Loved my L200 in the snow last year never struggled once, but remember you still have to take it steady all because your got 4×4 doesn’t mean it isn’t going to slide.

Seconded. Still had a couple of hairy moments in 2wd, but knock it into 4wd, it’d go most places without touching the diff lock. Running Cooper S/T’s this year too, so should help out abit more in the soft stuff. I sometimes carry abit of weight in the back of mine over winter to aid traction. Also carry a shovel, recovery gear, spare fuel and warm clothes if I’m heading off the beaten track or unploughed roads.

Something like a Shogun, with decent AT tyres is going to go further than Partner with snow tyres. Ground clearance of the Pug is around 160mm, while the Shogun is about 230mm. And 4wd makes a big difference.

Usually between £5-£10 every 2 weeks for a 1 all over. £7 in my local barbers, but usually get it done in works time, where ever I happen to be working 🙂

I got an ebay special (from the UK) for about £14 delivered, has survived well so far after about 6 months use.

I would head to a garden centre or seasonal firework shop before I bought any supermarket fireworks. Often better than supermarket ones for similar money.

Went to Epic Fireworks[/url] a couple of weeks ago to get my stash for Friday 5th 🙂

A few SIB’s and a couple of rockets from them would be alot better than any supermarket packs.

Edit: I retract my anti-spuermarket firework statement. Just noticed Lidl are stocking some Weco stuff, usually decent and look pretty good for the money!

L200 here, I think its great. Turning circle was pretty awful, but you can adjust it (I can now actually do a 3 point turn, rather than it being a 15 point turn). Comfy enough for me, the back seats aren’t massively spacious or anything, but I never sit there so I don’t really mind 😉

Use ours for towing our boat mainly, only around 1500kg, and then have the back loaded with spare fuel etc. Hardly notice the boat there until you look in the mirrors. Great for launching and recovering on soft sand/steep sandy slipways. Also great for pulling out the people who get their cars stuck trying to do the same. The old shape L200 can legally pull 2700kg iirc, and can take just over 1000kg in the back.

Mine is a 2.5 turbo diesel. I get around 25mpg normally, but loaded with gear and trailer it’s close to 20mpg. But then I didn’t buy a 2 ton 4×4 with fuel economy as a concern. Only cost £185 to tax last year (although I think it’s gone up to £200 this year). Costs me £30 every 6 months to service as I do it all myself. Very easy to do and I’m not fussed about getting the service book stamped. I’ve only lost the back end twice in 12 months on wet roundabouts and was probably going abit too quick anyway. Took mine greenlaning a couple of times and it’s perfectly capable offroad, despite the ridiculous rear overhang!

The company I work for had a couple of Ford Rangers and they were pretty unreliable. The Navaras seem to throw the con-rods out of the block a fair bit. And the L200s are known for the EGR coolers failing. I would have bought a Hilux, but just couldn’t afford a decent one for the money I got my L200 for.

Use 160mm front and 140mm rear on my hardtail with Avid Juicy Carbons. No issues at all, pad wear is the same as using the Avid rotors. Got mine off Merlin when they were about £15 each too 🙂

Put them in a tesco bag or a bin liner

😆

If you want reliable don't even bother looking at the L200.

Mine has been perfectly reliable.

For what you're after though, I'd go with a Shogun/Pajero. Just a bigger version of what you have now after all.

When I was in school, Gill Burns (played for England) was one of our PE teachers, you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her, she was huge!

I picked mine up when I was 16, did it up for when I passed my test at 17. Sold it after a year, will have another one some day though 🙂 Bloody loved that car.

Probably spent an equal amount of time in my garage fixing it as I did driving it! Regularly scrapped the sumpguard and pulled the exhaust off the manifold a fair few times due to it being about 4 inches off the road. Stuck to the road like glue though and you could here it from miles away on a quite night. Think the website I made about it is still going if you click on my user name.

If you order a pair of trousers and receive 3/4 lengths you would be a bit upset right ?

