Why a Land-Rover?
Some of my friends are puzzled that I choose to own and drive one
of these (relatively) massive vehicles instead of a car. So what are
the advantages? Well, one of the obvious ones is size... it is very
capacious! Here are some more good points about them:
- Durability
- Land Rovers have been in production since 1948, and it is
reckoned that 75% of all those ever built are still in use. In
fact, Land Rover drivers sometimes refer to other makes of 4x4
as ``disposables''!
- Greenness
- It's said that a motor vehicle uses more energy to build it
than it will use to propel it in its lifetime. If this is true (I'm
going to try to find a reference for it) a vehicle that lasts many
times longer than other vehicles uses less energy overall than
the multiple
replacements that you would otherwise have to get. Also, a diesel
Land-Rover is not a ``gas-guzzler'', despite the reputation that
some people have tried to give them.
- Versatility
- With most types of vehicles, if it doesn't do a particular
thing that you want it to do, that's tough. With a Land Rover,
you simply get some bits of metal, cut, bend and join them to
shape, to adapt it to do what you want.
- Towing capacity
- The Land Rover is an excellent tug, both for trailers and for
moving other vehicles. I've heard of an 80" Series I Land Rover (the
little original ones, with a 1.6 litre engine) towing an 18-ton
steam traction engine; I don't know what the maximum towing load
for a modern, 2.5 litre, Land Rover is.
- Off-road ability
- As well as having a wide range of gear ratios, the Land Rover
has excellent suspension and good ground clearance, allowing it
to cover much rougher terrain than most non-tracked vehicles of
its size.
To emphasize how capacious they are: here's a picture of mine,
nearly full.
![[Land-Rovers]](lr-icon.jpg){kind=icon}
John C. G. Sturdy
![[John's home]](../home.png)
Last modified: Sun Jun 10 22:10:12 GMT Daylight Time 2007