The message
from (Steve Firth) contains these words:


My ****ty inferior FordxFord has done 160,000 miles in less than ten
years including numerous trips around Europe, four per year on average.
Nothing has fallen off it, ever. All it has ever needed is the routine
manufacturer's servicing every 10,000 miles which costs £109 same as a
Mondeo.

Hired a brand new top of range Mondeo estate last November. Looked nice
outside. Interior trim falling off.

Words like "****e" don't
even begin to describe how ****ty Land Rovers are as work vehicles. Fine
for anyone who wants a toy, bloody useless otherwise.

Hopefully their owners are a bit more civilised in their language than
those two sentences.



Look around the world, HiLux, LandCruiser,

Once had a Toyota. Bodywork like tissue paper -- dented if you so much
as looked at it.

Ford. The Aussies laugh at LR
products.

Aussies tend to have factories to build vehicles suitable for Oz.

Wherever in the world you go you tend to find that vehicles not properly
developed to suit the local conditions don't exactly perform brilliantly
or last well.

My all-time worst vehicle (and I've had several LandRovers) was a Pontiac

The runner up was an Austin 1110.

Most elusive fault was in a top of the range Plymouth Fury III

Most stupid design blunders were in a Plymouth Fury I with a
blueprinted 440 cubic inch engine (7.5 litres to you) -- back 2 plugs on
the nearside bank officially couldn't be changed without removing the
steering column. And the engine weighed so much the front brake disks
warped repeatedly. Left that car parked for a while and it sank
through the asphalt driveway -- it weighed over two tons.

But all those manufacturers also produced some good vehicles.

I once made the stupid mistake of asking in the Cadillac factory how
many vehicles came off the production line without requiring remedial
work. The answer was to the effect that in a good week they MIGHT get
ONE!

There is no excuse for some of the failings of LandRover production
engineering. On the other hand LandRovers, especially of the Defender
variety, offer the possibility of building a vehicle from scratch with
LandRover and pattern parts in a manner which should ensure indefinite
life. Difficult to get that with any other vehicle I can think of.
Strip a new door. Take off the skin. Send it to be galvanised. Wrap the
galvanised frame in rubber to prevent contact with aluminium. Refit the
skin. Reassemble. Repaint. Etc. etc. My "current" one carries an F
prefix, though there's not much more of the original than the gearbox
and transfer box, roof bonnet, front wings, front bumper and seats!

See a vehicle for what it is. And make a balanced assessment. My
boring car is an Accord. I've even had bits fall of an Accord!