Innholdsfortegnelse for February 1, 2016 i Land Rover Monthly

KAhn Design has revealed its latest adaptation of the Range Rover Evoque, in the form of the Evoque 2.0 TD4 SE Tech 5DR RS Sport. The latest offering from Kahn sees it given a sporty make-over, with a series of aesthetic enhancements added to both the interior and exterior. The RS Sport is on sale for £45,775, with vehicle trade specialists CAP claiming a 17 per cent increase in residual value to that of the original Evoque. The new take on the Evoque includes a new front bumper replacement with integrated vents that feature 3-D mesh inserts. The front grille has also replaced with the same 3-D mesh while new headlights feature on either side of the newly-installed bumper. KAHN lettering adorns the bonnet Towards the rear, a new bumper…

DEFENDER WILL LIVE FOR EVER WHEN I FIRST read Tony Evans’ letter (“Good Riddance Defender”) in the Winter issue of LRM, I thought it was a wind-up. Surely nobody would be so disrespectful just as production of the best Land Rover ever was due to end? Unfortunately, it appears he was serious. Besides being in bad taste at such a sensitive time for bereaved Defender fans like myself, it was also full of inaccuracies, which I would like to put right. Firstly, Mr Evans bemoans the lack of a pick-up. Er, what about the truck cab? It’s been around since the 1950s and, in the case of the modern Defender, is available in a choice of wheelbases and with a double cab option. It’s the best pick-up truck in the…

ROOF CONSOLE PRICE: £225 Defenders do not have loads of standard storage space. So why don’t you invest in a roof console? It will provide loads of additional overhead storage space so you don’t have to think twice about where to put magazines, maps sunglasses and important documents. Available in grey and black. Supplied with interior lamp extension loom and DIN blanking panel. www.britpart.com HOSE YOURSELF PRICE: £7.15 These tiny heavy-duty hose cutters will effortlessly cut through any Land Rover hoses between 3 and 13mm thick. The heat-treated blade gives a quick 90° degree cut. These small cutters should get to most places in the engine bay. www.lasertools.co.uk SEAL IT PRICE: FROM £10.37 As time marches on, the roof bars on a Discovery 2 become compressed, which allows water to…

The very early Discovery 1s used on the model’s press launch in late 1989 are now prized modern classics. These pre-production vehicles were registered locally by Solihull with registration plates that started with the prefix G and ended with WAC. They’re collectively known as G-WACs and enthusiasts have their own club – the Project Jay Preservation Group – dedicated to their longevity. One of the group’s founders, Roy Preston, writes a monthly newsletter, called G-WAC Notes. In the latest issue he mentions the mystery holes to be found on the inner wings of G-WACs. These holes, which serve no apparent purpose, are covered over by black plastic discs. Roy believes this was because pre-production Discoverys were built using modified Range Rover inner wings – and the holes that were needed…

IT’S THAT time of year when, with plenty of standing water and maybe ice on the road, that you soon become aware of any deficiencies in the tyres that are fitted to your Land Rover. As you can imagine, with 130 vehicles in the Dunsfold Collection, tyres are a subject never far from our minds – and I do wonder what the future is going to hold for those of us with classic Land Rovers, who like to keep them looking original. Vintage Tyre Supplies, down at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, has done a superb job in keeping the classic movement on the road with correct-period rubber, and has even had some old tyre patterns remanufactured. But the fact is, when it comes to Land Rovers – which…

“A Discovery without a stepped roof would be like a camel without its hump" When it comes to choice, there has never been a better time to be a Discovery owner. Fans of the most versatile vehicle on the planet can choose from cheap and cheerful Discovery 1, amazing-value Disco 2, seriously underrated Discovery 3 and the most luxuriously appointed Discovery 4. Whether you’re spending £500 or £50,000, there’s a Discovery out there for you. And we love them all. I’ve just driven to Royal Berkshire (in my 20-year-old Discovery 1) to drive the best Discovery 4 so far – the Landmark special edition, which somehow manages to build on the already generous specification of the HDE Luxury derivative with several new features, inside and out. Land Rover say the…

