Saying hello...

Just joined the forum and wanted to say hello to all. I have been overlanding off and on for about 12 years now and hope to do alot more in the future. My wife and I are based Milton Keynes area and moved to the UK about a year ago. I am Canadian and she is British by birth but lived in New Zealand for a long time.

I grew up bashing around in jeeps in Canada and then spent ten years in Africa after a military career. Since there were no old jeeps to be found in Africa I started buying old Landrovers. So have bashed around most of east and southern Africa in a string of series 11s, IIIs, defenders and even an ex-Zimbabwe Police Santana. Also spent a year and half in Sierra Leone with an old 110. Did some great trips and had some fun adventures.

Finally settled on what I hope is my 'last' Landrover and by perfect overlander. We were in Canada in 2011 when an 1986 ex-MOD 110 was put up for sale by a collector. It had been a range control vehicle at C.F.B. Suffield until it was disposed of. Some collector had it in storage since 2003 and put it up for sale. I bought it and then shipped it with us over here to the UK when my wife took a job in MK (and her company paid the shipping).

We just came back from 'Tembo's" first test run, a three week excursion down to the Spanish Pyrenees. Tembo did brilliantly and I amlooking forward to planning more trips in the coming years. Tembo is pretty unusual as an overlander and I will post some pics when I figure out how. More SAS Pinkie than loaded-to-the-rafters-and-beyond 110.

Anyway, looking forward to interacting with everyone and maybe meeting some on the road...

James, Jess and Tembo

Hi and welcome

Hello J, J & T ... welcome to the forum!

Jeeps to Landies eh? We'd all love to know, having seen the good and bad in both of them, does one make come out on top in your experience, or are all vehicle trouble full stop?

Hmmm....Jeeps versus Landies huh?

Well, in considering what vehicle to use as a base for my last and final overlander (I hope), I was considering either a CJ8 (long wheelbase Jeep) or a Land Rover 110.

For the Jeep, I was interested because so far I haven't seen anyone overland properly in a Jeep and there is always that temptation to try something new. Jeeps have better handling characteristics and are, in my experience, really reliable. But parts are impossible to find outside North America and they are really overpowered (and thirsty).

For the Landy, they can be frustrating, underpowered and handle horribly but are easy to repair and parts are available almost anywhere.

I consider the Jeep to be more of a fun, weekend vehicle and the Landy to be a working truck. As an overlander the Landy easily wins out for me. The Jeep will outperform and outhandle it but isnt really meant for long haul overlanding away from America.

My two cents...

Nice to here someone else's view's on the 2 makes,
not ever had a jeep, but remember when we had our farm, 2 guys used to come up to shoot the deer and rabbits,
they never took too many only 1 deer about once every 2 months and any rabbits they came across.
The driver had a Dieatsu excuse the spelling, then one day came with a new Jeep 3 months and 4000 miles the engine blew up, took him for ages to get his money back, put him and me of for ever.

Hello Tembo,

Welcome, I too came from Jeep to Landrover. To be honest when I realised it was the travelling which was my biggest interest and the car 2nd I am not too bothered what I travel in as long as its a Defender

Jeeps are great and well built but the TJ Wrangler I had was terrible for room and fuel consumption and that's coming from Defender 90 owner...

Don't forget the show next weekend, not too far for you in MK ( even closer for me)

Steve

Thanks for the welcomes...and yes, will be at the show next weekend. Looking forward to it quite a bit.

And yes, regarding jeeps, I should say that the two I owned were older...a 1989 YJ I bought from new and is still going strong. Did a frame up rebuild a few years ago and gave it to my son as he headed off to university. In the 16 years I drove it all over Europe and North America it never let me down once. Had a TJ for my wife for a year but just for running errands. Only took it offroad a couple of times. But Roamingman's tale of a new Jeep blowing the engine doesn't surprise me. I just don't trust new vehicles (as in anything made after about 1995). In Canada growing up all boys had to take auto shop classes in school and I can fix most things on an old carbuerated or naturally aspirated engine but I just shake my head at newer vehicles and all the elctronics...a bit of a mechanical luddite I guess...

Hello & Welcome to the forum!

We look forward to hearing more of your views and experiences.

Jas