Wednesday, Mar 17, 2010 at 09:29
Quote: "This is exactly why we went for a 2nd hand car. We want to enjoy the feel of the bumps and rocks in the steering wheel. Feel the wheels slip and have to adjust the braking - carefully. Concentrate on wheel placement and where the best traction and stable part is. All that good stuff.
We want to play and not be a passenger (no not bloody hoon).
Sorry but you can have your robot urban shufflers. Each to their own. "
Give that man a cigar!!!!! My sentiments exactly.
I am of the opinion that far too many so called die-hard "off-roaders" have gone soft around the girth, so to speak.
These days, when we (excluding me, vk1dx and a few others) look at buying a new 4x4 (or any other vehicle), we are hood-winked into looking at such things as "ANCAP ratings" and litres/100klm etc.
I too like to feel (and hear) what my engine and drive train are doing. I can tell you (without the aid of any idiot lights etc) if I'm losing traction on a steep slope,
mud hole etc. I suspect, as my learned colleage said above, that in the new fashion "cars", you just wind the windows up, ensure you have your favourite symphony orchestra playing good and loud through the 16 speaker stereo (fed by your MP6 player with it's 64,000,000,000 songs embedded)
and drive it up the same
hill, allowing the 223 computers to adjust the KDSS and DHDC and the ASBS etc etc, oblivious to what the heck is going on under the bonnet (until something goes wrong).
Then it's a case of......"Cecil, what does this pretty red light on the dash-board thingy mean and why has our forward motion ceased?"......hahahaha
Time to get the sat-phone out and call the Loan-Arranger and Tonto!!!!!! hahahaha
I too will be sticking with my 10y/o Patrol with it's live axles (including front air locker and great rear limited slipper), powered by a (greenie's worst nightmare) thirsty 6.5 litre Chev V8 diesel and weighing in at around 3 tonne (+/- hahahaha).
However, I suspect these comments will lost on the likes of those who have plenty of money and just love touring around the back blocks listening to Batehoven and Bach, while sipping their latte at every cafe they come across.
The diggers who fought and died for us to have freedom would be rolling over in their
graves if they could see how soft we've all become with our side curtain air bags etc etc.
Roachie
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