“Once I fell asleep the spiders were going to crawl into my mouth" As well as writing and occasionally photographing for Land Rover Monthly, I’m the magazine’s freelance sub editor which involves driving up to its Wellingborough-based offices for three days out of every four weeks. Back in September, I was on the journey home having just proof read the November issue, and once again found myself in slow moving traffic on the M25. It was a miserable, dark, wet Wednesday evening, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw a brand new silver Defender fill my rear view mirror. Call me sad, call me a geek, call me whatever, but things got a little more interesting as it passed me to reveal its spare wheel cover emblazoned with…

“His engine cut out when he went uphill – hardly ideal when 90% of the sections were up or down” Steve Limb arrived early Saturday morning with his wife Alison to get started with laying out the course for the club’s recent CCV Trial at Lowesby Grange, near Rutland Water. I, together with club chairman Andrew Lester, joined them, but not before Andrew wolfed down a mega serving of bacon and eggs for breakfast. The first two sections were easy to set out; if only the rest of the set-up went the same way. On the third section Steve had a few problems with a climb up an embankment and his Land Rover’s rear diff decided enough was enough. As we only had two Freelanders and a P38 Range Rover…

IT ALL BEGAN 1989 with a meeting in a barn belonging to local farmer Mr tim linney. Interested folk sat on bales of hay and on that day 28 people signed up as members of the newly formed Chiltern Vale Rover Owners Club (CVROC). tim linney was elected club chairman and remained on as chairman until 2014. He is now the club President and still very much involved with the club. the formation of the club coincided with the launch of the Discovery and the clubs logo, designed by founder member Simon Willison, has a lion in the foreground and the Chiltern Hills in the background. Incidentally the hills are visible from the barn where the club was formed. at the time we got land Rovers blessing to depict the…

DAVE PHILLIPS EDITOR DISCOVERY 1 YEAR: 1996 MILEAGE: 145,000 ENGINE: 300Tdi POWER: 68 bhp TORQUE 113 lb-ft MPG: 30 NINETY YEAR: 1984 MILEAGE: 163,000 ENGINE: 2.5 diesel POWER: 111 bhp TORQUE 195 lb-ft MPG: 25 This month I took my Discovery 1 to Berkshire to meet some distant relatives – distant relatives of the Disco, that is. I was there as a guest of Land Rover to test drive a trio of new-for-2016 models. All Land Rovers have come a long way since my 300Tdi Disco rolled off the production lines 20 years ago, but the family resemblance is there all the same. You can read my verdict on the latest Discovery 4 and Ingenium-engined Disco Sport and Evoque on page 54, but there was another model there I couldn’t…

I’ve been road testing new Land Rovers for nearly two decades, and driving the latest product has always come naturally to me. Not this time though. I found the Discovery Sport a challenge to assess because it’s unlike any other Land Rover. But anyone doubting its Land Rover pedigree would be advised to think again. Land Rover designed and built this machine, and you could argue it’s the purest Land Rover since the Td5 models by dint of having a genuine in-house Land Rover engine – the advanced Ingenium diesel. We’re going to take a look at the technology in the Discovery Sport and, importantly, see how the new innovations help the car to perform. We need to get familiar with this technology because it’s the stuff of our future…

GARY STRETTON • Tools: Socket set, spanners, bench, hammer, bench vice. TIME 3-10 HOURS COST FROM £60 DIFFICULTY RATING In part 1 of this two-part feature, I showed the stripdown and rebuild of the front axle swivel housing, complete with new swivel seals. Having realised how tired my Series III hub components were, I had no choice other than to rebuild the whole lot while the hubs and halfshaft were removed. Anything less would be false economy. New seals, gaskets and bearings aren’t expensive, but I do recommend sourcing good quality bearings and seals. I’m not a fan of new old stock (NOS) rubber items, either. Some deteriorate in storage for decades before an internet listing proclaiming them ‘better than new’. Take your time assessing items, and be particular when…

PRICES OF DEFENDER Wolfs are rising steeply, with the country’s biggest supplier of these ex-military models predicting that they will sell by the end of this year. David Gelley, corporate, governmental and export sales manager at Witham specialist vehicles, says prices of the popular 300Tdi Wolfs are up 20 to 30 per cent year on year. “it obviously depends on condition and mileage, but there is a definite marked increase,” he says. “The 90 is generally most popular, due to its looks and style. but the Wolf 110 is also popular because it is rarer than the short wheelbase. “We have seen a marked increase in prices and demand for Land rovers in general, across all variants we hold, due to the end of production of the Defender. “Prices keep…

