Member - Bradley replied:

Every vehicle has problems, it only becomes a real problem if the manufacturer refuses to recognise them. Life would be very boring if every vehicle was the same , though starlin and his like would love it.. Ahh must go now - confusis and i are heading to the pub.. Seriously - welcome ross, i'm sur you will love it here. BradLife is short- but there's always time for a yarda.

Willie replied:

G'day Ross,

Seems to me that you have put yourself in the same position as those who you wish to denigrade. This forum can become quite lively at times but on the whole we treat each other with some respect even if some of us would debate that from time to time. There is a lot of good information floating around here and it is given freely by the forum users.

So welcome to the forum and and be kind to us and we hope you learn something of value as we go along the IT way.

Cheers,

Willie
Never a dull moment

ross replied:

I agree with you 100% ross.The best 4x4 is the one that suits the owner and one that he/she can afford to maintain.There is more than the odd one or two owners who are in over their heads in repayments and do not have the money to maintain or use their vehicle like it was intended but must keep up with the Jones .
I had Lada Niva for 5 years as 2nd car and weekend offroader.It NEVER broke down and had a nicer ride offroad than my current Landcruiser .I was able to service and maintain it myself and it used only $5-6 per hour in low range.I paid $5000 and sold it for $3500 after all the fun I had in it. Im still having withdrawal symptoms.
Another Rosco

Member - Al Symers (SA) replied:

G'day Ross, Welcome aboard. As you've found out this is a great site. The only problem is that a lot of the contributors are getting fairly old and as we all know, they get a bit cranky as they get older. But because of their old age, they have heaps of experience and their advise is generally very good. If you do a search on Willie through the archives, you'll find heaps of interesting posts and check out his website. It makes a good read.
Us young blokes can learn heaps from the oldies.
Enjoy the site.Al Symers

ross replied:

Uppy I did some research on the 4 door niva but apparrently the extra length doesnt lend itself to serious offroading and thats why they never left the soviet bloc.I saw them on 60 Minutes one night when they used a lwb niva ambulance to smuggle some journalists and cameramen into Chechnya to report on atrocities.My favourite is the lada bronto which has massive balloon tyres that enable it to traverse any surface including water .They are reputed to be the only petrol car to be driven to the north and south pole.

Member - Ross replied:

Thanks one and all for the words of welcome, wisdom and warning.
And a special thanks to Al for his kindly words re my assumed age .... that bloody Ponds cream must be good stuff.

Been into 4b's for over 25 years and driven an assortment of mongrels ... loved every minute though.

Learnt a few tricks over the years also, but as I said in my original posting .. there's always room in the bag for more.

Have met a few blokes that reckoned they had nothing more to learn ... but I expect that's happened to all of us at one time or another.Rosco

Member - Cocka replied:

When I'm in some remote corner of this great country and being mentally blown away with the awesomness of where I am and what I see, I wonder at how it all came about. I fell privleged beyond belief, and more privleged that we live in a country where we have freedom of speech.

Carpe Diem