General End of the road

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General End of the road

Hi shrek

dont meant to put you off it,there were a few things that went wrong but then again fiats arent relible - the car does its job, its a 94 TDI so i suppose it could come with age, bits and bobs really major

@ cinq - if i cared about my grammer and would like my gramatical errors pointing out - i'll pm you (y)
 
I sincerely hope that you use the Disco off-road, not just on it. I'm afraid that one of my pet hates is 4x4's used as shopping shuttles and to take kids to school.
 
JonnyBoy said:
I sincerely hope that you use the Disco off-road, not just on it. I'm afraid that one of my pet hates is 4x4's used as shopping shuttles and to take kids to school.

Come on though, think seriously, whilst on the school run they might have to mount a kerb :eek:

Theres loads around where I live- Cayennes, X5s, Range Rovers etc I love the look of them, but the town is totally flat :confused: They might go to the Lakes at the weekend but they wont get far with 20" road wheels on :rolleyes:
 
JonnyBoy said:
I sincerely hope that you use the Disco off-road, not just on it. I'm afraid that one of my pet hates is 4x4's used as shopping shuttles and to take kids to school.

Sorry, I don't buy into pet hates. I thought a purpose of this forum was to talk about and share the enjoyment of our cars.

We could fill the forum with our own pet hates. Maybe someone hates old cars for their air pollution (Capri's !!!), fast cars for the speed they travel (or does everyone drive to the limits), subs and exhausts for their noise pollution (oh we only use them in Morrisons car park) etc etc.
 
One of the added benefits of the Disco is that living half way up a hillside I will be able to get the kids to school, shopping and into work in the snow and ice in the winter.
I lost the use of my right leg in a cycling accident five years ago when a car crossed the road and hit me head on. When your disabled the prospect of getting stuck in snow isn't too good.
 
Fair play to you then Shrek if the machine's off-road capabilities are actually going to be used.
I think I ought to apologise as my last post came across rather ruder than intended, but I always question people's motives for owning 4x4s as many are bought purely for pose value or to bully smaller cars out of the way (particularly X5s, which are bloody scary when they're 3 feet from your Punto's tailgate at 60mph!).
 
I agree with that, just hope it won't become like the US where you're nodody without a SUV! I don't think it will though :)
 
JonnyBoy said:
Fair play to you then Shrek if the machine's off-road capabilities are actually going to be used.
I think I ought to apologise as my last post came across rather ruder than intended, but I always question people's motives for owning 4x4s as many are bought purely for pose value or to bully smaller cars out of the way (particularly X5s, which are bloody scary when they're 3 feet from your Punto's tailgate at 60mph!).

No offence taken. I appologise for being rather sharp in my reply.

Owning any car that is much larger, faster or heavier than the norm comes with added responsibility on the driver.
I'm not talking so much about the gti's and freelanders, but the serious off roaders, supercars, huge caravan rigs and hummers etc.
My concern is that these cars are sold no additional training for drivers. We live in a culture with a speed camera at every corner, but no real opportunities of building on our driving skills the day after we pass our test.
When I passed my test at 17 I was expected in the same week to drive around Derbyshire in a land rover and 25' trailer with another land rover on it. Terrified myself and probably half of Derbyshire.
At 21 I took my HGV with the emergency services and learn't so much more.
 
Taking the Advanced Driving course is pretty cheap and easish to get into, that's a good bit of training.
 
pghstochaj said:
Taking the Advanced Driving course is pretty cheap and easish to get into, that's a good bit of training.

No experience of this but heard good reports.
Some of it is based on the EFAD (emergency services training) I believe.
Would it equip you to drive the abnormal stuff though?
 
I don't believe you are required to drive anything but your own car throughout the training and the exam (which IIRC is given by a police traffic driver), however, the skills you learn are supposed to apply to as much driving as is possible. To pass you need to show a lot more than you would on a normal driving test and it's nothing silly like Pass Plus.

http://www.iam.org.uk/

It's good value for money, I believe a lot of it is done through volenteer ventren members and the main cost is membership and the final test.
 
Looks excellent training and I wonder how many forum members could pass it in a month say.

I also wonder who it appeals to though.

The amount of black on white info with a rather classy office block in the background along with the early 1900's grille badge style logo seems a little out of touch.
I also seem to recall some middle aged gentlemen stood in Morrisons or somewhere advertising it.

It would be good to see a sexy campaign aimed at younger drivers.
I can see their take on getting a safe message across but safe doesn't have to be stuffy.
 
My uncle did it when he moved up to a V6 galaxy and also did a lot of towing but I have never been in a car with him so not sure what difference it makes.

I would have done it but I think you need to spend a lot of time doing it and I was only driving for a year before uni.

When I passed my driving test the idea wasn't even mentioned to me though, just Pass Plus, that's a shame.
 
Hi,

I think Land Rover are offering a driving course with all new cars purchased, I don't know if it extends to approved used cars but you may like to ask them.

I had a Range rover for a short while which I regulary took off road and it is a lot of fun. the only reason I sold it was the cost of fuel and bodywork. It only did 12mpg and it kept getting damaged when I was off road (probably because I wasn't very experienced).

I would really recommend you try some gentle green lanes which won't damage the car as it is a great way to see the countryside. I think they will ban cars from the green lanes soon, so you may have to be quick.

I believe I have a workshop manual for the Discovery II on CD as the one I got for the Freelander had all the cars on it. If I can find it, you are more than welcome to have it.

Andy
 
Hi Poggy

I'm going to call the salesman on Monday re the driving course. It's an off road course at a land rover centre I believe. Just hope they have some auto's and good access.

I've done quite a bit of driving off road in my old job. We had Landrovers, a couple of Unimogs and a Bedford TM 4x4. I wasn't too bothered about damaging them though!

As for green lanes, in my experience the problems often lie in everyone wanting to do their own thing, in the most popular locations and on the same bank holiday or sunny weekend. If you take time off mid week, away from the peak times and tourist hotspots, everyone gets on OK. I say this having done a fair deal of hiking and mountain biking since my early teens. I hope the Land Rovers going to give me some freedom back.

Thanks for the offer of the CD. That would be greatly appreciated.

Shrek
 
pghstochaj said:
I agree with that, just hope it won't become like the US where you're nodody without a SUV! I don't think it will though :)
Well actually it's not like that! :)

I've just moved here (to the US that is) and if you want to be someone, you want a Lexus, BMW, Merc, or Discovery! Having said that I'm currently driving around in a big Chrysler SUV thing (hire car), but will be switching down to something smaller very soon (not sure what yet - it'll have to be cheap to buy and run though).

John
 
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