JAGUAR LAND ROVER has announced a £450 million investment to expand its Engine Manufacturing Centre (EMC). The investment will see the factory – which has only been open for a year – double in size, resulting in hundreds more new jobs to be created in the West Midlands. JLR’s latest investment in the EMC will see total investment in the facility top £1 billion, with the 200,000 square metres plant the most significant new automotive manufacturing facility to be built in the UK over the last decade. The expansion will see an increase to the 50,000 Ingenium engines currently coming off the production line in Wolverhampton. The power-plant is currently used in the Discovery Sport, and will also power the new Range Rover Evoque. Jaguar Land Rover CEO, Dr Ralf…

SHEFFIELD-BORN Hollywood actor Sean Bean has donated his 1973 Series III Lightweight to a charity auction. Bean, star of Game of Thrones, Sharpe and Lord of the Rings, was asked by Sheffield United, the football club he has supported since childhood, if he would provide an auction item for a gala dinner to raise vital funds for the Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity. The ex-military SIII, with 2.25-litre petrol engine, complete with a series of signatures from the actor, was part of an auction line-up at Chatsworth House on December 6. It raised £8000. “When we made the request to Sean we anticipated getting some signed memorabilia, never did we imagine that Sean would provide his very own Land Rover,” said Sheffield United’s operations director, Dave McCarthy. “It is a…

The things one has to face of owning and running old Land Rovers meanders relentlessly onward as I suspect it may do for a lot of you as well. My 4-litre V8 petrol automatic Discovery 1 is a joy to drive and it’s not in too bad condition for a car that’s now coming up for 20 years old. I have recently had to replace a leaking swivel joint seal and I mucked the job up, as the ABS light was permanently on afterwards. So I had to get my local Land Rover mechanic Danny England – who took over my old workshop from me a while back – to fix it. Why is it that mechanics don’t like bailing you out when you muck a job up by having…

THE £400,000 DEFENDER IT TOOK a record-breaking bid of £400,000 from a Qatari buyer to secure the purchase of Defender 2,000,000 – the two-millionth Series Land Rover and Defender produced at Solihull, the home of Land Rover. Every penny raised from the sale will be donated to Land Rover’s long-standing humanitarian and conservation partners: the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Born Free Foundation. Various celebrities, including Bear Grylls, Virginia McKenna and Stephen and Nick Wilks, sons of the founders of Land Rover, helped build the special vehicle in May 2015. This one-off Defender was created as a fitting tribute to the almost 70 years of Land Rover production at the Solihull factory, which has now drawn to a close. To make it extra…

“It is a priceless survivor of a motoring world that seems as remote as the Georgian era" Jolly crikey! My Singer Ten has darned well failed to proceed, thereby causing me to possibly miss an important business meeting. Luckily I’m the sort of chap who never leaves matters to chance and for the price of a mere 3d for a GPO telephone call, I can rely on my AA membership. But what’s this? The patrolman is driving a spiffing new Land Rover instead of a BSA motor cycle combination? Whatever is the world coming to?’ In 1949 the end of petrol rationing still lay a year in the future and there were only around four million vehicles licenced on UK roads. To own any form of car was a remote…

“It's quickly apparent that there are different types of dust" Vast. Incomprehensibly vast. Australia’s Northern Territory stretches as far as your mind can imagine, and further still. The reality is that the Northern Territory covers an area equal to that of France, Spain and Italy combined, 1.3 million square km - that just one-sixth of the country’s entire land mass. Massive, then. Tales of farms the size of counties, countries even, have long captivated me, and arriving in Darwin before a short - relatively speaking here - hop over to Katherine to join the Land Rover crews as they drive 3,615km over a three-week period. I’m an adventure tourist, a part-timer parachuting into an epic Land Rover drive that’s started seven days earlier. Not that the six days I’ll be…

