Why shouldn't I buy a Landy?

So, as part of an on-going run of spectacular mis-fortune, both my van and my car have been written-off in the last couple of weeks.

I have a healthy chunk of insurance money burning a hole in my pocket. Will probably get another mini-bus come the Spring, maybe on a lease deal or similar. Need another vehicle right now. Ideally, it would be really good in the snow, could carry a lot of stuff, preferably 9 passengers and be capable of getting to some hard-to-reach places in the summer while transporting 9 riders and their bikes.

Can’t see past a Landy and have just spotted one that would be perfect at a good price. Tell me why I shouldn’t!

Is there anything else out there that has 9 seats and 4WD other than the VW Transporter/Caravelle/Multivan/whatever they’re calling it this week?

, preferably 9 passengers

could work if you’re passengers are really really small, or have no legs. Being in the back of a full Landy isn’t fun for anyone, the Hub ran them at Innerleithen for a while – it was shit

Shouldn’t go too wrong with a LandRover as long as it’s one of the older more basic Defenders The more modern ones are getting very complicated!

They don’t depreciate swiftly, so when you find the VW that you’re after then you shouldn’t find you’ll have lost much when you change.

Just make sure all the classic LandRover rust spots are covered Chassis and bulkhead being the main problems.

Only early ones take 10 people, but if you’re only buying to try one you’ll be fine…

Yeah, needs to be pre-07 to take 9 – should have said 9 people total, not 9 passengers.

Make sure you’re insured to carry that many people. Think it changes at 7+ seats or somethin.

Our old landy took 11, but only if you were about 6 inches wide and had no legs. Great for chucking stuff in the back of and not caring about though

You can carry 9 people or lots of stuff, you’ll struggle with 9 people and 9 bikes even in a 110.
You could look at a 130

As above, we rent 110’s (12, 10 and 9 seat ones) regularly. The seats are not that roomy, with no leg space or bag space and certainly not what you would get on a minibus. We do have a local with a 130 here, but even then it is basic, uncomfortable, noisy and the added space (in his) is boot.
Landy for me = perfect if you are properly off road; something else if you are forest track / rough lanes / last few metre’s in a field.
Surely a T5/T4 Synchro would be better? Not sure if Ford made a 4wd Transit.

mitubishi delicia?

Cramped, noisy, slow, no safety stuff, Toyota make better stuff.

I love mine to bits though

Gearboxes are service items, slow as ****, shite handling, uncomfy, money pits.

Being a member of the forces, I don’t have a bad word to say about landys, my unit have had the same 4 landys in Afghanistan since 2007 with very limited servicing and they are all still going strong today, it doesn’t seem to matter what we throw at them, they just take it. For getting around in rough conditions I don’t think there’s many things out there that can beat them, but for comfort, I’d keep looking around a bit

landys are great but they are not vehicles – they are hobbies

there are much cooler things that actually work and dont need sections of the chassis replacing every 3 months. eg.-

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=4wd+sprinter&hl=en&safe=off&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=nvzg7IUq_k0EdM:&imgrefurl=http://www.4x4offroads.com/mercedes-benz-sprinter-44-inch.html&docid=lI_apYSRQE6L9M&imgurl=http://www.4x4offroads.com/image-files/mercedes-benz-sprinter-4×4-inch-70.jpg&w=480&h=360&ei=CFgPT6vgJNDI8gPVp_z2Aw&zoom=1

Thanks for the input guys – the idea is that the Landy will act as a backup to a minibus during the summer season.

Minibus will do airport runs and easy drop-offs, landy will be personal car / load hauler and will step up to the mark for the odd short trip and for when we try to get a bike trailer to somewhere stupid!

The 4WD VW vans are pretty impressive (been in one pretty regularly) but the fact is I could buy a Landy PLUS a Renault Trafic or similar for the same money!