deep

It's refreshing to watch a video in which the wheels actually stay on the ground and don't rely on electronics to keep the car moving - and that's with some pretty beefy sway bars fitted. This is looking really good. I'm glad they are not rushing it.

That drowned one made me think how that excellent water-proofing must make it quite hard to dry out! I am also genuinely curious about what survived and what didn't. In this throw-away age, nobody bothers with that sort of nightmare any more but it would be interesting to know if any major components got through that. I guess we will never find out. Years ago, I had a Toymota HiLux as a company car. On a 4WD course the instructor sent someone into deep water and it drowned (never used him again!). I was surprised then that it was an insurance write-off but it was a good thing for me as i

I'm told any dent more than 5mm deep on the main monocoque is now a failure, if it's in a sill, A or B pillar or within a certain distance from a window. It's not up to interpretation at the inspection stage but a registered panel-beater can inspect it and pass it (yeah, right, like they're going to pass up the chance for some extra work - one quoted me $450 for what would have been less than two hours work. It took me about that long and I'm not brilliant at it). I went around the yard with the mechanic and quite a few cars had dents which classify as a failure. The rules don't appl

Fifty or sixty years ago, they could have made exactly the same video with a Series Two station wagon, probably with the six cylinder engine and the deluxe bonnet! In fact, there probably were people doing the same thing with one or two of those. Then again later with a four door Range Rover or an early Discovery. This video just makes the Grenadier feel like the Land Rover it always should have been...

Worse. Borderline evil as it most affects lower income people who can least afford to fix it. There is an awful lot of that sort of thing about these days. Ironically, newer vehicles often have plastic in that area, an acknowledgement perhaps that your sills are vulnerable to minor scrapes.

Tidy, road-legal Series Land Rovers are fetching enough money to buy a new car, sometimes even enough for a new four-wheel drive car (at least here). Definitely the most practical classic you could hope to own but probably not the cheapest. We don't have salted roads so still have lots of classic cars with reasonable bodywork. Ironically, so so many older Land Rovers were used as beach cars that they tend to be the rustiest things out there (well, not as bad as early Land Cruisers, most of which dissolved back into the earth decades ago!). Actually, I can't really think of old Land Rov

A couple of vehicles lately have nudged a million Aussie dollars at sale. One was a fairly recent Holden ute, the other an older Falcon GT. I guess they're never going to make stuff like that again, so those who can are going to grab them whenever they come up for sale. My friend, who lives near Melbourne, bought a Holden station wagon brand new in 1964 (he's an old friend but still going strong). He maintained it well but it wasn't shiny, more of a work hack. When he finally relented to the pressure to sell, he got many times what he'd paid new for it. I think he just got tired of peop

That purge valve sounds interesting. I had good luck with a catch can, so made one that fits in the "triangle" behind the left side wheel arch, with an gas exit from the top that goes under the floor. Amazing how little oil mist makes it through but, when you empty the can, there's a lot more water than oil in it (condensation, of course, not an oil problem!).

You might save a fortune by just buying an Aston Martin or a Ferrari...

We see a few of them here in New Zealand (also right hand drive). Currently they are pushing RAMs on the telly, as proper trucks that can tow a lot more than the run of the mill crew cabs (fair point too - that's how a lot of them are getting used on the road, it appears). If Ford brought a RHD Bronco in, it would plug a decent gap in the market. Currently, their Everest is seen as the serious wagon in the Ford range but it's really only a Ranger with a better rear end. There really isn't much available here, if you want a new car with off-road competence. New Defenders cost as much

Nearer 80 years. They married a long time after they met but it seems there was something there quite early on. I was out of media range all weekend, so watched funeral "highlights" on UTube. Very emotional, very fitting and that Land Rover was absolutely perfect. Flip, you had to feel for the Queen though. One VERY tough lady.

There's a new video out (sorry, can't post a link) of the new Ford Bronco doing some tricky bits of trail in Moab. In some markets, it's going to be a head-on competitor with the new Defender and, I have to say, it's looking very impressive. This one had the "Sasquatch" package, with 35" tyres. The very fact that tyre size is a factory option tells us that off-road ability was an important part of the design brief. It actually seems closer to the old Defender than the new Defender does!

Methinks the good sir is tripping over himself a bit. Maybe even being argumentative for the sake of it? The test in question proves the Defender is a better design for its function, despite its form, while the Jeep is designed for image ahead of function, as proved by the video. Not that I want to defend the design of the ugly new Defender (which, apart from being vastly more complex than it needs to be, fails in its nod to the past and isn't cutting edge modern either). Nevertheless, like the Focus compared to the Caterham, it is the more functional of the two. An off-roader that ca

I wonder if it's also a case of hiding the scruffy bits underneath? It really is classy, as hearses go.

I guess we'll know if it rains!