The sign of increased difficulty in future expeditions?

[Rich_P]

I was reading LRM earlier and in it is the article about the millionth Discovery and support vehicles (and a S1 for some of the distance) going on the big journey over to Beijing. I saw it was mentioned in the article that all vehicles were built to Russian spec (to eventually be sold out there), but more importantly they are all petrols (5.0 litre ones in fact!) because the Diesel Particulate Filters as req. in the UK/EU would basically go kaput when the engine would be run on not-fantastic quality fuels? Does this suggest that in the nearish future it'll become a lot more difficult for people to go travelling by overland unless they start outside the UK/EU, or build a vehicle on an old identity? Or use petrol even???

[western]

So much for progress then, EU have a lot to answer for.

[Eightpot]

Thats already the case for many overlanders travelling from the EU - there are very tough restrictions in Germany for example which forbid many modifications, even down to wheels an tyres. (sold an MGB to a German guy couple of years back and he couldn't get it through TUV test as it had minilite alloys on)

I've met quite a few European overlanders who were travelling in UK registered cars because of this - our legislation around modifying cars is one of the more relaxed around.

We get a tough break on some things, price of fuel, taxes etc, but we do get away with some pretty lenient rules on modding our cars.

[SteveRK]

I think its more a case of petrol being cheaper than diesel out there. In Holland for example petrol is cheaper than diesel. In the UK diesel has historically been cheaper than petrol unti around 2004/5 when it started to become more expensive. I cant see any of the oil refinerys making 'sub standard' fuel for china

[Guest]

I think the other thing to consider is the Carnet, Neil brought a 300tdi and fixed it up so that he could say for the carnet the value was £3k and not £15K a big difference when you need to guarantee to pay 8 x the value plus... Whilst I am sure that some people will continue to take shiny trucks most trucks will be older more mechanical less electrical based trucks.

Jason.

[mmgemini]

Json Yes one reason.

Mind you the fuel in South Africa is krap. The exhaust smokes like an old coal burning tramp steamer all the time. The was even with Millers Diesl Clean added.

Yep some people will take a new vehicle. We met a couple at the indoor show who had a brand new Puma to take to Southern Africa.

Also there are difficulties taking a LHD in southern Africa.

[Eightpot]

Even if petrol was a bit cheaper and cleaner for any reason, would you slip ten jerry cans of it under your bed at night or put them next to your gas cooker?

[Rich_P]

I cant see any of the oil refinerys making 'sub standard' fuel for china

No but there's a lot of places between here and there, and that how it's stored will impact on it I'd have thought.

[dailysleaze]

I was reading LRM earlier and in it is the article about the millionth Discovery and support vehicles (and a S1 for some of the distance) going on the big journey over to Beijing. I saw it was mentioned in the article that all vehicles were built to Russian spec (to eventually be sold out there), but more importantly they are all petrols (5.0 litre ones in fact!) because the Diesel Particulate Filters as req. in the UK/EU would basically go kaput when the engine would be run on not-fantastic quality fuels? Does this suggest that in the nearish future it'll become a lot more difficult for people to go travelling by overland unless they start outside the UK/EU, or build a vehicle on an old identity? Or use petrol even???

I think it was mostly because they were going to donate and leave the support vehicles in Russia afterwards, so they needed to be Russian spec to be domiciled. Lots of people drive across Russia in a diesel and i'm sure a DPF could handle several months. Having said that, i'm not sure i'd do it in a brand new vehicle anyway.

[tacr2man]

Replacing the dpf will add considerable cost to an expedition . removing before start would seem to be the go !

[reads90]

And into Australia they don't like LHD down here. I think you can do it but is only allowed in each state for a very short amount of time

(null)

[tacr2man]

http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/LBU_VS_IB_106.pdf

this is Western Australian position , but can vary in other states/territories

[Brian]

Fuel quality here in South Africa can be a bit variable, but usually only once you get away from the towns and acroos the border. In Southern Africa generally, you can get some very dubious fuel in some places. Still that's part and parcel of travelling in interesting places around the world.

DPFs are omitted here on Land Rover products, mostly because of this.

LHD vehicles cannot be imported here (with very few special exceptions) but tourists in LHD vehicles are not a problem. Most countries are signatories to the International Treaty allowing transit visas for vehicles of all types, as long as they are legal in the country they are registered in.

There are few exceptions to this, but Saudi is one, despite being a signatory, they do not allow RHD vehicles to be imported and the relevant transit visa authority thinks this applies to tourist vehicles too.

Still, there are other difficulties. Because of the problems in Syria, it seems impossible to get a transit permit for Saudi coming from the North at the moment anyway, even for LHD vehicles. Similar problem crossing Angola currently.

I'm sure there are many other examples around the world, like having to have police escort in Algeria, or official guide in many other countries.

All this changes almost weekly, making it a huge job planning a route crossing several countries or continents. Not impossible to find a way, but it can increase costs and time a lot.

The golden days of travelling, simply turning up at a border with your personal and basic vehicle documents are a long time in the past.