Maybe, but you'd hold them up and proabably notice that they where a tad shorter than normal trousers. So you'd just return them for the correct trousers. Rather then pulling all the labels off them, putting them on, then realising they where 3/4 length. 😉

Had nothing but trouble sending stuff abroad on ebay in the past 12 months, mostly people saying the parts have arrived damaged or have bits missing. Even to the likes of Spain etc. Don't bother doing it anymore, too much hassle, especially with all the ebay "buyer protection" stuff 🙄

It's less than 3%, as I stated above, It's about 1.85% of ROW are byways open to all traffic or similar. But alot of that small percentage is obstructed (naturally or ilegally by land owners etc.) and alot of BOATs now have TRO's on them preventing anything with an engine going near it. Surely all the haters can survive with the other 98.15% of ROW 🙄

grim168 – Member

Something like 3% of the rights of way network was available to motorized traffic but to some thats too much.

1.85% of rights of way are BOATs. But even then, alot of those byways are either TRO'd or obstructed in some way. So the actual percentage is even smaller.

Conti Race King? I love mine.

Sorry Amos, I do not like the way motorbikes damage the green lanes and the experience I have on them. Keep motors on tarmac,

That's like a rambler saying "I don't like the way mountain bikers tear around the bridleways, stick to the roads". There is enough room for everyone. As long it's done legally and safely of course.

Was going to link to TRF, but TJ beat me to it. Always check with the local rights of way officer as well before heading off down a BOAT etc. dotted across an OS map, just to check it is actually legal to ride on.

I have a 2.3 Conti Vertical on the front and a 2.2 Moutain King on the back on my full sus. And run 2.0 Race Kings on my hardtail.

Find both ride really well, have tried other tyres/manufacturers but settled on the above.

Juicy Carbon and X0 shifter with a matchmaker clamp…

Got plenty of airflow around the back of the fridge?

We just fitted a roller door on our garage. Ordered from here[/url], took about 2-3 hours to remove old up and over door and fit/wire in new roller door. Seems loads more secure than the old door. Excellent service from the company it came from too 🙂

The Pauls Chainkeeper is spot on. I got in touch with freshtripe.co.uk and got mine through them, reasonable price too, around £40 delivered iirc 8)

Thule 9503 here, used it with a swan neck towball and a flange type towball, no issues with either. Paid £95 for mine new and delivered from eBay. Never noticed any difference to fuel economy, like I did when I was roof mounting them. I always give the towball a wipe over with abit of petrol/alcohol to get any grease off and it's always been solid. Car never gets left unattended when we stop so not fussed about it being locking or not. Excellent rack for the money

Pauls Components Chain Keeper here, works great, no problems.

I know it's not a frame but I just bought a stainless prop for my boat from the states. Not sure if the parcels go on weight or size? But this thing is pretty heavy and the box with packaging was quite big, and it cost just over $70 to have it shipped via USPS priority international. Which took about 7 working days to land at the parcel force depot. As said above though, remember that you probably will get charged VAT and maybe import duty, parcel force wouldn't release the package until the fees had been paid.

He can't leave you any negative feedback anyway under eBays rubbish "buyer protection" rules.

It'll have lost its gas. Our Bosch did the same at about 3 years old. I put a squirt of gas in it a couple of times and it'd be ok for a week or so, just replaced it with a decent fridge/freezer in the end though. Wasn't worth the hassle of finding and repairing the leak. More used to working on big commercial and industrial stuff.

What year Rav 4/X-Trail you looking at? I had a mk. 2 (2000-2006) Rav 4 for just over a year and it was good, never had any problems, pulled nearly a ton of boat no worries. Got it muddy a few times and never had any issues, 4wd system works quite well. Drives well on the road, really comfy and nice to drive. Took tons of stuff in the boot and the rear seats slid forward, and came out really quick if you needed extra space. The 2 litre petrol I had used to average about 28mpg, 32 on a long run and around 25mpg with the boat on and the back of the car rammed with camping gear. I had a look at a few X-Trails but prefered the Toyota.

Sometimes the leak is so small it's pretty much undetectable and may take a couple of years to lose its gas. Main place for leaks is on the condenser (usually in front of the radiator) and can be caused by something like a stone hitting it on the motorway. Condensers usually cost a few hundred pounds to replace, so most people don't bother and live without ac or get gas added every couple of years.

Shame you aren't further north, I only charge £25 for a system recharge 😉

I bought my mini when I was 16 and tarted it up for when I turned, got my lisence just after my 17th birthday and sold it when I turned 18. Insurance cost abit less than a corsa/clio etc, and mine was modified a fair bit 🙂

Wouldn't buy one as an only car/first car unless you're handy with tools, it was noisy, horrible to drive in the rain and the exhaust always used to get pulled off if I went over speed bumps due to it being so low. But it was great fun and I'd still have it if I had space for another car. Buying a decent one for decent money isn't easy, but they are out there (especially if you avoid eBay). Me and my dad did all the welding, body work and mechanical bits, so it didn't cost me too much to do and I've got all the gear I needed (tools, welders, compressors, engine crane etc.).

