Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Viscous coupler chat. My father's old Freelander had one that went sproing by just the front and rear tyres having differential wear. That was enough to create a difference in rotational speed for a given forward velocity (albeit over more than 40 miles) to knacker the part and scrap the whole car.

Finally got the car collected to get it to the garage to fix. Booked through anyvan, which i thought would be fairly professional, til a guy with a battered old ssanyong with a trailer arrived at my doorstep...

Fingers crossed it gets there in one piece...

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Is a Defender 110 as mechanically simple as it is possible to get, while also being able to get a bike in the back?

Mechanically simple doesn't necessarily mean less likely to break down

It’s also difficult to define simple- very few electronics and parts are serviceable, yes, but also it’s got transfer cases, high low ratio selection, locking differentials etc. Not simple.

Something like a Fiat panda from the mid nineties would be simple in a way that the defender could never be.

So a Fiat panda and a roof rack then.

I can't really afford any car, nor do I need one. But it would be nice.

those plates....

also steer clear from any that have been remapped.

@Nahguavkire

Mercedes diesel in them (the older more reliable type) and I think they had a very high tow capacity for their size/class. Probably a fairly wise choice!
Ideal vehicle for trailer car towing is those SWB euro vans with a 5th wheel plate on them, literally designed for nothing else than towing (some have crew cabs), only ever seen 1 in the UK, see them on the continent.

Ssshhh, i still haven't had the motivation to change them, and nobody sees them too often anyway as i almost never drive. That's probably why the car died in the first place.

I've left the new plates on the passenger seat in the hope the garage feel sorry for me and change them

An old 200 Tdi is pretty simple. A modern 110, not really. As Dammit said, there is a lot that could go wrong.
Also, given the size of a Defender, there is so little room inside. If you go for a van or a station wagon, the door is tiny and a right faff to negotiate. A pickup is dead easy, but also inherently not secure.
A 90 has a turning circle akin to the QE2, a 110 is even worse. Not fun for car parks, tight junctions or anything that is not a field.

They are great if you "get" them, but there are so many objectively better options.

objectively better options

Such as?

You are right about the door. Perhaps I need to accept that mounting the bike on the back/top is the way to go.

Huh?

Such as?

Disco surely?

Something naturally aspirated and FWD is about as simple as you can get - the gearbox will be attached to the engine, it'll all be fairly small and light (if in a small, light car), and if you get something from the late 90's it'll be reliable without being so complex on the electronics front that you have no chance of troubleshooting without the dealer specific software package.

There's also a minimum of systems to go wrong. Small, light, cheap and tinny hatchbacks can also be great fun, in a way that a Disco can never be.

Definitely. Was more pointing out it's objective superiority to a van with big wheels and no sound proofing.

Funny you mention a Panda, as mate was given one when he was living in Italy. He'd never touched a car mechanically, but was able to fix everything that cropped up with a Haines manual and basic borrowed tools.

A lot of people who are remapping R56s are doing a shit job. Over fuelling leading to bore wash, generally bad maps, not decoking before a remap leading to accelerated wear.

If you want to mod an R56 it's better to buy one off some keep it OEM, polish it to an inch of it's life, edgelord, then mod it yourself so you know it's been done right.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202002237636572

More of this please. That carbon shell is not for me

To add..
Land rovers are a theft magnet atmo..
Our old sixth gen Honda civic 1.4i auto was a joy to drive (bar the lack of power) and in ten years of ownership didn't have a single fault!

I saw so many Pandas on the Amalfi Coast a couple of years ago. A lot of the late 80s/early 90s ones seem to still be in regular use. I'd love one of the little 4x4s.

They're wicked aren't they.

The well endowed man's Defender.

More like they were cheap, and functional. Getting quite expensive now, even for wrecked ones.

EDIT: The 4x4 panda was the cheapest 4x4. Early ones (and later ones) were built by steyr puch. Early ones had a unique engine to that model from the autobianchi a112? and a super low first. We had one in Italy and it was great, really go anywhere. Got sold and replaced by a later 4x4 that wasn't as good off road lacking in diff locks.

What is the best bike hauling vehicle? I imagine it's going to be an inexpensive van of some kind.

A colleague of mine and his wife are Land Rover nuts, they have an old defender and 2 discoveries.

They also owns a modern 4x4 Panda which his wife (an equestrian vet) uses and says it will go through boggy fields to tend horses far better than the disco will