Waldorf

So that's where all our old Mercedes 190 have gone. Wonderful pictures, I don't know if our cat would fancy a trip like that.

What a great line-up: Disco 1, 2 and 4, RRS, Defenders and even a lovely Series.

I slept in a ARB swag four nights and found it very comfortable. It was on the ground, so without the stretcher. There is a matress integrated in the swag, you set it up in one minute, you roll it up in under a minute. Having the integrated matress makes it quite bulky. Caveat: I slept in it in Australia, where it was designed. On sand, in hot and dry conditions, and it was perfect for keeping the creepy crawlers out. I don't know if it's very practicle for European conditions. Getting in and out of it in the rain without getting your sleeping bag wet may be challenging. To give you an idea of the size: here are three swags on a roof rack.

The 2.0 in the Disco5 is well known for causing trouble. A friend of mine had one as a company car, and the check-engine light came on every other week. The dealer replaced pretty much everything around the engine: radiator, oil pump, thermostat, turbo, EGR,... Each time without result. Eventualy they replaced the engine, and even then the engine light kept coming back and the car went into limp mode. According to my mate LR are replacing these engines under warranty in high numbers. I am sure there is more info about this on the Disco5.co.uk forum.

The GLE isn't too bad as 'the sensible option', is it. My LR salesman told me the new Defender sells realy well, much beter than they anticipated. The problem is getting them delivered, with all the shortages in the automotive industry. There are people waiting for a new Defender for a year now.

Wonderfull trip, lovely truck.

I went through the configurator again and the base model and S-model come with coil suspension as standard. As soon as you pick SE or HSE you get air.

When I ordered mine last year air suspension was standard on 110. That may have changed with the new model year. You should realy be talking to a dealer, they have access to a better configurator tool. They won't make you pay twice for the same option, at least my dealer won't. Go for it, it's a great vehicle. Why you would go without the air suspension is beyond me.

I remember one occasion when my fingers were so cold I could not turn the key to start the car. I don't see why you would prefer a traditional key with a transponder over a start button. I do like the design ethos behind the manual adjustment of the seats. The lower trim levels of the new Defender have that too.

Lovely rebuild, sir. That blue looks realy good.

I have, very carefully, been trying a few things with the new Defender, and in any of the off-road programs it needs very little throttle to activate the TC. It is quite a difference with the D4 I had before the Defender. That needed a lot more wheelspin to get the TC to work.

That's not quite correct. The new G-wagon (released in 2018) is an all new design, made to look like an old design. Mercedes had engineers design the doors in such a way that closing the doors sounds exactly like it did on the old G-wagon. The orginal G-wagon (the W461 as they call it) is still in production as the 'Professional'. It's not available in all markets, and it doesn't have any of the bling. Old and new are both produced in Austria.

The 1982 Camel Trophy was in Papua New Guinea. And they drove... Range Rovers!

But why...

@elbekko You may want to read up on the Belgian tax rules. Real hybrids need at least 0.6 kWh/100kg, but there is a second condition for a vehicle to be a 'tax friendly' hybrid: maximum 50 grams of CO2 per km. The Defender produces 74 grams, so the tax man will consider it as a pure petrol vehicle.

It's good to see that modern Land Rovers are just as much fun off road as classic Defenders.

They don't have a dealership network. How are Ineos going to sell these things? Let alone service and repair them?

You don't know who's behind the wheel. I have been on such a trip with Land Rover and most people on these trips are motoring journalists. They usualy know how to drive a BMW around a fast track without getting into too much trouble, but very few have real off-road experience.

I have the Britpart stainless pistons on the 110, and they are fine. I used a Lockheed seal kit.

I like the idea of using garden hose for that!

The new G-wagon is a totally new design, but Mercedes is a lot bigger than LR. Mercedes asked the engineers to make sure the sound of shutting the doors on the new G was the same as on the old. I kinda like the new Defender. It will be a good replacement for my Disco 4.

It was the Belgian Army that bought 2x4 S3's in 1974/1975. Years later these were retrofitted with LSD's as our troops got stuck in their two-wheel-drive Land Rovers. Some 15 years ago, when I was new into Land Rovers, you could still find some new old stock with parts for these diffs, maar that has dried up now.

RAL 1019 comes close.

You should have asked us sunday, Koen. There were plenty of people who would have been more than happy to help you out. I was in the sand coloured military 110.

Black Star Guyane are great in mud. You see them quite a lot in France. I had them in 7,5x16 on my 88 for almost ten years, and they are huge, compared to any other 7,5x16.