Wildefalcon
Well-Known Member
Depends on your definition.
In terms of safety, economy, ergonomics. Yes, crap.
In terms of long term ownership, resilience, dependability, avoidance of fragile electronics, and simplicity they are excellent.
And coil springs aren't as good as leaf springs. Simple, reliable, strong, backed by over a thousand years of design and testing.
No panhard rods, a frames, arms or other bollox to keep the axle in the right place....
In terms of safety, economy, ergonomics. Yes, crap.
In terms of long term ownership, resilience, dependability, avoidance of fragile electronics, and simplicity they are excellent.
And coil springs aren't as good as leaf springs. Simple, reliable, strong, backed by over a thousand years of design and testing.
No panhard rods, a frames, arms or other bollox to keep the axle in the right place....
They might be crap but not as crap as the new ones.
New vehicles are bloody awesome, until they go wrong and they will go wrong and cost a fortune each and every time!
Air suspension all day, dead reliable, how often do you hear of d2/d3/4/rr with suspension problems, thats right never!
Exactly, crap.
If you except the Series for what it is then it's a good vehicle.
A good original LWB Series 1 is a nice drive.
Wildefalcon
Well-Known Member
Agreed, coil springs are pants.
Fatrover
Well-Known Member
Hmmm. They might be slow, noisy, etc etc but my series have saved my arse and my families over the years, series got the wife to hospital while having sprog 1 in thick snow when my new merc amg died, got us through flash floods in Spain and England, took a very ill person to hospital through snow and ice when ambo couldn’t get through ….for those reasons alone I love em.
Wildefalcon
Well-Known Member
Or a Toyota Yaris hybrid. They're ace.
norseman
Well-Known Member
I agree with most, but not all, the comments already made about Series LR of which I have owned 5 over the decades.
By far their worst fault is that 90-odd percent of them are rot-boxes.
The Wilks Bros. may well have copied the American Jeep when designing the first LR, but one thing they didn't copy was the chassis.
LR chassis only a few years old (even those much younger than Series) rot from the inside out, 80 year-old Jeeps ones generally don't. If you can select a decent Series ie with a good chassis (pref. a galvanised replacement) & bulkhead from all the dross out there you've found gold as all the mechanical bits can be replaced &/or modified.
Cue the most mis-informed bar-room quote of all time 'LR's are made of aluminium so (they) don't rust'
By far their worst fault is that 90-odd percent of them are rot-boxes.
The Wilks Bros. may well have copied the American Jeep when designing the first LR, but one thing they didn't copy was the chassis.
LR chassis only a few years old (even those much younger than Series) rot from the inside out, 80 year-old Jeeps ones generally don't. If you can select a decent Series ie with a good chassis (pref. a galvanised replacement) & bulkhead from all the dross out there you've found gold as all the mechanical bits can be replaced &/or modified.
Cue the most mis-informed bar-room quote of all time 'LR's are made of aluminium so (they) don't rust'
tottot
Well-Known Member
The Wilks Bros had the pre production run chassis galvanised. Rover dropped it on cost grounds and the thought that the "Land Rover" would only be a gap filler until other post war car design's came along.
The Prototype Land rover was based on the Jeep U channel chassis but its flexibility resulted in the alloy body panels cracking so a box was adopted.
Watching
an original Jeep tackling rough country and one can see the flex and how it helps keep wheels on the ground.
Not far from me is an old Austin Ten that once belonged to my grandfather, unrestored but cared for and still on the road after ninety years. U frame chassis still good.
The Prototype Land rover was based on the Jeep U channel chassis but its flexibility resulted in the alloy body panels cracking so a box was adopted.
Watching
Not far from me is an old Austin Ten that once belonged to my grandfather, unrestored but cared for and still on the road after ninety years. U frame chassis still good.
I quite like that.