THE LEICESTERSHIRE and Rutland Land Rover club’s roots date back to the 1970s. Over the years the club has evolved from strength to strength to its present form today. Various competitive off-road events are held by the club throughout the year: winners receive trophies and points are allocated towards the club’s annual championships – the winners of which are rewarded with the presentation of engraved shields at the club’s annual dinner. Other activities organised by the club include off-road promotional days, bike trials, gymkhanas, BBQs, caravan and camping weekends, treasure hunts and training events. club members also go greenlaning in small groups, using maps that are researched and marked up by our Rights of Way representative, information for which is accessed from county councils to try to ensure that we…

STEVE MILLER LRM AD EXEC TD5 DISCOVERY YEAR: 2000 MILEAGE: 133,450 ENGINE: Td5 POWER: 136 BHP TORQUE: 232 lb-ft MPG: 27.2 110 YEAR: 1983 MILEAGE: 89,000 ENGINE: 3.5 V8 POWER: Approx 180 BHP (with mods) MPG: 15 LIGHTWEIGHT YEAR: 1983 MILEAGE: 50,000 ENGINE: 2.25 POWER: 77 BHP MPG: 14 MPG There has been another significant change to my Land Rover ownership. As you may remember, my 300Tdi Discovery 1 was due its MoT and a hole had appeared on the nearside rear wheel arch which needed rectifying before bothering the inspector. I asked Pete to weld in a complete new Britpart section; he also found a small area of corrosion on the nearside sill too, so he duly welded on a patch which would suffice. Pete spent a few hours…

My two-year old son is at an impressionable age. In fact my wife is worried that Land Rovers are already dominating his little life. He refuses to go to sleep in his cot without the latest copy of LRM and a few choice model cars – one or more of which has to be a Land Rover. Even when I switch off the light, Isaac still somehow manages to look at the pictures in his dog-eared copy of LRM. Maybe he has built-in night vision goggles? While he might not yet know the difference between a red lorry and a yellow lorry, he definitely knows the difference between a Land Rover and a Toyota or Nissan. When he wakes up, he reaches for his cars, magazine and Sloth (you get…

TREVOR CUTHBERT CONTRIBUTOR DEFENDER 90 YEAR: 2004 MILEAGE: 84,380 (wrongly noted last month) POWER: 136 bhp TORQUE 220 Lb-ft MPG: 33 Isn’t it strange how a certain set of circumstances can change your course completely and unexpectedly? This happened to me lately, when I was up country in my Defender 90, delivering another Defender back to its owner, following a re-chassis, when I encountered a nice late-model Defender 90 County hard top. The truck parked up alongside me in the yard; its driver talking at length on his mobile telephone – giving me a chance to admire the fine Defender shape and resplendent grey metallic paint. Up to this point, I had no real desire to upgrade or change the Defender that I have owned for the last 18 months,…

DISCO’S RADIO LOCK-OUT Q I have bought a Discovery knowing the radio/cassette didn’t work. I suspect the previous owner removed a modern unit and replaced it with this original before selling the car. The radio just shows a security message on the screen and won’t accept either of the two 4-digit codes I have found. One code is written on the handbook, the other on a repairer’s card in the wallet. They’re both four digit numbers. I’ve tried disconnecting the battery terminals, but it hasn’t reset the radio. Is there a company that can sort this for me? I’ve tried local car audio specialists but they just want to sell me a new unit and say the old one is not worth the cost of repair, but I prefer to…

ED EVANS • General workshop tools, thin cutting discs for the angle grinder, spot weld drill bit. TIME 3 HOURS COST £138 DIFFICULTY RATING There are three big advantages to fitting a Bulkhead Removal Kit: it increases the interior space, allows great access rearward between the two front seats, and also allows the front seats to move further back to increase the front seat legroom. Removing the roof is a precursor to installing this kit, allowing the necessary access for us to cut out the bulkhead from behind the front seats and to then replace the strength in the body by fitting the tubular frame. This isn’t a job to be taken lightly, and not only because the roof needs to be removed. The act of cutting out the bulkhead…

SEND US YOUR SHOTS ! Want to feature your project in LRM? – email patrick@lrm.co.uk Tell us about this project vehicle... It has been in the family construction business since new. It worked carrying heavy loads from site to site. In 2015 we noticed that it was not running as efficiently as it should have been. In fact it was so bad that I couldn't even use it on the site as a run-around. It was then that I decided to do something about it. It deserved a complete rebuild and I would do just that with my friend (now boyfriend) Shane. Was the chassis also finished? The old one was more corroded than my old 2003 Nissan Micra! We needed a new one, so I went out and bought…

