Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 12:39:53 -0700
From: Mark Pilkington <mark@skywagons.com>
Subject: LRO: Why do we own Land Rovers?
>It must be the memories that makes me
like them. I look at a Freelander or a Defender and see nothing. They are
good machines, but the character has gone.
I wonder if you can say that about almost every "new" vehicle, however.
The Freelander has certainly been a success in terms of sales, and I
guess you could consider the Defender a success, too. When I bought
my SIII in 1973, I didn't buy it for memories or character, as it was a
brand new vehicle. It, along with the Toyota FJ40, the Jeep CJ,
and the Bronco represented the state of the art in civilian 4wds. Twenty-
eight years later, you can certainly talk about memories and character,
but I don't recall thinking about that when I bought it. I wonder if,
twenty-eight years from now, people will be saying the same thing about
a 2001 Freelander? The current crop of SUVs don't have any character to me,
either, but a lot of people are queuing up to buy them. It would be interesting
to know what THEY see in the new vehicles.
>Range Rovers reach far enough back to still be associated with Home and my
misspent youth.
The classic Range Rover, 2 or 4 doors, is a great design for its intended purpose.
We debated buying a new one a couple of years ago, but neither I nor my wife
wanted to give up the design of our '91 for the "Explorer" shape of the current model,
even though the current model puts ours to shame in the technology department. We
bought our Range Rover because we needed a 4-door vehicle and we wanted something
with full-time 4wd. There were other choices, but I'd had good luck with my Series III and
I've always liked the look of the Range Rover (classic). I could see that the Range Rover
actually had a lot in common in its design philosophy with the Land Rover,
so it would be a vehicle I would be somewhat familiar with from the outset when it came
to maintaining it. But it would be interesting to know what it is about the new Land Rover models
that makes people shell out the substantial amounts of money it takes to buy them.
What do they see in the new vehicles that so many of us seem not to?
___________________________
C. Marin Faure
(original owner)
1973 Land Rover Series III-88
1991 Range Rover Vogue SE
Seattle
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