider spending big on a Defender when I could buy a fully loaded P38 and have a massive wedge to bring it up to scratch and install some goodies.

Case point.

tratter.png


2007 so 11yrs old £10,200 and reserve not met, even with inflation it won't have depreciated at all by the time it's sold I don't think.

P38.png


96 so 22yrs old. Depreciated massively and now you can have amazing luxury at bargain prices, on LPG it will cost the same as a tratter to run but will be miles above them in everything else.

Pro's and cons, comfort, nuff said. Both have an abundance of electronics that can and do go wrong.
 
I'm with everyone else here. Comfort and price were the deciding factors in purchasing my P38. Having driven military Defenders I knew they were off the table right from the start.
 
Defendera are bad cars priced like a good one. Get a disco and get better comfort and similar performance. Get a rangie and get luxury and similar performance. Wheres the justification
 
Well I'll wade in and stand up for Defenders ! :p :D

Cracking vehicles, I love 'em. Slow, uncomfortable - yup....but that's the way they are. I've got a comfy car that I can sit in for hours and do hundreds of miles without stopping and I've got an 80's hot hatch - the Defender isn't as comfortable as either of them but that's kind of missing the point for me. They're fun, they're quirky and they have character by the bucketload and that's why they have endured.
 
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I've said I'd love one but there cost and there lack of versatility put me off. If your into mods then the amount of tat available for defenders is incredible. Nothing for p38s. In fact it strikes me p38s are the new defenders. No nonsense,cheap as chips go anywhere do anything. Way out of fashion. Quirky engines. Not driven by posh mum's on the school run . All the makings of a fascinating vehicle to own. Take one to a land rover specialist if you want to hear them moan. Going through huge snow drifts this morning put a mahoosive smile on my face. As did speeding along on the clear bits. With a cassette tape playing! I must be nuts
 
johnnyb70 said:
No nonsense,cheap as chips go anywhere do anything. Way out of fashion. Quirky engines.
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Mr S1 said:
They're fun, they're quirky and they have character by the bucketload and that's why they have endured.
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For the little I drive nowadays the Landy (Ninety not Defender!) is perfect. I've always loved them and have had about seven over the years, Series and 90/110s. The Mrs loves them too which is a bonus. I don't give a s**t about comforts, luxury and bling. We used to drive regularly from Sussex to North Wales (mostly in V8s which made it a bit nicer) and I always arrived feeling OK with a smile on my face. Drive 30 miles in Mrs' Panda and I get backache and sciatica!
When I was a kid, most cars were slow, noisy, uncomfortable, unsafe and high-maintenance and I don't find Landys much different, but I love 'em.
Horses for courses.
 
Mr S1 said:
Well I'll wade in and stand up for Defenders ! :p :D

Cracking vehicles, I love 'em. Slow, uncomfortable - yup....but that's the way they are. I've got a comfy car that I can sit in for hours and do hundreds of miles without stopping and I've got an 80's hot hatch - the Defender isn't as comfortable as either of them but that's kind of missing the point for me. They're fun, they're quirky and they have character by the bucketload and that's why they have endured.
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The comfort thing is no problem for me, I fitted a pair of Citroen BX seats in mine, better than the sofa I'm sitting on now. The amount of room as a driver I have got used to, I am near 6ft, 14stone and old enough to not like having to grovel to get into a standard car, I do like the more vertical seating position in my 90. The doris prefers to lounge in the rangie though.
Last autumn we were due to travel across France for a long weekend break and as luck would have it the turbo decided to pack up on the rangie the week before :mad::mad: there was no chance of cancelling the hotels we had booked and getting our money back so we took the 1991 200Tdi 90. 400 Km later and we arrived at destination no worse for wear, on the return, starting the engine after filling up with fuel the alternator decided it didn't want to charge, had a look at it, bearing a little loose but running cool so just cracked on and got home safe and sound.:):):) Nearly all the modern motors that I know off would really throw a hissy fit if you tried to drive them like that, the good old 90 just shrugged it's shoulders (it's french after all) and got on with it, no dramas.:D:D:D
Thats why I love them. And my classic of course.
 
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