If you click on my user name it'll take you to the website I made about it if you're interested. Would definately do it again if I had the time and space.

Wakeboarding and fixing my boat used for wakeboarding

Got a 9503, it's great! Done a few thousand mile with it now and had no problems at all. I run a cable lock through all the frames and around the towbar to stop people just lifting the bikes straight off.

If I had a load of spare cash, I probably would have gone for the more expensive one, but I paid about £100 for the rack and the 957 lock (to lock the rack to the towball), can't beat it for that price imo.

Mine never went up when I passed 2 or 3 years ago, they just sent some revised policy documents out. May depend on the insurer?

and the other day on a green lane i had to wait ten minutes for a convoy of 4×4's to pass – why? – not relevant but that desn't matter

Why? Because. Its the same as a rambler saying why ride a bike around the countryside when you can walk.

Don't discount the Paul Components Chain Keeper at 69g. It also, should it be muddy, amasses virtually no mud or detritus

Seconded, mine has been great, no problems at all 🙂

Fine for me, and very light – plus were cheap from Merlin.

Seconded, I run 160mm and 140mm with Juicy Carbons, no problems at all.

Ive been looking at insurance for me and my girlfriend and found time of year seems to make a massive difference. Ive literally put 100s of quotes through moneysupermarket etc and found theres a definate change in prices.

Having the same trouble at the moment trying to get the girlfriend in a car. She's 19, passed her test last year, cheapest quote we had for a 1.4l Astra mk4 was £800 TPFT with Endsleigh, tried it again the next week and all the prices had gone up by £500! No details changed or anything, so phoned Endsleigh up and the bloke said it varies up and down throughout the year 😕

Also found TPFT to be cheaper than third party only for some reason?

I did my pass plus and wouldn't bother if I was you, didn't bring down my insurance when I passed when I was 17 🙄

Seen a van cruising around the North West with an anpr camera on each corner or the roof, clamping parked cars which must flag up on the database or something as untaxed, and then put a huge sticker on the windscreen says "this vehicle is untaxed". Cars seem to get lifted if they get left for a certain number of days. About time they started doing this imo, our house pays around £600 a year in road tax, why should other people get away with it?!

At the car show/steam rally they have near here every year, the police always have a stand with a few decent cars (everything from Mercs to Lamborghini's) on that have been confiscated for various reasons (no tax/no insurance/used in crime and the owners haven't got them back) with the dates for the auctions!

EDIT: That link above for reporting untaxed vehicles has always worked well for anything I've reported. The cars have either gone, or been taxed within a couple of days!

Surely drilling the bolt wouldn't achieve anything and the bolt would just spin in the hole? Unless you used a big drill bit to takeout the middle of the top cap too?

djglover – Member
No one NEEDS a car

I NEED my vehicle for work. Don't fancy lugging around 3 or 4 20kg gas bottles, 3 tool bags, ladders, 3 large boxes of spares, 60m of hose, and all my other work related bits on public transport!

Even when I go to college once a week (which is about 12 miles way), it takes me well over an hour if I use public transport, 15 minute walk to the station, about 45 minutes on the train and then another 15 minute walk after that to get there, and the train costs near £5. Plus the wear and tear to my trainers and my jeans, then I buy a paper and a coffee which is another few quid 😉 I may aswell drive. It takes about 30 minutes (so I actually get there ontime without getting up early), costs about 20p a mile in diesel, secure parking is free, and I get my own stress free space, listening to music I want to, not what the idiot next to me decides to play on his ipod. I hate public transport.

kennyp – Member
It's my birthday on Feb 27th, so I like the month.

Mine too! I like February. January is worse than Feb, it's dark when I go out to work and dark when I get home (when I'm working basic anyways), at least in Feb it starts to get abit lighter later and I can tinker with my car/boat without using lights. Bring on April though, as soon as the temp hits 12-15 degrees'ish, the wakeboard gear comes out 🙂

With insulation still on it it's worth around £1.10 per KG, stripped is about £3.50 per KG at the moment.