RE: Toyota announces V8 Land Cruiser 'Namib'
Discussion
Countdown said:
PugwasHDJ80 said:
LR could easily build Landcruisers in the same way, and they would have an amazing vehicle, they just choose not to. It makes me very sad. 
Very interesting/informative post.I especially agree with the bit above. I've always genuinely liked/admired LR products and they had a world-famous brand (possibly to the Chelsea Tractor market they still do) but their lack of reliability is equally world-famous. If the likes of Hyundai/Kia can make reliable 4x4s there's no reason why JLR shouldn't be able to.
I worry that JLR is heading in the same direction as Rover.
both companies have a future with their respective market ...
Kubevoid said:
Max_Torque, eye opening insight.
If you were to design a Mad Max style vehicle to soak up this level of abuse in its stride I presume you end up with some sort of caged Baja Truck? Ie, huge double dampers on each corner, massive tyre sidewalls etc.
Or something like the supacat Jackal for the Army in Afghanistan?If you were to design a Mad Max style vehicle to soak up this level of abuse in its stride I presume you end up with some sort of caged Baja Truck? Ie, huge double dampers on each corner, massive tyre sidewalls etc.
Rich Boy Spanner said:
If people had been as passionate about buying the defender as they are about arguing over its legacy, LR would be the most profitable car company on the planet.
Arguably it's the "passionate support" that kept the Defender (and LR in general) going for so long in spite of their well-documented reliability issues.I always get the impression that the 'big' Japanese off roaders, like the Patrol and the Land Cruiser are built to light truck standards, with much bigger engines and heavy duty axles and transmission, whereas the Defender was indubitably built using car or van derived parts.
I laughed at the battery thing, my elderly Landie has a piece of baler twine tied around the battery and under the battery box to keep it in place.
I laughed at the battery thing, my elderly Landie has a piece of baler twine tied around the battery and under the battery box to keep it in place.
warch said:
I always get the impression that the 'big' Japanese off roaders, like the Patrol and the Land Cruiser are built to light truck standards, with much bigger engines and heavy duty axles and transmission, whereas the Defender was indubitably built using car or van derived parts.
Defender was built using whatever could be sourced at the time it was launched ('49?), and never really outgrew or was developed beyond that...pretty typical of BL, in all honesty.The later stuff...was just cheaply engineered. No excuse, just cost-cutting...make sure it looks and performs well straight out of the box, don't worry if it breaks later on. And then it was built at Solihull, which is one of the cruellest things you can do to any aspiring design...
Land Cruiser conversely is typical Japanese - thorough engineering, usually over-engineering, so where parts are carry-over they're not from a little brother they're from a big-brother.
AW111 said:
This is what you need to win off-road races in Aus (eg. the Finke) :
No ladder chassis or beam axles there, but at least two shock absorbers per wheel, even on the lightweight buggies.
Depends very much on the regulations and the terrain being covered.No ladder chassis or beam axles there, but at least two shock absorbers per wheel, even on the lightweight buggies.
For example, Formula Offroad is very much live axles.
As is SRRS:
And even in the high speed arena you might still find live axles at one end of the vehicle:
Bill said:
SRRS isn't all beam axles either...
Not 100% no, but about 98-99%, btw isn't your pic of the UTV class which I think is required to have IFS.I think there have been 3 Bouncers running independent suspension but not all of these at both ends. And at least one that had independent have since gone back to live axles on the rear.
N.B. the IRS:
Same vehicle later on now sporting a live rear:
However the biggest thing to note is, the independent setups on the SCORE trucks or the bouncers, is the length of the A arms. Typically on a road going car the engine fits between the front suspension and often over the front axle line. But with these long A arm setups there is simply no room unless you wanted a 9 foot wide vehicle. So the engine has to go behind the axle line. This is fine for competition vehicles that don't care about interior space and are only designed to carry 1 or 2 people. But is practically impossible on a production road going car.
Bill said:
The axle is well forward of the engine on the beam trucks too. They're all extreme off road racers and not really relevant to the real world.
Oh I agree fully 
and was never proclaiming otherwise. I was just replying directly to the poster of the off road buggy 
That said, it is impressive what a live axle can do on mass market production vehicle and still allow room for the engine.
As impressive as the IFS/IRS setups are, I struggle to believe any of the roading going production vehicles can match this stock for stock.
Max_Torque said:
I'm sorry to break it too you 300, but there is literally ZERO requirement to have a suspension system capable of delivering 6 feet of travel on any road car ever built.....
lol, you are 100% correct. But on the roads that are unbuilt it can be bloody useful 
e.g. something like the famed Rubicon trail.
NomduJour said:
That's pretty cool. Although you do seem to get upset when others post modified vehicles :bigliaugh:The Subaru is pretty equal to a Freelander or even an Evoque in many ways and with the modded suspension has similar ground clearance.
Hells Revenge is some awesome scenery, but as you can see from the video, the terrain while impressive looking, wasn't all that taxing. Hitting rocks on the underside and scraping the front/rear were the biggest risks, and I note they had retro fitted a front bash plate.
Whether other people could just jump in a Subaru and perform the same time and time again is doubtful. This was a one off by someone clearly very capable and confident who had done some prep to the vehicle.
Some of the other trails have tougher obstacles.
I suspect the Subaru would have struggled a bit more so.
That said, it is impressive where you can get vehicles. I recall back in my youth, late one very wet and rainy night, we decided to take my mates 1.0 litre Austin Metro green laning. I went in my 300Tdi Defender with tow rope on hand, but didn't need it once.
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