SEND US YOUR SHOTS Let us know what you’ve been up to – email patrick@lrm.co.uk…

When one has been writing for a few years on a subject such as motoring, then it’s perhaps not surprising how often the same situation pops up. I’ve lost count of how many times I have written, in magazines and for a few years now on the internet, about insurance but, as the subject cropped up earlier this year involving a friend who I know reads my columns, I guess it has to be time to try to get the message over yet again. My mate called round, driving his missus’ car and told us that his beloved Ninety V8 was being “written off” after a twonk came out of a side road and hit him on the front nearside corner, spinning his Ninety into a wall. I had just…

December and January are usually quiet months, giving me the chance to deal with some of the less urgent “back of the queue” jobs and do a bit of work on my rather battered old One Ten. I had a Discovery in for breaking which had a completely leak-free power steering box, which is most unusual. (And yes, it did actually have power steering fluid in the system.) So on a quiet Friday afternoon I decided to fit it to the One Ten. The vehicle already had the necessary mounting bracket and twin row front crank pulley, and a dead 2.5 turbodiesel (already swapped for the 300Tdi engine from the same Discovery) donated a power steering pump. The only problem was that a One Ten has the ball joint on…

“Some early TDCi auto gearbox conversions left a lot to be desired..." I love all Land Rovers and, like all green oval addicts, I take a perverse delight in driving the cold, draughty and uncomfortable models that until relatively recent times were the mainstay of the marque. So today it makes a change to slip into something comfortable. Today, the cabin I’m climbing into seems familiar, yet different: the seat is unusually comfy, the interior classy. But, much more importantly, there’s no huge manual gearstick – instead, an unobtrusive and silky-feeling auto lever that slides seductively into D for Drive as I push the accelerator into the carpet and G for Go. The surge of power is unlike any diesel Defender I’ve ever driven. And the changes are slick and…

We all have heroes and legends that we just admire and adore. When growing up (a process still currently underway) I used to love reading about the Welsh legend Sir Henry Morton Stanley, the journalist explorer sent to Africa to find the missing missionary Dr David Livingstone. Upon finding him, losing many men and supplies in the process, he supposedly said that now famous phrase “Dr Livingstone I presume?” Another personal favourite Welsh legend is J.P.R Williams, the medical doctor and exciting rugby fullback. He always wore his socks around his ankles and had impressive lamb chop shaped sideburns. Even more impressive were his attacking skills on the field. He is one of only five Welsh players to have won three Grand Slams. What exactly has this got to do…

“Many competitors have done enough hill rallies to get a loyalty card" The Scottish Borders Hill Rally is a rumbustious race, set in wild scenery dappled with trout-filled lochs and thick stands of commercial forestry. Hill rallies are tastier than a block of Kendall mint cake, livelier than a bag of squirrels and steamier than an Everglades summer, with this curtain closer attracting a constellation of off-road stars. The venue, Forrest Lodge in Galloway, is a multi-thousand acre estate, miles away from the main road, a place where country pursuits and extractive industries mingle with the latest eco-friendly projects. The highways and byways through the estate make for some of the best rally tracks around, and the off-road sections for this speed event leave crews shaken and stirred with their…

JANUARY 3 – 16 Argentina & Bolivia – Dakar 2016 Buenos Aires, Salta and Rosario www.dakar.com JANUARY 3 – 16 South America Adventure Tours Dakar Tour 2016, Argentina www.peruadventuretours.com JANUARY 3 – 16 South America – Dakar Rally Tour 2016 Argentina www.rallytours.co.nz JANUARY 8 – 10 South Africa - Cape LR Club Weekend Outing camping water weekend, Theewaterskloof Dam, Cape Town www.clrc.co.za JANUARY 9 – 10 North East Rover Owners Club CCV and RTV Trial West Woodburn, Hexham www.nero.org.uk JANUARY 9 – 10 4x4 Adventure Tours Adventure tour Exe Valley & Dartmoor www.4x4adventuretours.co.uk JANUARY 10 Cornwall & Devon LRC Timed Trial, Roodscroft, Hatt, Cornwall www.cdlrc.com JANUARY 10 Pennine Land Rover Club Trial, Catlow, Lancs www.penninelandrover.co.uk JANUARY 10 Peak & Dukeries LRC Novice, RTV & CCV Trial New Whittington www.panddlrc.co.uk JANUARY…

