Monday, Mar 09, 2015 at 23:47
Axle, I don't think there's anything made today that's easy to work on - they are all nightmares of high-tech engineering, excessive amounts of plumbing and electronics, and components piled on top of components.
However, we buy Jap 4WD's because the Japs put things together and they (generally) stay together.
Toyota dropped the ball on quality there for a while, they seem to have learnt from the error of their ways, and their quality is coming back.
However, Landrover has suffered from build quality and reliability for years. In the early days, it was broken axles and gearboxes. They beefed up the axles and gearboxes, and then it simply became terrible build quality, with many problems relating purely to carelessness in assembly.
I work on the basis of, I buy a new car to get new car performance. That is, 99.999% reliability and no build faults.
However, Landrover buyers seem to be happy to get pretty ordinary build quality, and even more ordinary reliability.
Then, on top of that, the Landrover shape and interior design is still the same as it was in 1950 and 1960.
Yes, the designers have tried to soften the edges, but it's still a 1950's design.
It's not like the Landrover was the ultimate in design, and was so perfect, it never needed changing.
It's just that the various and numerous owners of Landrover decided long ago to squeeze every last cent out of an ancient design.
It's 25 years past its use-by date, and a new model is
well overdue.
Cheers, Ron.
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