Anybody got any thoughts on these

The Santana, it's basically a series Land Rover fitted with a modern Iveco diesel

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/indian-car-scene/95253d1233329308-iveco-massif-santana.jpg

A guy came in to work when I had my Frontera outside with a 2" lift MT tyres and snorkel asked who it belonged to and we got chatting.

He said had a lwb Frontera a couple of years ago he used off road but scrapped it when it failed the mot and has been looking around for something newer for a while when he found the Santana, he rated it highly and they seem to be a fraction of the price of a defender.

Just wondered if anyone on here has seen or driven one ?

Iv'e just looked at the picture again and it's even got oil spots underneath just like a proper Landy

The Santana is basically a Land Rover with the 2.8 Iveco engine and fitting this engine eliminated many of the landies issues with unreliability and low power, it is a good unit and is mated to a Santana manufactured gearbox and transfer case in later models, this eliminated the other foibles that Landies have.

Basically Santana addressed many of the major Landie issues and this has made them a better vehicle in terms of reliability and durability, and in testing them against the Landie i can attest that they are better off road and more reliable.

They are an excellent compromise for a Landie owner looking for a more reliable vehicle as so much of them is traditional Landie, yet most people won't know the difference between the two, and if you are a landie owner you will already be familiar with so much of it.

Had a look at one when I bought the terracan seemed a nice truck and very practical and good offroad the mechanic from the garage started whingeing about gearboxs, and how landrovers were far better which seemed to annoy the salesman. That was not the reason I did not buy it it was my family wanting more comfurt, and the fuel economy.
Some more info about them here. http://www.lr-mad.co.uk/en/santana

I have not driven one of these but I have driven the Iveco Massif.

This vehicle had the 3.0 unit from the iveco daily and also a part time transfer case not full time. I believe this is the same for the santana. Other plus was the roof didn't leak.

It has leaf springs rather than coils and was nick named the series 4. I would consider one if it was the right price. A good overlanding vehicle.

The "Series 4", I never knew that.

Have to agree with Asassin here - great value, as good as a Landie (maybe better), more reliable, more power.......and Iveco engine parts easily available through Iveco OR Fiat dealers worldwide. IF I was looking for this type of truck I would seriously consider one, but then the Teracan is more comfy...hhhmmmm

Mugwump:

They are basically the same gearbox/transfer case but Santana offer two gearboxe/transfer case options, one is definately the LR unit which is built in Spain but with better internals which makes them more durable then the LR units, so anyone familiar with LR units can strip and build them in the same way apart from different torques on several components.
Santana also offer a variant of the Iveco gearbox/transfer case, this is the better option for reliability and durability as these come from larger vehicles and are basically underworked in the Santana.

Many issues with Landies and Santana transmissions are the failure of owners to maintain them correctly, by this i mean changing the lubricants at the specified intervals, and using the correct fluids with THE RIGHT SPECIFICATION for the gearboxes/transfer cases.

One thing we have to remember is that these vehicles are working vehicles and nothing more, many lead hard lives just as many Defenders do and you have to expect more maintenance on something which can spend the majority of its life working hard, and take account of reduced service intervals where they are working in many specific conditions, something many people don't do unfortunately.

Well the Santana issue has raised it's head again, been looking at Series3 - 109's and 88's and to be honest along with older Defenders what a pile of crap for less than £5k

I've found 2 Santanas for less than £4k low miles one or two owners from new ones a 2006 and the others a 2007 both seems straight and honest both around 80k mileage wise.
A friend who worked for Frog Island was telling me our local airport has 2 that they have been running since 2010 with regular servicing being the only expenditure.

They do seem a viable option to Landies and reasonabley affordable compared to a Defender a 2007 plate goes for what £8 to £9k, ok so the Santana is leaf sprung but you can sit in the driving seat without having to have your right arm surgically shortened and they are fitted with a quite modern engine which I believe is uncomplicated and easy to work on.

Discuss !!

"you can sit in the driving seat without having to have your right arm surgically shortened"   

Never a truer word spoken in jest!

With the Santana it seems as if you're getting far better value for your hard-earned, so go for it.

My first 'Land Rover' was actually an ex-Zimbabwe police Santana. Being new to Land Rovers I was somewhat disappointed when I first found out but after about six months realized that it was a really great vehicle. As always I stripped it down to bare essentials but it took me to some really remote areas of African bush on many trips. Loved that truck!



My Santana at Chitake 2 in Mana Pools, Zimbabwe.

I'm liking the stripped down Santana look James, but what's this in the foreground, a tent you big softee it's not like you to pitch a tent   

Actually, I had a much bigger tent! That one you can see the corner of belonged to some friends from Canada out for their first safari. Safari is much different than overlanding. We would go out in three Land Rovers (well two, plus a Santana). My family, another family and a support vehicle driven by my Zimbabwean gardener Frank. Frank ran the base camp while we went off each day exploring. Base camp was pretty luxurious by most standards. My tent was a massive green canvas thing the size of a small house. We dragged along portable showers, masses of food and alcohol, camp beds and even a dozen lamps filled with citronella that surrounded the camp. Your typical 'Hatari' set up. Was great but makes me appreciate the minimalist approach to overlanding even more.

I take your point about the difference between safari and overlanding.
The Mem sarbe and myself did a safari trip in Kenya about 4 years ago and like you said we would have a base and venture out for the day then back at night then move on to another area (Tsavo East and West then another smaller reserve) to see different animals.
I take it you were just off piste out in the bush.
We stayed mostly in converted hunting lodges and the Saltlick hotel on stilts which was amazing waking up in the morning and looking down on the animals at the watering hole.