The Chiltern Vale LRC has for a long time been a road taxed vehicle (RTV) trialling club and they have won many trophies at national level. The last few years have seen a growing number of members moving to cross country (CCV) trials, while some have built their own vehicles for this class. The club recently played host for the Sewell CCV Trial, an event open to other local clubs. Part of the venue lies on an old disused railway line, which make things interesting. My role in the trial was to navigate for Stuart Newton, the club chairman. Navigators help to plan routes, give directions when competing, offer encouragement or to take the blame when it all goes wrong. The running order was read out and we were first…

MARK DIXON CONTRIBUTOR SERIES I 107 YEAR: 1955 MILEAGE: 97,500 ENGINE: 1997 cc petrol POWER: 52 bhp TORQUE 101 lb-ft MPG: 23 I had no intention of buying a Series I. Honest, I didn’t. But sometimes a vehicle comes along and you just know that you will kick yourself forever more if you don’t seize the opportunity to buy it; even if, like me, you don’t have the money to do so. And that’s how I became the owner of a Series I long-wheelbase pick-up. To me, these long-wheelbase Series Is are curiously overlooked by enthusiasts who are seduced by the cuteness of the short-wheelbase models. Having owned an 80 in the past, which I used a lot and took on a memorable trip to Iceland (the country, not the…

When I leave the country to work abroad, I now first drop the Lightweight off with my brother Nick, in what has become the Land Rover equivalent of the kennels. The new arrangement has forged an unbreakable bond between him and his local garage, which I follow on borrowed internet connections from the deserts of Africa. “There’s been another Lightweight mini-saga. I forgot to turn off the indicator after pulling into a parking space - I keep forgetting, inured as I have become to auto cut-out,” he writes. “Went to start her yesterday evening and the battery was flat as a pancake. I’ll get some leads on it tomorrow, and maybe use manual hand signals in future!” But even a jump-start – a once-simple procedure that anyone could do at…

ED EVANS TECHNICAL EDITOR SERIES III 88 Year: 1975 Mileage: 80,000 Engine: 2.25 diesel MPG: 28 FREELANDER 1 Year: 2000 Mileage: 79,000 MPG: 37 DEFENDER 110 TD5 Year: 2000 Mileage: 160,000 MPG: 29 RR SPORT TDV6 Year: 2006 Mileage: 92,000 MPG: 28-34 DISCOVERY 300TDI Year: 1998 Mileage: 93,000 MPG: no idea I never quite got over selling my Discovery 2 to deputy editor Patrick last year, and recently I cracked and went out looking to buy another. I came home with a 300Tdi Discovery 1, and I’m still not quite sure why. I think the vehicle’s condition intrigued me. When I stuck my head underneath to see if it still had a floor, I was amazed to find the total underside completely intact. I’ve since treated it all with rust…

TREVOR CUTHBERT Air compressor, spray guns, sealant gun, sealant, paint, T wash TIME 4 DAYS COST £6241 DIFFICULTY RATING Having taken a fairly big risk in having the Range Rover body shell galvanised, Andy and I now had in our possession a number of fairly rare and valuable commodities – a completely rust-free and fully protected classic Range Rover body shell, and the original chassis that was likewise repaired and protected for many years to come. However, in the course of shot blasting, repairing and galvanising the body, all of the original seam sealer had been completely removed from the vehicle. There had been a vast amount of the old sealer, which gave a very definite clue as to how much new sealer we would need to apply, in order…

JAMES STANBURY Few of us can honestly say we enjoy doing electrical jobs on our Land Rovers. But, sometimes, needs must, and the job will certainly be made much easier with a decent set of wiring tools. In theory, it should be a doddle to make an all-in-one tool that cuts, strips wires, and then allows you to crimp on the connection of your choice. But, in reality, we’ve all come up against dull cutting blades and almost unusably blunt wire strippers. And while they’re irritating enough, the worst offender is the duff crimper that seem to make a perfect crimp until you test the crimp connector by hand and find that it simply pulls off the cable. One school of thought is that it’s much better to buy separate…