Defender 90 6 seater. Question on the rear seats.

Defender 90 6 seater. Question on the rear seats.

Author
Discussion

Too Late

Original Poster:

5,091 posts

234 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Hi all

A friend has kindly lent me his 90 while he goes on holiday.

With having 2 kids under 4. They require child seats. My question is, how safe and legal is it to have the child's seat on the rear fold down seats in the back?



Thanks
Nick

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Forget it. You don't even want to use seatbelts on side-facing seats.

Sixpackpert

4,538 posts

213 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Be safer strapping them to the roof rack.

Too Late

Original Poster:

5,091 posts

234 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Ok. That's answered that. Thanks chaps.

Now is the old conundrum of the 90 Vs 110

Off to take my mates 90 tomorrow to look at a 90 with forward facing seats and a 110

Thanks all

N

bakerstreet

4,755 posts

164 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Are you looking to buy a 90 or a 110 for family duties? They are fun cars, but not the safest vehciles by a long way.

I've often thought about chopping in my D3 and Series for a 110, but then think about NCAP and all that adult type stuff. frown

Too Late

Original Poster:

5,091 posts

234 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
bakerstreet said:
Are you looking to buy a 90 or a 110 for family duties? They are fun cars, but not the safest vehciles by a long way.

I've often thought about chopping in my D3 and Series for a 110, but then think about NCAP and all that adult type stuff. frown
If I am honest. I haven't thought about the NCAP rating.

The idea was for family duties purely as we abuse the current car so much, I would be less worried with a defender.

Currently have a Mondeo estate. Seats have protector covers on, boot has a crate for dogs. It doesn't leave much for space elsewhere.

2 kids. 2 dogs normal means daily drive include a packed car. The dogs are normally filthy after walks making my 6m old Mondeo estate look like a tip. I was also think a 110 would make life easier with its height and it's roughness.. 110 has a decent boot which we could use better and alter to include additional storage compartments

Well. That's my thoughts. I could be wrong

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
bakerstreet said:
They are fun cars, but not the safest vehciles by a long way.
Can people please stop saying this.
They may not be laden with a billion airbags, or have super dooper collision avoidance to rival the latest Volvo but neither are they unsafe.
Whilst collision technology maybe a Defenders weakness, it has strengths in other areas.
They are big, so they can see and be seen over other cars, high speed is rarely an issue and if they do collide with something the something usually comes off worse.
One genuine area of concern is roll-over protection (and that can be addressed with an aftermarket roll bar) but the advantage is the lack of three-inch wide A-pillars blocking visibility at junctions.
Friends of mine have written off other cars in collision with their Defenders.....which they've then driven home with barely a scratch.

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 23 February 12:29

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Too Late said:
110 has a decent boot
Ahem....Land Rovers don't have a boot.
They have a load area

bakerstreet

4,755 posts

164 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Crossflow Kid said:
Can people please stop saying this.
They may not be laden with a billion airbags, or have super dooper collision avoidance to rival the latest Volvo but neither are they unsafe.
Whilst collision technology maybe a Defenders weakness, it has strengths in other areas.
They are big, so they can see and be seen over other cars, high speed is rarely an issue and if they do collide with something the something usually comes off worse.
One genuine area of concern is roll-over protection (and that can be addressed with an aftermarket roll bar) but the advantage is the lack of three-inch wide A-pillars blocking visibility at junctions.
Friends of mine have written off other cars in collision with their Defenders.....which they've then driven home with barely a scratch.

Edited by Crossflow Kid on Friday 23 February 12:29
I'm not talking about lane departure or radar guided cruise control. I'm talking about the basic construction of the vehicle

Roll over protection is terrible, they will literally crumple. The half height roll bars for seat belts mounts for roofless motoring don't go up to your head for a start. External cages are obviously pretty decent. However, they are very expensive (north of £1k if memory serves)

Side on is also useless unless you have some half decent tree sliders and in a high speed shunt, I'm not sure how much they would do.

They have no crumple zones air air bags or ABS and a high CoG, which means rolling is more probable.

Of course a defender is going to do some serious damage if it hits a car. Its made up of two iron girders! However the poor old driver is going to be pretty uncomfortable have being whacked by the sterring wheel and possibly the brilliantly place handbrake. Compare that to modern Ford Mondeo doing the same speed. They will be cushioned by some lovely airbags. I'm stillquite surprised that the defender wasn't retro fitted with them. Maybe's its the position of the steering wheel.

bobtail4x4

3,701 posts

108 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
the other car is your crumple zone

Murph7355

37,646 posts

255 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Crossflow Kid said:
bakerstreet said:
They are fun cars, but not the safest vehciles by a long way.
Can people please stop saying this.
They may not be laden with a billion airbags...
I thought you were going to pick up on the "fun cars" comment biggrin

Being freezing cold, deafened, having to chip ice off the inside of a windscreen, getting oil on your drive and ripping your clothes on the door furniture is far from my idea of fun. And I've only spent about 10hrs in them.

They're far cooler watched from the outside smile

(Then again, I own a Caterham!).

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Murph7355 said:
(Then again, I own a Caterham!).
So do I ;-)

tight fart

2,865 posts

272 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
One half of me prefers the spike on the steering wheel safety approach of the Defender,
The other half sees a lot on Copart that I wouldn't have wanted my kids in.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
tight fart said:
The other half sees a lot on Copart that I wouldn't have wanted my kids in.
If you go looking on Copart for Defenders...

How many other cars do you see on Copart that you wouldn't have wanted your kids in, either?

Hard-Drive

4,076 posts

228 months

Monday 26th February 2018
quotequote all
Crossflow Kid said:
bakerstreet said:
They are fun cars, but not the safest vehciles by a long way.
Can people please stop saying this.
They may not be laden with a billion airbags, or have super dooper collision avoidance to rival the latest Volvo but neither are they unsafe.
Whilst collision technology maybe a Defenders weakness, it has strengths in other areas.
They are big, so they can see and be seen over other cars, high speed is rarely an issue and if they do collide with something the something usually comes off worse.
One genuine area of concern is roll-over protection (and that can be addressed with an aftermarket roll bar) but the advantage is the lack of three-inch wide A-pillars blocking visibility at junctions.
Friends of mine have written off other cars in collision with their Defenders.....which they've then driven home with barely a scratch.

Edited by Crossflow Kid on Friday 23 February 12:29
^This. If we're going to go down the "unsafe" road then let's all wrap our kids in cotton wool, never take them out on a bicycle, never let them climb a tree, never let them do some fun things in life apart from soft play.

I agree, it's essentially a 70 year old design, and will not be nearly as good in some impacts as a modern car. However as has been pointed out, other impacts that in some cars would involve a host of deployed airbags and pissing vital engine fluids everywhere, will be totally shrugged off in a Defender. And, of course, you have a load more options and plan B's if going up that verge is almost fun rather then ripping all four wheels off.

I'd also say that in my experience the standard of driving generally exhibited by someone in a 5 metre long 2 ton utility vehicle with performance and handling that rewards "anticipation" tends to be a lot better than your typical muppet on a conference call and late for their next meeting in the company Audi, or Instagramming themselves in a self parking Yaris.